KVIE Channel 6, the PBS affiliate for the Greater Sacramento area, is producing a special documentary to air in the Fall with the premier of Ken Burns’ The War:
“We are looking for veterans and civilians who were stationed or worked at the Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Base (now Travis Air Force Base) during WWII. In addition, we’re seeking members of the Japanese community from our area who remember World War II, either as veterans or citizens. And, finally, we’re looking for an expert on Mather Field and its role during WWII. Please contact one of our producers, Tish at (916) 641-3513 / lbuchanan@kvie.org or Marinda at (916) 641-3515 / mjohnson@kvie.org.”
Time is running out for us to hear directly from the men and women who experienced that important time in our history. If you were alive during the War, you have a valuable story to tell. If you know someone who was alive during the War, please encourage them to tell their story. Not from the Sacramento area? Contact the Veterans History Project.
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27 August, 2007 at 2:55 pm
SB
WWII, time has run out for many of those who were at Pearl Harbor. My Dad was Army/Air Corps and lived the book, One Damned Island After Another. My mother was a college student on Oahu when she met him in 1939. Female students could be dropped from a program if they were married. She and Dad eloped to Maui in May 1940. She continued in school until June.
After Dec.7, families were sent home to the mainland. Mom signed up with the Women’s Air Radar Defense to remain in Hawaii. There were programs on 4 islands. Many of the plotters were no more than teenagers and some of them were local high school girls. They wore uniforms, trained with gas masks, and were transported under guard and blackout conditions to underground worksites at Hickam and other islands. Their shifts were 6 hours on, 6 hours off, around the clock. The program was not declassified until the 1970s. There is a thin book called Shuffleboard Pilots that tells some of what it was like to work at headquarters central during the first 18 mos. of the year. Over 400 young women served at these sites over the first 2 years of the war. It was wonderful to be able to guide a lone pilot home, and tragic when the plane or the pilot did not make it. Some of these women did marry surviving soldiers. Some stayed in the islands. Mom died in 1996. Dad in 1994.
27 August, 2007 at 2:58 pm
SB
Pearl Harbor Sons & Daughters support the remaining members of Pearl Harbor Survivors. They continue the memories of their families and others. Their motto: Keep America Alert, and Lest We Forget
27 August, 2007 at 3:06 pm
SB
EB had a cousin who was raised and worked on Oahu. Because he was a manager on a sugar cane plantation, and sugar was an important and rationed item, Jack was waived from military service. She also had an uncle who operated a welding shop not more than a mile from Aloha Tower and adjacent to the disaster in the harbor. He like the soldiers, never said much about that day or the years that followed. I am certain he was busy and saw much more than he desired. The war impacted everyone.
23 September, 2007 at 11:23 pm
jan ehlers
I watched the first segment of THE WAR and want to thank Ken Burns for an outstanding production on WWII. I’m 61 years old and have read many accounts during my life time. The personal reflections of those who served or knew someone who did certainly enhanced what would have otherwise been another history lesson of dates and places. I can hardly wait to see the next segment. Thanks to KVIE and PBS!
Sincerely,
Jan Ehlers
12 December, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Chris Chaloupka
Ken Burns missed a significant group that made a major contribution to the war effort, the US Merchant Marine (USMM). The USMM was the sixth (armed) service activated for WW II. Its ranks contained sailors from every walk, including those who either too young or too old to volunteer or be drafted for the other services. The age range went from 16 to 70. The USMM had the highest per capita casualties of any of the services. My late father was too old for the other services, so he went back into the USMM (he was a career pre-war merchant sailor) and sreved as a ship’s officer. His USMM Combat Bar has three silver stars, one for each of the ships that were attacked that he was on. One, the Samual Gompers was sunk. My father was eligible for several different medals for his war time service but he never received all of them because unlike the other services there were no award ceremonies to hand them out. USMM sailors had to write and ask for them, if they knew which ones they were eligible for. The USMM WW II sailors were finally recognized as veterans in 1980’s, some forty years after their service.
It’s ironic that in researching Sacramento, Ken Burns did not discover the USMM Memorial on the waterfront, just SE of the Capital Bridge.