thedrifter
09-24-07, 02:47 PM
Vets say WWII documentary 'too realistic'
By EARL KELLY Staff Writer
Subscribe to the Maryland Gazette
Some veterans who attended the recent preview of Ken Burns' World War II documentary "The War" at St. John's College said the experience was realistic - perhaps a little too realistic.
"The only trouble is, it brings back too many bad memories," said John H. Meyers of Glen Burnie, an Army infantry rifleman who served in Italy and the Pacific and was held as a prisoner of war in Europe. "I won't sleep tonight."
"It was a bad time; you never made friends with anybody because you'd be here talking to the guy today and he'd be dead tomorrow - or even today," said Mr. Meyers, now 83. "I could be talking with you and 10 minutes later, you could be dead."
He said he is still amazed at how young most soldiers and Marines were back then. He was drafted at age 17.
"You had pilots - first lieutenants and captains - who were 19, you had platoon sergeants who were 19. You grew up fast - you grew old fast."
About 150 people attended the preview Sept. 12 hosted by Maryland Public Television.
Gov. Martin O'Malley and Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, R-Kent, were in the crowd.
Mr. Gilchrest, a Vietnam veteran, likened America's entry into World War II to the terrorist attacks of six years ago.
"Many of you remember where youwere on Dec. 7, 1941, and wondered how the nation was going to survive," Mr. Gilchrest said. "America is strong. We are strong not so much because of the bullets and the bombs, but because of ... (our) integrity."
The preview, which lasted about an hour, gave a sampling of the seven-part series.
Maryland Public Television will broadcast the series from tomorrow through Wednesday at 8 p.m. and Sept. 30 to Oct. 2. Additionally,
MPT will broadcast interviews with area veterans before and after the each episode is broadcast.
Mr. Burns used many of the same techniques in "The War" as he did in his other acclaimed documentaries, which included films about the Civil War and the Brooklyn Bridge.
Like in other films, he used still photos and letters. But in "The War" he also included radio broadcasts and moving-picture footage from battles to document the horror of war.
"The second World War brought out the best and the worst in a generation and blurred the two so they became almost indistinguishable," the narrator said.
In "The War" Mr. Burns looked at the lives of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen from Mobile, Ala., Sacramento, Calif., Luverne, Minn., and Waterbury, Conn.
Young men from these four typical American towns died in far away and formerly obscure places such as Tarawa, a string of tiny Japanese-fortified islands. About 1,000 Americans died there during three days in November 1943.
During the war, young farm boys saw things they would not have imagined months earlier. One sailor quoted in the documentary attended a Sunday service on the deck of a ship: "It was the first time I ever went to church and saw bodies floating by."
The whole nation, including those at home, was in a state of shock, according to the documentary.
"The current was so swift, flowing toward war, and every young man that steps into it is carried toward war," said one veteran said of the nation being drawn into the World War.
Not all memories of the war years are terrible, though, and Mr. Meyers last night recalled something that happened to him during his three months as a POW.
"I kept dreaming of pancakes, stacks and stacks of pancakes," he said. "Now, who would dream of pancakes, when you could dream of some really good food."
When he got home, he said, his mother made him "stacks and stacks of pancakes."
State Veterans Affairs Secretary James A. Adkins said during an interview with The Capital that a whole generation of veterans is dying off, and we need to record as many of their stories as possible.
Over 1,000 World War II veterans die each day, according to U.S. Census Bureau numbers.
To keep their stories from being lost, the Veterans History Project, which is run by the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress, is asking veterans to record their memories.
The center will provide all information about recording veterans' recollections, right down to providing questions to be used in interviews.
To learn how to record veterans' memoirs, contact the Veterans History Project at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress at www.loc.gov/vets.
Ellie
By EARL KELLY Staff Writer
Subscribe to the Maryland Gazette
Some veterans who attended the recent preview of Ken Burns' World War II documentary "The War" at St. John's College said the experience was realistic - perhaps a little too realistic.
"The only trouble is, it brings back too many bad memories," said John H. Meyers of Glen Burnie, an Army infantry rifleman who served in Italy and the Pacific and was held as a prisoner of war in Europe. "I won't sleep tonight."
"It was a bad time; you never made friends with anybody because you'd be here talking to the guy today and he'd be dead tomorrow - or even today," said Mr. Meyers, now 83. "I could be talking with you and 10 minutes later, you could be dead."
He said he is still amazed at how young most soldiers and Marines were back then. He was drafted at age 17.
"You had pilots - first lieutenants and captains - who were 19, you had platoon sergeants who were 19. You grew up fast - you grew old fast."
About 150 people attended the preview Sept. 12 hosted by Maryland Public Television.
Gov. Martin O'Malley and Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, R-Kent, were in the crowd.
Mr. Gilchrest, a Vietnam veteran, likened America's entry into World War II to the terrorist attacks of six years ago.
"Many of you remember where youwere on Dec. 7, 1941, and wondered how the nation was going to survive," Mr. Gilchrest said. "America is strong. We are strong not so much because of the bullets and the bombs, but because of ... (our) integrity."
The preview, which lasted about an hour, gave a sampling of the seven-part series.
Maryland Public Television will broadcast the series from tomorrow through Wednesday at 8 p.m. and Sept. 30 to Oct. 2. Additionally,
MPT will broadcast interviews with area veterans before and after the each episode is broadcast.
Mr. Burns used many of the same techniques in "The War" as he did in his other acclaimed documentaries, which included films about the Civil War and the Brooklyn Bridge.
Like in other films, he used still photos and letters. But in "The War" he also included radio broadcasts and moving-picture footage from battles to document the horror of war.
"The second World War brought out the best and the worst in a generation and blurred the two so they became almost indistinguishable," the narrator said.
In "The War" Mr. Burns looked at the lives of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen from Mobile, Ala., Sacramento, Calif., Luverne, Minn., and Waterbury, Conn.
Young men from these four typical American towns died in far away and formerly obscure places such as Tarawa, a string of tiny Japanese-fortified islands. About 1,000 Americans died there during three days in November 1943.
During the war, young farm boys saw things they would not have imagined months earlier. One sailor quoted in the documentary attended a Sunday service on the deck of a ship: "It was the first time I ever went to church and saw bodies floating by."
The whole nation, including those at home, was in a state of shock, according to the documentary.
"The current was so swift, flowing toward war, and every young man that steps into it is carried toward war," said one veteran said of the nation being drawn into the World War.
Not all memories of the war years are terrible, though, and Mr. Meyers last night recalled something that happened to him during his three months as a POW.
"I kept dreaming of pancakes, stacks and stacks of pancakes," he said. "Now, who would dream of pancakes, when you could dream of some really good food."
When he got home, he said, his mother made him "stacks and stacks of pancakes."
State Veterans Affairs Secretary James A. Adkins said during an interview with The Capital that a whole generation of veterans is dying off, and we need to record as many of their stories as possible.
Over 1,000 World War II veterans die each day, according to U.S. Census Bureau numbers.
To keep their stories from being lost, the Veterans History Project, which is run by the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress, is asking veterans to record their memories.
The center will provide all information about recording veterans' recollections, right down to providing questions to be used in interviews.
To learn how to record veterans' memoirs, contact the Veterans History Project at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress at www.loc.gov/vets.
Ellie