Thursday, March 15, 2007
A documentary shown Wednesday at the Kansas Union hit a little too close for Kelly Mourning-Byers, whose husband returned from a tour in Iraq last October.
“It was hard for me to watch,” said Mourning-Byers, a Topeka native.
The documentary, “Operation Homecoming: Writing the War Time Experience,” is one of an 11-part series being produced by Public Broadcasting Service. Segments of the series, called “America at a Crossroads,” are being previewed with panel discussions at various institutions, including the University of Kansas.
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“Operation Homecoming” is about the wartime experiences of Iraq veterans, told through the poetry, narratives and fictional works they wrote while on duty.
Jasonne Grabher O’Brien, associate director of the Hall Center for the Humanities, which hosted the documentary, said PBS was sponsoring the event as an outreach campaign to spark dialogue about the documentaries.
Tom Yellin, executive producer of “Operation Homecoming” and a panelist at a discussion following the preview, said the series focused on the challenges facing a post-Sept. 11 world.
“Operation Homecoming” is about the wartime experiences of Iraq veterans, told through the poetry, narratives and fictional works they wrote while on duty. The documentary uses these war memoirs, which relate experiences from the front lines, to tell stories of battle, death, emotional confusion and other issues soldiers face in Iraq.
Jeremy Byers, Mourning-Byers’ husband, attended the preview and said he liked that the documentary told the stories of common soldiers, not the military elite. Byers, a doctoral student in military history at the University, said he spent one year serving in Iraq moving convoys around Baghdad.
Byers said he identified with the way the documentary’s authors, real soldiers, told stories about wounded soldiers on the battlefield and coming home. He said he had written about 180 pages in a journal while in Iraq, detailing his experiences, and also maintained a blog.
The theme of the discussion following the preview was that many Americans were personally out of touch with the Iraq War. Yellin said he hoped the documentaries would help address that problem.
Mourning-Byers said she thought many people did not understand the combat experience soldiers faced.
PBS is set to air the 11 documentaries from 8 to 10 p.m. each night from April 15 to 20.
Kansan staff writer Nathan Gill can be contacted at ngill@kansan.com.
—Edited by Ashley Thompson
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Comments
Documentary shows soldiers’ experiences
I actually knew some people that attended Operation Homecoming in Virginia...it sounds excellent.
There's actually an interesting animated clip from the documentary up on You Tube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB2DNEBH3...
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