On July 20, 1966, U.S. Air Force Col. Norm McDaniel was shot down in North Vietnam. For a year and a half, his wife and two children had no idea if he was alive or dead. He was held as a prisoner of war for 2,399 days before he finally came home. Now, the story of his strength and perseverance—and that of his family, who never gave up hope—will be told in the powerful new film “Love Brought Me Home.”
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“The North Vietnamese wanted to break us. They wanted to take away our hope. But the one thing they could never take away from us was our faith,” Colonel McDaniel shared in the film announcement.
Hearing the sound of his voice is like being in the presence of calm wisdom; this is a man who understands perspective, having survived one of the worst experiences imaginable.
Watch the moving announcement for yourself:
Love Brought Me Home- Film about endurance, fear, faith, and the quiet cost of survival.
I had the chance to interview Col. McDaniel as well as Writer and Executive Producer Cornelius Muller about their upcoming feature film, which will unfold in parallel timelines to shift between the POW camp and the emotional front lines at home.
“Everyone, every mortal human being has a story,” Col. McDaniel told me. “And as a believer in God through Jesus Christ, we have not only a responsibility, but usually a desire, to share with others, both Christians and non-Christians. And so, my experience in the prison camp in North Vietnam made me very motivated to share that experience to help others to get through the challenges of this human life.”
For Muller, the choice to include both storylines—those of Col. McDaniel and his family—was both to bring an underserved perspective to traditional war films. He didn’t want to focus only on the harrowing experiences of combat because veterans are not the only ones who suffer during wartime.
Loved ones back home live an entirely different kind of hell. Separation during even a safe deployment or TDY is stressful and emotionally taxing; add in danger, or, in this family’s case, over six and a half years of pain, uncertainty, and fear, and the price of global conflicts rises to an immeasurable cost.
“Every story has its challenges,” Muller shared with me. “The first challenge was how to create a movie that centers around a war while not having it be political or the same type of war film most audiences are accustomed to viewing. Col. McDaniel’s story is so rich and vibrant—what could I dissect from those years to make it captivating and emotional (while adding some true comical relief despite the heavy subject matter) and, more importantly, finishing the film with a redemptive nature?”
The north star always came back to Col. McDaniel’s faith, and that of his family.
“For every day I was gone, my family was fighting their own battle,” said Col. McDaniel in the film’s official press release. “The world sees survival in captivity. This film shows the endurance of those who had to keep living without answers.”
Before Col. McDaniel left for Vietnam, he and his wife Jean Carol had only just celebrated their daughter Crystal’s first birthday. “She was only one year old in 1966,” Col. McDaniel reflected. “And when I returned in 1973, we celebrated her eighth birthday. That equals seven years of her life and development without a father being present.”
His son Christopher (“we call him Randy”) was only four years old. “He knew a little about me because when he was two or three years old and I was stationed at Travis Air Force Base near Fairfield, California, flying in B52G aircraft, I would be at home cutting the lawn and he would have his little toy lawn mower running around behind me helping me to cut the grass. When I came home, he had grown from four to eleven.
Those seven years of his life, Crystal’s life, and Carol’s life involved a lot with them individually and interacting with each other as a family and interacting with the rest of the country and the world. This movie is highlighting a lot of that interaction. Also, I am so thankful that this movie emphasizes the whole family instead of just the military member who was a prisoner of war,” shared Col. McDaniel.
Those lost years are inconceivable—and the truth is, so many service members sacrifice special moments with their loved ones when wearing the uniform. “Love Brought Me Home” will give them a voice.
For both Col. McDaniel and for Muller, this is more than just a film. It is a project that carries with it an important message, or gift, if you will, to audiences.
“My hope for this film and this production is that it will be widely disseminated and widely viewed, and most of all that it will help some of our fellow brother and sister human beings who are struggling and dealing with the challenges of life to see, through my and my family’s experience, how they too can either deal with very serious problems and challenges that they face, or become stronger in their faith and help others to do the same,” shared Col. McDaniel.
He wants others to feel hope in dark times, to find their strength when they think they have nothing left to give, and to connect with one another. It is remarkable to witness how he has been able to transfigure the darkest and most painful years of his life into an inspirational offering to others.
In 1999, the colonel spoke at the Defense Systems Management College at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, where he was a professor of systems acquisition management. There, he shared some of his experiences while he was in captivity.
“[The North Vietnamese would] drag you out, beat you, slap you, kick you, then throw you back onto the concrete slab in the dark cell,” he said. “You’d lie there, not knowing if it’s day or night, and doze off. You might think you were sleeping for two or three hours when you only slept for 20 minutes. Then they’d drag you back for another round of torture and interrogation.”
Sometimes the interrogators would tie his wrists and ankles tight enough to restrict blood flow and induce swelling and excruciating pain. Sometimes they’d tie his hands and feet together behind his back, then slip a meat hook into the knots and hang him in the air. Other times, he said, they’d beat him with rubber straps and punch and kick him mercilessly. They would starve them or feed them rotten food. Most of the prisoners came home emaciated. The trauma and torture goes on and on.
“I hope audiences realize how so many people take for granted the freedoms and the price people pay for us to live here in the United States of America,” Muller told me. “I also want them to know who the real heroes of the world are versus the ones the media has us obsess over. Their contributions pale in comparison to people like the Colonel. Meeting him, I learned the true value of freedom. It comes with a tremendous cost whether you believe in war or not.”
He added a message of gratitude for our military community specifically: “I would like to express my sincere gratitude for every man and woman that has put on the uniform to serve this great country we are blessed to have been born in. I would also like to thank the faithful supporters of our film.”
For unwavering courage and leadership under unimaginable conditions as a prisoner of war, Col. McDaniel was awarded the Air Force Silver Star for valor. He also earned three Legions of Merit, a Bronze Star with the “V” device, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Purple Heart, and the Vietnam Service Medal with 14 bronze stars.
Pre-production for “Love Brought Me Home” is currently underway, including script development and early production planning. The filmmakers are seeking strategic partners and investors interested in supporting a powerful, character-driven American story with national resonance.
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