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Story Subject Category: Military
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In World War II, soldiers from Decatur, Ill., served in North Africa, Italy, the Philippines and Germany. Local volunteers rolled bandages, collected food, and recycled bales of paper and heaps of scrap metal. Citizens planted victory gardens and bought war bonds and savings stamps. Dan Guillory’s book, “Wartime Decatur: 1832 & 1945” documents the vigorous wartime culture based on community involvement and a strong sense of patriotism. Prairie Fire talks to Guillory about his stories of service both on and off the battlefield. Then producer Denise La Grassa recounts the experiences of Decatur’s Carl Mocabee, who was a master sergeant in the Army stationed in the Philippines and New Guinea. He received a Purple Heart and Silver Star during his service.
Segment duration: 05:50
Producer: Denise La Grassa
Editor: Eleanore Stasheff
This segment is filed in these categories: History • Military • World War II
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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.
Segment duration: 06:23
Producer: Denise La Grassa
Editor: Eleanore Stasheff
This segment is filed in these categories: History • Military • World War II • Rantoul
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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.
Segment duration: 09:11
Producer: Denise La Grassa
This segment is filed in these categories: History • Military • World War II • Danville
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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.”
Segment duration: 07:39
Producer: Denise La Grassa
Editor: Eleanore Stasheff
This segment is filed in these categories: History • Military • World War II • Champaign
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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.
Segment duration: 08:40
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Producer: Denise La Grassa
This segment is filed in these categories: History • Military • World War II • Champaign • Mahomet • Oakland
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Producer Denise La Grassa talks with Tuskegee Airman Col. Elmer Jones, one of six original aviation cadets for the Tuskegee Airmen trained at Chanute Field in Rantoul. Jones, who became ground crew commander, was proud to serve his country in aircraft engineering during World War II, even though he served in an all-black unit. He maintains that being in a segregated unit provided an unexpected opportunity for the Tuskegee Airmen. They were able to prove their abilities at a time when people questioned whether African Americans should be allowed to fly and maintain planes. “They proved they were as good as white fighter pilots,” said LaGrassa. “World War II was really the beginning of the civil rights movement.”
Segment duration: 08:12
Producer: Denise La Grassa
Editor: Eleanore Stasheff
This segment is filed in these categories: Illinois Culture/History • Military • World War II • Rantoul
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I’ve driven I-72 between Springfield and Champaign thousands of times and many times I wondered about the lone brick smokestacks that appear on the horizon near Illiopolis. So one day I decided to investigate and I got off at Illiopolis and went to the city library. There I learned about the Sangamon Ordnance Plant. The library had a treasure trove of old company newsletters with pictures of all the young women who made this small town their home during World War II. Thankfully I was able to track down Jean Gordon and Lola Marbold who used to work at the plant as teenagers. Their recollections of life at the plant turned back time to another era.
I was impressed at the way the plant treated their many young female employees with good pay, child care, even bingo classes and a beauty salon in the company dorms. To the girls, it was an adventure but also a way to help the war effort. After the show aired my mom told me that my Grandpa Posegate had worked at the plant. Since he was deaf in one ear he was ineligible for service . So instead, after a day teaching school in Springfield, he would hop on the inter-urban line to Illiopolis and work the night shift at the Ordnance Plant. It was his way of fighting the war.
Segment duration: 07:26
Producer: Alison Davis Wood
This segment is filed in these categories: Family history • History • Illinois Culture/History • Military • Springfield
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I knew the See Your Soldier event was going to be an emotionally charged shoot as we were filming families and friends of soldiers stationed in Iraq, many of whom hadn’t seen their loved ones for many months. The NCSA had arranged one particular teleconference that all of the media would film at the same time
I was surprised at what a large turnout there was for the filming – there were three professional camera people and another four or five print reporters there in addition to myself. The number of media people in the relatively small teleconference room made everything a little chaotic, but you could still clearly see how much the teleconference meant to the family members and the soldier we filmed. After this official media filming was over and the family left the teleconference room, I stayed behind to do some follow-up interviews with some of the family members. I then heard that the family that was now in the teleconference room was actually the sister and 4-year-old son of a mother and father who were BOTH serving in Iraq. I had never even considered a situation like in which a child’s parents could both be serving and in harm’s way. I was able to get a short interview with them as well (although their son, not surprisingly, was very tired and distracted by the time I was able to interview them).
I was surprised to learn that the soldiers serving at the two camps in Iraq that were participating in the See Your Soldier program were actually wired and that soldiers could have Internet connections in their rooms (paid for by their families back home). So many soldiers would text message or e-mail their families back here regularly. It gives you a new perspective on the whole “letters from the front lines” idea from previous wars. What struck me the most about the event was how natural the interactions seemed between the soldiers and their families. A number of the participants mentioned how, thanks to the big screen and quick video connection, it was like being in the same room with their soldier. What also struck me was how everyone involved was interested in coming back to participate in the program the next time they held one – but also hoping that they wouldn’t need to.
Segment duration: 07:26
Producer: Steve Drake
This segment is filed in these categories: Military
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I knew of the Tuskegee Airmen, and that they integrated the military. But prior to covering the grand opening of an exhibit in Rantoul last year, I had no idea about their roots in this area. Before they trained in Alabama, more than 200 members of the 99th Pursuit Squadron got their start at Chanute Air Force Base. The metal mechanics, armors, and other ground support crew workers formed the foundation of the Tuskegee Airmen. Some of the first to train in Rantoul, as well as staff members at that site – now the Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum – played a large role in making this story possible, by providing their descriptions and photos. Props as well to Chauncey E. Spencer II, whose father played a role in tearing down the barriers that kept African-Americans from serving as pilots (Chauncey Jr. provided some photos, as well as an archived interview with his late father.)
I hope Chanute gets a lot more attention for its role in making all this happen. The story of the 99th is as important as any other highlighting the pilots’ achievements during World War II.
Segment duration: 07:26
Producer: Jeff Bossert
This segment is filed in these categories: Ethnicity/Culture • History • Illinois Culture/History • Military • Rantoul
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George Rogers Clark, whose conquest of the Illinois Territory was one of the greatest victories of the American Revolution, is all but forgotten today. Prairie Fire looks at his life and exploits.
Segment duration: 09:54
Story links:
Producer: Eleanore Stasheff
Chief Camera - Segment: Brian Paris, Russell Homan, Brittany Whelan
This segment is filed in these categories: History • Military
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