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40-502: Dead Presidents is based partly on the real-life experiences of Haywood T. Kirkland (aka Ari S. Merretazon), whose true story was detailed in the book Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans by Wallace Terry . Certain characters from the film are based on real acquaintances of Kirkland, who served time in prison after committing robbery in facepaint . The film also is loosely based on several incidents involving

80-571: A Marine Corps fighter wing, received the SSM for his actions aboard USS  Franklin after the carrier was attacked by a Japanese dive bomber in March 1945. In the fall of 1944, President Roosevelt's close adviser Harry Hopkins , the U.S. Ambassador in Moscow W. Averell Harriman and a military attaché presented the SSM to Soviet Red Army artillery officer Alexei Voloshin, who was the first to cross

120-513: A prosthetic hand, is a pyromaniac who works as a postman at the James A. Farley Building , and Cleon, the squad's religious but homicidal staff sergeant , is now a devoted minister in Mount Vernon . After being laid off from his job at a butcher shop, on the verge of alcoholism , and suffering from heavily induced PTSD nightmares , Anthony finds himself unable to support Juanita (who

160-472: A heroin overdose . As Kirby and Anthony prepare to flee to Mexico, police raid the bar. Kirby tries to distract the officers to allow Anthony to flee, but it is to no avail, as multiple officers corner Anthony and arrest him. In court, Anthony's lawyer pleads for a fair sentence, noting that he served his country in the Marines and earned a Silver Star . Anthony also pleas for leniency, expressing remorse for

200-466: A million people. The disease can be treated with drugs, but in his case it was diagnosed too late. He died under treatment at a Fairfax, Virginia , hospital on May 29, 2003. He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Janice Terry ( née Jessup), and by their three children: Tai, Lisa, and David, and two grandchildren: Noah and Sophia. At the time of his death, Terry was working on Missing Pages: Black Journalists of Modern America: An Oral History . The book

240-474: A naval aviator and a naval flight officer/radar intercept officer who had achieved this distinction, were eventually awarded the Air Force Cross and Navy Cross, respectively, in addition to SSMs previously awarded for earlier aerial kills. The Silver Star Medal is a gold five-pointed star , 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (38 mm) in circumscribing diameter with a laurel wreath encircling rays from

280-500: A powerful drama." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called the film "both expected and surprising, familiar and yet somehow different. Made with fluid skill and a passion for storytelling, its tale of how the Vietnam War and American society affect a black Marine remains accessible while confounding expectations." Caryn James of The New York Times felt the film "takes on much more than it can handle." Comparing

320-599: Is drafted into the United States Army . Once in Vietnam, Curtis and his squad lose several fellow Marines during combat, and commit several atrocities of their own, such as executing enemy prisoners and beheading Viet Cong corpses for war trophies. When Anthony returns to the Bronx in 1973, he finds returning to "normal" life impossible. Skip is now an Agent Orange victim and heroin addict; Jose, forced to wear

360-514: Is having an affair with a pimp ) or his infant daughter. After an argument with Juanita, Anthony meets her sister, Delilah, who is now a member of the " Nat Turner Cadre", a militant Black power Marxist group. Anthony, Kirby, Skip, Jose, Delilah and Cleon devise a plan to rob an armored car making a stop at the Noble Street Federal Reserve Bank . The next day, the group strategically position themselves around

400-655: The A Shau Valley and on Hamburger Hill . He and New Republic correspondent Zalin Grant retrieved the bodies of four newsmen killed by the Viet Cong on May 5, 1968, during the Mini-Tet Offensive in Saigon, following directions from ambush survivor Frank Palmos and New Zealand military personnel. Terry's Time cover story, "The Negro in Vietnam", was written in 1967 and the book Bloods: An Oral History of

440-763: The Black Liberation Army , notably the Brink's armored truck robbery . In 1969, Anthony Curtis, a soon-to-be high school graduate in The Bronx , chooses to enlist in the United States Marine Corps rather than go to college. He deploys to Vietnam , leaving behind his middle-class family, his girlfriend Juanita, and small-time crook Kirby, who is like a second father. Anthony's close friend, Skip, later joins Curtis' Recon squad after dropping out of Hunter College . His other friend, Jose,

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480-568: The 1995 crime thriller Dead Presidents and the Spike Lee 's 2020 war drama Da 5 Bloods . Though primarily a journalist, he was also an ordained minister in the Church of the Disciples of Christ, and worked as a radio and television commentator, public lecturer, and advertising executive. He taught journalism at Howard University and The College of William & Mary , where he sat on

520-579: The 33rd Field Hospital at Anzio on 10 February 1944. Later that same year, Corporal Maggie Leones , a Filipino who later immigrated to the United States, received the medal for clandestine activities on Luzon ; as of 2016 , she is the only female Asian to receive a Silver Star. The next known servicewomen to receive the Silver Star were Army National Guard Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester in 2005, for gallantry during an insurgent ambush on

560-598: The Dnieper with his battery and was one of four junior Red Army officers who received the award. Three Army nurses that served in World War I were cited in 1919 and 1920 with Citation Stars for gallantry in attending to the wounded while under artillery fire in July 1918. In 2007, it was discovered that they had never been awarded their Citation Stars. The three nurses (Army nurses served without rank until 1920) were awarded

600-569: The Silver Star Medal are denoted by bronze or silver oak leaf clusters in the Army and Air Force and by gold or silver 5 ⁄ 16 inch stars in the Navy , Marine Corps , and Coast Guard . The Department of Defense does not keep extensive records for the Silver Star Medal. Independent groups estimate that between 100,000 and 150,000 SSMs have been awarded since the decoration

640-527: The Silver Star Medal posthumously: An unknown number of servicewomen received the award in World War II. Four Army nurses serving in Italy during the war— First Lieutenant Mary Roberts, Second Lieutenant Elaine Roe , Second Lieutenant Rita Virginia Rourke, and Second Lieutenant Ellen Ainsworth (posthumous)—became the first women recipients of the Silver Star, all cited for their bravery in evacuating

680-501: The Silver Star Medal was placed into law by an Act of Congress for the U.S. Navy on 7 August 1942, and an Act of Congress for the U.S. Army on 15 December 1942. The current statutory authorization for the medal is Title 10 of the United States Code , 10 U.S.C.   § 7276 for the U.S. Army, 10 U.S.C.   § 8294 for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, and 10 U.S.C.   § 9276 for

720-468: The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force. The U.S. Army awards the medal as the "Silver Star". The U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard award the medal as the "Silver Star Medal". Since 21 December 2016, the Department of Defense (DoD) refers to the decoration as the "Silver Star Medal". The Silver Star Medal is awarded for gallantry, so long as the action does not justify

760-453: The United States is not a belligerent party. The Silver Star Medal is awarded for singular acts of valor or heroism over a brief period, such as one or two days of a battle. Air Force pilots and combat systems officers and Navy/Marine Corps naval aviators and flight officers flying fighter aircraft, are often considered eligible to receive the Silver Star upon becoming an ace (i.e., having five or more confirmed aerial kills), which entails

800-463: The United States. The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the successor award to the " Citation Star " ( 3 ⁄ 16 silver star) which was established by an Act of Congress on 9 July 1918, during World War I . On 19 July 1932, the Secretary of War approved the conversion of the "Citation Star" to the SSM with the original "Citation Star" incorporated into the center of the medal. Authorization for

840-461: The Vietnam War by Black Veterans was published in June 1984. The New York Times wrote that "many of the individuals featured in [the book's] pages speak about their experiences with exceptional candor and passion; and in doing so, give the reader a visceral sense of what it was like, as a black man, to serve in Vietnam and what it was like to come back to 'the real world.'" Terry wrote and narrated

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880-495: The age of 19, becoming the youngest reporter hired by the paper. Three years later, he was hired by Time magazine . In 1967, Terry left for Vietnam, where he became the magazine's deputy bureau chief in Saigon and the first black war correspondent on permanent duty. During his two-year tour, he covered the Tet Offensive , flew scores of combat missions with American and South Vietnamese pilots, and joined assault troops in

920-728: The award of one of the next higher valor awards: the Distinguished Service Cross , the Navy Cross , the Air Force Cross , or the Coast Guard Cross . The gallantry displayed must have taken place while in action against an enemy of the United States, while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force, or while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which

960-665: The board of trustees. Terry was born in New York City and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana , where he was an editor of the Shortridge Daily Echo , one of the few high-school dailies in America. As a reporter for The Brown Daily Herald , he interviewed Orval Faubus , the outspoken segregationist governor of Arkansas, and gained national attention when a photograph of him shaking hands with Faubus hit

1000-678: The center and a 3 ⁄ 16 inch (4.8 mm) diameter silver star superimposed in the center. The pendant is suspended from a rectangular shaped metal loop with rounded corners. The reverse has the inscription FOR GALLANTRY IN ACTION . The ribbon is 1 + 3 ⁄ 8 inches (35 mm) wide and consists of the following stripes: 7 ⁄ 32 inch (5.6 mm) Old Glory red (center stripe); proceeding outward in pairs 7 ⁄ 32 inch (5.6 mm) white; 7 ⁄ 32 inch (5.6 mm) ultramarine blue; 3 ⁄ 64 inch (1.2 mm) white; and 3 ⁄ 32 inch (2.4 mm) ultramarine blue. Second and subsequent awards of

1040-453: The deaths of those involved, and that he did what he did out of desperation and hardship. However the judge, a Marine and Battle of Guadalcanal veteran, proclaims that Anthony has forgotten his values and shouldn't use the Vietnam War as an excuse for his actions, sentencing him to fifteen years to life. Anthony, furious at his sentence, throws a chair at the judge before being escorted away by bailiffs. The final scene shows Anthony looking out

1080-407: The directing duo "have a sure sense of the camera, of actors, of the life within a scene. But they are not as sure when it comes to story and meaning, and here is a film that feels incomplete, as if its last step is into thin air. Scene by scene you feel its skill, but you leave the theater wondering about the meaning of it all." The early scenes were the best, according to Ebert, and the film "goes off

1120-403: The escaping truck to blow off the door, but instead it destroys the entire vehicle. Delilah saves Anthony's life by killing one of the guards. A second guard appears and shoots Delilah multiple times, killing her. As the group collects what cash they can from the burning wreckage, they flee and split up to escape the police. Jose gets cornered in an alley by an approaching police car. When he shoots

1160-500: The film a positive rating, based on 35 reviews with an average score of 5.8/10. Todd McCarthy of Variety gave the film a positive review stating, "In all respects an extremely ambitious follow-up to their crackling debut, Menace II Society , the Hughes Brothers' mordant Dead Presidents may eventually box itself into a narrative dead end, but its muscular engagement of weighty themes and explosive situations makes it

1200-568: The film with the Hughes Brother's previous film James said, "The Hugheses obviously knew the world and generation of Menace II Society better than the past of Dead Presidents , but that is only part of the problem. In Menace they trusted the audience more, immersing them in a violent world the film explained without condoning." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a mixed 2.5 star review, and explained that

1240-466: The front page of The New York Times on September 14, 1957. Later, Terry became the newspaper's editor-in-chief, and the first African American to run an Ivy League newspaper. He did graduate studies in theology as a Rockefeller Fellow at the University of Chicago , and in international relations as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University . Terry was hired by The Washington Post in 1958 at

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1280-481: The officer, he is hit by the car and killed as the car crashes into a wall. Not long after the heist, Kirby hears that Cleon has been giving out $ 100 bills and purchased a new Cadillac . Anthony drives over to Cleon's church to speak to him, only to find him being led out the front door in handcuffs by two detectives. Cleon gives up the other robbers as part of a remorseful plea bargain . NYPD officers storm Skip's apartment to arrest him, only to find that he has died of

1320-476: The only documentary recording from the Vietnam battlefields, Guess Who's Coming Home: Black Fighting Men Recorded Live in Vietnam , which was released by Motown in 1972 and re-released independently in 2006 as a CD. He wrote and narrated the PBS Frontline show, "The Bloods of Nam". In 2003, Terry developed a rare vascular disease called granulomatosis with polyangiitis , which strikes about one in

1360-458: The pilot and, in multi-seat fighters, the weapons system officer or radar intercept officer, intentionally and successfully risking his life multiple times under combat conditions and emerging victorious. However, during the Vietnam War , the last conflict to produce U.S. fighter aces: an Air Force pilot and two navigators/weapon systems officers (who were later retrained as Air Force pilots),

1400-417: The rails" in the final act. Mark Kermode placed it at number two in his countdown of top five underrated films of all time. Wallace Terry Wallace Houston Terry, II (April 21, 1938 – May 29, 2003) was an African-American journalist and oral historian , best known for his book about black soldiers in Vietnam, Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War (1984), which served as inspiration for

1440-559: The remainder of the year and into early February across a variety of locations, including location shoots Brooklyn and Mount Vernon , New York. Sound stages in Queens and Los Angeles served as interior locations. All Vietnam scenes were shot in Florida, with former celery farm Lee Ranch serving as the outdoor sets. Dead Presidents received mixed reviews from critics. Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 49% of critics gave

1480-445: The street, armed with weapons and disguised with face paint, ready to ambush the truck. The plan goes awry when Cleon is approached by a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer who unknowingly stumbles upon the robbery, leading to Kirby being shot in the arm and Skip killing the officer. At the same time, Anthony and Jose are spotted by the truck's driver, causing a shootout with the security guards. Jose plants an explosive device on

1520-458: The window of his prison bus. The film depicts the struggle of returning war veterans of color who are neglected by the US government and the mistreatment of Vietnam veterans. Many black and Latino veterans of the Vietnam War were denied benefits, compensation, and recognition for their efforts in serving their country. Principal photography commenced on October 31, 1994. The production filmed through

1560-750: Was established. Colonel David Hackworth who was awarded ten SSMs while serving in the Army during the Korean War and Vietnam War, is likely to be the person awarded the most SSMs. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was awarded seven SSMs for his service in France in World War I from February to November 1918 as a colonel and then brigadier general. Donald H. Russell, a civilian Vought F4U Corsair technical support engineer attached to

1600-745: Was published posthumously in June 2007. Cynthia Tucker called it a "treasure trove of history" in the May/June 2007 issue of the Columbia Journalism Review . Silver Star The Silver Star Medal ( SSM ) is the United States Armed Forces ' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an enemy of

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