VMD-154 Goes To War
The Lost Movie of VMD-154
Where is the lost movie,
VMD-154 Goes To War
? It was made in the fall of 1943 on the island of Espiritu Santo. I had just returned from a New Zealand hospital where I'd been ill with jaundice. I was assigned (maybe by Galvin of the photo lab) to help John Armonia develop and splice together the movie film negative that had been shot by different people--some aerial movies--some around camp--some on the flight line--some of the places that had been bombed,etc. I remembered it showed the laundry and a little comedy--Shane running out of the head with toilet paper rolls on a broom handle.
Armonia and I went aboard an aircraft carrier (I think it was the Enterprise) that was anchored in the harbor. The carrier had a movie printer like they used in Hollywood at the time. We used this printer to print our film. It took us two days so we stayed overnight on the carrier. We brought the exposed film back to our lab and developed it--spliced it together and made the movie. This was a full-length movie called
VMD-154 Goes To War.
It was shown at our theater one night--anyone could go to see it. But that is the last time I saw it. We've discussed this at previous reunions--wondering where the film might be. I don't remember who ran the projector that night (maybe Murphy, now deceased, may have helped run it.) It would be great if we could locate this film.
written by Samuel Mizer
"VMD-154 Newsletter" August 1996
I, too, would like to know what happened to the movie that was made at Camp Elrod,
VMD-154 Goes To War.
I remember part of it, as I helped Armonia with some of the filming, the day we had a barbecue of one of the island's native cows, and the Navy had just delivered a shipment of suds.
written by Alvin Perry
"VMD-154 Newsletter" November 1996
Kinston was the last confirmed location of this 35mm documentary film. After the war, squadron property was moved from Kinston to Cherry Point, NC; however, a careful search for the movie was unsuccessful. If anyone knows the location of this unique film, please contact the squadron at vmd154.reunion.assn@insightbb.com