August 31, 2005

Library of Congress contacts: Anneliesa Clump Behrend aclump@loc.gov; Helen Dalrymple hdal@loc.gov

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS’S VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT PRESENTS
VETERANS DAY SPECIAL ON PUBLIC RADIO

“While the World Watched” Honors Firsthand Accounts of the End of WWII

[stations carrying this program (PDF)]

The Library of Congress’s Veterans History Project will present a one-hour special titled “While the World Watched,” which will be aired on and around Veterans Day, November 11, 2005 on Public Radio International (PRI) affiliate stations around the country. Check your local listings for air dates and times.

“While the World Watched” is the fourth program in the acclaimed Experiencing War series. Former U.S. Senator Max Cleland is host of this series, which is created and produced by Lee Woodman. The first two programs in the series, “Coming Home” and “Lest We Forget,” were each awarded the Gracie Allen Award from American Women in Radio and Television for “superior quality in writing and production” in 2004 and 2005, respectively.

“Listeners will hear actual testimony from the trials of major Nazi war criminals as well as first-hand accounts of prosecutors, interpreters, and investigators who gathered the documentation as evidence,” said Diane Kresh, director of the Veterans History Project.

Host Max Cleland is an American war hero, a son of a World War II veteran and a champion of the human spirit. He is a veteran who lost both legs and his right arm in a grenade blast in Vietnam. He understands firsthand the emotional wounds of war and has become a powerful force in garnering support for U.S. war veterans and their stories.

Veterans from World War I through the current conflict and the civilians who supported them are coming forward to record their personal stories for a growing archives in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. The goal of the Veterans History Project is to collect, preserve and share with future generations the stories of all our war veterans, as well as those who supported them at home and in the field.

To learn more about the project and the stories it has collected so far, visit the Veterans History Project Web site at www.loc.gov/vets, where you will find digital interviews, wartime memorabilia and information about how to participate in the Project. To learn more about the radio special, visit the PRI InfoSite for full details about this series at http://www.pri.org/infosite/programs/_specials/onetime/expwarwtww/index.cfm?fa=SPoverview.

Congress created the Veterans History Project with legislation sponsored by Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), Rep. Amo Houghton (R-N.Y.), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.). The Project is developing the way Congress envisioned: with grandchildren interviewing grandparents, veterans interviewing each other, and students conducting interviews with neighbors as classroom assignments. The project is unusual in that it is one of the few nationwide oral history efforts relying on volunteers rather than professional oral historians to collect stories.

Hundreds of organizations around the country are participating in the Veterans History Project. Those who are interested in participating are encouraged to e-mail the VHP at vohp@loc.gov to request a project kit. The kit is also available on the Veterans History Project Web site at http://www.loc.gov/vets/.

PRI is a Minneapolis-based public radio network and audio publisher that supports and distributes programs, many of which are created by leading national producers and are broadcast by its 744 public radio station affiliates. PRI programming also is available on locally branded public radio station Web sites, nationwide via Sirius Satellite Radio and internationally through the World Radio Network.

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PR 05-182
08/31/05
ISSN 0731-3527