- B
Mysterious clues in a forbidden green box launch a son’s discovery of a father he never knew – a WWII pilot whose love and courage are woven with iconic historic events. Meet a hero; remember a time we must not forget.
High in the Austrian Alps lie the remains of a WWII bomber, shot down in a major air battle on August 3, 1944. Our film Crew has to get there for the 75th anniversary of that fateful event - an important piece of the documentary, The Green Box: At the Heart of a Purple Heart.
***UPDATE: A portion of all donations 5/24/19- 6/30/19 will be given to help veterans fight PTSD through Wounded Warrior Care Network.***
To visualize key parts of the documentary, we need $70,000 for a two week shoot in Austria to film the 75th anniversary and commemoration of the air battle that brought down eight B-24’s and eight German fighter planes, and to film re-enactments at the infamous POW camp Stalag Luft III. Dream Catcher Films Entertainment is teaming up with author Jim Kurtz to tell the story of his father and the crew of the B-24 Liberator “Sugar Baby.” Here’s more about the story...
It was a hot summer day when eight-year-old Jim Kurtz snuck into the attic of his family home and discovered a treasure trove that would catapult him into a world of discovery about a man he never knew – his father. His dad, Second Lieutenant Robert Kurtz, was co-pilot of the B-24 Liberator named “Sugar Baby” and was shot down over Austria in August of 1944. Robert Kurtz survived the plane crash and spent time in three POW camps, coming home in 1945 to a young wife and one son. His fourth son, Jim Kurtz, was born four years later, but Robert Kurtz died of a massive heart attack, before the two-year-old Jim got to know him. This film is a moving documentary that recounts and illuminates that story. It crosses genres, and through the prism of one man and his family illuminates the trials and costs of war, exploring what life was like for a family with a loved one in combat during WWII.
When young Jim Kurtz found a green box in the attic with medals, papers and even a baby slipper, he didn’t understand what any of these items meant to his mother, his father and his future. It would take him more than fifty years to learn essential details about this devoted parent, husband… and unexpected hero. Jim Kurtz authored THE GREEN BOX, a book about his father’s legacy and Jim’s search to know him. The resulting narrative is a unique blend of memoir and biography. Jim Kurtz weaves together his search with the emerging picture of his father’s life, vividly telling a story that is war chronicle, romance, mystery and personal reflection.
This film will relate the details of what Jim has learned as he travels to the site of his father’s plane crash, meets the German pilot who shot down “Sugar Baby,” and attends the commemoration in the village of Ehrwald, Austria. It was here on August 3rd, 1944 that eight US bombers and eight German fighters fell from the sky. Jim meets members of his dad’s flight crew who were with him on that fateful day; he talks to family members of some who are no longer alive but who share letters that shine a light on what families back in the U.S. were feeling when they heard their loved ones were missing in action. When Jim was growing up, his mother didn’t talk about her husband’s experience in the war, and it would be many years before Jim learned his father was awarded a purple heart and an air medal.
At the heart of a Purple Heart is courage and pain. Over a million purple hearts were awarded in WWII – but many of those who returned home to victory parades, died within a decade of physical or emotional results of combat...veterans like Robert Kurtz. Soldiers are not the only veterans of war, their families are as well. How we treated combatants, (friends and foes) and their families in the past MUST be told so that in the present we can learn how to heal the costs of war more compassionately and effectively. The heroics of war can never be allowed to mask the pain…at the heart of purple hearts.
As the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII approaches, it seems essential to gather as many stories as possible about the people who risked so much. Time is running out to hear them first hand, and even second hand is becoming rare; “lest we forget” is one of the primary reasons for telling the stories of the past. Even in the midst of heroic epics, Robert and Jim Kurtz’s story stands out, in part because it reveals how much courage and humanity exist in the ordinary people around us. But it also reveals that it is never too late: never too late to learn more about our families or our history, and never too late to get to know people we love. Our film will tell that story in its excitement and beauty, and celebrate the lives of the “greatest generation” through the life of one of its ‘ordinary’ heroes.
YOUR DOLLARS AT WORK
Since we need to be in Austria this August, we really need your support in the next few months. Any donation amount is appreciated but we have incentives for donations over $125 like baseball caps, screening tickets, t-shirts, even your name in the credits for donations over $500 and autographed books for all $1000+ contributions. These incentives can be found on this webpage where you can also make tax deductible donations (go fund me donations are not tax deductible):
https://filmmakerscollab.networkforgood.com/projects/51714-filmmakers-collaborative-the-green-box
We will send updates on our progress so you may follow along as our story develops.
Please consider sharing our website with veterans, families of vets, and your friends. https://www.greenboxfilm.com/
We know it will take a lot of people’s help to reach our goal, but we are committed to the cause!
June is National PTSD Awareness Month - donate to our film before 6/30 and a portion of all film contributions will be donated to Wounded Warrior Project Care Network!!
WHY IS THE FILM IMPORTANT?
Robert and Jim Kurtzs’ story links an iconic moment in history, WWII, with the present. People tend to think of the ‘big picture moments” of the past often failing to see three things:1) they are all made up of small, outwardly less relevant stories, of the individual people involved. 2) The past affects the present, not just in national or global terms, but in the families. 3) The stories of those individuals and their families help us to better remember and understand the archetypal events in human history… and we have to remember them, to encourage acts of courage and value, and also to learn to not repeat the mistakes of the past.
With your help we’ll be able to tell this story to a wide, multi generational audience. When completed, we plan to release it with a major broadcaster, on the web, and possibly in theaters that screen powerful documentaries. Additionally, we’d like to see it used in history classrooms. Why? Because societies are defined and inspired by the stories people hear and tell. We learn from those of the past and present, and we hand on those stories as legacies to the future. Robert Kurtz’s story, that of those who were with him, and those survived him, is worthy of our attention and worth passing on.
High in the Austrian Alps lie the remains of a WWII bomber, shot down in a major air battle on August 3, 1944. Our film Crew has to get there for the 75th anniversary of that fateful event - an important piece of the documentary, The Green Box: At the Heart of a Purple Heart.
***UPDATE: A portion of all donations 5/24/19- 6/30/19 will be given to help veterans fight PTSD through Wounded Warrior Care Network.***
To visualize key parts of the documentary, we need $70,000 for a two week shoot in Austria to film the 75th anniversary and commemoration of the air battle that brought down eight B-24’s and eight German fighter planes, and to film re-enactments at the infamous POW camp Stalag Luft III. Dream Catcher Films Entertainment is teaming up with author Jim Kurtz to tell the story of his father and the crew of the B-24 Liberator “Sugar Baby.” Here’s more about the story...
It was a hot summer day when eight-year-old Jim Kurtz snuck into the attic of his family home and discovered a treasure trove that would catapult him into a world of discovery about a man he never knew – his father. His dad, Second Lieutenant Robert Kurtz, was co-pilot of the B-24 Liberator named “Sugar Baby” and was shot down over Austria in August of 1944. Robert Kurtz survived the plane crash and spent time in three POW camps, coming home in 1945 to a young wife and one son. His fourth son, Jim Kurtz, was born four years later, but Robert Kurtz died of a massive heart attack, before the two-year-old Jim got to know him. This film is a moving documentary that recounts and illuminates that story. It crosses genres, and through the prism of one man and his family illuminates the trials and costs of war, exploring what life was like for a family with a loved one in combat during WWII.
When young Jim Kurtz found a green box in the attic with medals, papers and even a baby slipper, he didn’t understand what any of these items meant to his mother, his father and his future. It would take him more than fifty years to learn essential details about this devoted parent, husband… and unexpected hero. Jim Kurtz authored THE GREEN BOX, a book about his father’s legacy and Jim’s search to know him. The resulting narrative is a unique blend of memoir and biography. Jim Kurtz weaves together his search with the emerging picture of his father’s life, vividly telling a story that is war chronicle, romance, mystery and personal reflection.
This film will relate the details of what Jim has learned as he travels to the site of his father’s plane crash, meets the German pilot who shot down “Sugar Baby,” and attends the commemoration in the village of Ehrwald, Austria. It was here on August 3rd, 1944 that eight US bombers and eight German fighters fell from the sky. Jim meets members of his dad’s flight crew who were with him on that fateful day; he talks to family members of some who are no longer alive but who share letters that shine a light on what families back in the U.S. were feeling when they heard their loved ones were missing in action. When Jim was growing up, his mother didn’t talk about her husband’s experience in the war, and it would be many years before Jim learned his father was awarded a purple heart and an air medal.
At the heart of a Purple Heart is courage and pain. Over a million purple hearts were awarded in WWII – but many of those who returned home to victory parades, died within a decade of physical or emotional results of combat...veterans like Robert Kurtz. Soldiers are not the only veterans of war, their families are as well. How we treated combatants, (friends and foes) and their families in the past MUST be told so that in the present we can learn how to heal the costs of war more compassionately and effectively. The heroics of war can never be allowed to mask the pain…at the heart of purple hearts.
As the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII approaches, it seems essential to gather as many stories as possible about the people who risked so much. Time is running out to hear them first hand, and even second hand is becoming rare; “lest we forget” is one of the primary reasons for telling the stories of the past. Even in the midst of heroic epics, Robert and Jim Kurtz’s story stands out, in part because it reveals how much courage and humanity exist in the ordinary people around us. But it also reveals that it is never too late: never too late to learn more about our families or our history, and never too late to get to know people we love. Our film will tell that story in its excitement and beauty, and celebrate the lives of the “greatest generation” through the life of one of its ‘ordinary’ heroes.
YOUR DOLLARS AT WORK
Since we need to be in Austria this August, we really need your support in the next few months. Any donation amount is appreciated but we have incentives for donations over $125 like baseball caps, screening tickets, t-shirts, even your name in the credits for donations over $500 and autographed books for all $1000+ contributions. These incentives can be found on this webpage where you can also make tax deductible donations (go fund me donations are not tax deductible):
https://filmmakerscollab.networkforgood.com/projects/51714-filmmakers-collaborative-the-green-box
We will send updates on our progress so you may follow along as our story develops.
Please consider sharing our website with veterans, families of vets, and your friends. https://www.greenboxfilm.com/
We know it will take a lot of people’s help to reach our goal, but we are committed to the cause!
June is National PTSD Awareness Month - donate to our film before 6/30 and a portion of all film contributions will be donated to Wounded Warrior Project Care Network!!
WHY IS THE FILM IMPORTANT?
Robert and Jim Kurtzs’ story links an iconic moment in history, WWII, with the present. People tend to think of the ‘big picture moments” of the past often failing to see three things:1) they are all made up of small, outwardly less relevant stories, of the individual people involved. 2) The past affects the present, not just in national or global terms, but in the families. 3) The stories of those individuals and their families help us to better remember and understand the archetypal events in human history… and we have to remember them, to encourage acts of courage and value, and also to learn to not repeat the mistakes of the past.
With your help we’ll be able to tell this story to a wide, multi generational audience. When completed, we plan to release it with a major broadcaster, on the web, and possibly in theaters that screen powerful documentaries. Additionally, we’d like to see it used in history classrooms. Why? Because societies are defined and inspired by the stories people hear and tell. We learn from those of the past and present, and we hand on those stories as legacies to the future. Robert Kurtz’s story, that of those who were with him, and those survived him, is worthy of our attention and worth passing on.