Mary Nolan (front row, red shirt) watches a documentary about her husband McKinley for the first time at its premiere at Brown’s Tavern in Old Washington that was held for family and friends. Alan Nieschwietz, www.brenhambanner.com)Monday, June 21, 2010
By ALAN NIESCHWIETZ/Staff Reporter
Brenham Banner Press (Brenham, Texas, USA)
Questions still linger for the family of McKinley Nolan, a man whose life began amidst the pastures of bluebonnets here in Washington County and seems to have ended in the killing fields of Cambodia.
Unlike most of the nearly 60,000 men who never came home when the Vietnam War ended, Nolan, a native of Old Washington and 1963 Pickard High School graduate, wasn’t killed in action. He chose to stay.
Other than Nolan’s family, who still live in Old Washington, and a niche group of journalists who investigate Vietnam MIAs and POWs, Nolan’s story had become dormant over the years until a remarkable turn of events brought the tale to the attention of filmmaker who made a documentary about Nolan and his family’s search for a definitive answer concerning his whereabouts, living or dead.
Nolan enlisted in the army in 1965. A few weeks before his one-year tour in Vietnam was up, he went AWOL for reasons that remain unclear, although it was rumored he had legal problems, possibly from involvement with the black market.
At some point, he found himself in a Vietcong camp — and again it’s also unclear as to whether he was or wasn’t forced — making propaganda films for the communists.
By the early ‘70s, Nolan had a Vietnamese wife, along with a stepson and a small child. It’s possible that when the war ended he declined to return to America because of possible criminal prosecution, but questions remain about that because he was potentially eligible for an amnesty program put in place by Henry Kissinger in 1974.
Nolan became disillusioned with Vietnam and decided to move to Cambodia with his wife, unfortunately at a time when the communist Khmer Rouge regime was on the ascendancy. He and his wife worked at a coffee plantation and the last documented reports have him being seen in 1977.
Mary Nolan, the wife he left behind; Michael, his brother; and Roger, his son, have always held out hope that McKinley is still alive, and say that they won’t truly believe he’s dead until they find his remains.
The story of McKinley Nolan picked up traction again in 2005 when Vietnam veteran Dan Smith traveled back to that country to retrace the steps he took while he was a soldier there.
Although he never served with Nolan, he did serve in the same area a couple of years after Nolan left his unit in 1967, and his story was well known to soldiers in the area.
At a market, he had a fleeting encounter with a roughly 60-year old American black man, a man he later became convinced was Nolan.
“I saw this black guy standing in the roadway. I asked him where he was from, and he said ‘Texas,’” Smith details in the documentary. “I asked him whereabouts, and I could have sworn he said ‘Washington.’”
Smith began investigating the story, which brought it to the attention of the Henry Corra, a filmmaker, who was intrigued enough by the story to make a movie documenting Smith and Michael Nolan’s search for him through Vietnam and Cambodia.
The documentary was screened for the first time Saturday for the Nolan family and friends at Brown’s Tavern in Washington, near the family home.
“This is the most important screening of all,” said Corra. “This film is first and foremost for the Nolans. It was probably one of the most intense screenings I’ve ever done.”
Corra said that while the human aspect of the story is heartbreaking, there is a political aspect to the story as well.
“Everybody was nervous about him,” he said, explaining that he had enormous trouble getting official records about him from the U.S., Vietnamese and Cambodian governments, for reasons that he speculated might be due to embarrassment or a cover-up in case of the U.S., a desire to sweep the story under the rug due to a potential trade agreement in the case of Vietnam and the fact that human rights investigations into the atrocities committed under the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia are still going on.
The next stop for the filmmakers and the Nolan family is Washington, D.C. where the film “The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan,” will be shown at a film festival, where the producers are hoping a cable channel such as Discovery or the History Channel will purchase the television rights.
Unlike most of the nearly 60,000 men who never came home when the Vietnam War ended, Nolan, a native of Old Washington and 1963 Pickard High School graduate, wasn’t killed in action. He chose to stay.
Other than Nolan’s family, who still live in Old Washington, and a niche group of journalists who investigate Vietnam MIAs and POWs, Nolan’s story had become dormant over the years until a remarkable turn of events brought the tale to the attention of filmmaker who made a documentary about Nolan and his family’s search for a definitive answer concerning his whereabouts, living or dead.
Nolan enlisted in the army in 1965. A few weeks before his one-year tour in Vietnam was up, he went AWOL for reasons that remain unclear, although it was rumored he had legal problems, possibly from involvement with the black market.
At some point, he found himself in a Vietcong camp — and again it’s also unclear as to whether he was or wasn’t forced — making propaganda films for the communists.
By the early ‘70s, Nolan had a Vietnamese wife, along with a stepson and a small child. It’s possible that when the war ended he declined to return to America because of possible criminal prosecution, but questions remain about that because he was potentially eligible for an amnesty program put in place by Henry Kissinger in 1974.
Nolan became disillusioned with Vietnam and decided to move to Cambodia with his wife, unfortunately at a time when the communist Khmer Rouge regime was on the ascendancy. He and his wife worked at a coffee plantation and the last documented reports have him being seen in 1977.
Mary Nolan, the wife he left behind; Michael, his brother; and Roger, his son, have always held out hope that McKinley is still alive, and say that they won’t truly believe he’s dead until they find his remains.
The story of McKinley Nolan picked up traction again in 2005 when Vietnam veteran Dan Smith traveled back to that country to retrace the steps he took while he was a soldier there.
Although he never served with Nolan, he did serve in the same area a couple of years after Nolan left his unit in 1967, and his story was well known to soldiers in the area.
At a market, he had a fleeting encounter with a roughly 60-year old American black man, a man he later became convinced was Nolan.
“I saw this black guy standing in the roadway. I asked him where he was from, and he said ‘Texas,’” Smith details in the documentary. “I asked him whereabouts, and I could have sworn he said ‘Washington.’”
Smith began investigating the story, which brought it to the attention of the Henry Corra, a filmmaker, who was intrigued enough by the story to make a movie documenting Smith and Michael Nolan’s search for him through Vietnam and Cambodia.
The documentary was screened for the first time Saturday for the Nolan family and friends at Brown’s Tavern in Washington, near the family home.
“This is the most important screening of all,” said Corra. “This film is first and foremost for the Nolans. It was probably one of the most intense screenings I’ve ever done.”
Corra said that while the human aspect of the story is heartbreaking, there is a political aspect to the story as well.
“Everybody was nervous about him,” he said, explaining that he had enormous trouble getting official records about him from the U.S., Vietnamese and Cambodian governments, for reasons that he speculated might be due to embarrassment or a cover-up in case of the U.S., a desire to sweep the story under the rug due to a potential trade agreement in the case of Vietnam and the fact that human rights investigations into the atrocities committed under the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia are still going on.
The next stop for the filmmakers and the Nolan family is Washington, D.C. where the film “The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan,” will be shown at a film festival, where the producers are hoping a cable channel such as Discovery or the History Channel will purchase the television rights.
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