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Playlist: ARCHIVED - Veterans Day

Compiled By: PRX Administrator

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Here's to the Vets

From Loyola Productions, Inc. | Part of the Patterns in Music series | 01:40:15

Commemorating Veteran's Day with this edition of Patterns in Music—a fitting musical tribute to those who served.

Veterans_day_2_small "Patterns in Music" with host, Mike Whorf, celebrates veterans of recent and past years. Included are medleys of the songs we heard during WWII and the Korean & Vietnam wars, as well as a reading of the poem "In Flanders Fields."

Vets and Nets

From Playing on Air | Part of the Playing on Air Hour Length Episodes series | 53:00

In Forward Observer, Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins plays a harried Veterans Administration Hospital clerk. An elderly World War II veteran is giving her a hard time and the young Latina daughter of an Iraqi vet is left unsupervised for a troublingly long time. Even so, the WWII vet and the little girl overcome more than just the language barrier.

Next up is Section 310, Row D, Seats 5 & 6, a short from Tony winner Warren Leight about three buddies who bond over their shared passion for basketball's New York Knicks. Despite their team's never-ending losses, the three of them continue to share a pair of seats, rotating who gets to go, over a period of twenty years. The Knicks don't give them a break - but loyalty counts for a lot in sports and friendship.

Tonya_pinkins_headshot_small In Forward Observer, Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins plays a harried VA hospital clerk. An elderly World War II veteran is giving her a hard time and the young Latina daughter of an Iraqi vet is left unsupervised for a troublingly long time. Even so, the WWII vet and the little girl overcome more than just the language barrier.

Forward Observer by Willy Holtzman features Tonya Pinkins (Tony winner for Jelly's Last Jam and nominee for Caroline Or Change), David Margulies, Steven Boyer (Tony nominee Hand to God) and eight year old Kyndra Sanchez; directed by Anne Kauffman. Recorded live. Original music by Tom Kochan. Conversation after the play with playwright, director and cast is moderated by host Claudia Catania.  

Section 310, Row D, Seats 5 & 6 is a short play from Tony winner Warren Leight about three buddies who bond over their shared passion for basketball's New York Knicks. Despite their team's never-ending losses, the three of them continue to share a pair of seats, rotating who gets to go, over a period of twenty years. The Knicks don't give them a break - but loyalty counts for a lot in sports and friendship.

Directed by longtime “Law & Order” franchise Executive Producer Fred Berner and written by Warren Leight (Tony for Sideman, Law and Order's showrunner). Just imagine, Fred and Warren happen to share Knicks seats. For over twenty years. With Geoffrey Cantor, Peter Jacobson ("House") and Cezar Williams. Recorded live. Original music by Tom Kochan. Conversation with director and cast moderated by host Claudia Catania.

Messages From a Forgotten Troopship (Hour Long Version)

From With Good Reason | Part of the With Good Reason: Weekly Hour Long Episodes series | 53:32

Sound-rich stories from and about a Vietnam War-era troopship, in the voices of people whose lives were affected by the journey to war.

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In the 1960s, it took almost three weeks to cross the sea from America to Vietnam. Three weeks for young men in crowded cabins with salt water showers and absolutely nothing to do but think about home, the war, and what might be next. In this Memorial Day special episode we focus on a single troopship, the General Nelson M. Walker , and a few of the soldiers who traveled on it.

There’s the man who wrote home about the voyage to Vietnam—about tanning oil, hillbilly radio, and a run-in with a typhoon. Another who survived the jungles of Vietnam, only to return home and feel as though democracy had passed him by. And then there’s the fiancée who snuck on board to say one last goodbye to her lover before he was killed in action.

Through found tape and contemporary interviews, we recreate the troopship experience and capture the moments outside of combat—three weeks there, and, for the lucky ones—three weeks back.

 

Later in the show: Women journalists who covered the Vietnam War are often not given their proper due when the history of the conflict is told. Joynce Hoffman  is the author of On Their Own: Women Journalists in Vietnam. She shares stories of women who won esteemed prizes for their reporting and several who broke new ground covering the war. Plus: In recent years, more and more military mothers have been deployed throughout the world. Mona Ternus says there’s a connection between the length of time military mothers are deployed and an increase in drug use, attempted suicide, and other risk factors for their children.

Prisoners of War, The Battle of the Bulge

From Erica Heilman | Part of the Rumble Strip Vermont series | 56:00

This hour features four Vermont soldiers captured at the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. The program weaves together their stories of capture, internment, and the challenges of returning to civilian life.

Bill_busier_1942_small This hour features four Vermont soldiers captured at the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. The program weaves together their stories of capture, internment, and the challenges of returning to civilian life. After more than fifty years these veterans were still haunted daily by this chapter of their lives. This hour offers a deeply personal perspective on a historical battle.

Students and Soldiers: Captivating Stories from Montana Veterans

From Beth Anne Austein | 59:00

"Students and Soldiers" weaves together wartime stories from twelve Montana veterans of various branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. Interviewed by teams of high school students, the veterans - male and female, early twenties to mid-nineties - reflect more than seventy years of service history, from WWII to the conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. Producers: Susan Jamerson; Amanda Opitz; Clark Grant; Montana Public Radio.

Img_6463_crop_small Although this collection of veterans' experiences comes from Montana, the recalled experiences of conflict and military service are universal. Through days and weeks of boredom interspersed with moments of sheer terror, through camaraderie and loyalty, exhaustion and fear, military service changes anyone who serves.  During a tour of duty in a foreign country, the patriotism carried into basic training by a new inductee becomes more nuanced, as surprising and sobering impressions of day-to-day life outside the first world sink into the soldier's consciousness.

With recollections of the Bataan Death March and the Doolittle Raids of WWII, of the Navy base romance that led to a decades-long marriage, of guerrilla-style mortar attacks in the highlands of Vietnam and roadside IEDs in the deserts of Iraq, these twelve veterans share some of the most influential experiences of their lives with their teen-aged interviewers. 

"Students and Soldiers" is a collaboration between Montana Public Radio, Willard Alternative High School in Missoula, Montana, the Veterans History Project, and the AmeriCorps Vista program.

A Conversation Between a Peace Activist and a Vietnam Veteran

From KUFM - Montana Public Radio | 59:01

During this program, Betsy Mulligan-Dague, executive director of the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center in Missoula, Montana, and Dan Gallagher, Vietnam Veteran and veteran's advocate, talk about the possibilities for finding common ground in conflicting points of view.

Peace-war_small Although this conversation references (briefly) a Veteran's Day ceremony to take place on the 11th in Missoula, Montana, the content is universal.

Mulligan-Dague talks about her bewilderment after reading (in high school) about a group of young people who committed suicide to protest the Vietnam War. How, she asks, does violence -- even against oneself -- help, or solve anything.

Gallagher describes the hurt he felt when he returned from Vietnam and saw "pure hatred" in the eyes of a young woman who was protesting the war while holding a sign that read "Baby Killers."

Some quotes from the program:

Mulligan-Dague:
"The commandment that 'Thou shalt not kill' was part of what shaped my anti-war views. It wasn't 'Thou shalt not kill unless it's justified, or unless it's here or there,' that was simply it."

"We need to get to the place where the causes we have -- whether it's war, peace, whatever -- are not as important as the caring that we feel for each other."

Gallagher:
"The idea of military service was an extremely important value that I grew up with, so it was rather natural when Vietnam came along that I was going to join the service to serve my country -- I saw that as a noble thing."

"A lot of veterans feel that they can't be proud of being a veteran and be a peace advocate or oppose any given war -- that they have to be one or the other."

The True Glory: Veteran's Day

From Loyola Productions, Inc. | Part of the Chronicle series | 53:45

Remembering both the fallen and the survivors.

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Armistice Day or Veterans Day, whichever you call it, here is a program devoted to an understanding of what it is all about.

17 million men in 8 nations went to the war that was supposed to end all wars. This edition of “Chronicle” remembers those who've fallen and those who've served.


* This program originated on analog tape using non-digital source material. Some tape hiss and record pops should be expected.

 

Episode 7. The Rebellion Within the Rebellion

From ERIC V. TAIT, JR. | Part of the Then I'll Be Free To Travel Home-the Legacy of the New York African Burial Ground series | 59:00

Huddy and Tye (1775-1783)

Family_small "There's a famous quote by a Lutheran Priest, which says 'Everyone recognizes that the Blacks favor the British. If the British win, they will gain their freedom.'" (Prof. Graham Hodges). The British promise that freedom immediately, knowing they need the enslaved Africans in order to defeat the rebellious Colonists. The American Colonists' two-fold dilemma: how to reconcile preaching/fighting for "liberty and justice for all" while still trying to keep enslaved Africans as property; and secondly, can they defeat the British without the help of the Africans in their midst? How it all plays out as two larger-than-life freedom-fighters, one white, one black do battle (and the subsequent effects of that battle), make for a dynamic Segment #7.

Episode 12. Lincoln's Dilemma: Saving the Union or Freeing the Slaves?

From ERIC V. TAIT, JR. | Part of the Then I'll Be Free To Travel Home-the Legacy of the New York African Burial Ground series | 59:00

The NY City Draft Riots & The Battle of Ft. Wagner - July 1863

Family_small Riots and a Civil War! When the dissident southern states issued their Ordinance of Secession to break from the Union, there was no mention of States Rights, or Tariffs or any of the other so-called key economic reasons for the breakaway. Of the ten reasons cited, eight of them dealt specifically with slavery. (For plantation owners that was the dominant economic issue). Lincoln was elected with a minority of the popular vote; his main concern was preserving the Union. Many of his war policies were highly unpopular - not just in the South, but even in New York - whose mercantile-and-maritime economy was strongly tied to the southern plantation owners and their crops. The Emancipation Proclamation only attempted to free slaves in the rebel Confederacy, not the non-seceeding Border States. But, when coupled with the Conscription Act of 1863 (first ever national Draft) it triggered bloody riots and Civil War. How all these political, war-time issues unfold and play out nationally and locally (as exemplified by the NY City Draft Riots and Battle for Ft. Wagner) makes for an informative and fascinating Segment #12.

Marking Time: Voyage to Vietnam

From Lydia Wilson | 55:00

Graffiti left on a troop transport ship by soldiers heading to the Vietnam War, found accidentally, is salvaged by a couple on a decade-long campaign to find the men who drew the words.

Vietnam_crop_medium_small The drawings bring back surprisingly detailed memories, recreating life aboard the now-destroyed troopship, the General Nelson M. Walker and providing a window into the draft selection process and the types of men who served in Vietnam. 

Featuring period music also recovered from the ship, "Marking Time: Voyage to Vietnam" brings listeners aboard the General Nelson M. Walker as she exists now only in soldiers' memories. Rich with the voices of dozens of soldiers who made the three week voyage across the Pacific, "Marking Time" is a moving tribute for Veterans' Day.