Hi all,
I'm brand new here so please excuse me if I am posting in the wrong section.
I have a story that I think you guys might enjoy. I originally told the story on Gizmodo.com last night and received a suggestion from another commenter who directed me here.
I'll just copy/paste the original story here and provide a link to the Gizmodo page.
"Well, I've never told this story online before but after seeing this, I for some reason feel compelled.
Maybe Star Wars fans will find it interesting, maybe not.
My real name is Johnathan lee. My fathers name was Mathew Lee.
I was born in Crescent City CA in 1981.
As some Star Wars fans know; Crescent City was the location where some of the jungle scenes in Return of the Jedi were filmed.
My father was cast as a Rebel Trooper and from what I was told, was included in the final production (I've never been able to spot him in the movie). His friend, Tim Lowdermilk (I think that was his name) was cast as a storm trooper.
Before filming concluded, my parents decided they wanted to move to Santa Maria CA. We stuck around until the end of filming and then moved.
Since my father and his friend were very close, they decided they wanted something to remember each other by. They took their respective helmets, which were ordered to be destroyed, placed them in garbage bags and buried them in the forest. A few days later they went back at night and retrieved them. They swapped helmets and parted ways.
The Storm Trooper helmet that my father ended up with became a fixture of my childhood, it stayed with my father until he passed it on to me at age 12.
I kept the helmet under lock and key for a few years until I made the mistake of showing it to a hardcore Star Wars friend.
Long story short (sort of), the helmet disappeared in the late 90's and I'm pretty sure my (EX) friend took it.
The helmet had my fathers pay stub (IIRC $50) taped to the inside of it. The eye pieces had fallen out at some point and had been glued back in with silicone.
My father also had a Styrofoam "rock" which was used to depict an asteroid, a book with several cast and crew signatures, and some original action figures.
I still have the book and the action figures. I never had possession of the "rock" and you already know what happened to the helmet.
I wish that I at least knew what became of the helmet as my father passed away when I was 16 and I'd like to think that it survived and is being cared for in a collection somewhere.
If anybody knows of a Storm Trooper helmet surfacing sometime between 1996-present please let me know. I'm sure I can't recover it as it was stolen from set in the first place but it would good to know.
Well, that's my "cool story bro". Please don't take it as some kind of sympathy plea. I just thought that with all of the lore attached to the Star Wars franchise, you guys might enjoy a new story about some old hippie stoners burying movie props in the forests of northern CA."
http://gizmodo.com/5542745/so-thats-how-they-filmed-the-star-wars-opening-crawl
http://gizmodo.com/comment/23303325
If anyone is interested in more details I'd be glad to oblige.
I'm brand new here so please excuse me if I am posting in the wrong section.
I have a story that I think you guys might enjoy. I originally told the story on Gizmodo.com last night and received a suggestion from another commenter who directed me here.
I'll just copy/paste the original story here and provide a link to the Gizmodo page.
"Well, I've never told this story online before but after seeing this, I for some reason feel compelled.
Maybe Star Wars fans will find it interesting, maybe not.
My real name is Johnathan lee. My fathers name was Mathew Lee.
I was born in Crescent City CA in 1981.
As some Star Wars fans know; Crescent City was the location where some of the jungle scenes in Return of the Jedi were filmed.
My father was cast as a Rebel Trooper and from what I was told, was included in the final production (I've never been able to spot him in the movie). His friend, Tim Lowdermilk (I think that was his name) was cast as a storm trooper.
Before filming concluded, my parents decided they wanted to move to Santa Maria CA. We stuck around until the end of filming and then moved.
Since my father and his friend were very close, they decided they wanted something to remember each other by. They took their respective helmets, which were ordered to be destroyed, placed them in garbage bags and buried them in the forest. A few days later they went back at night and retrieved them. They swapped helmets and parted ways.
The Storm Trooper helmet that my father ended up with became a fixture of my childhood, it stayed with my father until he passed it on to me at age 12.
I kept the helmet under lock and key for a few years until I made the mistake of showing it to a hardcore Star Wars friend.
Long story short (sort of), the helmet disappeared in the late 90's and I'm pretty sure my (EX) friend took it.
The helmet had my fathers pay stub (IIRC $50) taped to the inside of it. The eye pieces had fallen out at some point and had been glued back in with silicone.
My father also had a Styrofoam "rock" which was used to depict an asteroid, a book with several cast and crew signatures, and some original action figures.
I still have the book and the action figures. I never had possession of the "rock" and you already know what happened to the helmet.
I wish that I at least knew what became of the helmet as my father passed away when I was 16 and I'd like to think that it survived and is being cared for in a collection somewhere.
If anybody knows of a Storm Trooper helmet surfacing sometime between 1996-present please let me know. I'm sure I can't recover it as it was stolen from set in the first place but it would good to know.
Well, that's my "cool story bro". Please don't take it as some kind of sympathy plea. I just thought that with all of the lore attached to the Star Wars franchise, you guys might enjoy a new story about some old hippie stoners burying movie props in the forests of northern CA."
http://gizmodo.com/5542745/so-thats-how-they-filmed-the-star-wars-opening-crawl
http://gizmodo.com/comment/23303325
If anyone is interested in more details I'd be glad to oblige.
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it is unlikely if it will ever be verified. 
