Keeping Vets’ Memories Alive On Film

Documentary Filmmaker Chronicles Wartime Experiences Of Hundreds Of Veterans

(CBS)  More than 16 million Americans served in World War II, but only around three million are still alive. The VA estimated this year they are dying at the rate of almost one thousand a day. CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews met one filmmaker determined to make their memory last.

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Larry Cappetto isn't just looking for a few good men, he's looking for every WWII veteran he can find. He is taping their recollections of war and weaving them into documentaries, Andrews reports.

“Were you in the Battle of the Bulge?” Cappetto asks another man.

He’s made five films so far, all of them on WWII, and in all of them the voices of the vets themselves tell the story.

Some of what they had to say:

“We had a job to do and we were doing it. By God, we went out there and did it.”

“Death was there on the beach. You could smell it.”

“There was only three of us left in the entire company of 250 men.”

Many of the vets are re-living a personal hell for the first time.

One veteran's twin brother died beside him.

“I should have died with him. I wanted to die. I really did,” he said. “'Cause my life was ruined. Half of me died when he died.”

“When people watch my films, I want them to feel like me, on the other end of that camera,” Cappetto said. “Getting that personal side of war, you know, going down those rope ladders, landing on those beaches.”

Cappetto's search for these surviving veterans has been relentless. In four years he's interviewed almost 400 combat veterans, assembling one of the largest oral histories ever recorded of Americans at war.

One of the most compelling of those stories came from D-day veteran Lewis Johnson -- a Navy vet who manned a machine gun as he landed on Omaha Beach.

“There were hundreds of thousands of bullets,” Johnson said. “It was the worst day of my life.”

Johnson and Cappetto are now a team, sharing these stories at schools. Cappetto, showing students the taped history, and Johnson being history.

What does the team think they teach students that they need to know?

“The carnage, the killing, the maiming, the blood. You don't get that in the history books,” TK said.

After four years in Iraq, America has lost 3,300 hundred lives. But on D-day, there were 3,000 killed within hours. For the students, the enormity of that sinks in.

“It's like you re-live the even with them,” a student named Lamisa said.

He classmate Megan added: “To know that so many men gave up their life just for us, it gave me a deeper appreciation.”

As he tapes these interviews, Cappetto asks these veterans to salute. And they don't hesitate. He believes it's more than patriotism.

“When I see those veterans salute, that's what I feel like,” he said. “I feel like they are saying goodbye. They have done their service to our country."

On Memorial Day we honor those who have died for America. But Cappetto isn't waiting for death. Interview by interview, he’s honoring the veterans now.

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Cappetto will release his next documentary -- on the Vietnam War -- this coming fourth of July. And he's already interviewing veterans of the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. You can reach Cappetto on his Web site.

We Shall Remember
28 May 2007

Heroes of might and honor
Protecting both young and old
Selfless courage for all to see
Knights both brave and bold

Of power and strength they be
To fight for the weak and affirmed
Defending this land for all of us
With valor forever confirmed

Yes one day we shall follow
You that have gone away
Always we shall remember
The Lord has given this day

Till heaven and earth do meet
Rejoice that we are still free
Constantly you are in our hearts
Never forgotten are thee

TL

[nadab-2009]

I am very proud to see the Vets being able to tell their stories.

I am the only child of a Vet of World War II & the Korean War.

My father is a survivor of the Nuk testing @ Bikini Is., Pearl Harbor.

The Navy did not allow married men in service, my father married and then joined the Army.

I am so proud of my father for all that he went through.

He meets monthly with other Pearl Harbor Survivors but the numbers are decreasing.

These men and women of yesterday, as well as today, give their all to make us safe.

We should all be supportive of both our Vets of past Wars and of those who are fighting for us today.

[bjlayton-2009]

We know a WWII vet that is 91 years old and was part of the 101st Airborn unit that was in Bostgone in the invasion of Normandy. I think Larry Cappetto should interview him.

[mbalestrino]

My 88 year old mother was a nurse in the army during WWII. It would be great if you interviewed her. Please contact me to get in touch with her.

[lars008-2009]

From the Halls of Montezuma
To the Shores of Tripoli;
We will fight our country's battles
In the air, on land and sea;
First to fight for right and freedom
And to keep our honor clean;
We are proud to claim the title
of United States Marine.

Our flag's unfurled to every breeze
From dawn to setting sun;
We have fought in ev'ry clime and place
Where we could take a gun;
In the snow of far-off Northern lands
And in sunny tropic scenes;
You will find us always on the job--
The United States Marines.

Here's health to you and to our Corps
Which we are proud to serve
In many a strife we've fought for life
And never lost our nerve;
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven's scenes;
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines.

[nolalou]

Those who know of a living veteran of WWII, instead of posting here, if you read the footnote at the end of the article, it has a website where you can contact Larry Cappetto. You can let him know how to get in contact with the veteran.

I'll repeat the link here:
http://www.veteranshistory.org/veteranshistory_3.htm

[korgen-2009]

Dear,
I am very pround to see the VETS being to
Pilsen /Czech republic/ in years 2000 and
2007.
Good bless US.

Korgen
Prague,Czech republic