Interview: David Bellavia
posted at 12:30 pm on May 26, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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In the second of our Memorial Day interviews, David Bellavia demonstrates some of the ferocity that allowed him to survive Fallujah and to help launch Vets for Freedom. The author of House to House
David is a great interview subject; his passion and his energy makes it easy, and the toughest part is keeping up with him. His book is a truthful and frightening look into the horrors of combat, and should be required reading for all Americans, regardless of whether one supports the effort in Iraq. My wife bought me my copy of the book because I had been dragging my heels in getting it — I hardly have any time to read books these days — and I’m glad she did.
Two months ago, David visited the Twin Cities on the Vets for Freedom tour, which made headlines when a local high school refused to let them speak. I caught up with VFF at the Fort Snelling Officers Club and pushed my way into an overflow crowd to take this video of David’s speech. I was in the back on full zoom, which accounts for the poor video quality, but the sound is just fine:
I hope we can get David onto our show at some point. He’s running for Congress, and we can talk about what prompted that decision as well as getting more of his perspective on the developments in Iraq. Meantime, anyone who hasn’t bought the book can easily do so.
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Thanks Ed. It would be nice to have many like him in Congress. We might actually get something done for the good of the country. I hope you can get him on your show.
L
letget on May 26, 2008 at 12:55 PM
Great interview. DB seems like the kinda guy that’ll give ‘em hell in Congress, and be a true advocate for the troops.
When was that interview done, Ed? Recently?
VolMagic on May 26, 2008 at 12:59 PM
Great interview of a great man who wrote a great book.
I met David at the VFF rally in DC, what cool guy, he signed my book and chit chatted for a few minutes even though he was quite busy.
Other great books from VFF members:
“Lone Survivor” by Marcus Luttrell
“Hard Corps” by Marco Martinez
And if you’ve already read “House to House”, pick up “We Were One” by Patrick O’Donnell (not a soldier, but a reporter embedded with the Marines during the Battle of Fallujah at the same time as [Army] Sgt Bellavia).
Also, read “One Bullet Away” by Nat Fick and “Jawbreaker” by Gary Bernsten.
(I read all of these books to live vicariously through the actions of others because I didn’t get to do anything like this during my service).
Tony737 on May 26, 2008 at 1:01 PM
The interview was at CPAC this year, around the first of February. The speech was March 14th, I believe.
Ed Morrissey on May 26, 2008 at 1:04 PM
I borrowed House to House from my local library along with Lone Survivor and read them both. Excellent.
I hope he has a successfull campaign, we need more like him in Congress.
atxcowgirl on May 26, 2008 at 1:18 PM
A humble man but a man of action. Yeah, we could use some of that in Congress.
TBinSTL on May 26, 2008 at 1:50 PM
I strongly recommend inverting the suggested reading order to:
1) We Were One
2) House to House
Reading We Were One after House to House is like eating an arugula and cherry tomato salad after you just finished a 12-once rib eye. O’Donnell’s non-linear prose just can’t engage a reader as thoroughly as Bellavia and John Bruning’s incredibly crisp storytelling in House to House.
I’ve read Bellavia’s book cover to cover and loved it–so much so that I downloaded Celtx scriptwriting software and began adapting it into a screenplay. Bellavia’s memoir is so powerful that I believe that every American male from age 12+ should know the story of House to House… so yeah, obviously I deleted all of the numerous f-bombs from the dialogue–but that doesn’t change the overall impact of story at all.
I’ll issue a challenge right now on this Memorial Day: Help me raise $1 million and I will coordinate the production of a feature length movie adaption of House To House shot on digital HD video in Texas with professional (non-union) actors and crew with the intention of selling the finished product to an independent distributor such as Newmarket Films.
That’s only going to cover the production costs and not the book rights and marketing, but take a million bucks to west Texas with a Dallas-based movie crew and you’ll have a movie that will look just as good as any Hollywood AAA production.
And hey, if it doesn’t work out, then the investors can always use the movie as a tax write-off. It’s a win/win.
ScottMcC on May 26, 2008 at 2:14 PM
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