With gratefulness to the Lord for opportunities and mercies far too numerous to detail in this blog, the Vision Forum Faith of Our Fathers expedition film crew prepares tonight to wrap the second of three stages of shooting. Our journey thus far has brought us from Fredericksburg, Texas to Japan to Guam to Iwo Jima and back to Guam.

We are simply overwhelmed by the quality and quantity of material the Lord has providentially provided for this film dedicated to honoring America’s heroic fathers, and communicating multi-generational duties and blessings in the context of the defining battle in the Pacific of the World War II era. The images included in this blog will give you an on-location peek at our film sets.

Colonel Bill Henderson (Fifth Marines, 28th Division, Green Beach, D-Day Iwo Jima) sits with his son and grandsons just yards away from the site where sixty years ago he first hit the beaches of Iwo Jima (Suribachi is in the background). He has never desired to come back to the location where he saw such human suffering and death, but on this emotionally exhausting day he opens up “for the sake of Christ” so that the generations after him will never, ever forget what God has done.

Many thanks to the United States Marines who made this film shoot possible through their tireless efforts to transport us around the island and help those less ambulatory veterans to locations. Here, the Marines prepare to carry Colonel Henderson to an old Japanese pill machine gun bunker.

The above shoot took place on Guam at the site of the Battle of Guam. American troops recaptured the island from the Japanese who had beheaded and crucified many thousands, including women and children and established forced labor camps for the local population. Several of the 87 Iwo Jima veterans with whom we were traveling participated in the battle on Guam. Tears and emotion ran high as these men remembered the site where they faced Japanese bonsai charges and lost many dear friends.

Cinematographer, Geoff Botkin sets up a camera inside a moving eight ton military truck as we travel around Iwo.

Back in Guam we interview numerous veterans. Above is an image of me interviewing Marine veteran Tom Mueller who turned eighty the day we visited Iwo. He celebrated his twentieth birthday (60 years ago) being incessantly shelled and shot at by Japanese defenders.