Film Premiere Honors Area Veterans During Patriot Week Event

What happens when we get old?

That was the question posed at the beginning of , a documentary that premiered at the Tuesday afternoon at a Patriot Week event honoring the veterans of Metro Detroit — particularly those, as the film points out, who are getting older every day.

“In a few years, all of the nation’s World War II veterans will be gone,” said John Kulhavi, a retired brigadier general and former Huey helicopter fighter pilot who delivered the keynote speech at the premiere. “An important part of our country’s history will be gone.”

Close to 100 veterans from World War II to the Vietnam era, along with their families, turned out for the premiere Tuesday. The event was sponsored by American House Senior Living Communities, a retirement community that partners with Birmingham’s .

The impetus of the plan began with Bob Gillette, founder of American House, which has facilities in Farmington Hills, Pontiac, Rochester Hills, Royal Oak, Troy and West Bloomfield, as well as several more in Genesee, Macomb, Washtenaw and Wayne counties.

Gillette said he wanted to do something to celebrate Patriot Week, started in 2009 by Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Michael Warren. And with more than 400 veterans living in American House facilities, Gillette said the most natural thing to do was celebrate and honor those same veterans.

“There’s nobody more patriotic in my mind than our veterans,” Gillette said.

For months, Gillette and others at American House reached out to hundreds of veterans throughout Metro Detroit, collecting photographs and stories. They then compiled clips from the award-winning documentaries Detroit, Our Greatest Generation and Our Vietnam Generation to create From the Beaches of Normandy to the Jungles of Vietnam.

After a VIP reception at the Baldwin House, American House then screened . Afterward, American House residents attending the film premiere were also taken out to dinner at Marinelli’s in Troy.

While veterans from all wars were honored Tuesday night, Gillette said the big focus was the aging World War II veterans, most of whom are now in their 80s and 90s. American House serves as the home to more than 300 World War II veterans, he said.

"I consider our World War II veterans national treasures,” Gillette said. “I say that because of their age. A year from now — I don’t know how many we’re going to lose between now and then.”

Five of those veterans honored at the events were members of the Amvets Post 2006 out of Highland who served as color guard for the event.

Navy veteran and color guard member Lloyd Davis of Highland — who served during the Vietnam War — said he’s had a busy Patriot Week so far, spending time at an event with Gov. Rick Snyder last week before he heads off to Washington, DC, next week for more events honoring veterans.

Davis said he enjoyed the film, which featured veterans from Metro Detroit speaking on the area’s influence on the nation’s various military efforts, from the Tuskegee Airmen training at Selfridge Air Force Base to the collaborative efforts of Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. to produce the tanks and airplanes needed for the war efforts in the 1940s.

Almost 70 years later, dozens of those who played leading parts during those efforts sat hushed and reverent in a Birmingham theater as Tom Brokaw, former NBC anchorman and author of The Greatest Generation, directly addressed the passion and patriotism of Metro Detroit’s military elite during the documentary.

“We overwhelmed the enemy, and that’s thanks in part to the … people of Detroit," Brokaw said.