Blackie's Gang
The Documentary
Captain John “Blackie” Porter was an accomplished pilot and served in the USAAF and was stationed in Indochina during WW II.
August 2, 1943, Eric Sevareid - the esteemed CBS war correspondent - was going to Burma (now Myanmar) to report on the war. The C-46 Commando he was on developed engine trouble and crashed with
16 passengers and crew.
Everyone except the pilot was able to parachute out, and only the radioman, Walter Oswalt, was badly injured. Captain John Porter was sent to locate the crash site and crew. He dropped in supplies: radio equipment, maps, blankets, knives, guns, and medicine. On day 3 - Sevareid’s group noticed the parachuted bales had arms and legs! Blackie had dropped in a flight surgeon and two assistants. It took the group 30 days to make it out of the jungle.
Top brass were so impressed with the mission, Capt. Porter was appointed to lead the first-ever Air Search and Recovery Unit in Indochina and was credited with rescuing more than 120 military personnel from more than 50 crash sites in and around the Himalayas during World War II. Despite Oswalt’s injuries - and against the advice of the flight surgeon - he did not return home after surviving the crash and his injuries. Instead - he joined Blackie’s Gang and was on the final,
fatal flight Dec. 10, 1943.
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Michaela Miller - On A Mission
On A Mission, LLC was founded by Michaela Miller an Emmy award winning video producer. Michaela, a former TV news Producer, has produced hundreds of documentaries in her career with Video Law Services, Inc., a company she founded in 1985. VLS is recognized throughout the country as one of the top forensic video production firms.
Clayton Kuhles - MIA Recoveries
MIA Recoveries, Inc. is dedicated to locating and recovering US airmen lost in the China-Burma-India theater during WW II. Clayton Kuhles has found and documented 22 US aircraft missing since the war thereby accounting for 193 US military personnel listed as MIA or KIA.