Witness Eyewitness: WWI
Reflections of World War I from those who knew those who were there.
Witness Eyewitness: World War One is an upcoming podcast series and website project that seeks to create a community of people sharing the legacy of World War One in order to honor those who served and also to honor the very notion of knowing and listening to our veterans of all of our history and all of our branches. This can either be video recorded, audio recorded, or in written form.
Histories Of World War I
As known by people who knew people who were there.
Sadly, many of us here in the United States do not know much about our first World War. In a large part, we are unsure of the causes, the major players, or the outcome. Chronologically tucked between our Civil War and the Second World War, the war once erroneously dubbed "the war to end all wars" is easily overshadowed in prominence. It was, compared to the aforementioned two wars, much more devoid of intrigue. Set in a liminal period between the cannons and muskets of the Civil War and the giant battleships and bombers of World War II, World War I was fought largely in the less glamorous backdrop of the mud and trenches, far from the allure of the adventure novel or the movie set. It was a war unlike any war we had thus far seen and it changed the very way we see and interact with our world.
What we cannot forget is just how much of an impact the Great War had and continues to have on all of us. The way the war was started, how it was fought, and how it ended changed the very landscape within which we live. The unfortunate reality is that the treaties which drew the conditions to end the First War directly contributed to the causes of the Second.
Unfortunately, we lost our last living World War I Veteran at the passing of Cpl. Frank Buckles in 2011. So, we can no longer directly ask the Veterans themselves about what it was like to take part in the Great War. But what we do have are many who knew the veterans and it is our mission to find those people and hear their stories, as they heard them, and as they wish to tell them.
What we aim to do:
Seeking people who knew veterans of World War I
At this point, we are in the process of developing this fine program and are seeking people who knew veterans. If you know of anyone, please let us know.
To honor the Veterans respectfully and carefully
We remain faithful to the following responsibilities:
First and foremost, our responsibility is to the very phenomena of knowing someone who has experienced such a profound and consequential event.
In this responsibility, we seek to highlight not the event itself, nor the person who experienced it, but rather the very notion of what it was like to know that person and to experience the event vis-a-vis that relationship.
We are responsible to the retelling of history, not for absolute accuracy but rather for the perspective of those who knew the veterans themselves.
In this responsibility, we fully understand that some of the stories we hear and tell may not be faithful to the real events or the events as we were taught. We are not historians, nor are we fact finders. Rather, we are seekers of stories that deserve to be told, as is, without interruption nor correction.
We are responsible to the experience of history.
In this responsibility, we seek to remain as unbiased as possible in regard to the politics involved in history. By focusing our gaze upon the relationships, we seek to remain unattached to any interpretation of the events surrounding the Great War. In doing so, the ideas and attitudes of those we interview do not reflect those of Telephone: World War I, nor those of Honey Lane Productions.
We are responsible to veterans of all wars and of all branches of service. In this solemn responsibility, we highlight the importance of knowing, thanking, and most importantly of listening to them and to their experience, in whatever way they choose to share it.
In highlighting the importance of knowing the veterans of World War I, we seek to highlight the importance of knowing and being present with all veterans, regardless of how or where they served.
In conclusion:
The primary purpose of the parent company, Honey Lane Productions, is to create an avenue of storytelling that highlights the very concept of knowing someone. Throughout my life, I have been so lucky to have met and known incredible people and have often wanted to share with others just what it was like to know those people. I would be honored to be able to create a platform from which people can broadcast their relationships with others and to pass along any wisdom or lessons to which they may have been given access. In my opinion, it is critical that we begin documenting the stories of those who knew World War I veterans. Sadly, the reality is that time is running out in getting these stories. I believe we owe it to the veterans and to those who knew them to have their stories told.
People who knew people who were there
This is where we will share the stories of the people who knew veterans of World War I. We'd love to see you on here!
Storytelling
We want to share stories about the WWI Veteran that you know, as they told them. We are not interested in absolute historical accuracy but rather to share their stories as close as we can to how they told them.
Reflecting
We want to know and share how you came to know these veterans. We want to know the impact they had on your life and what you learned from them either about the war or life in general.
Knowing
We are interested in the phenomena of knowing someone. We want to know what it was like knowing them. What were they really like and furthermore, what were you like around them?
Who are we?
Join Us
