will.illinois.edu/prairiefire/episode/pf2008-03-27 WILL, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Series Episode In a special featuring central Illinois stories about World War II, producer Denise La Grassa interviews USS Indianapolis survivors, looks at the life of a Japanese-American in an internment camp, and talks to the survivor of a kamikaze attack on the USS Missouri. She also looks at the experiences of a remarkable woman who served on the front lines in Europe for the American Red Cross, talks to a man who fought in the Battle of the Bulge and profiles one of the first female navigation instructors. Abstract Segment Champaign, History, Military, World War II, WILL Custom Prairie Fire Subject Headings When World War II broke out, Iris Nigg Lundin of Champaign left her small town in Minnesota and joined hundreds of other women in the newly formed Marine Corps women’s Reserve. She became one of the first four female navigation instructors. Producer Denise La Grassa said that in her conversations with Lundin, she was impressed by the strength of this woman who left a secure life in Minnesota to join the ranks of the Marines, the toughest of the tough. “This was the first time many of these men who were her students had encountered a female instructor and she really held her own,” said La Grassa. “When I listened to her stories, I was moved by her description of how she went to bat for African-Americans on the military bases where she worked. She was brave enough to tell a higher-ranking officer that he shouldn’t be treating a steward in a demeaning manner. Later in her life, equality was very important to her.” Abstract Denise La Grassa Producer Eleanore Stasheff Editor Segment History, Danville, Military, World War II, WILL Custom Prairie Fire Subject Headings Sparky Songer of Danville, Ill., served in the infantry in Europe and was captured by the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge. He spent six months in German camps before escaping as the war was winding down and finding his way to American lines, thanks to the help of an English-speaking German guard who was a graduate of the University of Michigan. Songer talks to WILL-TV producer Denise La Grassa about his escape and his experiences in the German camps, where he subsisted almost almost entirely on rutabaga soup. He weighed under 100 pounds when he reached safety. Songer is curator and president of the Vermilion County War Museum. Abstract Denise La Grassa Producer Segment Champaign, History, World War II, WILL Custom Prairie Fire Subject Headings Jill Pitts Knappenberger of Champaign, Ill., was one of three women serving on the front lines during the Battle of the Bulge. Working for the Red Cross operating a refitted truck dubbed a “clubmobile,” she passed out donuts, coffee and cigarettes to weary soldiers. She talks to WILL-TV producer Denise La Grassa about being trapped for eight days during the Battle of the Bulge, surrounded by the enemy. Her brother, John Joseph Pitts III, an Army captain, was in the heat of battle only a few miles away. Knappenberger, shown at left with the clubmobile, said she joined the Red Cross effort because she was itching to get into the action of World War II. The soldiers taught her how to use a gun and she even got a few shots off at the Germans. Abstract Denise La Grassa Producer Eleanore Stasheff Editor Segment History, Military, World War II, Rantoul, WILL Custom Prairie Fire Subject Headings Theodore Freeman of Rantoul was a steward, serving officers in the mess hall on the USS Missouri. But when the enemy struck, he had to man his position on a gun mount and defend the ship. He was on board the USS Missouri when a Japanese kamikaze pilot crashed his plane into the ship very near to where Freeman was standing. He talked with WILL-TV producer Denise La Grassa about the challenges he faced as an African-American on board ship and about the conflict between his life as Pentecostal pastor before Pearl Harbor and his life as a sailor pledged to defend the country. Abstract Denise La Grassa Producer Eleanore Stasheff Editor Segment Champaign, History, World War II, WILL Custom Prairie Fire Subject Headings Yuki Okinaga Llewellyn of Champaign, Ill., spent three years during World War II interned at the Manzanar Assembly Center in California.  Llewellyn and her 23-year-old single mother were evacuated from Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, to Manzanar in Lone Pine, Calif. The now famous 1942 National Archives photo, taken by Clem Albers and showing Yuki sitting on a suitcase in the train station, became representative of that period. A retired assistant dean of students at the University of Illinois, Llewellyn returned to Manzanar last fall for the first time since she and her mother left it in October 1945 with $25 and a pair of government-issued bus tickets. Producer Denise La Grassa talks to Llewellyn about living in Block 2 inside the internment camp where she shared a 20 x 20 room with her mother and another family. Abstract Denise La Grassa Producer Eleanore Stasheff Editor Segment Champaign, History, Military, Mahomet, Oakland, World War II, WILL Custom Prairie Fire Subject Headings When the USS Indianapolis was sunk by Japanese torpedoes in 1945, only 317 of 1,196 men on board survived. Three of those survivors live in central Illinois. Art Leenerman of Mahomet, Don McCall of Champaign, and Earl Riggins of Oakland got together with WILL-TV producer Denise La Grassa to talk about how they survived four and a half days in the water waiting to be rescued while battling sharks, cold and hunger. About 600 men died in the water after the ship sank. All three central Illinois survivors were brought up on farms, and were accustomed to hard work, long days in the sun and difficult conditions. They think it was a factor in their survival. “They had grown up learning to keep plowing along, no matter how tough things got. And that’s basically what they did in the water,” said La Grassa. Abstract Denise La Grassa Producer WILL-TV, University of Illinois Copyright Holder Publisher ¬© 2008 University of Illinois 2008-03-27T20:30:00-06:00 2008-03-27T20:30:00-06:00 video/mp4 http://willmedia.atlas.uiuc.edu/mpeg4/pf2008-03-27.mp4 Moving Image MPEG video MPEG-4 203305168 00:28 eng pf2008-03-27.mp4 WILL Public Media, University of Illinois 2008-03-27T20:30:00-06:00 2008-03-27T20:30:00-06:00 video/x-flv http://willmedia.atlas.uiuc.edu/flash/pf2008-03-27.flv Moving Image Flash Video Flash Media 8 201073047 00:28 eng pf2008-03-27.flv WILL Public Media, University of Illinois 2008-03-27T20:30:00-06:00 2008-03-27T20:30:00-06:00 video/vnd.rn-realvideo http://willmedia.will.uiuc.edu/ramgen/pf2008-03-27.rv Moving Image 00:28:00