{"id":59433,"date":"2014-10-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-alumnus-pursues-his-passion-traveling-the-world-to-produce-documentary-films-on-the-veterans-and-survivors-of-world-war-ii\/"},"modified":"2014-10-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-10-08T00:00:00","slug":"uri-alumnus-pursues-his-passion-traveling-the-world-to-produce-documentary-films-on-the-veterans-and-survivors-of-world-war-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2014\/10\/uri-alumnus-pursues-his-passion-traveling-the-world-to-produce-documentary-films-on-the-veterans-and-survivors-of-world-war-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 alumnus pursues his passion: traveling the world to produce documentary films on the veterans and survivors of World War II"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tTim Gray has written, produced and directed 12 documentary

\nfilms through his nonprofit, World War II Foundation<\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I., Oct. 8, 2014 \u2013 In a few years, most World War II veterans will be gone. Tim Gray wants to interview them now \u2013 before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n


\nGray is a 溏心vlog免费B站 journalism graduate who left a successful career as a TV sportscaster to make documentary films about the men and women who fought and survived World War II.<\/p>\n


\nHis latest initiative \u2013 in between producing the hour-long films \u2013 is sharing snippets of the 200 interviews he\u2019s complied over the past eight years on his website. They\u2019re available for free to students, educators, researchers and the public.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get as many of these shorter interviews on the website now,\u201d he says. \u201c溏心vlog免费B站 600 World War II veterans are dying every day so the window is closing rapidly to hear personally from that generation.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nGray\u2019s World War II Foundation is one of the only organizations in the country that produces films about the World War II generation and then donates those films to American Public Television and its PBS affiliates, which airs them worldwide.<\/p>\n


\nA few months ago, he started posting edited and shorter individual stories. Each segment runs about six minutes.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cIt\u2019s a resource that gives students greater access to what made this generation so incredible,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s geared toward high school and college students who want to learn about history, but don\u2019t necessarily have hours to sit through a veteran or survivor talking about their experience of being at Pearl Harbor or their journey through the Holocaust.” <\/p>\n


\nThe project is funded by Richard and Betsy Porter, of Delaware. Gray reached out to Rick Porter after his horse, Normandy Invasion, finished fourth in last year\u2019s Kentucky Derby. Gray was intrigued, of course, by the horse\u2019s name.<\/p>\n


\nWorld War II has been a passion for Gray since he was a boy. When he was 6 years old, he picked up an encyclopedia about the war and read everything he could. \u201cThere were amazing stories of courage and sacrifice,\u201d he says. \u201cTo me, it\u2019s the most fascinating period in the history of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nAfter graduating from 溏心vlog免费B站 in 1989, Gray worked throughout the country as a TV sportscaster, in Florida, Michigan and the state of Washington. In 1999, he landed his dream job at Channel 10 in Providence.<\/p>\n


\nFive years later, he left to become a documentary filmmaker \u2013 a decision he has never regretted. \u201cFifteen years in the TV news business is a long time,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was enough.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nIn his first film, in 2006, he took five veterans from Rhode Island back to Normandy, thanks, in part, to a private donation. The documentary won a couple of Emmys, and Gray was on his way.<\/p>\n


\nSince then, Gray and videojournalist Jim Karpeichik have produced 12 films, many award-winning. Gray takes veterans to battlefields in Europe and the Pacific, where they fought and saw many of their fellow soldiers die. Last year American Public Television awarded Gray\u2019s foundation its National Programming Excellence Award.<\/p>\n


\nGray recalls one visit to Normandy this past June that was especially moving. The veteran\u2019s name was Ernie Corvese, a Smithfield resident. During the war, the U.S. Navy demolition seaman jumped out of a boat on Omaha Beach just as a German artillery round blew up his landing craft. Everyone onboard was killed. Ernie survived only because he was the first man off.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe both visited the area where his boat blew up, and he cried,\u201d says Gray.<\/p>\n


\nThe foundation is a nonprofit so Gray relies on private donations to continue his work. Patriots coach Bill Belichick, former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, actor Tom Hanks, director Steven Spielberg and former president George W. Bush are among the famous who have who have contributed. <\/p>\n


\nBelichick\u2019s late father fought in World War II. It\u2019s now a tradition for Gray to have Belichick screen his films before they’re sent to PBS. \u201cTo hear you do incredible work from Bill Belichick is pretty nice,\u201d Gray says.<\/p>\n


\nA 1989 graduate of 溏心vlog免费B站, Gray credits the University for giving him the skills to pursue his journalism and film careers. \u201cIt was a great experience for me,\u201d he says. \u201cI have a long history with the University.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nHis father, Walter Gray, worked for 30 years at 溏心vlog免费B站, and his mother, Mary Cozzolino Gray, graduated from the University in 1952. Tim\u2019s brother, Walt Gray, graduated from 溏心vlog免费B站 in 1979 and is a popular news anchor in Sacramento, Calif. Tim is married to Sheila Martin Gray, also a 1989 溏心vlog免费B站 graduate, and his daughter, Shannon Brassil, will graduate from 溏心vlog免费B站 in 2015.<\/p>\n


\n \u201c溏心vlog免费B站 gave me the foundation to become a writer, a communicator and a risk-taker,\u201d says Gray. \u201c It all started in Kingston, and thankfully I\u2019ve found something in my professional life that I absolutely love to do.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nIn November, Gray will return to Wiltz, Luxembourg with Richard Brookins, of Rochester, N.Y., to take part in his last \u201cAmerican\u201d Saint Nicholas celebration. During the war, Brookins, dressed up as St. Nick, and other soldiers handed out toys to the children for the holiday \u2013 a gesture the townspeople have never forgotten. Gray will be there to record Brookins\u2019 journey, maybe for the last time. He\u2019s in his 90s.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThese men are heroes in Europe,\u201d Gray says. \u201cIt\u2019s an honor to be the conduit for many of their incredible stories.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nClick here for more information about the World War II Foundation.<\/a><\/p>\n


\nPhoto above, from left to right: Jim Karpeichik, owner of Ocean State Video, former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw and Tim Gray at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France in June 2014 during D-Day\u2019s 70th anniversary. Photo courtesy of the World War II Foundation.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tim Gray has written, produced and directed 12 documentary films through his nonprofit, World War II Foundation KINGSTON, R.I., Oct. 8, 2014 \u2013 In a few years, most World War II veterans will be gone. Tim Gray wants to interview them now \u2013 before it\u2019s too late. Gray is a University of Rhode […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59435,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}