By KIRSTY JOHNSTON - Taranaki Daily News
Last updated 05:00 10/08/2009
World War II veterans in Taranaki are being sought to tell their wartime tales before they're lost forever.
Local film company Anvil Productions has been given $28,000 by the Taranaki Electricity Trust to film interviews with 50 veterans in conjunction with the Rata Education and Historic Productions Trust.
Taranaki TV founder and journalist, Ray Cleaver, of Anvil Productions, said he wanted to get on to the project as soon as possible as the number of WWII veterans was dwindling rapidly.
"I got the idea when my father, who was a WWII veteran, began writing down memories of the war before he died," Mr Cleaver said.
"Like many soldiers he never talked about the war for many years and I thought, if we don't do something the stories will be lost soon."
Recent research by Inglewood man, Jack Elliot, shows the number of Inglewood veterans remaining is only 12 per cent of those who went to war.
Each veteran's story will be filmed by Mr Cleaver with Peter MacDonald of Stratford interviewing.
They will cover from the time when the soldiers joined up until they returned home.
The interviews will then be edited and DVD copies given to the veterans, Puke Ariki and the National Army Museum at Waiouru.
"That way anyone who wants to look up WWII or a certain battle can find this information on it," Mr Cleaver said. "But the best thing about it is that it will be their personal stories."
Taranaki's eight RSA clubs will be the main source of contacting the veterans.
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