Welcome Fans of the "Once An Eagle" Miniseries

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Sunday, July 18, 2010

It all started for me...

...in 1976, when my wife Ellie was carrying our first son, and when I caught bits and pices of what looked to be a very interesting miniseries on NBC: "Once An Eagle". Busy as I was, I said, "I'll have to catch that on rerun." No reruns run and 30 years later, I could only find only a "pirated" version of "Once An Eagle" on the Internet (in barely viewable condition). At that point I set a goal for myself to get the miniseries released on DVD. I found that NBC simply wasn't aware of the treasure it had sitting on its shelf. I worked hard to help them understand just how valuable the property was, and with the outstanding work of NBC Execs Jed Lackman & Kim Niemi(my sincere thanks to the both of you!), we now have it!

More history to follow...

Tom Hebert
"onceaneagleguy"

19 comments:

L.H said...

Just can't wait to get mine
Thanks for all the hard work in getting this out to us
L.h Canada

Saber said...

I enjoyed my copy. I remember it well from watching it in 76 when I was a high school junior. I've read the book several times. Can't wait to get some good discussions going.

PurdueGirl said...

Thank you, I received my copy! I have not had time to watch it, and I'm going on vacation soon! I may have to wait until I return to watch it, as I don't want to be interrupted! I re-read the book recently to jog my memory, since it has been SO long since I've seen the miniseries and read the book. Thanks again, TOm!

dalewilson said...

I first became acquainted with Once an Eagle when they were screening for extras to play in Pacific War scenes being shot at Haleiwa, HI. I was stationed at Schofield Barracks at the time.

I latched onto a copy of Anton Myrer's novel at the post library and read it with only breaks to go to work and sleep until I finished it.

Ever since, it has been at the top of my personal recommended reading list for military fiction. I managed to obtain a copy of the first hard-cover printing and passed it along to my son who graduated from West Point.

My thanks to Tom and those who have at last made it possible for us to acquire legitimate DVD copies of the NBC miniseries.

Paul said...

A dvd I've been waiting for,for 34 years.I saw it in 1976 and tried for years to find it. One of the best miniseries ever. Thanks Tom for all your hard work in getting this released.

Unknown said...

I received the DVD's, which I had ordered, on Thursday. I ordered more than one, as I am sending them out to my sons. Before going to bed that night, I watched the complete miniseries. I enjoyed it as much or maybe more than I did when it was broadcast in 1976. I will most likely watch it a couple more times in the next few weeks. I believe it is one of the best miniseries ever. JR

edgar40 said...

Subject: A hearty SALUTE and thank you.

Got our set, yesterday (17JUL10). The wife and I watched it from beginning to end in one sitting. I have so wanted to see this series, again. Thank you, again for you efforts. The quality is good! At least as good as what we got on TV in the '70's. I have told folks, that even if you can save a buck or two on E-Bay, they should order from you as a reward for you efforts.

Again, this vet (and his bride) say, Thank You!

Bud said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bud said...

Received my copy today. Had a chance to watch few minutes. The quality is great. I'm looking forward to watching the whole thing. The book was extremely popular with military people and one of the sports was determining the Damons and Massengales in the Pentagon.

L.H said...

I received my copy on 7/21
For those who need to know
Disc one is the red one as the miniseries start off in 1942 and then flash's back before the USA join WW1. Been so long I forgot.
Thanks Tom for all your hard work in getting this released.

L Haras

FlynnS said...

Well I can’t say or thank Tom enough for his efforts to get this soon to be “CLASSIC” released on DVD. It was also a pleasure to be a part of the letter effort supporting this action.
Once I received my copy I was up well into the early morning having watched the whole thing. It brought back many memories of having to wait each week for the next episode. OAE was one of the early miniseries entries along with Captains and Kings. But I was a happy camper watching this which brought back memories of scenes I remembered and some forgotten.
To Tom and all the other friends and supporters of OAE…….bout time this came to DVD and so very happy it did.
Thanks Tom!!!!!! ;-)

Flynn

Unknown said...

Thank you for your amazing effort to have Once an Eagle released on DVD. I haven't seen it in 34 years and can't wait for mine to arrive.
Richard Michaels
Director
Once an Eagle

Bill Driscoll said...

Tom, thanks for your efforts to bring this outstanding mini-series out of the archives. I read the book when it came out, but only saw about half of the series when I was inducted into the Army back in Dec 1976. I don't know what it's like today, but we didn't get to watch TV back then in Basic and AIT so I missed the second half. I wrote three letters to Universal over the past 30 years asking how they could reproduce a lot of insignificant pieces while burying this gem, but I never received a reply. Thanks for the "Can-Do" attitude accomplishing this mission! I ordered it today and can't wait to see it from start to finish.

Catherine70 said...

Congratulations, Tom!
I enjoyed reading the interviews.
I agree with you on what the current situation is for your country.
Unfortunately, it's the same here in France and Europe as a whole.
I'm the proud owner of the 1968 HOLT RINEHART & WINSTON hardcover edition of OAE. My father purchased it while we were living in West Africa.
I'll order a copy of the miniseries as soon as I'm able to buy a "multizone" DVD reader.
OAE is actually the second war novel I read; the first was The Naked And The Dead, and, meaning no disrespect to Mr Mailer, I much preferred OAE. I read OAE about every year, and I still enjoy it. I'll enjoy watching the miniseries when I get it, no doubt. We French people owe you Americans a huge debt for coming over and helping us twice in WW I and II. So many of your soldiers lost their lives in Europe sort of on our behalf, and for me OAE is, apart from being a great novel, a poignant testimony to that.I wish more French people would keep remembering it. The British do.

Keep on the good work!!

Edwards' Family said...

Thanks for the hard work to bring this to everyone. As you will read in my next comment below (total is too long), you'll get that I understand how hard it can be to get hold of that series. 14 years ago, after 20 years of wanting and 5 years of concerted effort, I finally got a licensed copy, but the restrictions they placed on me for its use really limited it to professional development for Army officers. Now, maybe the miniseries coming out will open up the book to a wider audience. The book is the important story. More than just military officers ought to be reading it. But, I did get to talk to Sam Elliott on the phone for a couple minutes while searching for the series!! Thanks again.

Edwards' Family said...

------

originally posted 7 JAN 2010


Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 7:33 PM
Subject: Thoughts about the miniseries.

Sir,

I have an original copy of it on VHS, straight from the producer. This is not a pirated copy from SE Asia, and it was not an easy thing to get, but I managed to get it for Officer Professional Development back in my brigade when I was a squadron commander in 1996. It is on seven VHS tapes.

I never saw it when it first came out (in Korea when it was first out and in the field for a month stateside when it was replayed a couple years later), but I re-read the book every time I was promoted or every two years since 1974, when my Tac Officer at West Point recommended it to me. Before Mrs. Myrer turned the rights over to the Army War College Foundation, the book was out of print for over 20 years. I always searched for used copies of it, going from antique bookstore to store. I passed them out to Army youngsters I was working with, and to any NCO or officer I had to discipline. I believe I am down to only 7 copies now, but they are very easy to get these days. I also made it required reading in the Historical Leadership elective I taught at the Army Command and General Staff College, and we spent the last session of the course discussing it, and how it related to the real life heroes/military commanders we had studied in the course. To the last two classes I taught the course to, the hero of the book was Tommie Damon, not Sam. Courtney was still the anti-hero, but Sam was not their hero. He was not enough focused on a well-rounded career and his family, etc., for the new breed. I knew it was time for me to retire!

The book is excellent, and about as good as they get. At each rank, I understood something completely different. About the characters and the story.

The mini-series is a soap opera, and completely changes the ended and who wins. In the book, Sam gives in after Palladium and covers Courtney’s ass, for the sake of the men. They also go on to Khotiane, and Courtney has Sam killed in the bombing (for counterdicting his desires to expand the war), while delaying the departure of the visiting crowd long enough to get it over with before they arrive at Sam’s locale. In the soap opera, the story ends with Palladium and Sam is going to take Courtney down. Completely different.

Education-wise, the book is great, but I am not so sure the mini-series is a good thing to have out there, especially for mentoring. It must be accompanied with a disclaimer that the Soldiers and Marines need to read the book to gain the insights. Today’s generation might watch the film and never make it to the book and they get a completely different story.

Interestingly enough, even though Marine generals love the book, and GEN Krulak always mentions it in his lectures and writings, most junior Marine field grades, don’t look past the parochialism of its Army focus. The sister service officers at CGSC, from the Air Force, Navy, and Marines, always concentrated on the less-than-flattering utterances of the characters about their services (Army Air Corps, of course), and miss the point of the leadership lessons. As they get older and wiser and move up in rank, I found that they changed their understanding, much as I mentioned above. There is something different in that old Marine’s writing, for whoever you are and whenever you read this work.

Put the disclaimer there, and go ahead and get the mini-series. But, it isn’t the same thing. I do love Sam Elliott in the role though!!

Clay Edwards
COL, US Army (ret)

Edwards' Family said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
mark hertling said...

Tom
Thanks so much for your work on this project. I have provided copies of the book throughout my career to the best officers (as a mentor once did for me in 1980), and recently one of those proteges wrote to tell me of the availability of the miniseries.

I've ordered three of them...one for me, and one each for our two sons who are also Soldiers and who just returned from Iraq.

Mark Hertling
LTG, US Army

Jennifer said...

Its really interesting story for Ellie life. above story now published on movie. Its fantastic screen play and directions. clarity is very good.

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