West Michigan Red Arrow veterans who fought in World War II are the guests of honor at the premiere screening of "Nightmare in New Guinea," a documentary film that captures their recollections. It was produced as a collaborative project between the Grand Valley State University Department of History and the School of Communications.
The 7 p.m. screening on Friday, November 10, one day before Veterans' Day, will be in Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, Pew Grand Rapids Campus. A reception for the veterans and guests, hosted by the Meijer Foundation, will follow the screening. Both events are free and open to the public.
The Red Arrow Division, which began as militia companies in Grand Rapids and dates back to the Civil War, served in the gruesome New Guinea Campaign. As part of the U.S. 32nd Infantry Division, the Red Arrow saw 654 days of continuous battle. This is more than any other division during World War II, yet their stories have never been told.
With the youngest of the vets now in their 80s, an overwhelming sense of urgency to capture their stories led to establishing Grand Valley's Department of History as a partner archive with the Library of Congress. A special topics class, History 380, was created to combine learning about World War II, recording oral histories from Red Arrow vets and organizing the material for production of a documentary film.
The class was team taught by former Grand Rapids City Historian Gordon Olson and Frank Boring, a documentary filmmaker and adjunct professor in the School of Communications. Both had worked with a group of the vets at Grand Valley during the Great Lakes History Conference of 2003.
Once the history class ended, senior communications students Chris Michael and Ahmed Al-Tawil spent countless hours editing historical footage and the oral histories to create the finished documentary. All of the material gathered by the class will remain at Grand Valley and be made available to future researchers through the partnership with the Library of Congress.
For the complete story visit www.gvsu.edu/gvmagazine and select "Preserving History." For more information about the screening call (616) 331-3668.
