Very moving article in the Dallas Morning News about the role documentary filmmaker Pat Dollard had in helping the family of a fallen soldier find closure. Pat Dollard is the real deal. He’s a Patriot who abandoned a cushy Hollywood lifestyle for the frontlines in Iraq. He left his family and career behind, spent his own money and risked his life to tell the stories of the Young Americans fighting for us in Iraq.
Dallas Morning News
Closure for family of fallen Marine
Film gives glimpse of dad 11/2 years after dispute over ashes
By KARIN SHAW ANDERSON / The Dallas Morning News
Just when Julie Shumney had accepted that advanced DNA testing couldn’t provide answers to a mystery surrounding her husband’s cremated remains, the Mesquite woman received hope for a different kind of closure.
Julie Shumney was sent two sets of remains identified as those of Marine 1st Lt. Dustin Shumney. Documentary filmmaker Pat Dollard contacted her last week and told her that he has footage of the last two weeks of Marine 1st Lt. Dustin Shumney’s life. The final glimpses of the Marine were caught not long before he boarded a helicopter that went down in Iraq in January 2005.
“This is what I had been hoping for for the whole past year and a half, and the kids, too,” Mrs. Shumney said in anticipation of watching the images with her children, Jordan, 13, Mallory, 10, and Conner, 5.
Though it probably won’t answer the questions Mrs. Shumney has about her husband’s remains, the widow said the documentary, scheduled for release within three months, could help the family say goodbye.
“It’s really going to help a lot,” she said.
“Conner can watch this when he gets older, and I think it will trigger a lot of memories for him. The last time he saw his Daddy, he was 2.”
Read the full story here.
Check out how Pat handled this emotional phone call from Susan, an Army wife and mother, when we recently interviewed him on Pundit Review Radio.
To listen to the full Pat Dollard interview, click here.