I saw this riveting film tonight when it premiered on HBO. Both my wife and I were totally into the film from the beginning to the end. We saw it nonstop although with a DVR we could have paused. There was not a single point in the film where we wanted to pause.

Like others, we were thankful there was no political bias. It was simply the true story of the respect that has been paid to everyone who died in defense of our freedom.

I served in the military on an aircraft carrier on station in the Mediteranean Sea in 1957. We lost 14 people in crashes and an on board fire during our 7 month cruise. About half of them were given burial at sea services. In addition, I have attended the military services of a number of others and even participated in the military service of one of our church members who died at Paris Island in a training accident.

In spite of all that exposure, I was totally unaware that KIAs were given the kind of personal respect and treatment depicted in the film. I was very impressed and moved, as I am sure most will be. Many have died, including one of my cousins, to preserve our freedom that has allowed me to live for 75 years so far. I relate more to Kevin Bacon's character as I was a supply officer. Had I the chance, I too would have volunteered for escort duty.

A must see movie. If you don't get HBO, look for the DVD sure to follow.

Kevin Bacon gives a restrained, compelling performance in this film dealing with the meticulous handling of our soldiers killed in Iraq. Every detail is described and the army is very strict about making sure that customs and traditions are fulfilled as the loved ones are returned to their families.

It was wonderful seeing Blanche Baker back in films after so many years. The daughter of the legendary Carrol Baker, Blanche won a best supporting actress Emmy over 30 years ago for the memorable "Holocaust" television series. After following this up with a role in Robert Redford's "The Candidate," she seemed to have dropped out of sight after all these years.

"The mortician did the best he could. It is recommended that the body not be shown for viewing." This line will forever live with me.

The film deals with patriotism and how a young man, apparently full of life, died a hero in Iraq while protecting others.

It isn't that HBO can sometimes turn out a television movie that's at once inexpensive and admirable. After all, anybody can hit a home run once in a while. It's that HBO has managed to do it so consistently, and by tackling subjects that are by no means guaranteed share-collectors. I mean controversial stuff -- Roy Cohn? A disputed presidential election? The means by which a body of an enlisted man is returned from the Middle East? They aren't easy subjects.

This one has Kevin Bacon as Lt. Col. Michael Strobl escorting the body of Pfc. Chance Phelps, KIA, home to Dubois, Wyoming, home to his family.

The story of course is moving. How could it not be? All along, during the flights and drives, Bacon remains with the casket, now wrapped up for its journey in cardboard and bound by those springy steel bands like a particularly long refrigerator. And he and his responsibility are treated with solemn respect every step of the way. Toward the end, high-speed traffic begins to pile up behind the slow-moving hearse. When they realize what they are following, the drivers turn on their headlights and the traffic jam becomes a funeral procession.

It's all pretty tastefully done. At no point does anyone sob -- not during the trip and not during the funeral. Not even during the obligatory praise at the funeral service for Chance Phelps, the young man, who was probably not a paragon of Christian virtue but more likely, like most Marines, tough-minded, self-disciplined, and at times a little reckless.

Informative, too. I had no idea that the bodies and their personal effects were so precisely buffed up and carefully prepared. I thought (without really ever thinking about it) that someone went through the KIA's effects, threw out the pornography, and sent the rest along home. Here, we learn that the dirt and blood are cleaned from everything, from wrist watches to St. Christopher medals, before they're turned over to the escort. And I wouldn't have believed that a Pfc. would have a senior officer to escort him home.

There are no politics in the film, and there shouldn't be.

Nicely done.