Stories by Media
Stories by Location
The War, Ken Burns’ seven-part documentary series directed and produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, was the most-watched PBS series of the past 10 years. It explored the history and horror of the Second World War from an American perspective by following the fortunes of so-called ordinary men and women who become caught up in one of the greatest cataclysms in human history.
WILL-TV’s Central Illinois World War II Stories was developed in conjunction with the Ken Burns’ series.
Visit The War web site on PBS.org
Share Your Story
PBS is gathering WWII stories from viewers across the United States. Upload your story to PBS for sharing with all other viewers. If you need assistance, contact Mary Barrineau or Jack Brighton at 217-333-1070.
This project supported in part by:
Clark Lindsey Village
Ecowater Systems
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers #601
Strawberry Fields
Steamatic
WETA
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
WILL Stories
In stories on WILL radio, television and the Web, WILL looks at the war from many perspectives: men in battle on land and at sea, Japanese-American families in internment camps, conscientious objectors, women in the service, African-Americans at Chanute Air Force Base, German POWs in Hoopeston.
Springfield's WWII Veterans Presentation
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More than 200 people attended a community conversation September 6, 2007 at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Memorial Library in Springfield, IL about the impact of WWII on residents of central Illinois. Speaking were George Cordier, a veteran of the Guam landing; Dorothy Cordier, Mr. Cordier’s wife; Ruth Lockhart Whittington, who talked about her experiences working as a riveter; and Sandy Wheeler who was a four-year-old child when her father was drafted into WWII. The event was co-sponsored by WILL and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Memorial Library and Museum. The panel and audience discussion were moderated by Mark DuPue of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Memorial Library.
RealVideo archive:
Oral History Interview: George Myers of Springfield
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George Myers grew up in Hoopeston on a family farm with his widowed mom. He enrolled in the U of I to major in agriculture, thinking he could learn something to make the farm more successful. Myers served on an LST in the Pacific from 1944 to 1946. He didn’t get shot at, but he recalls being scared. “I still remember the full moon on the water and how it seemed like we were visible to everybody, but we couldn’t see a thing,” he said. Myers has been president of the national LST Association. Of the some 100 men on his ship, only about 7 are left.
RealVideo archive:
Oral History Interview: Jim Fisher of Springfield
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Jim Fisher served in the U.S. Navy on Landing Ship Tank 475. He fought in the battles of New Britain, Leyte Gulf, Lingayen Gulf and others in the South Pacific, Philippines, Borneo and New Guinea.