Michael M. Wiese has seen the Vietnam War twice: first-hand as a gunner on a helicopter, and through fleeting images captured by soldiers on 8mm home movie film. Wiese, 38, estimates he has collected 1,000 hours of amateur footage during the last decade. Some of it is entertaining and some is boring but little is gory. All of it helps neutralize the nightmare of Vietnam, Wiese says. He has pieced together some of his best footage in a 90-minute videocassette being test marketed in the Indianapolis area. The tape, ``Helicopter Gunship Assault,'' is the first of what Wiese hopes will be a series of at least six tapes. ``In 90 percent of the film, it's unknown to me who took it or where it was taken,'' he said. ``But still, everybody wanted to watch it because what a soldier would take a picture of over there just to show mom was not what they were showing on the news.'' To Wiese, who spent seven months behind a machine gun aboard an Army helicopter, the film ``is the best therapy I ever had. It's like reliving a nightmare. If you relive it long enough, it's not a nightmare anymore. I've watched this 300 times, and I'm never bored. ```Nam was such a hard story for everybody to tell people back home about,'' he said. ``This makes the memories bubble out of you.'' Some footage shows soldiers escaping the war on a muggy day by landing their helicopters on a riverbank and taking a swim. Another scene shows helicopters dropping down to rescue patrols under attack. There are scenes of helicopter gunships firing at ground targets and receiving return fire. Most of the footage is remarkably intact after 20 years; little of the color has faded. One pilot shows the hut he made from scrap wood and discarded rocket boxes after his tent rotted through. Another narrates as a dog yaps in the background. ``If you watch over to the left, you'll see the tracers coming up at us,'' he says. ``There they are.'' Wiese says he has come across few gory scenes. ``I have some helicopter accidents,'' he says. ``I got aftermath of an ambush. But actual combat footage, I don't have much,'' he said. ``Soldiers were paid to keep their heads down.'' Vietnam was the first war in which soldiers could carry a lightweight camera with automatic shutter control and focusing capability. Still, Wiese says very little 8mm footage was shot in Vietnam. His first three reels were purchased for $1 each at a flea market. ``They were very boring,'' he said. ``I wanted at one time to collect photographs _ I lost my own collection,'' he said. ``And everyone has photos. But the 8mm stuff is real rare.'' So he started placing ads in local papers and national publications asking veterans to send him their film. He then transferred the film to VHS tape, returning one tape and the original film to the owner, and keeping a copy for himself. When possible, he got the soldiers to send an audio cassette narrative. Wiese, who formed a company called ``Vietnam Archives,'' has the owner sign an agreement giving him rights to the film. ``I promise to give them a royalty on each cassette,'' he said. He hopes to place his videos in libraries. ``I'm no Steven Spielberg,'' said Wiese. ``My intention is a real simple one: to collect this film and save it. I think some of it is worth being preserved. ``And it's great to get a bunch of guys together and sit down and watch this. You just can't believe the lies these guy will tell from their war stories.''
