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Veterans Relive War Stories

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By AL HUTCHISON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 23, 2008

"We Went to War," by Meg Heckman and Mike Pride (Monitor Publishing, $29.95)

It is rare for a small-town newspaper such as The Concord Monitor, published in New Hampshire's state capital, to publish an elegant book such as "We Went to War." This handsome collection of remembrances of World War II, as told by people who actually served in that conflict, speaks volumes about the Monitor's commitment to quality journalism.

"We Went to War" will intrigue anyone who is interested in the war. Its true stories are nothing like those typically found in history books. This is no scholarly treatise on the causes of the conflict or the various tactics and strategies that determined its outcome. Rather, it is a rare collection that illuminates the personal side of the war as experienced by soldiers, nurses, chaplains and even those who remained at home while their loved ones went to war.

Mike Pride, who grew up in Clearwater, graduated from the University of South Florida and began his journalism career as a Tampa Tribune sportswriter. He retired not long ago after many years as the editor of the New Hampshire daily, but he remained on the staff as a reporter until his retirement earlier this year. The idea for this book was his.

"I always intended to do a full interview with my father about his war experience, but by the time I finally got around to it, Alzheimer's had destroyed his ability to tell the story," Pride explained. "I had also read Studs Terkel's 'The Good War' years ago and liked the idea of oral histories constructed from interviews.

"When I became a writer at the Monitor for my last year, my dad's death was still fresh in my mind, and I was looking for a project," he continued. "That's where the concept came from. Then I heard Ken Burns was doing 'The War,' and the timing seemed right. I asked Meg Heckman to join me to expand our reach and because she is a good reporter and writer who had done great interviews with older people for the Monitor."

One interesting aspect of the project was the decision to involve a high school. At the end of the book, there is an "interview primer" designed to help other schools carry out similar projects.

"Meg and I wanted from the beginning to involve high school students," Pride explained. "The main idea was the oldest generation communicating with the youngest. We both also remembered how in high school history, we never quite made it to World II ...and I'm pretty sure the kids loved it."

He warns, however, that "oral history is hard ... there's a lot of cutting and pasting involved to create a narrative that is true to the most interesting aspects of the subject's experience and also true to his or her own words. And there is a great deal of fact-checking - and double-checking with subjects - to try to get everything right."

In "We Went to War" Pride, Heckman and The Concord Monitor got it all right.

Al Hutchison of Citrus County is a freelance writer.

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