REMEMBERING OUR SOLDIERS
In Honor of Veteran’s Day
The special theme for every Veteran’s Day is HONOR. American veterans demonstrate their distinct honor in serving to protect our way of life and the Constitution of the United States of America. We are forever grateful for all they have done to maintain America’s freedoms through their sacrifice and bravery.
.This video showcases video clips from World War ll and the emblems, medals, and patches honoring the hundreds of military units, millions of soldiers that fought and the hundreds of thousands of soldiers that gave their lives to protect our democracy. Originally presented in May, 2004 at the Salute to World War ll Veterans at the Washington, D.C, MCI Center, this program was viewed by nearly 60,000 people. Richard Olsenius created this video along with the introductory music. The U.S. Army orchestra played a movement from Gustav Holst’s Planets
Originally presented in May, 2004 at the Salute to World War ll Veterans at the Washington, D.C, MCI Center, this live program was viewed by nearly 60,000 people.
It all started when…
I was asked to produce a video that would be played live in front of a 60-piece Army Orchestra. This was to take place in the 20,000 seat arena in Washington, D.C. what was then called the MCI Center. There would be four evening performances honoring the WWll soldiers and their families that came to take part in the dedication of the newly installed WWll Memorial on the Mall. I was told that the video production needed to be about 10 minutes and would contain all the emblems, patches and medals of the armed services that participated in the war. The real challenge for me was to animate all the patches along with video clips and still photographs to portray the vast involvement of this historical war effort. On the surface the project seemed untenable to capture something powerful out of this box of material, something that would have emotion and impact. That first night when the orchestra finished playing to the images on the large stage-spanning screen, there was a long silence followed by a thunderous applause. The number of people drying their eyes told me everything I wanted to know.
Video from WWll presentation at Washington D.C. MCI center May 2004