Event

BILL'S THUD: A JOURNEY HOME

In Person: Writers Dennis King and Leo Evans, Producer Clark Wiens
A dying Vietnam vet, memories of an unpopular war, and a man's promise add up to an unexpected final journey for one scuttled F-105 Thunderchief aircraft, affectionately known as Thud.

Bill's Thud: A Journey Home is a story propelled by a promise from one brother-in-law to another Clark Wiens to William H. Pachura, Lt. Col., retired, United States Air Force. It tracks the multi-year struggle to fulfill that promise - from an affectionate gesture of tribute by Wiens to his beloved "brother Bill," to an inspiring Memorial Day reunion between the man and his old war plane, through miles of military red tape and logistical obstacles, to a dignified memorial that sits today in a peaceful park in the fighter pilot's hometown of Centralia, Ill. There, "Bill's Thud," the decommissioned F-105D Thunderchief fighter-bomber that Bill Pachura piloted through 129 combat missions in the Vietnam War, rests as a testament to the man's unassuming heroism, patriotism and dedication to service and country. And, by extension, the plane and its torturous journey home came to represent a too-long delayed "thank you" to all Vietnam veterans those men and women who served honorably but came home to a country angry, divided and largely indifferent to the private torments of its returning warriors. Bill's Thud: A Journey Home unites all Vietnam Veterans as great soldiers who served their country and should be honored and remembered as such.
USA, 2012, 77 min., color, Blu-ray