by Erich Luening
The latest Ken Burn’s documentary “The War” debuted Sunday night. My editors at WCAI recently asked me to interview two WWII veterans here on the Vineyard as part of a companion project the radio station would be doing to help launch the PBS documentary.
But these weren’t the only veterans I got to speak with. As part of another story I am doing for WCAI, I also got to interview a soldier fresh from the Afghanistan war zone. The soldier was a member of a band in Kabul Afghanistan made up of Army, Air Force and Marine servicemen, called the FUBAR Fighters, a play on the name of the popular rock band The Foo Fighters.
Speaking with these veterans of two wars similar, some say, in scope, as both dealt with an enemy in all four corners of the globe—Europe, Asia and the Middle East and Africa.
The chance to speak to these guys—WWII veterans Bill Preston and Mev Good of Vineyard Haven and Oscar Quijano of Oregon, was such a reward. For one, I was able to talk to men, whose voices of recollection on a War fought long ago are quietly fading off with time. And I was also able to talk to a soldier my age who is currently serving his country during these violent times.
As a former soldier in the U.S. Army, I was grateful to talk with these guys as part of my new profession as a journalist. The experience also allowed me to see history, past and recent, through the eyes of men who served in Normandy, France, Vidiciatico, Italy and Kabul, Afghanistan.
To hear the WWII veteran’s stories, listen to WCAI this week as the station runs stories from veterans from the Cape and Islands as part of our companion project to the PBS documentary “The War,” directed and produced by Ken Burns, or go online to www.capeandislands.org to see copies of the interviews and more information on the documentary.
The interview of Lt. Oscar Quijano will air soon as part of a story on his band in Kabul and the support by one Martha’s Vineyard resident who has sent guitar parts, strings and picks to keep them rocking in Afghanistan.
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