April 2015

It was the best of times and the worst of times for Hollywood before the war. The box offices were booming. But the industry’s relationship with Washington was decidedly uneasy. Hearings and investigations into allegations of corruption and racketeering were multiplying, and hanging in the air was the insinuation that the business was too foreign, too Jewish, too “un-American” in its values and causes. Could an industry this powerful in shaping America’s mind-set really be left in the hands of this crew? Following Pearl Harbor, Hollywood had the chance to prove its critics wrong and did so with vigor, turning its talents and its business over to the war effort to an unprecedented extent.

No industry professionals played a bigger role in the war than five of America’s most legendary directors: Ford, Wyler, Huston, Capra, and Stevens. Between them they were on the scene of almost every major moment of America’s war, and in every branch of service army, navy, and air force; Atlantic and Pacific; from Midway to North Africa; from Normandy to the fall of Paris and the liberation of the Nazi death camps; to the shaping of the message out of Washington, D.C.

Join host Dale Throneberry and his guest, award winning author Mark Harris.

Next is Joyce Faulkner, former President of the Military Writers Society of America and current board member and co-founder of Red Engine Press. Red Engine Press is a small, independent publishing house. They produce hard cover books, trade paperbacks and compact discs. In particular, Red Engine Press encourages writers with veteran and military stories to submit their works for possible publication. Joyce’s goal is to help veterans record their piece of history—for themselves, their families, and their communities—and our country.

And one of Red Engine Press’s authors, Beth Underwood, who will be discussing her book, Gravity. Gravity is the story of a small group of Army National Guardsmen from the Volunteer State of Tennessee—otherwise simple men, who spent a year of their lives in the Triangle of Death, one of Iraq’s most hostile areas of operation. But their daily patrols and combat missions weren’t featured on the nightly news. Instead, they operated as silent professionals – ordinary men facing extraordinary circumstances, who carried out their jobs to the best of their abilities and prayed they’d stay alive. Continuing the legacy of citizen-soldiers throughout the ages, they stepped forward to protect their families, their neighbors, their countrymen—and their fellow warriors, even in the face of death. Theirs is a story that will live for generations to come.

And Ed Ruckle, United States Air Force, retired , interviewer with the Veterans History Project and Veterans Tributes-Honoring Those Who Served by recording their stories.