The premiere of a documentary featuring a Santee Sioux Vietnam War veteran’s story is to be held Nov. 15, 2:30 p.m. at Anderson Hall, Room 15 (Auditorium). In the gripping, highly personal 30- minute film, Ron Thomas reveals the heartache at the banning of his Indian name in his boarding school. Upon joining the U.S. Army, he endures discrimination in Virginia and ambushes in South Vietnam, where he is wounded. Returning to the mainland, he is bewildered by the anti-war protesters, and, finally, he receives a welcome-home and cultural healing with his tribe. This event is sponsored by the University Libraries.

Native filmmaker Brian R. Fimbres Jr. is the producer-director of “ONE ON THE THUNDER TRAIL: A Native Vietnam Veteran’s Story” and will be in attendance at the premiere. Beverly Deepe Keever, Nebraska alumna, 1957, and a correspondent during the Vietnam War financially supported the creation of this documentary for several reasons — as a memorial to her husband Charles Keever, who died in 2021 and was a veteran of the war; the approaching 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War; and the sub-theme of Indigenous influences that she noticed while researching and writing her book “Death Zones and Darling Spies”.

“This is basically his entire work; he has done a remarkable job,” explained Keever, “I was particularly interested in the unique views of Native veterans…. This is a hidden, sub-theme in my book “Death Zones and Darling Spies” and is carefully indexed that way too.”

Keever and Fimbres hope to offer the documentary to non-profit media to reach a wider audience.

Fimbres is based in Omaha, NE and Denver, CO. and is a member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota, and has spent is career telling the Indigenous people’s story. Fimbres predominantly works on documentary and current events coverage as a camera operator or Director of Photography. He has produced/directed interviews for the PBS series “American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil.” He also directed interviews for Chief Standing Bear’s Journey to Statuary Hall, which details the life and accomplishments of Chief Standing Bear, from his court battles for the Native people to his statue being erected in Washington D.C.

Keever had a career as a correspondent during the Vietnam War and taught journalism at the University of Hawaii. Keever donated her papers to the Archives & Special Collections of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Beverly Deepe Keever papers is a special collection that documents her personal and professional life with the largest section of material in the collection covering her time as a Vietnam War correspondent. The collection also contains material from Keever’s childhood, education, activism, and her journalistic and academic career before and after the Vietnam War era.