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November 22, 2006
Godspeed to Jamestown Web Page
I jsut created a weblet for the upcoming documentary Godspeed to Jamestown that includes a video preview and full credits. You can check it out here.
Posted by rickbeyer at 03:20 PM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2006
Being There
The big-bellied man with the oxygen tank waiting at the taxi stand the other night threw himself on two live hand grenades at Okinawa, saving the lives of his friends, and incidentally earning the Congressional Medal of Honor. The retired doctor I chatted with in the bookstore earlier this week was wounded five times on Omaha Beach. “You might wonder why someone would be stupid enough to keep fighting when wounded,” he said. “We had no choice.” The economist standing behind me at the cocktail reception last night first learned about market forces while trading cigarettes for rice at a Japanese prison camp. And speaking of Japan, at breakfast this morning I introduced myself to a frail gentleman who, back in the day, piloted one of the fleet of planes that bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.
The occasion for these various encounters was the World War II Conference held at the National World War II Museum (Formerly the D-Day Museum) in New Orleans. It brought together historians, filmmakers, amateur history enthusiasts, and sizeable number of seemingly ordinary people who, so long ago, had done extraordinary things in the cataclysm that engulfed their world.
Looking at these people—the youngest in their early 80’s—it was impossible not to reflect upon the fact that they soon will be gone. It was quite moving to see the members of this generation—I won’t use the now all too familiar phrase—bearing witness to what they had done, what they had endured, what they had accomplished, knowing that it won't be long before all their voices are stilled forever.
Historians advanced their interpretations, authors signed books, and filmmaker Ken Burns screened excerpts of his new film “The War,” but it was the veterans who were the rock stars here. After describing their experiences from the podium, they were escorted to tables where they could scrawl their signatures and pose for photos, surrounded by a crowd of history groupies eager to connect with the earth changing event that happened long before most of them where born.
Of course, even a detached observer would have to admit that some hero worship might be appropriate.
There were moments of great emotion. Don Malarkey, one of the “Band of Brothers” paratroopers who parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, found himself barely able to speak. “I didn’t realize what a tough venue this would be,” he said, gesturing upward at the C-47 airplane hanging overhead in the museum’s main hall. Once he had leapt from a similar airplane into a night sky filled with death, and the very nearness of the plane made the memories far more vivid than he had anticipated.
There were also moments of unexpected humor. Andy Rooney, a reporter or Stars and Stripes at the time, told of the day in 1945 that he jumped into a ditch to avoid enemy fire, and found that the war correspondent next to him was none other than Ernest Hemingway. "What a way to meet Hemmingway,” said Rooney. “You know, I never liked his writing very much. Too pompous, I thought. But I didn’t mention that to him.”
In it’s review of “Flags of Our Fathers” last month, the New York Times wrote that “It seems hard to believe there is anything left to say about World War II that has not already been stated and restated, chewed, digested and spat out for your consideration.” But World War Two took place on a scale almost beyond imagining, and continues to retain both its mystery and fascination. It is the only war that really spanned the entire globe, destroying an unimaginable 50 million lives, and changing the world map forever. For anyone at this conference with ears to listen, it was clear that there is much about World War II that we can still learn, and much that we can never know.
British author Sir Max Hastings told a story that begins to get at just what makes the experiences of the World War II generation so inspirational. A few years ago he spent hours interviewing death camp survivor Edith Gabon, then living in New York. Afterwards he called a taxi to take him to the airport, where he was trying to make a flight to London. When the taxi didn’t come, he began to get upset. “Relax,” she told him. “When you’ve been in a death camp, you realize that missing an airplane just isn’t very important.”
She was part of a generation forced to throw off the normal human preoccupation with trivia and engage in an elemental life and death struggle. Perhaps any generation would have risen to the challenge—nonetheless, the task fell to this generation, and they were not found wanting.
There were constant reminders as well of those who didn’t survive. “They gave their tomorrows for our today” said one speaker. Another Congressional Medal of Honor winner at Okinawa—there were, unbelievably, 23of them—said that he always felt it was his duty and his honor to represent those who never came back.
The appeal of World War II as an engaging and compelling piece of history will continue for generations hence, but this may be one of the last occasions where so many World War II veterans gather to share their tales in person. I was only one of many people who felt privileged to be there to hear them.
Posted by rickbeyer at 09:54 PM | Comments (1)
November 15, 2006
What's News?
It has been a long time since my last posting, but I'm vowing to do better!
Piece of News #1: The documentary "Godspeed to Jamestown" will air on The History Channel Saturday, December 2, at 8 PM Eastern. We worked on this for nearly two years, covering the construction of the godspeed from the laying of the keel to her first day at sea. I've done numerous postings about this over the last 24 months, and I am certainly delighted to put this one up. The show features Steve Thomas as host, and people who have seen it seem to think it came out pretty well. Who am I to diagree?
Piece of News #2:
I am in New Orleans this week. Thunderstorms are moving through as I write, although it is supposed to be nicer the rest of the week. I'm here for a World War II COnference at the D-Day Museum. I met with the folks from the museum last night to discuss the Ghost Army project, and I am thrilled to say that they are excited about us, and have offered to endorse the proejct (which should help us in fundraising) and to explore some co-branded efforts. Very cool!
I have to say that it is a bit sad being in NO for the first time since Katrina. (I was last here 36 hours before the hurricne hit,and had toe vacuate with my family to Houston). I'm staying in the French Quarter, which was not pariculraly hard hit, but even here there are favorite shops and restuarnats closed, lots of For Sale and For Rent signs, and a paucity of tourists. We'll see if my impression improes as the week goes on, when the sun is supposed to come out and more people will prbably be coming in as the weekend approaches.
Posted by rickbeyer at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)