When Associated Press journalist and Marine Corps veteran James LaPorta agreed to advise the NBC-TV show “This Is Us” about depicting the military authentically, he found more than he'd bargained for
This image released by NBC shows, from left, Vanessa Bell Calloway as Edie, Griffin Dunne as Nicky, Justin Hartley as Kevin, Noah Salsbury Lipson as Matty, Jennifer Morrison as Cassidy, in a scene from"The Guitar Man" episode of"This Is Us." SANTA MONICA, Calif. — — The car door opens, then slams. The ignition rumbles. Music roars. Hands fixed on the wheel. Ten and two. Then we’re off, hurtling down empty Santa Monica side streets before dawn.
I think back to four years ago. I had set up an interview with the creator of"This Is Us," Dan Fogelman, and the renowned American novelist Tim O'Brien, who wroteand had been hired to help craft the Vietnam War storyline in season three of the show. The interview was to go over the verisimilitude of the show — the blending of fiction with the memories of a real- life war and its aftermath.
“That’s our show," he told me. “I’ve always felt that the show, if you had to pick one thing, was about losing a parent — about grief and about the trauma that comes with that unexpected loss.”I watched step on an improvised explosive device. I told them about my survivor's guilt. About my depression.
I remember the night of Sept. 24, 2019, vividly. It was a day after my father's birthday. He had died four years earlier, and his death was why I started watching the show. “I wanted everyone that I knew to watch it — family, friends, people in the area," he said."I was proud and just excited to know that his name is being remembered. I’m a firm believer that when you say their names, they’re not forgotten.”I hear the sound of Ventimiglia’s clapping hands as he tries to quiet production assistants and cameramen on Paramount’s soundstage 20.
I think about how I gripped the door handle in Ventimiglia's car on the ride over to Paramount. I think about the Afghans and their grips, how they clung to the underside of the plane as it gained altitude, how theyMy hands grow clammy. The stress tightens my muscles. My breathing grows labored. I cry.
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