Mario Ybarra Jr. never met his father, but they have one photograph together.

His father, Mario Ybarra, died from a gunshot to the head March 5, 1966, in the jungles of Vietnam, serving his country as a marine. It happened eight days before Ybarra’s first birthday. His father was 22.

In their lone photograph together, Ybarra stands in front of his father’s casket, which is draped in an American flag. A picture of the young marine sits atop the box, a backdrop of flowers behind it. Ybarra, a chubby, round-faced little boy, smiles wide.

“This picture kind of tells the whole story,” Ybarra says now, pulling the black and white photograph from a cardboard box. “You can see I have no idea what’s going on, because I wasn’t of age.”

As a 46-year-old man, Ybarra understands what happened to his dad, and he’s spent his entire life dealing with frustration and bitterness from losing his father to war.

Now he wants to share his father’s story, life and death. Ybarra is producing a documentary film, titled “The Yogi Project.” “Yogi” was his father’s nickname in the service, because the other soldiers thought his name sounded like Yogi Berra, the famous baseball player.

“It’s not only going to help me get closure, but (it will help) a lot of other people, especially in the Latino community,” he says.

Through the lens of his father’s story, the movie will detail the experience of Latino troops in Vietnam, says director Roberto Collado, a graduate of the University of Texas-Pan American who previously directed the indie film “11 Years of Nightmares and a Wasted Lifetime.”

“It’s not a patriotic documentary,” Collado says. “It’s a very critical documentary.”

The film will explore racial strife among troops, how close-knit Latino families dealt with separation and what became of the loved ones left behind by casualties, the director says.

Production on the film started earlier this year, and barring funding delays, Collado expects to finish shooting in November.

The film marks the latest step in Ybarra’s campaign to honor his father’s memory.

In May, the Weslaco school district named a new elementary school after his father, who was born in San Benito but grew up in Weslaco.

Officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony for Mario Ybarra Elementary School on May 31. The naming came after a tireless effort by Ybarra.

He still carries a three-inch binder of laminated letters he wrote to representatives, city commissioners and school board members. He has documented every step of the effort, including an elaborate lesson plan that shows how teachers can tie the lives of fallen soldiers into classroom learning. He also made a YouTube video to tell the story. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6GMzWGDEpA)

Ybarra, who is 46 now, tears up when he describes the school dedication ceremony.

“I…I…I can’t describe the feeling,” he says.

Now he hopes the documentary film will have the words to help others better understand their embattled fathers, brothers and sons.

ONLINE: http://www.theyogiproject.com/

MEET THE DIRECTOR: http://www.themonitor.com/articles/film-42605-valley-brenner.html

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Zack Quaintance covers features and entertainment for Festiva. You can reach him at (956) 683-4447.