They call it "the Good War." World War II has the melancholy distinction of being the largest single event in human history. WWII deeply scarred every nation involved in it. Those scars still show today.
"If World War One ended the Victorian Era, introducing the modern age, World War II confirmed the changes, pushing us beyond barriers we barely knew existed. It ended the age of Empires, even for the victors. It introduced us to mass murder on a scale not even seen during WWI. It started the Atomic Age at a time when we barely knew what atomic energy was. There are literally millions of stories that could be told about that period of human history."
This program is something of a watershed for me. My parents spent their late childhood early adolescence during the war years. The shadow of the war has always been present. As much as the sixties represent a special period to a number of us, the WWII period represents a special period to others. My parents have told me the story of hearing about the attack on Pearl Harbor as the news broke on the radio. My uncle went ashore at Normandy on the second day of the invasion. He was wounded on those beaches. He lost his older brother during what is known as Operation Market Garden. One of my late grandmothers worked in a factory during the war in Evansville.
My dad passed his love of history to me. Since I started making these films of mine, I knew I wanted to do something for him. To honor the gift he gave me. He is an avid WWII history buff, so the choice was fairly evident from the beginning.
But, there are literally hundreds of thousands of documentaries on the subject of the Second World War. I really have nothing to add to the history or to the understanding of the period, or even to the controversies of the period. How could I possibly approach this material?
A few years ago, I saw the Al Reinert film, For All Mankind. Al Reinert went through the old NASA footage about the Apollo Missions, using the footage and interviews NASA conducted to tell the story of humans exploration of the moon. I highly recommend everyone see that movie, especially if you doubt humans have ever walked on the moon. I rented the movie through Netflix, you should try there. That movie was inspiring. I knew then how, in outline at any rate, I wanted to handle the material concerning the Second World War.
I used a collection of World War II newsreels, photographs and radio broadcasts to tell the story of the Second World War. What I did was to construct a program showing the war in a manner which my parents, my grandparents, and millions of other people, saw and heard the war. I don't know how well I presented my original idea. I know several people, several of my friends, have told me how much they enjoyed the program, and to them I am grateful for their remarks.
Had I used my head, I would have premiered this program on the first of September, which is the date the Germans invaded Poland to start WWII. At that time, I was more worried about finishing the last part of the program itself. As it turned out, I could have premiered the program on that date and still finished the last part before it would have been broadcasted. However, I decided to wait to be certain that the entire program was finished, then select a date. December 7th, of course, is an important date for we Americans. Since I didn't make the September 1st date, and I didn't want to wait till the next anniversary fo Normandy, December 7th seemed an appropriate date for the premiere. I hope everyone who reads this will watch my program whether online through blip.tv or on Owensboro Public Access or through one of the stations my friends at Open Door TV programs for.
For the Owensboro area, Owensboro Public Access is Time-Warner Channel 72. Tentatively, this is scheduled to premiere on Monday, Dec. 7th @ 4:00 P.M. It will be repeated on Monday @ 8:00 P.M., on Thursday, Dec. 10th @ 4:00 P.M. and again at 8:00 P.M. and on Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 P.M. This schedule hasn't been confirmed by OPA, but, according to the last weekly schedule I have received, there shouldn't be any problem with this schedule. Parts 2, 3 & 4 will follow the same schedule with Part 2 starting on the following Monday, December 14th, Part 3 on Dec. 21 and Part 4 on Dec. 28th. The online version will be made available for public viewing through blip.tv each of those Mondays. For Open Door TV schedule, please contact Open Door itself.
There are several people who I would like to thank for their help and support, too many to name everyone here. However, a special thank you should go to Sonya Kahn, Ruby James and Dave Plesh for taking the time to view the program as I was working on it and for their kind words of encouragement. Additionally, I wish to thank the Internet Archives for providing some of the newsreels and radio clips. Last but certainly not least, a very big, special thank you goes to my friend and erstwhile colleague J. C. Kaelin of MediaOutlet for not only providing the bulk of the newsreels, photographs, and radio clips I used, but for his words of encouragement and allowing me to bounce ideas off of him during his busy, hectic, growing business concern. (Congratulations, James!) Anyone who has any interest in history and historical items, go visit J.C. at MediaOutlet. You will not believe what you can find there.
Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: The Saga of World War II will be premiering on Dec. 7th, 2009. A Tramp Studios production of a film by Keenan Powell.
