On a day that began with a moving tribute to all who served, and those who died, at Pearl Harbor on the day the Japanese struck, the USS Oklahoma was honored with the unveiling of a marble and granite monument that commemorates the battleship that suffered the second-largest loss of life in the Japanese attack. Dignitaries from the states of Oklahoma and Hawaii, the U.S. Navy, the National Park Service, members of the USS Oklahoma Memorial Executive Committee, survivors and family members of the Oklahoma’s crew attended the nearly 2-hour ceremony.

Sun and showers alternated throughout the memorial service and dedication, forcing those gathered under tents to protect them from the wind and rain. However, for those who had worked so long and hard to secure the site and create the memorial, it was a glorious day.

The ceremony began with a welcome from Rear Admiral Doug McClain, a former student at Putnam City High School in Oklahoma City, who is now Director of Global Operations for the U.S. Strategic Command. Following a traditional Hawaiian blessing and the invocation, the colors were presented by the Navy Junior ROTC from Claremore, Oklahoma and the Marine Junior ROTC cadets from U.S. Grant High School in Oklahoma City. The U.S. Marine Corps Band played the National Anthem.

(above: Governor Brad Henry speaks at the USS Oklahoma Memorial Dedication ceremony at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii)

Then, architect Don Beck discussed the design of the memorial, and its 429 marble posts, each of which contain the name of one of those who died aboard the mighty battleship.

Honored speakers included (in order of speaking) Linda Lingle, Governor of Hawaii; Admiral Timothy Keating, U.S. Pacific Command; Mary Fallin, U.S. Representative from Oklahoma; Tom Cole, U.S. Representative from Oklahoma; Neil Abercrombie, U.S. Representative from Hawaii; Brad Henry, Governor of Oklahoma; and Lyle Laverty, Assistant Secretary of the Interior. Oklahoma State Senator Jim Reynolds introduced USS Oklahoma survivor Ed Vezey and Lisa Ridge, granddaughter of USS Oklahoma Petty Officer Paul Nash, for comments.

(above: USS Oklahoma survivor Ed Vezey of Center, Colorado was among the speakers at the dedication ceremony.)

Signalman 1st Class Paul Goodyear, a USS Oklahoma survivor who was one of the driving forces behind the memorial, then raised the American flag above the site. The ceremony closed with a 21-gun salute, taps and the playing of Amazing Grace on a lone bagpipe.

Among the Oklahomans at the service, we saw Governor Brad Henry and First Lady Kim Henry; Treasurer Scott Meacham; U.S. Representatives Tom Cole and Mary Fallin; Speaker of the House Lance Cargill; State Representative Gary Banz; State Senator Jim Reynolds; State Representative Ryan Kiesel; and State Representative Guy Liebmann.

Also, former State Representatives Debbie Blackburn and Greg Piatt; Dr. Bob Blackburn, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Historical Society; the members of the USS Oklahoma Memorial Executive Committee, including co-chairs Tucker McHugh and Admiral Greg Slavonic; memorial architect Don Beck; Blake Wade, Jeannie Edney, and Lou Kerr from the Oklahoma Centennial Commission; the survivors and their families.

(above (l-r): Kevin King and State Senator Jim Reynolds do a “rubbing” on one of the posts at the USS Oklahoma Memorial.

The USS Oklahoma was raised in 1943, made sea-worthy and sold for scrap. In May, 1947, she sank in a storm, about 540 miles out of Hawaii, while being towed to San Francisco. She rests there now, and almost 400 of her crew members, most unidentified, are entombed at the Punchbowl National Cemetery in Honolulu.

Jeff Phister, co-author of “Battleship Oklahoma (BB-37)” writes:

Built to keep the peace, not once in her twenty-five years of service were her massive 14-inch guns fired in belligerence. She was a great ship – with a proud crew. Neither will be forgotten.

Ah hui ho (until next time), Dick Pryor

Aloha!
In the shadow of the battleship USS Missouri, moored at Pearl Harbor, more than 8,000 Oklahoma school students were part of an interactive web cast featuring two survivors of the USS Oklahoma on Thursday, December 6. Located less than 100 yards from the site of the new USS Oklahoma Memorial on Ford Island, survivors Paul Goodyear and George Brown answered questions from students at several Oklahoma schools.

A total of 124 schools signed up to watch the exclusive web cast. In addition to Goodyear and Brown, students heard from Dr. Bob Blackburn, the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Historical Society; Tucker McHugh, co-chair of the USS Oklahoma Memorial Executive Committee; Don Beck, the architect who designed the memorial; and Oklahoma State Senator Jim Reynolds, who was one of the leaders of the effort to place a memorial to the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor.

(above:  USS Oklahoma survivor Paul Goodyear answers questions from Oklahoma students during the interactive web cast, live, from Ford Island, Pearl Harbor.  The USS Missouri is in the background.  It is now moored where the USS Oklahoma was located during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  Paul Goodyear swam to safety just a few yards from the site of the web cast.)

Goodyear and Brown told students that the memorial is important to them because of the tribute it will pay to the 429 sailors and Marines who perished in the Japanese attack. The Oklahoma was one of nine battleships that suffered damage or were sunk. The USS Oklahoma, the USS Arizona, and the USS Utah were the only ships that were never returned to service.

The Oklahoma has been the only battleship without a memorial at Pearl Harbor, but that will change at 4:00 p.m. (Oklahoma time) on Friday, when the USS Oklahoma Memorial is officially dedicated. About 15 survivors and 200 family members of USS Oklahoma crew are expected for the ceremony. Governor Brad Henry, U.S. Representatives Mary Fallin and Tom Cole and U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii will be among the honored speakers. The Navy Junior ROTC from Claremore High School and Marine Junior ROTC Cadets from U.S. Grant High School in Oklahoma City will present the colors.

Join us for the web cast of the USS Oklahoma Memorial dedication from Ford Island at 4:00 p.m. (Oklahoma time) on Friday. The ceremony will be archived on the Oklahoma World War II Stories web site on Friday night, December 7.

Ah hui ho! (until next time)
Dick Pryor

Aloha!

World War II veterans, including more than a dozen survivors of the Japanese assault on the USS Oklahoma, have arrived in Honolulu for the 66th anniversary remembrance of the Pearl Harbor sneak attack and the dedication of the new USS Oklahoma Memorial.

The survivors and the first members of the Oklahoma contingent to arrive in Honolulu have been getting acquainted at the downtown Honolulu headquarters hotel and visiting some of the sites around Pearl Harbor. On Tuesday, a few of the Oklahoma survivors went to the Punchbowl, the national cemetery which is the site where the remains of 381 victims of the Japanese attack are buried in 46 graves.

(above:  USS Oklahoma survivor George Smith, the youngest crew member aboard the battleship, talks about his experiences during World War II.)

Wednesday, the survivors, their family members, State Representative Gary Banz and his wife Linda, and members of the Claremore and Oklahoma City U.S. Grant Junior ROTC program took a late afternoon cruise around Ford Island, located in the center of Pearl Harbor. Captain Taylor Skardon, Commander of the Naval Station Pearl Harbor served as tour guide, providing a vivid commentary on the history of Pearl Harbor.

(above:  Captain Taylor Skarden, Commander of Pearl Harbor Naval Station, hosted a tour of Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial.)

(below:  Members of the Navy Junior ROTC from Claremore, Oklahoma enjoy the Pearl Harbor cruise. )

On Thursday at 2:00 p.m. (Oklahoma time) we will present a 45-minute video conference live on the Oklahoma World War II Stories website. The video conference will be available worldwide, and more than 8,000 Oklahoma school students from 77 schools have signed up to participate. They will have the opportunity to hear from Director of the Oklahoma History Center Bob Blackburn, State Senator Jim Reynolds, co-chairman of the USS Oklahoma Memorial Committee Tucker McHugh and memorial Beck, in addition to being able to ask questions of two USS Oklahoma survivors. Due to the tremendous interest, the video conference has been extended to allow additional questions for the veterans from students. Thursday night at 8:00 (Oklahoma time) OETA will present its Oklahoma World War II Stories documentary, produced by Boots Kennedye and me. The hour-long documentary will also be available worldwide on the OETA website, www.oeta.tv.

We will bring the dedication ceremony of the USS Oklahoma Memorial home to Oklahoma on Friday, starting at 4:00 p.m. (Oklahoma time) on the Oklahoma World War II Stories website. We invite you to watch as the Okie and its crew receive their long-awaited recognition with a permanent memorial on Ford Island, only a couple hundred yards from the location of the USS Oklahoma when it was hit by Japanese torpedoes.

The weather has been rainy here and temperatures cooler than expected. Storms raced across Oahu last night, knocking out power to many residents and businesses and closing the USS Arizona Memorial until afternoon. Weather should improve tomorrow for the video conference, to be held near the USS Oklahoma Memorial site, a short distance from the permanent mooring of the USS Missouri, the battleship on which the Japanese officially surrendered to end World War II. Join us for the video conference on Thursday, and check back for more updates from Pearl Harbor.

Ah hui ho (until next time), Dick Pryor
(The “Okie” survivors who have made the journey include Paul Goodyear, Casa Grande, Arizona; George Smith, Olympia, Washington; Don Lester, San Diego, California; Harold Johnson; Michael Stecz, Castro Valley, California; Garland Eslick, Amarillo, Texas; James Bounds, San Diego, California; Norm Roberts, Morro Bay, California; Ed Vezey, Center, Colorado; Dick Artley, Lewiston, Idaho; Ray Richmond, San Diego, California; Bill Hendley, Wilmington, North Carolina; and Louis Egnatovich, Lake City, Florida. George Brown of Honolulu had a much shorter trip. Willie Roesler of Canyon Lake, Texas is also in Hawaii to share the activities with his surviving shipmates. Roesler was a crew member of the Oklahoma before the December 7, 1941 attack and had shipped out to Midway Island aboard the USS Medusa in February, 1941.)

Jim Norick remembers that everybody was surprised when they learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  He figured sooner or later the United States was going to be involved in World War II, but it still came as a shock.  Norick says he and his wife, Madalynne, were watching a movie at the Criterion Theater in downtown Oklahoma City when they stopped the movie, and announced the Japanese attack.  “I figured, well, I’m going to have to be going, I guess,” Norick said.  “Next day, at the office, everybody was talking about it.  We didn’t know what was going to happen next.”

(above) Jim Norick’s family business in downtown Oklahoma City.

Norick was working at the family’s business, Norick Brothers Printing, in Oklahoma City.  He and Madalynne had a son, Ron, who was less than a year old.  But, by the summer of 1942, Norick figured he was going into the military soon.  So, with two Naval Bases in Norman, he entered the Navy on September 1, 1942 as a storekeeper, working in the pay office.  The work was similar to what he had been doing at Norick Brothers.

“When the base first opened on the first of September,” Norick told me recently, “they didn’t have uniforms for us for a month – we just wore civilian clothes.  They didn’t have a place for us to sleep, so I rode the Interurban back and forth from Oklahoma City to Norman.  When they finally got housing down there, then of course I had to stay on-base.”

The Naval Air Technical Training Center was built in record time – four and a half months.   It was a city of more than 19,000 with enlisted men, marines, WAVES with a ship’s company of about 2,000, and was divided into two bases, North and South.  Three separate schools fell under one command, providing training for Aviation Machinists, Metalsmiths, and Ordnancemen.  Pilots received training at the North Base.

In addition to his work in the payroll office, Jim Norick played alto saxophone and clarinet in one of the two base bands.  He recalls that it was a special thrill to play under the base’s famous band director, Tex Beneke, saxophonist and conductor in the Glenn Miller Band.  Norick says Beneke had a hearing problem, so he stayed stateside during the war, providing entertainment for those on-base and their dates from surrrounding communities.

(above) Jim Norick is second from left in front row in this picture of one of the bands at the Norman Naval Air Training Technical Center.

Norick says the bands played at the Naval hospital and, every Sunday afternoon, in Building 92, the base’s large auditorium.  “It was a morale builder,” Norick said, “yes, very much.”

(above)  Dancing was a popular pasttime at the Norman Naval Air Training Technical Center’s Building 92. 

Jim Norick was at the South Base for 16 months, but left his wife and son on December 1, 1944, to go to Charleston, South Carolina for the pre-commissioning of a sea-going tug.  By April, he was aboard the tug, with floating drydock attached, heading to the South Pacific.   

It took 18 days to go from the Panama Canal to Hawaii, then it was on to Enewitok, where they dropped off the floating drydock.  Norick and his shipmates thought they were going back to Hawaii, but instead they were sent to join the invasion forces at Guam and Saipan.  He remembers that the fighting was intense.  “They (the Japanese) were beginning to fear that they might not win,” Norick told me, “the guys having to go on the beach, you’d just pray for them, because so many of them did not come back.”

Norick went on to serve in the invasions of the Leyte Gulf and the Lingayen Gulf.  During invasions, he says everyone played a part.  It was during the fighting in the Leyte Gulf that he had a chance to turn hero, by shooting down a Japanese Betty bomber.  ”First, I was the loader, putting the bullets on that needed to be fired,” he said.  “But, the guy that was on the gun was a little trigger-happy, so they shifted me and put me on a gun and put him on the loader.  So, that’s how I became a shooter.”  Norick was on a 20-millimeter gun when he spotted the Japanese bomber, traced it down and blasted it from the sky.  He had never been trained on the 20-millimeter, but he knew how to shoot.  “Prior to that I had done a little shooting, hunting quail with my dad,” he said, “but that was a little different.”

(above) Madalynne Norick with son, Ron.

While Jim was away, Madalynne kept in touch through “V-Mails” and did her part by working in the Executive Lobby at the Douglas Aircraft Plant in Oklahoma City.  “You couldn’t survive without mail,” she said.  “You needed to know that your husband was still over there, and he was working for our country and you were trying to help the little way that you could.  It was a serious time.”  

Norick was part of the invasion force waiting about a hundred miles away from the Japanese mainland when the war ended.  He thinks the invasion would have started within a week, had the United States not dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Norick returned to his family in Oklahoma in early December, 1945.  He went back to the printing business and became involved in community and public service.  He served on the City Council and was elected Oklahoma City Mayor in 1959.  He served two terms as mayor, winning a second term in 1967.   Son Ron followed him as mayor in 1987 and held the position for 11 years. 

(above) Madalynne and Jim Norick today.

Jim Norick remains involved in family business and still plays the clarinet.  He plays each week in the Nichols Hills Concert Band and has a 6-piece combo that plays at nursing homes in the Oklahoma City area.

He also tries to remain in touch with his friends who proudly stepped up and served in what he calls, WW-Deuce.  “I think the biggest majority of the American people were mad,” Norick said, “and (said) let’s get this over with, and they did what they had to do…willingly.”

Until next time, Dick Pryor

(Jim Norick was profiled on the Oklahoma News Report on October 24, 2007.  To see the story, click on “Videos” on this website and go to “OETA’s Dick Pryor interviews Oklahoma WWII veterans.)

The day started like any other Sunday morning in Hawaii – sunny and beautiful.  All of the battleships in the U.S. Pacific fleet were moored on Battleship Row, near Ford Island.  Sailors who had come in from liberty the night before were finishing their breakfasts, cleaning up the mess hall and getting their ship ready for inspection the next day.  Much of the work had already been done – sailors were expecting a relaxed day in paradise.

(above)  The USS Oklahoma.

But, December 7, 1941 was not like any other day at Pearl Harbor.  Signalman 1st Class Paul Goodyear was preparing for the 8:00-12:00 watch, locating the ships in the harbor so he would know which way to use the signal lights or semaphores to address them.  That is when Goodyear and some of his strikers looked up and saw a line of planes, a half-dozen or more,  flying from the starboard to the port side of the USS Oklahoma.  Goodyear remembers the first plane dropped a bomb and the second plane dropped a bomb, but that really wasn’t unusual.

“At that time, Ford Island was a naval base, a naval air station where the planes from the carriers would land while getting in some flying time with their ship in port,” Goodyear told me when we met in August.  “If for some reason they had gone out for bombing practice and hadn’t expended the bombs they carried, rather than landing with weight under the wings or fuselage, they would just drop it on that little spit of land that stuck out there between west block and Pearl Harbor,” Goodyear said. 

Goodyear’s interest intensified when a third plane dropped a bomb.  “We knew something was going on,” Goodyear said.  “I had a pair of 750 binoculars, and I put them to my eyes and that (Japanese) meatball hit me right in the eye.  Right then we all knew it was the Japanese.”

Thus, began Paul Goodyear’s story of tragedy and survival.  Goodyear jumped ship, swam to the USS Maryland and later made it to the safety of Ford Island, but 429 of his crew mates were not so fortunate.  The “Okie” had the second-highest number of casualties of any battleship at Pearl Harbor, behind the USS Arizona. 

Goodyear says the Oklahoma was being cleaned up for Admiral’s inspection on Monday morning, so it was not compartmentalized, and counter-flooding was not possible, like it was on the USS California and USS West Virginia.  “By counter-flooding,” Goodyear said, “they were able to sink the ship straight down and that saved hundreds of lives on those ships.  Our kids were trapped on that revolving ship (the USS Oklahoma) and they didn’t even know where they were.”

It took 11 and a half minutes for the Oklahoma to roll over into the water.  It took a week for the survivors to get out of their wet, oily clothes; two weeks for the survivors to be allowed back in the mess hall.  Goodyear says he and the other survivors had to make do the best they could until just before Christmas. 

Paul Goodyear continued to serve in the Navy in the South Pacific until the war was over.  He was preparing to be part of the U.S. force that would invade Japan when the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  “I was happy when they dropped the atomic bomb,” he said, “because then I knew we could begin to live our lives as a normal human being again.”

The operation to right the USS Oklahoma began on March 8, 1943.  It was completed more than three months later.  Divers had to wear gas masks while removing the remains of those who died and other decomposed materials from the Oklahoma’s compartments.  The ship came afloat in November and by late December it was in drydock.  It was stripped of guns and sold for scrap (for $46,000) two years later.  On May 10, 1947 two tug boats departed Pearl Harbor to take the Oklahoma to San Francisco.  About 540 miles out, during a storm at sea, the Oklahoma started to list and broke the tow line, sinking to the bottom of the Pacific for the final time.

Paul Goodyear is one of the leading proponents of building a USS Oklahoma Memorial at Pearl Harbor.  He is looking forward to attending the ceremonies dedicating Pearl Harbor’s newest memorial on December 7, 2007.   More information about the USS Oklahoma Memorial can be found at www.ussoklahoma.com.

Until next time,  Dick Pryor

(Paul Goodyear was profiled on the Oklahoma News Report on October 3, 2007.  To see the story, click on “Videos” on this website and go to “OETA’s Dick Pryor interviews Oklahoma WWII veterans.)

Growing up in Idabel, Zee Howell thought it would be fun to be in the Navy.  It might have been the book, Treasure Island, or the fact he had an uncle who was a Navy guy that inspired him, but mostly he wanted to help his mother and four sisters.  Jobs for high schoolers were nil, so he decided to enlist in the Navy in 1940 and get positioned, rather than wait to be drafted.  He also wanted to see the world.

That, he did.  Howell went through training in San Diego, then was off aboard the tanker ship USS Neches to haul oil to places like Panama, Alaska and Hawaii.  Howell figured the U.S. would get drawn into war, but he really wasn’t expecting the kind of sneak attack the Japanese launched at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Howell admitted the United States had to go to war after that attack – there wasn’t any time to think about it.  He viewed the Japanese as the enemy, obviously, but didn’t have ill feelings toward the Japanese people, they were just “the enemy.”  He saw the war from beginning to end, and later served in Korea.   As a sailor, he went all over the South Pacific, and was comforted by the knowledge that land was always just 2 miles away.  “Unfortunately,” he said, “that land was two miles straight down.”

“I was at Pearl Harbor when it started and I was in the Phillipines when it ended, so it was very educational,” Howell said.  “I learned a lot.”

Howell now lives southwest of Norman.  He’s retired, but at the age of 85 is quite active.  He’s a big Sooner sports fan, and a frequent participant in the public discourse of his hometown.  He hopes future generations and leaders will learn from the experiences of his generation. 

“Our generation was pretty tough,” Howell said.  “Whatever happened, you just took it, did the best you could, and survived…and went on.  That generation that grew up then, they just learned to do and make do and do without.  We worked hard.  We learned to do a lot of things, of necessity, we had to.  Tom Brokaw may have left that out.  We didn’t do it particularly by choice, but because we had to do it, and we’re better for it, too.  We can withstand hardships better than anybody else.  We know about it, we understand it, we’ve seen it, we’ve had it, and we just need to pass some of that along to our kids.” 

(above)  Zee Howell points out his position in a picture of the survivors of the USS Neches, taken the morning the ship was sunk by Japanese torpedoes.  Howell and his shipmates waited in their life rafts for several hours before they were rescued by the USS Jarvis.

(below)  Howell and other survivors of the USS Neches at a reunion in San Diego in 1996.

Zee Howell’s story is the first of our Oklahoma World War II Stories, airing on OETA’s Oklahoma News Report preceding each episode of “The War.” 

Until next time, Dick Pryor

(Zee Howell was profiled on the Oklahoma News Report on September 21, 2007.  To see the story, click on “Videos” on this website and go to “OETA’s Dick Pryor interviews Oklahoma WWII veterans.)

“A riveting experience.”  “Outstanding.”  “Well-done.”  “Strong.”  “The war as I remembered it.”  “I can’t wait to see the entire documentary.”

Those were some of the comments heard Wednesday night at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art after the screening of an hour-long preview of the Ken Burns documentary, “The War.” 

Several veterans were in attendance to watch excerpts from the 7-part, 15-hour television event that begins on OETA Sunday night at 7:00.  Following the screening Dr. Robert Griswold, Chair of the History Department at the University of Oklahoma, WWII Veteran Paul Wilson of the 17th Airborne Division and Roger Harris, oral historian at the Oklahoma History Center, answered questions about the film, the war, and its impact. 

Wilson emphasized the sense of duty that Americans felt during the war, and how young men everywhere wanted to get involved to serve the country and their families.  He, like so many soldiers who fought in the bleak winter conditions during the Battle of the Bulge, suffered from the effects of the bitterly cold temperatures.  “Medics,” Wilson said, “were the real heroes of the war.  And, I wouldn’t be here today without help from the man above.” 

Harris said many veterans are now coming forward to talk about their experiences, ending years of trauma-induced silence.  Griswold said such stories are important to help future generations understand the scope and gravity of the war.  He teaches about World War II at the University of Oklahoma.  Griswold is hopeful that programs such as “The War” will help students of today better appreciate the sacrifices involved in World War II and its impact on history.

SEEN and HEARD:  Among those at the event on Wednesday night were OETA Station Manager Bill Thrash, Scott Horton and Paige Lessly of NewsOK (Scott designed the fabulous Oklahoma World War II Stories website), and World War II veteran Zee Howell, who will be featured on Friday night in the Oklahoma News Report.  For more on the event, be sure to read the September 20th front page story in The Oklahoman.

Until next time,  Dick Pryor 

(above) Moderator Dick Pryor with Don Wright of Oklahoma City, a veteran of Guadalcanal who attended the screening event at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

(below) Panel member Paul Wilson, a paratrooper in the 17th Airborne Division, visits with members of the audience about his experiences in World War II following the screening event at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

(below)  A crowd of more than 235 people watched the pre-screening of The War and the panel discussion at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.  Our thanks to Film Curator Brian Hearn and our friends at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art for their support of “The War”!

(below) Dr. Robert Griswold discusses the impact of World War II.  Oral Historian Roger Harris of the Oklahoma History Center is on his right.

A standing room crowd watched the first hour-long preview of Ken Burns’ important, new documentary, “The War,” Tuesday at the Circle Cinema Theatre in Tulsa.  Several veterans attended the pre-screening event and they seemed to appreciate the approach used by Burns to tell the story of the “greatest generation” at home and in the theaters of war.  The film presents the horrors and heartbreak of war in the riveting and personal style that has made Burns America’s most prominent producer of historical documentaries.

Following the screening, OETA’s Dick Pryor moderated a panel discussion with WWII veteran Kenneth Renberg, a German who trained American troops and fought with the 45th Infantry Division; Dr. Brad Agnew, Professor of History at Northeastern State University and an expert on military history; and Eva Unterman, a survivor of the holocaust who spent most of the war in Nazi concentration camps.  OETA’s Lori Holliday showed the dynamic, new Oklahoma World War II Stories website (including this blog) and encouraged everyone attending to participate in the story collection project using the website’s “Share a Story” module.   To-date, more than 700 people have shared a story - an overwhelming response! 

Special thanks to Clark Wiens and Amberla Tepe of the Circle Cinema Theatre for hosting such a great event to begin the march toward “The War.”  Ken Burns’ 15-hour epic, “The War,” debuts Sunday night at 7:00 on OETA.

(above)  Several veterans attended the screening of “The War” at the Circle Cinema in Tulsa.  (below)  War memorabilia decorated the Circle Cinema.

(above)  Holocaust survivor Eva Unterman of Tulsa, one of the panel members at the Circle Cinema screening, with Moderator Dick Pryor.

What should future generations know about war and what your generation did in World War II? That’s a question photojournalist Boots Kennedye and I have asked each of our veterans in interviews for the Oklahoma World War II Stories series. The answers have varied, but a common thread is clear – they saw America attacked and the world threatened, and did what had to be done.

Interviewing these everyday heroes has been an enriching experience for Boots and me. Meeting them, and producing their stories, is a real privilege. Some WWII veterans have a difficult time discussing their experiences of more than half a century ago, but the ones we talked to were eager to give their thoughts about war, World War II, and their participation in it. To be sure, it was a defining time in the history of our nation, and for many veterans, it was a defining moment in their lives.

Each interview lasted more than an hour. In that amount of time you can learn a lot about someone and make a personal connection. They are grandparents and great-grandparents now, yet for most the images and details are as fresh as they were more than 60 years ago. Looking into their eyes was like looking into a window to the past – to a time that seems so far away, yet is still important and relevant. We were struck by their sincerity, willingness to share (and sacrifice), and their perspective on our world. As much as anything, I think they want the lessons they learned to endure for the benefit of future generations.

Our pieces will run less than five minutes, but we are providing the entire interviews to the Oklahoma Historical Society, for archiving at the Oklahoma History Center. Some of the interviews may also wind up at the Library of Congress. We are grateful to have the chance to honor our veterans this way – it’s the least we can do for what they have done for the rest of us.

I encourage you to watch our Oklahoma World War II stories on the Oklahoma News Report beginning on Friday, September 21st at 6:30 p.m. I also encourage you to get involved in our story collection project and see for yourself how meaningful a discussion with a veteran can be. Each one has a story; each one should be remembered.

Until next time, Dick Pryor

(above: Dick Pryor with Ned Hockman, Lt. Colonel, Air Force Reserves)

(below: Boots Kennedye with Sergeant Alexander Mathews)

Beginning on Friday, September 21st, be sure to watch OETA’s Oklahoma News Report as we begin a 14-part series – Oklahoma World War II Stories. This is one of the most ambitious efforts ever for OETA News – an effort worthy of its inspiration, Ken Burns’ documentary, The War.

Although he admits he got started about ten years too late, America’s pre-eminent documentary filmmaker decided he needed to tell the story of World War II, much as he had done in his ground-breaking documentary, The Civil War. OETA, The Oklahoman, the Oklahoma History Center, the 45th Infantry Division Museum, and our other partners recognized the importance of the project and launched a statewide story collection project, inviting participation from members of the public. We also decided that OETA should produce a series of first-hand accounts for distribution over-the-air and on-line.

Our “War Team” started spreading the word about our story collection project. We made phone calls, sent e-mails, networked with friends, and used on-air and on-line promotion to collect the names of veterans and volunteers willing to tell their stories. Photojournalist Charles “Boots” Kennedye and I hit the road on August 3rd, taping interviews with veterans in High Definition. We’ve also been furiously gathering video, music and still photos to bring the stories to life.

We completed our first round of fifteen interviews on August 24th and began logging tape, researching and writing. Charles is currently in the editing phase – working his magic in our new state-of-the-art High Definition edit suite. I’ll tell you more about our travels, the people we’ve met and the production process later. But right now, I’ve go to get back to viewing videotape.

Be sure to mark your calendar for September 21st, when the first of our Oklahoma World War II stories airs statewide at 6:30 p.m. on the Oklahoma News Report.

Until next time, Dick Pryor