February 7, 2005

Press contacts: Anneliesa Clump Behrend aclump@loc.gov; Helen Dalrymple hdal@loc.gov
Public contact: (888) 371-5848
Web site: http://www.loc.gov/vets

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PRESENTS
VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIAL ON PUBLIC RADIO

“More Than Love Stories” Honors Firsthand Accounts of War

[jump to stations/cities carrying More Than Love Stories]

The Library of Congress’s Veterans History Project will present a one-hour special titled “More Than Love Stories,” which will be aired on and around Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, on Public Radio International (PRI) affiliate stations around the country. Check your local listings for air dates and times. The program is drawn from the oral histories gathered by the American Folklife Center as part of its Veterans History Project (VHP).

“More Than Love Stories” is the third 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 program in the series, “Coming Home,” garnered a Gracie Allen Award from American Women in Radio and Television for “superior quality in writing and production” in December 2003.

“The Veterans History Project, and this radio special in particular, illuminates the human experience during times of war,” said Diane Kresh, director of the Veterans History Project. “The program features stories of perseverance and hope in times of despair.”

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.

In “More Than Love Stories” veterans from all wars share their detailed first person accounts of terrifying encounters, funny mix-ups and heartrending disappointments. The program recounts stories of the selfless love for comrades in the field, shares memories of loved ones waiting at home, and provides examples of the love for country when one answers the call to service.

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 VHP Web site at www.loc.gov/vets, where you will find digital interviews, wartime memorabilia and information about how to participate in the VHP.

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 and artifacts.

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.

The veterans featured on “More than Love Stories” include:

• A.C. Ball, resident of Ooltewah, Tennessee, recalls a funny moment when he thought he had been mortally wounded during the Korean War.
• Sanford Bloomberg, a World War II veteran living in Northampton, Massachusetts, idolized his older brother Paul who died unexpectedly on a mission near Oslo, Norway.
• John C. Carvey, a World War II veteran living in Indianapolis, Indiana, remembers General Patton marching down the hall to ream him out about a failed mission.
• Clare Crane of North Ridgeville, Ohio relates the heart rendering story of her husband who served in World War II dying of leukemia before making it home.
• Lillian Crockett, wife of a Korean War veteran living in Gold River, California, recalls accepting a proposal of marriage on their first date and selling her baby grand piano to join her fiancé in Tokyo.
• Richard De Leon of New York City recounts the bravery of a sergeant who saves a trapped soldier in a helicopter under fire in Vietnam.
• Warren Evans, a World War II veteran living in Huntingburg, Indiana, tells the moving story of rescuing a small girl abandoned in the woods and the memories of his little angel.
• Fred Grimm of Holland, Ohio and injured in Vietnam, returned to build more than twenty-two schools under the DOVE project.
• Rod Hinsch of Indianapolis, Indiana fondly remembers his role as Martha Raye’s personal body guard when she entertained troops in Vietnam.
• Helen Hurst of Greencastle, Indiana took care of rehabilitated G.I.'s and lonely soldiers with venereal disease during World War II.
• Jane Gardner Jones of Harrison, Arizona and daughter-in-law of World War I veteran Ralph Emerson Jones tells of his train travels through France and his many letters home about his new observations.
• Rodney Katz a historian at the Library of Congress provides historical context and background.
• Clifford Lobel, a World War II veteran living in Bayside, New York, trained to hate the Japanese goes back to visit many years later and his feelings change.
• Traci Nero of Fairbanks, Alaska had to leave a thirteen-day-old child to report to active duty in the Persian Gulf.
• John Masters Nolan, a World War II veteran living in Locust Grove, Virginia, remembers packages from home and a shared cup of coffee with a young Jewish girl liberated from a slave labor camp.
• Rhona Marie Prescott, a Vietnam War veteran living in Lewes, Delaware, reveals the story of her comrade secretly taking her place on an emergency field mission and dying in a plane crash upon her return.
• Anna Russell of Northampton, Massachusetts braves a country road lined with mines to buy eggs for her comrades during World War II.
• Captain Ronald Smith, a psychiatrist at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, councils soldiers returning from war.
• Tracy Sugarman, a World War II veteran living in Westport, Connecticut, speaks of his 55 year passionate relationship with his wife June.
• Bertran Wallace, a World War II veteran living in Dayton Beach, Florida, tells a surprising story of a captain and crew who were truly integrated in many ways.
• George A. Williams of Northampton, Massachusetts describes the beauty of the village of Loc Hai and his playful relationship with the village’s Vietnamese children.

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Stations/Cities carrying the More Than Love Stories program

List updated 2/15/2005