Meg Heckmen, '01, gets to ask the coolest questions. First, she got to sit down with World War II veterans and ask questions about their wartime experiences. She asked the simplest questions and heard the hardest answers about those years of uncertainty. Second, she gets to ask whom to sign a book to.
On Tuesday, Heckmen and Mike Pride, a retired editor of the Concord Monitor, spoke in the MUB about their book "We Went to War: New Hampshire Remembers," a collection of stories from New Hampshire men and women who lived through World War II. The project idea came about when Pride tried to retell his father's war experience in the Pacific theater. Unfortunately Alzheimer's took away his father's memories.
"I missed the opportunity to record my own father's story and that hurt," Pride told the audience in MUB Theater II.
The missed opportunity led Pride to dedicate his last year at the Monitor to collecting the stories of other veterans. At the time, Heckmen's beat was aging and elder care, putting her in a unique position with contacts and developed a rapport with that generation.
"[Mike] was just so excited and so passionate about it, said Heckmen. "It just seemed like a really good year. And I just really loved the idea of having this wonderful excuse to sit down and be like 'tell me about your life.'"
About a year and a half ago, Heckmen and Pride co-wrote a column for the Sunday paper asking for veterans' stories.
"I got into work that Monday morning and I think I had 14 messages," said Heckmen. "I usually have two over the weekend. I had 14 messages on my voice mail. I didn't get a single thing done that day because my phone kept ringing with people who had seen the story. And then every time one of first three or four stories, it was the same kind of thing, just dozens and dozens [of responses]."
With the volume of responses, Pride and Heckmen knew early on that what started as a print series would soon become book collection. The collaboration is the first book for Heckmen, who got her undergraduate degree from UNH.
"My whole career is pretty much by accident," Heckmen said Tuesday. "For me, it was a lot of talking across distances, trying to find connections."
In addition to the book and the features in the Monitor, Heckmen and Price put together a multimedia presentation featuring diary excerpts, letters and poetry from the veterans as well as pictures of the men and women during the 1940s and today.
The presentation touched upon the reality of the aging veterans and the final moments were dedicated to the memories of some of those who recently passed.
Three of the veterans from the book were present to address the audience. Reverend Robert Wood, who currently resides in Havenwood-Heritage Heights Retirement Community in Concord, served as an infantryman and was seriously wounded at the battle on Monte Casino.
"I took a bullet right here, between my dog tags," said Wood, gesturing at his chest. He spoke with detachment about his life on the front line. "When my buddy died, the first thing we did was check his canteen hoping he still had some water."
"I did all this in the service as a closeted gay man," Wood said. "When duty called, we queers were there. We shed our blood and guts as much as our non-gay brothers."
Heckmen and Price spoke about the challenges of the project. "The whole purpose of the project was to tell what war was like," said Price. "For the most part, [the veterans] welcomed us into their homes."
The project had a very personal affect on Heckmen. "It gave me a lot of faith in the profession [of journalism]," she said. "It reminded me of the power of a good, high quality community newspaper. The mission is still good. Stuff like this is proof."
Be the first to comment on this article!