94-Year-Old WWII Veteran Ignored By Two U.S. Senators and U.S. Philippine Ambassador

LOS ANGELES - July 2, 2014 - PRLog -- Upon return from his third film mission, WWII Vet Leon Cooper reflects on his tumultuous journey:

I’m a WWII veteran of three years’ service in the Pacific during my four years of Naval service. I was a landing craft officer, landing assault troops on Japanese island strongholds. Of my six battles, one was the Liberation of the Philippines. I went to the Philippines this past June 1 to film “Return to the Philippines-the Leon Cooper Story,” the sequel to “Return to Tarawa-the Leon Cooper Story,” both documentaries tracking the recovery of the remains of WWII men who died during battles in Europe and in the Pacific (80,000) who lie where they fell, in unmarked graves, and are listed as “missing-in-action.” (MIA). Of the 14,000 men killed during the Liberation of the Philippines, 7,000 are listed as MIA. I  wanted to find out why there were still so many, and what had been doing to recover the remains of these honored dead—under a recent agreement signed by our government and the Philippines government to investigate and recover these remains. Upon my arrival in Manila, I learned that the JPAC representative in Luzon, Major Ulmer, had been told he wasn’t authorized to talk to me. Further,  I have good reason for believing that the Ambassador to the Philippines was urged by JPAC to refuse to talk to me—so the Ambassador refused to meet me during the two weeks I was in the Philippines—with some concern for my health and safety, I should add, as expressed by my children. (I’m 94 years old).  His press agent told me that the Ambassador “wasn’t available”--no other explanation. (Why, otherwise, would the Ambassador refuse to meet a veteran who took part in The Philippines War of Liberation).

Besides reports about the recently uncovered JPAC “fake” burials, this strange JPAC behavior during my recent visit to the Philippines also warrants investigation. I hope to hear from you Senator. As chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee, I know you want to get more information about my  treatment by  JPAC during my Philippines visit. I’ll be glad to come to Washington to meet with  you and your Committee.

Leon Cooper
310-457-2832
leoncooper@verizon.net

Vanilla Fire Productions is in post-production for its 5th feature documentary called, "Return to the Philippines: The Leon Cooper Sequel." Filmmakers Steven C. Barber and Matthew Hausle returned home from the South Pacific with 94 year old WWII Veteran Leon Cooper who was in 6 battles in WWII as a Higgins Boat Commander ferrying Marines into the beaches for battle.

Vanilla Fire and Leon Cooper were welcomed home at a Gary Sinise Foundation event in West Los Angeles along with legendary actor/producer/director Clint Eastwood. Photos can been seen at the Facebook via the website:
http://vanillafire.weebly.com/return-to-the-philippines.html

Vanilla Fire Productions has partnered with Mighty Dog Productions for this amazing project. Mighty Dog is headed by Scott Minerd and Eloy Mendez, and their belief in this project and patriotism is unprecedented! "We are exited to be partnering Mighty Dog," says filmmaker Steven C. Barber "And we are looking forward to developing more film projects in the near future." Vanilla Fire has three more military films in pre-production. Mr. Barber has spoken to Gary Sinise, Pierce Brosnan and Ed Harris to attach as narrators.

Vanilla Fire released photos of WWII Vet Leon Cooper and his new movie poster this Memorial Day and Vanilla Fire creator Tamara Henry is the VP of Social Media for Vanilla Fire and is also serving as a producer on this film.

Mr. Cooper has been on a mission for more than a decade to shine the light on the 88,000 MIAs from WWII that never made it back from battle.

http://www.ReturnToTarawa.com was the first in this series of award winning films released in 2008 to a worldwide audience on the Discovery's Military Channel. Return To Tarawa, narrated by Ed Harris, received much media publicity including Larry King Live and Katie Couric and ABC World News. The film triggered Congress to pass legislation, sending Vanilla Fire back for a Repatriation Ceremony by JPAC. This film Until They Are Home was narrated by Kelsey Grammer and placed on the 2012 Oscar Shortlist for the 85th Academy Awards.

Vanilla Fire's second film of the series, http://www.UntilTheyAreHome.com utilizes Mr. Coopers story of his landing at the bloody beaches of Tarawa and follows the brave men of JPAC as they go back to Tarawa on a 60 day mission to locate, recover and repatriate US Marines from WW 2. The film was featured at the Sundance Film Festival and also made the Oscar short list in 2011. The legendary actor Kelsey grammar lends his voice for narration and the film is now enjoying a world wide audience in 41 countries on NETFLIX, AMAZON PRIME, HULU, VUDU, ROKU, GAIAM, MILITARY.COM and iTunes and other digital platforms.

Vanilla Fire has now attached American Actor Lou Diamond Phillips as narrator of this noble project to follow in the footsteps of Dan Aykroyd, Ed Harris, Kelsey Grammer and John Savage. Mr. Phillips was born on a military base in the Philippines to an American Naval Officer and has enjoyed a very successful run on the Military Channel with "An Officer And A Movie." Phillips has been an outspoken advocate of the Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 2006, and its legislation to provide the same benefits to Filipino WWII veterans who served with the United States as has been available to other U.S. World War II veterans. Phillips is very close to the Native American community. In 1990, he was adopted by the Sioux tribe, although he is Cherokee by blood. "Star Keeper" is his Sioux name.

Vanilla Fire Creator and Producer Tamara Henry is one quarter Cherokee http://tamarahenry.weebly.com/documentary.html

Vanilla Fire Productions is also premiering The Carrier narrated by John Savage on SnagFilms this Memorial Day. The Carrier is the 4th movie from filmmakers Barber and Hausle, where they took their cameras out onto the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson on 11/11/11 to tell the story of the men and women of the US Navy aboard the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) from 9/11 to Haiti to Terrorist Osama bin Laden to 11/11/11.

The back drop for The Carrier was the first basket ball on game on an active nuclear aircraft carrier, where Michigan State and North Carolina squared off to reward and rejuvenate US Navy, on the greenest aircraft carrier in America. The President and First Lady, and Magic Johnson were on board and it aired on ESPN, Extra (NBC) and FOX Los Angeles. www.CarrierClassicMovie.com

The release date for Return To The Philippines is Veterans Day 2014.

Executive Producers Scott Minerd and Eloy Mendez with Producers Tim Shelton, Tamara Henry and Steven C. Barber. A Vanillla Fire Film. Directed by Matthew Hausle.

WWW.RETURNTOTHEPHILIPPINES.COM

http://vanillafire.weebly.com/return-to-the-philippines.html

WWW.VANILLAFIRE.COM