The Pearl Harbor Initiative

            Most of my blogs are about great outdoor music festivals and me begging you to attend one for the benefit of your artist eye and a special peek into a world most people don't even know about. These events are fun, whimsical, state of art and give the patron a good feeling, which makes me feel young. I enjoy bringing pictures of the crazy dressed kids, elaborate stage performers, and kick ass lighting.Now for a complete U-turn, but its one of the coolest U-turns I could have experienced.

            “Back in the day” I worked at the local PBS in Pensacola over 20 years ago. I  had the honor of meeting Elizabeth Watkins. She was a producer at the time, and took me under her wing where I learned a real trade in the entertainment industry. I affectionately call her my mentor. I even use that term today because I have too many Liz’s in my life and I always have to distinguish her with the mentor pseudonym anyway.  Liz always did solid TV work at PBS and worked additionally on a documentary about a local bar owner named Trader Jon who hosted many generations of military men and women as they came thru Pensacola, FL. Liz has been retired for a while but was forced out of retirement by the recent BP oil spill. I'll tell that story for you one day with pictures, but I don't want to get off subject. So of course her 1^st project out of the gate was one of real merit, and took us to Hawaii!

            The Pearl Harbor Initiative was started in Pensacola, FL for the resident Pearl Harbor Survivors that number 6 in that local chapter. Liz was brought on board to chronicle this epic journey for these survivors as a 'last trip back' to an infamous event of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. When she called me I was so excited to work with her again, and knew I’d be involved with something special. I had to drive up to Pensacola to fly out to Hawaii., but it was a small price to pay (plus I got to see my mom) We had 2 camera ops, Robert Breland and David Heroux,  and I ran audio for the B camera guy, David. The documentary follows all the veterans, starting at the Pensacola airport, around the memorials and tours at Pearl Harbor, and the areas they stood when the bombing occurred, such as Ford Island, the 10-10 dock, and several other locations. This also included a detailed account from each survivor of what they were doing, reacting, and thinking when the Japanese hit. We were there 6 days and had an aggressive 10 hour touring schedule for the veterans. We all thought the vets weren’t going to be able to keep up with that type of schedule, but boy did they make us feel old by running circles around us with a little tap dancing to boot. Everywhere we went the survivors were approached to tell their stories of that day or just thanked for their long services in the military. The middle of our trip had us at the Pearl Harbor 70^th anniversary ceremonial with 160 survivors in attendance. The ceremony was amazing and I'll be honest, I shed many a tear. This is the last year that the 'Survivors of Pearl Harbor' national chapter will be taking care of this ceremony, the services will be held by the park services starting next year, so this was truly a 'last goodbye'.

            This project needed funding and got the attention of Pensacola residents, businesses, and local philanthropists. The production company I was a part of, had to raise funds as well. Liz Watkins comments "Our A camera, operated by Robert Breland, was a Sony PMW320 XDCAM.  CTG in Atlanta, GA. supported this project with this camera as a loaner.  Robert and I fell in love with the image and we are currently buying the unit from CTG. She adds, "Mediacom donated cameraman, David Heroux with a JVC GY-HM700CHU camera, and an Audio Technica Wireless Lav set with a Sennheiser Boom microphone as well.  In addition, Mediacom partnered with the Pearl Harbor Initiative by donating airtime for fundraising spots and airtime for the final documentary.  Having a 2 camera crew made the production a huge success”. The fact that we had such great gear makes me even more excited about this project because I'd really like to see it on one of the big channels!  

            I share Liz’s feeling when I asked what she thought about getting back out in the field and being part of such a great project, this is what she said, "Spending 6 days with these survivors at Pearl Harbor was the highlight of my 29 career, I fell in love with each one of these heroes". "People keep asking me, "how was Hawaii? “ I have no idea, we worked from sun up to past sundown documenting the return of these survivors back to Pearl Harbor.  In 6 days we recorded 19 hours of video with two camera crews.  I wouldn't change one minute of this historic trip and production".

             I have never been able to relate to the big wars, maybe because they were so long ago or its just the way things happen, but because I heard 6 different stories from 6 physical positions, I was able to get a 3D image of the events that day. Bill Braddock said it best, I paraphrase,  he was 17, in Hawaii, with tennis courts and hula girls. Then the Japanese came along and we had to leave our paradise and become men. You could really see the pride he had to be involved with the win of the Pacific war in relation to World War 2. I usually only think of the war in Europe, but got a real understanding of how much on both sides of the States we fought to win that war. 

            For additional information about this event you can visit http://pearlharborhonorflight.com/

Liz's Watkins  website is http://watkinsvideo.com/

            Here are some great pictures of my gig, feel free to be jealous, but also pay respect to any servicemen and women you come across over the holiday season! Thanks to David Heroux and Tina Jeselnik Sutton for these great pictures.