Make a Video Interview - Cheap but GOOD!

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I could not find a quick - simple video on the web to let novice historians learn how to make a reasonably good video interview. I wanted this to be 5 minutes - "Here You Go" Now go do it A (ok - I ran a little over that time limit). The most important thing about interviewing veterans and the elderly is simply TO DO IT. So maybe this will help some of the people who learned of the Veterans History Project and wanted to volunteer to help. I started volunteering my time - a news feature got out and people called me to volunteer. ONE of my biggest goals is to help others make the videos too - because it will help if more of those video cameras in closets and camera bags are pulled out and put to good use. More about my own work is at www.me3tv.org.

Yalta Conference

Not SCCC Students but some students somewhere really learned their history and managed to make a great comedy about THE YALTA CONFERENCE and reflect on the last 70 years of the history of the world

WWII - Duvall - Veteran - The Murmansk Run

Only one of the 17 ships that split off convoy PQ17 made it to Murmansk through the ravaging U-Boat wolfpacks. It was mid 1942. The Soviets were our wary allies and they needed materiale support. There were many more ships in PQ17. Most were lost in the attacks. The British Fleet command pulled support off PQ17 to bottle up the German Battleships - Tirpitz and Prinz Eugen. This left the convoy "naked" and totally exposed to destruction in the cold and deadly Barents Sea. Ivo Duvall was there. His tiny corvette was virtually useless in defense of the merchant ships. Duvall's full hour long interview is on DVD and will be presented to the Library of Congress as part of the Veterans History Project. Duvall also participated in many Pacific battles. More about our efforts at www.me3tv.org.

SOME OF HIS BOOKS 

The Kusma Zone

Bigfoot and MORE all in the hills surrounding Sparta and Sussex County. They report - you decide.

If Any Town in Sussex County had Community TV

But they don't because no town in this near-metro county of NJ has figured out how to set up a local community TV station. If they did (like nearly every other town with 10,000 or more population in America and most of Africa) then they would have nice programming tools like those discovered by POOR STEVE (who is an unnamed local TV star who manages a community TV station in a town not far away. (Click on "poor steve" to watch the film).

Veteran-Simon - Bombardier WWII

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Howard Simon of New Jersey was a bombardier in B17's in WWII. On his 7th mission his plane was severely damaged by flak. By a stroke of luck they could glide to Sweden where he was interned for the rest of the war. Sweden was a neutral country but rules of war required downed crew to remain there. This interview session took place Sept 16 in Newton, NJ. Other sessions are in planning for more locations in New Jersey and especially in Sussex County - home of ME3Tv.

Alice Quick - Army Nurse

We interviewed Alice Quick (the tall one) of Sussex County on August 16. Alice was an Army Nurse. She served mostly in Winchester, England (the place with the cathedral and the song) until the troops had pushed well into Europe and then moved up with forward hospitals. Her war service is a vivid memory of both good and bad times. She continues to hold a most vivid memory of the camp at Buchenwald when the concentration camps were liberated. Highlights from her interview will be featured here soon. A full DVD of it will be presented to her and to the county for its archives. One copy goes to the Library of Congress as part of the Veterans History Project. ME3TV is a little behind in posting the videos since the huge response from mention of the project in several news media. Volunteers are welcomed. We are organizing more interviews even as we tackle the organization and logistics.

Veteran Duvall - Murmansk Run

Mr and Mrs. Ivo Duvall (EYE-voh) came up to Sparta from Kinnelon for an hour interview. Ivo was a plucky young fishing boat captain in Alaskan waters in the late 1930's when a Navy recruiter convinced him the Navy reserves were a pretty good thing to be involved in. In early 1942 he received orders for England and the Murmansk Convoys. Of the merchant ships in his group of 17 only one survived the passage to the Soviet Union. He made several covoy runs. Then he transferred to a destroyer and participated in many battles like Iwo, Jima, Tarawa, and Okinawa. I asked him if he was ever in any "BIG" battles. He loved the joke. He is still active as a marine engineer and gives talks on the 15th century Chinese ship construction. Part of his interview will appear on me3tv soon. There is a small delay as many veterans (and volunteers) responded to the recent news articles. Call-backs and emails should ease off soon and these great gems of history will see the light of the web... and DVD's for those that want the whole interview.

SOME OF HIS BOOKS -- https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Alaska-Ivo-W-Duvall/dp/143926676X

Air Corps Veteran

Mr. Howard Simon was in the Army Air Corps in WWII - bombing Germany. On his 7th bombing mission, his plane was disabled by flak over the Hamburg submarine pens. The crew safely landed in Sweden and were interned there for the rest of the war. He shows his air medal here. Interviews with a number of veterans from the past few weeks will come soon. There is a delay posting some of them because of a wonderful surge of interest in this project with many emails and phone calls to be returned and managed. Volunteers and Veterans can contact me through information at the ME3TV page.

Veteran - Ray Buch

Ray Buch was with the 11th Armored, and was their historian for many years. In their push from "the Bulge" Ray observed a combat photographer die in an artillary attack. He marked the spot in his memory and went back as soon as it was clear to retrieve the film camera. This camera shot some of the footage of the liberation of Mauthausen Concentration Camp seen in the interview some years back and featured on DVD. He is now in a state of Alzheimers or dementia and is cared for by a live-in nurse, Coombah - a US Citizen - immigrant from Senegal. Several of Rays film interivews or narratives are on DVD. The collected veteran's Memories of Christmas, 1944" is a favorite. Rays interviews were done a few years ago. Now, Me3TV is making a systematic effort to interview vets and train others to do it. Contact us to volunteer (mainly NJ).