December 2021 marks the eightieth anniversary of the infamous attack by Japanese forces on Pearl Harbor – and amidst the reflection by those who have people in their circle who fought on December 7th, 1941 on both sides, it is easy to forget that humanity existed amidst the conflict between two then-enemies and superpowers.
Louisa Merino’s new documentary, JERRY’S LAST MISSION, embraces and commemorates Captain Jerry Yellin (1924 – 2017), the last surviving veteran until his death of the pilots who fought via Iwo Jima and provided air attacks to Japanese targets. Co-written with Ed Cunningham and Melissa Hibbard, the near-hour long documentary chronicles his life as a father of four and loving husband to a woman he was with for sixty-four years – and whose ashes he spread in a stream at a Japanese temple as a last wish before her death.
Yellin was a strong advocate for promoting the importance of looking after those who were affected by PTSD, a condition that was unheard of at the time of his height of mission commitment in the Second World War and continued to speak at many events about his life and times until his own death.
One of his sons, Robert, ended up marrying a Japanese daughter of a kamikaze pilot, an issue that did lead to many uncomfortable realities for Yellin, but whom eventually led to a bonding with his counterpart after decades of resistance to the idea that America and Japan could reconcile after those tragic events decades earlier in WWII.
Combining some dark archive footage (some images are still a potent shock of reality) and Yellin’s own visits back to Japan where he reflected on the experience of war, JERRY’S LAST MISSION is a competent and thoughtful documentary that will definitely help heal long hurtful wounds for those who were directly and indirectly affected by the consequences of intense conflict between 1939 and 1945. It is a wonderful epitaph to a man who loved flying and loved sharing his memories with the young and younger.
JERRY’S LAST MISSION is set for release on Apple TV and iTunes on December 4th, 2021 – courtesy of Utopia Distribution.
