The Quad-City Times - News, Sports and more from the Quad Cities region or Iowa and Illinois

You are not logged in.
Login

Log in to qctimes.com
Email:
Password:
Remember my information.
Register
Quadsville
Site Help

Iowa WWII veteran interviews to air during TV breaks in ‘The War’

Font Size:

By David Burke | Sunday, September 23, 2007 12:16 AM CDT | () comments

Iowa Public Television, or IPTV, has been recording the stories of the state’s World War II veterans as well as those on the home front for several years. They are available for viewing on the Web at iptv.org.

Some of the interviews will be used during breaks in the airing of Ken Burns’ documentary, “The War,” a seven-part series that begins at 7 p.m. Sunday on PBS stations, including WQPT in Moline and IPTV channels.

Mary Manning Bracken, programming and outreach coordinator for IPTV, said the interviews will be sent to the Library of Congress to be archived as part of the Veterans History Project.

The original documentary, “Iowa’s World War II Stories,” featured 27 interviews. IPTV has now done an additional 53, she said.

Although IPTV did not target any specific group in the most recent interviews, “There was some national conversation that Latinos had not been included in the (Ken Burns) documentary,” she said. “We thought it was a good idea in the interviews to make sure that voice was heard.”

Pressure from Latino groups, including the Hispanic congressional caucus, resulted in Burns adding footage to the original documentary to include the experiences of both Latino and American Indian servicemen, according to reports by The Associated Press.