MovieChat Forums > Operation Dumbo Drop (1995) Discussion > true story?

true story?

posted 17 years ago by krussell47
3 replies | jump to latest

anyone know the actual story this movie was based on?

If anybody finds out - I would love to know too!

My Grandfather was Special Forces in Vietnam and he did live with the mountain people above the Ho Chi Minh Trail. However, I don't think he ever brought in an elephant. He was there training their men to fight and acting as a liaison.

[–] hqfedlegion-1 17 years ago

The story I heard was they did need to get an elephant to a village. But they didn't do it by parachute. The expensive part was getting the tranq to put the elephant asleep, as he was a little jittery, and they need him sedated while they flew. The story I heard; don't know if its true or not. But I liked the movie.

[–] nannyjo 9 years ago

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/jul/31/elephant-airlift-the-story-behind-dumbo-drop-is/

Elephant Airlift The Story Behind ‘Dumbo Drop’ Is No Less Fantastic Than The Movie
Bill Deyoung Gainesville (Fla.) Sun
July 31 1995

In Vietnam, John Scott Gantt was known as a Green Beret who could get things done.

A captain with the 5th Special Forces, Gantt was 30 years old in 1968 when he devised a scheme to fly a pair of elephants cross-country to a remote mountain village. By helicopter.

Gantt’s animal adventure forms the basis of Disney’s “Operation Dumbo Drop,” which opened in theaters on Friday. Although the movie is based on a real event, the filmmakers took lots of liberties with the facts. “If you had to pick somebody that was me, it would be Danny Glover,” chuckles Gantt, who lives in Cross City.

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The rest of the article can be found at the link above.