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WW2 Vet Sent 300,000 Pirated DVDs To Troops In Iraq, Afghanistan

Posted by Soulskill on from the go-big-or-go-home dept.

nbauman writes "WW2 veteran 'Big Hy' Strachman, 92, pirated 300,000 DVD movies and sent them to soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, where they were widely distributed and deeply appreciated. Soldiers would gather around personal computers for movie nights, with mortars blasting in the background. 'It's reconnecting to everything you miss,' said one. Strachman received American flags, appreciative letters, and snapshots of soldiers holding up their DVDs. He spent about $30,000 of his own money. Strachman retired from his family's window and shade business in Manhattan in the 1990s. After his wife Harriet died in 2003, he spent sleepless nights on the Internet, and saw that soldiers were consistently asking for movie DVDs. He bought bootlegged disks for $5 in Penn Station, and then found a dealer at his local barbershop. He bought a $400 duplicater that made 7 copies at once, and mailed them 84 at a time, to Army Chaplains. The MPAA said they weren't aware of his operation. The studios send reel-to-reel films to the troops."

9 of 650 comments (clear)

  1. The studios send reel-to-reel films to the troops. by BagOBones · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nice to see the studios have been keeping up with the times.

    --
    EA David Gardner -"... but the consumers have proven that actually what they want is fun."
  2. Reel-to-Reel? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Are they talkies at least?

  3. War criminal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sending a bunch of crappy bootleg cams to the troops should be considered a war crime.

    Get this geezer a copy of vlc and some Matroskas stat.

  4. Re:The MPAA Lawyers have never played this nice.. by binarylarry · · Score: 5, Funny

    The opposition has never had thermonuclear weapons.

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  5. Seriously? by JustAnotherIdiot · · Score: 5, Funny

    The studios send reel-to-reel films to the troops.

    Did you send them vinyl records too?
    Maybe a few laserdiscs?

    --
    What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
  6. Re:That by scubamage · · Score: 4, Funny

    Lilu Dallas Multiprez!

  7. Re:Well that's okay by jd2112 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Several hundred Trillion by MPAA math.

    --
    Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
  8. Re:Well that's okay by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 4, Funny

    JAVAnese? Shit, my understanding of WWII is totally off!

  9. Re:The studios send reel-to-reel films to the troo by davester666 · · Score: 5, Funny

    He's going to find out he just doubled our national debt. Intentional copyright infringement = more than statutory damages.

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!