Nobody's Heroes

Civil War General William Sherman said, “war is hell”. For this country’s 18 year old males from 1964 to 1970 it was, “War? No Way in hell!” Their lives were straight jacketed by the then compulsory military draft which funneled them right to the hellish disaster of the Vietnam War.

NOBODY’S HEROES navigates the complex landscape of the 1960s, skillfully blending the historical backdrops of the Vietnam War, civil rights movement and antiwar protests with a suspenseful tale of friendship and action as the story follows a group of friends and allies caught in a web of conflict, intertwining with their individual challenges.

The audience enters the story as it teases the plot in the opening scenes. Billy Lyons has been apprehended by the FBI while his brother, Mike, and Roger Pitt, are on the run. What are these characters involved in and why does the FBI pursue them? This sets the stage for a gripping exploration of friendship, life in the 1960s and deep personal struggles.

It features adept characterizations of each central character: Billy, Paul, Jeff, George, Roger but most of all Mike Lyons. At the outset he is a typical teenager, brimming with energy and enthusiasm. However, as the plot unfolds, Mike’s journey through the Marines and the harsh, unrelenting realities of war forces him to evolve into a mature and introspective individual.

He’s a man haunted by witnessing the deaths of comrades in battle. Most of all, the memory of a Vietcong ambush that causes civilian casualties including his killing a 12-year-old girl.

Wounded during the Tet Offensive, he’s sent home. Instead of providing possible emotional relief, his PTSD is ramped up by the death of his best friend, Paul Battle, from a bad LSD trip. This is the incident that set’s the plot into high gear. Roger Pitt, instrumental in organizing the march and riot at the Pentagon in Fall 1967, sneaks back into the country from exile in Canada to attend Paul’s funeral.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Mike greets him enthusiastically. His combat experiences and the shifting popular mood against the war convinces him it’s already lost.

The FBI discovers Roger’s return and assigns Special Agent Frank Bonner to apprehend him. We’ll discover this is a potentially fatal choice because Bonner’s a quietly tortured man, grieving for his son killed in Vietnam. He views Roger’s apprehension as personal retribution.

Bonner’s first stop is Mike, confident a decorated Marine will gladly hand over a traitor. Mike adamantly refuses. Instead, he decides to return Roger to Canada.

Bonner, desperate to locate Roger, commits a strategic blunder. He attempts to extract information from Billy, Jeff and George through threats and intimidation. This unites them behind Mike.

Using the cover of a faux civil rights demonstration, organized and staged by civil rights firebrands and antiwar allies, Calvin and Gerard, Mike and his crew smuggle Roger out of town despite the FBI following their every move. Now given brief breathing room, Mike uses Jeff and George as decoys while he, Roger and Billy head north up 95.

Frank Bonner did not become a top FBI agent by being repeatedly outmanueved by amateurs. He and his team quickly tracks them to NYC. But it takes a thrilling car chase through mid-town Manhattan for them to escape an FBI trap.

Now, it’s an all out race to the border with Bonner closing the gap hour by hour. Then, in a dark, moonless night in a small Vermont village, mere yards from the border, the story reaches a thrilling climax as Mike Lyons and Frank Bonner square off in a life or death confrontation that shockingly reveals the torment and guilt Frank Bonner carries. Guilt that implicates him as an active yet unwitting accomplice in his son’s combat death.