On a second tour of duty in Vietnam in 1970, Lieutenant-Colonel Norman Schwarzkopf, 37, was heading the Americal Division's 1st. Battalion, 6th Infantry, 198th Brigade, when a section of its company became trapped in a mine field. Schwarzkopf was the first to arrive at the scene in a helicopter and oversaw the immediate evacuation of the wounded. The factual events that unfold in this telefeature are based on the book by C.D.B. Bryan. Schwarzkopf's pseudonymous character, Col. Byron Schindler, is portrayed here by William Jordan.
Peg Mullen, an author and former Iowa farm wife who hounded the U.S. military to find the truth about her son's death in Vietnam and was portrayed by Carol Burnett, died on Oct. 3, 2009 at the age of 92.
C.D.B. Bryan, 73, whose 1976 book 'Friendly Fire' that this television movie was based on, died at his Connecticut home on Dec. 15, 2009.
There are a few parallelisms between Friendly Fire and Ordinary People. For one, Timothy Hutton plays the surviving son of a family stricken with tragedy. Portraying his mother are actresses known for their comedic and light-hearted who tackled a rare dramatic role--Carol Burnett and Mary Tyler Moore (in Ordinary People).
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