Tuesday Movie Opening has Area Resonance

It's an exemplary story of courage and humans, some of them, treating each other with the full respect they deserve. The film, Devotion, based on the 2015 book Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice by Adam Makos,  tells the story of naval aviators Jesse Brown and Thomas Hudner during the Korean War.

Both flew Corsair aircraft in support of United Nations troops on the ground and became friends and trusted comrades of each other despite or perhaps because of racial differences. Brown, from Mississippi, was an African American, who became the first black naval aviator in the late 1940s as the military finally desegregated. Hudner, from Fall River, came from a more prosperous background but also ended up with Brown aboard the USS Leyte aircraft carrier.

With Hudner, the area connection is even closer. The interchange of I-495 and Route 16 is named the Thomas N. Hudner Medal of Honor Interchange in acknowledgment of the  heroism he showed in attempting to rescue Brown, who had been shot down in combat.

Both men ended up having navy ships named after them, as well.