On September 22, 1979, in an empty stretch of the southern ocean, a nuclear bomb exploded. In spite of being recorded by U.S. spy satellites, the event never gained world attention. Nor has it ever been explained. To this day, no country has acknowledged responsibility for the explosion. (More information, search using “Vela Incident”)
My Bridge over the River Kwai is a fictional account chronicling how the VELA Incident might have come to pass. Historically accurate, it begins in 1972 with our hero, Dr. Anthony DeNoble, professor of physics at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, enjoying a carefree, expatriate life in the city known as the Paris of the Mediterranean. Young and handsome, Dr. DeNoble is oblivious to the storm clouds gathering above this troubled land as the Lebanese Civil War looms on the horizon. When kidnapped by a ruthless PLO terrorist just prior to the war’s outbreak, these clouds come crashing down on Tony and his world changes forever.
Beaten and demeaned by his captors, seduced by the beautiful camp doctor, and mentored by the ghost of Robert J. Oppenheimer, Tony finds himself responsible for a seemingly impossible task. He must build a nuclear bomb for his ruthless master in a backward laboratory hidden in Lebanon’s war-torn countryside. Anything short of success and Tony’s life will be forfeit.
His single-minded desire to stay alive carries him forward and with generous help from his mentor, the bomb is successfully completed. It is only then that Tony is told the diabolical target of his creation is New York City. Devastated by the knowledge, Tony realizes he is the only one who can put a stop to the madness and prevent the slaughter of so many innocent lives. He resolves to thwart his captor’s plans in an ultimate, heroic act. Culminating in the actual September 22, 1979 nuclear explosion off the coast of South Africa, My Bridge over the River Kwai chronicles Tony’s odyssey from his carefree life in Beirut to his heroic act on the storm-tossed waters of the South Atlantic.
My Bridge over the River Kwai is a fictional account chronicling how the VELA Incident might have come to pass. Historically accurate, it begins in 1972 with our hero, Dr. Anthony DeNoble, professor of physics at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, enjoying a carefree, expatriate life in the city known as the Paris of the Mediterranean. Young and handsome, Dr. DeNoble is oblivious to the storm clouds gathering above this troubled land as the Lebanese Civil War looms on the horizon. When kidnapped by a ruthless PLO terrorist just prior to the war’s outbreak, these clouds come crashing down on Tony and his world changes forever.
Beaten and demeaned by his captors, seduced by the beautiful camp doctor, and mentored by the ghost of Robert J. Oppenheimer, Tony finds himself responsible for a seemingly impossible task. He must build a nuclear bomb for his ruthless master in a backward laboratory hidden in Lebanon’s war-torn countryside. Anything short of success and Tony’s life will be forfeit.
His single-minded desire to stay alive carries him forward and with generous help from his mentor, the bomb is successfully completed. It is only then that Tony is told the diabolical target of his creation is New York City. Devastated by the knowledge, Tony realizes he is the only one who can put a stop to the madness and prevent the slaughter of so many innocent lives. He resolves to thwart his captor’s plans in an ultimate, heroic act. Culminating in the actual September 22, 1979 nuclear explosion off the coast of South Africa, My Bridge over the River Kwai chronicles Tony’s odyssey from his carefree life in Beirut to his heroic act on the storm-tossed waters of the South Atlantic.
