VETERANS DAY VIDEO WITH RADIO TIES

Kendall LaCraft, Navy Pilot

As we pause to remember and thank those who served our country, here is a YouTube video I produced in 2012 about a member of my family I never met.

It tells the story my uncle who died in World War Two. 

His name was Kendall and I was named for him.

Kendall LaCraft was a Navy pilot during the war. 

His job was to dive-bomb  and sink Nazi U-Boats in the Gulf of Mexico.

Sometimes U-Boats were close to the U.S. coast. 

They were very successful at first, but courageous American pilots changed that and helped the allies defeat fascism.  

It was a risky job. 

Illustration courtesy of U.S. Navy

My uncle died in August of 1943 off the coast of Trinidad. His Navy plane was shot down as he buzzed a U-Boat.

But there was more to the story. 

In the year before Kendall’s death, he had fell in love with a woman named Billie. He met her at the Navy base in Norfolk. 

It was more than a fling. Billie and Kendall planned to marry after the war. 

If Kendall had lived, Billie would have been my aunt.

In 2012 Billie contacted me. I interviewed her for this video. The narrative is based on letters Kendall sent home to his mother and fatherl

So, what does this have to do with radio? Two things:

• The voice-actor who speaks Kendall’s words in the video is Nick Marcotte, the son of public radio news consultant Michael Marcotte.

• Kendall talks about his fascination with radio. I guess radio is in my DNA.

The video is called When Billie Met Kendall.