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.
Love and War
Aired on WILL-TV's "Prairie Fire" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 14
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The story of Jerry and Wilma Ashenbremer of Oakwood is one of love amid the ruins of war. They met in Vienna at the conclusion of World War II. Wilma was a young Austrian, Jerry a GI patrolling the city. They began a silent relationship.
Bob and Hattie Marion of Urbana sustained their love throughout the war when he was overseas. Letters kept the spark alive. But every time the letters temporarily stopped, Hattie worried.
Producer Denise La Grassa looks at the lives of these two couples in “Love and War.” “The couples are similar in that they’ve been together so long that there’s a great friendship and a close bond,” says Denise. “I found the way they interacted to be very fresh and youthful, yet both couples are older. I wonder if it’s because they came through so much in their years having to go through the war and its aftermath together.”
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