Mel Gibson visits SC museum with writer for screenplay

A world-famous, and sometimes controversial, actor and director visited South Carolina to learn a bit about its history.

Mel Gibson visited Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum in Mt. Pleasant Saturday, the museum posted on Facebook.

Gibson also boarded the USS Laffey to learn about how it came under attack during the World War II Battle of Okinawa.

Gibson visited the ship with Rosalind Ross, who is writing a screen play about the destroyer, according to Chris Huaff with the museum.

On April 16, 1945, the USS Laffey was attacked by at least 22 Japanese aircraft in “one of the most concentrated air attacks against a single ship,” according to the museum.

The ship was hit by five kamikaze and three bombs over the course of 80 minutes. The crew saved the ship and shot down nearly half of the attacking aircraft.

That day 32 men were killed and 71 were wounded, but the ship still floats to this day.

The USS Laffey was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for action.

This isn’t the first time Gibson has showed interest in South Carolina military history.

Gibson also directed the film “Hacksaw Ridge,” which chronicles WWII conscientious objector Desmond Doss’ time in the Army. Doss trained at Columbia’s Fort Jackson, and his time there was depicted in the film.

The scenes set in Fort Jackson were actually filmed in Australia.

This story was originally published May 1, 2017 at 3:13 PM with the headline "Mel Gibson visits SC museum with writer for screenplay."