Film screening to benefit Costa Mesa's adoptive Marines

A documentary screening on Friday will benefit Costa Mesa's adoptive Marine unit where some say they need it most – their feet.

The city and the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines Support Group will present "Patrol Base Jaker" in a pre-release screening at 7 p.m. Friday at Triangle Square Cinemas. Proceeds benefit Socks for Heroes, a husband-and-wife San Clemente charity that sends inexpensive, cotton crew socks to Marine units in Afghanistan.

"Socks are a big problem for Marines ... they end up going through the worst conditions (and) what happens is their socks just become unusable in a hurry," said Jim Hogan, who operates the organization with his wife, Carla.

Socks for Heroes has shipped 25,000 pairs of socks to Afghanistan to the 1/5 Marines, which recently returned home. The charity now provides socks for the 2nd Battalion, Fourth Marines and has reached just under 5,000 pairs.

The Hogans began Socks For Heroes in May in memory of their son, Lance Corporal Donald J. Hogan. The 20-year-old Hogan was killed by an IED in Nawa, Afghanistan on Aug. 26, 2009. He died saving others in his patrol, Jim Hogan said.

The lance corporal was honored with the Navy Cross, which will be presented in January along with rest of the 1/5 Marines, based in Camp Pendelton.

"Patrol Base Jaker," dedicated to Donald Hogan, follows the unit on their 2009-10 deployment to Afghanistan, where in seven months the Marines turned the district from a Taliban-occupied area into a community by providing security, economic projects, getting people to participate in government, Jim Hogan said.

"What they accomplished in just seven months is really unheard of," he said.

Doors to the event open at 6 p.m. and the film begins at 7 p.m. After the screening, producer Dave Scantling and Colonel Robert Castellvi, who served as Chief of Staff for the 1st Marine Division at Camp Leatherneck, will discuss the film, which won "Best Documentary" at the GI Film Festival.

Tickets cost $20, or $25 to include popcorn and drink.

There will also be a screening on Oct. 30 in San Clemente at the San Clemente Community Center.
 More information on the Costa Mesa event can be found here.