THE TOP-SECRET STORY OF SACO - SINO AMERICAN COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATION

Directors:

Writers:

Daniel J. Levendowski

Producers:

Daniel J. Levendowski, Carolyn Arnold

Run Time:

0:56:47

Awarded for the following Category(s):

Awarded Category(s)

This is the untold story of a top-secret WWII U.S. Naval operation and its 2,500 US Navy and Marine volunteers who served under Chinese command and trained over100,000 Chinese peasants into a guerilla force that registered the highest combat effectiveness of any US military branch during the war. Told by 17 SACO veterans, interviewed over 50 years after leaving China, WWII historians, and retired Naval officers, with never-before-seen archival footage and photos. The stories include who and why SACO was established, how the men and supplies got to China, their missions and how they collaborated with the Chinese, their leaders Admiral Milton Miles and General Tai Li, and bureaucratic turf wars that occurred between SACO, the U.S. Army, and Office of Strategic Services (later named CIA).

Submitter Statement

I feel extremely fortunate that I am able to help tell the SACO story and honor their service. Over 20-years ago my father was introduced to SACO by my great uncle Vern who served in China during WWII. Together they attended many SACO reunions, and my father continued to attend with his dog Bella, the SACO mascot, after my uncle passed away. I attended my first SACO reunion in 2021 and immediately became enamored with the SACO story. The telling of this story was only made possible by gifted access to historical content that enabled my telling of a very complex, historically significant story that continues to impact our world today.

Daniel J. Levendowski is an entrepreneur with over 35-years of experience commercializing new medical technologies and an inventor who’s been awarded over 25 patents. He served as principal investigator for research grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health, and is an expert in the discovery of sleep biomarkers used for the characterization of neurodegenerative disorder subtypes. Dan earned a B.S. Cum Laude from the University of the Pacific and an MBA from the Anderson School at University of California Los Angeles. Dan served in the U.S. Navy prior to attending college and he is a first time documentarian.

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