A hero's historian: South Dakota documentarian brings award winning Vietnam film home

Cobra attack pilot won Distinguished Flying Cross for combat heroism, story explores PTSD fight

A South Dakota artist known for preserving veterans’ stories is bringing home an award-winning documentary that lays bare the cost of combat and the quiet endurance of those who lived it.

Weeks after earning top honors for Best Short Documentary at the London Independent Film Awards, director and documentary filmmaker John Mollison will debut “Press Record” in his hometown later this month at the Veterans Community Project Village in Sioux Falls — an added reminder of sacrifices made by America’s bravest, like the subject of the film.

The 13-minute documentary centers on an interview with Michael O’Neil, a Vietnam War helicopter pilot who earned the Distinguished Flying Cross while piloting a Cobra attack helicopter in 1970 across Vietnam and neighboring Cambodia.