The True Story Behind ‘Tears Of The Sun’: Facta Non Verba

Tears of the Sun is a Hollywood film staring Bruce Willis about a team of Navy SEALS on a mission to rescue an American Doctor. They eventually rescue her from the pursuing enemy, but not without taking some casualties. This heroic film portrays the Navy SEALS as true warriors who, in the face of fear, will complete the mission no matter the cost, but… what’s the true story of the film Tears of the Sun?

Believe it or not, Tears of the Sun is based on a true story, with some minor changes to the details such as the location of the mission, the number of good-guys that were killed, and that the mission wasn’t actually carried out by Navy SEALS at all, but an ultra secret Canadian Special Forces unit known as Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2).

The actual story of what happened is told by Ex-Commando Denis Morisset in his book “We Were Invincible”. This book is written in French (check Amazon), but is available on Kindle (Amazon Canada only) in English, and is so gripping with stories that I didn’t want to put the book down. If you’re ever thinking about joining Special Forces, give this book a read. His authenticity and vulnerability gives a fresh perspective of what goes on in the minds of Special Forces Operators.

What are the differences?

Location
In the film the location of the mission was set in Nigeria while a civil war was taking place. According to Mr. Morisset’s book, the actual mission was conducted in Columbia. JTF2 was to replace an American team that was to recover civilians, but those civilians were killed prior to the American’s arrival. So in order to spare the American’s from mental problems, the Canadians were to replace them.

Landing
In the film the Navy SEALS jump out of the back of a transport aircraft, but in real life the JTF2 members were dropped off by a Blackhawk helicopter off the shores of a small bay near a village.

No Friendly Losses
Some of the Navy SEAL team members ended up being killed in the mission, but on the actual mission no JTF2 members were killed.

What are the similarities?

Mission
The mission was to go into a foreign country and recover a female doctor, a priest, and two nuns, while a civilian population around them are being slaughtered as a civil war is going on. Also similar is the mission lead was a Captain (named Captain Adam, but the actual names in Morisset’s book were altered to preserve anonymity).

The Condition
The Priest and Nuns refused to leave the sick and injured patients, knowing the dangers and risks they were taking. The female doctor did agree to leave on the condition that a number of villagers with them. Having no time to negotiate or reason, the captain agreed.

Turn Around
In the film, Bruce Willis and his fellow Navy SEALS successfully exfil with the female doctor after leaving behind a bunch of civilians in a field to fend for themselves. After they take off and are flying back to safety, one of the pilots tell the captain (Bruce Willis) that they noticed something when they were flying in and to look down. Below was a village that had been set on fire with bodies on the ground. After a few moments, Bruce Willis tells the pilots to turn around, in order to rescue the others on the ground that they had left behind.

This actually took place with the Canadian JTF2 team. Hours earlier in the same village they were in was now in flames with bodies, including the priests, on the ground. The female doctor begins to cry, and Captain Adam began to go into deep thought. Captain Adam had previously witnessed another massacre already, and it was having a toll on him. He then ordered the pilots to turn around where they had been picked up.

Satellite Imaging
One of the SEALS, Jason ‘Flea’ Mabry (played by Chad Smith), has a device that shows a group of armed militants following them in the jungle. Morisset was the JTF2 member that had the computer device showing this imaging to the Captain. Because the militants were so close, they tried to pick up the pace but had difficulty because of the children and elderly. Within a couple of hours they had caught up to them. The Captain then ordered everyone to head deep into the jungle to hide. And the militants walked by without noticing them.

The next day the team changes their direction to avoid the enemy, but after a while they are shot at. The Canadian marksmen hold them down while the rest of the team escorts the civilians deeper into the jungle.

While taking a short break, Captain Adam examined the satellite images with Morisset, which brings us to the next similarity.

The Tracking Device
This may be one you thought wasn’t true, but it so happens it actually happened. Captain Adam looked at the satellite images and saw that after the troop following them had passed by the night before, they suddenly turned around and headed straight toward them. Captain Adam wondered why the troop was so determined to find them, and also how they knew where to locate them.

The Captain ordered the JTF2 team to take aim at the civilians and asked if there was anyone of importance among them. He threatened to begin shooting until someone gives them an answer, and cocked his gun. Then a civilian stepped forward and said he was the son of a Columbian leader and that he was the reason they were likely being pursued. The Captain lowered his gun.

Then the Captain ordered the JTF2 team to search all the civilians. As they were doing so, one of the civilians began to run into the jungle, and one of the marksmen shot him in the back, killing him. The team members searched him and found a transmitter that sent signals periodically to the enemy troop. They then all began walking toward the Venezuelan border.

Final Battle
As they were approaching the border checkpoint, the enemy troop caught up to the JTF2 team and civilians and began to open fire. Many civilians were shot and fell. The Canadians fired back as they all maneuvered towards the border. One of the JTF2 members got shot in the leg, but got picked up by the other team members and continued to fire back at the enemy. Then another got hit. Next, the Venezuelan soldiers started to shoot rounds at the enemy forces, which allowed the JTF2 team to cross the border.

Air Support
During the final conflict at the border, the Americans sent in air support, which ended the chase of the enemy forces, or as Morisset calls them, “madmen on our trails”.

How did Hollywood get this story?

While one of the JTF2 marksmen was in Nevada following in-flight hostage training, he met a film crew that was working on the movie Executive Decision (which has an airplane hijacking scene). He gave the story to the film crew and the rest is history.

I hope this article was helpful and insightful! Thanks for reading and checking out the site.