Listen to local veterans during ‘Wartime Storytime’ this Friday

WARNER ROBINS – Want to hear stories from local veterans? Wartime Storytime is back, and everyone is invited to the Green Acres Baptist Church gym on Friday, Aug. 29, starting at 1 p.m.

Wartime Storytime will be held on the fourth Friday of every month, each with a different speaker sharing their experiences. 

Organizer Karen Sisk started the event back in 2019 as a way for World War II veterans to share their stories with the community. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event has been on pause, but Sisk is eager to bring it back once again. This time, the event will include Korean War and Vietnam Veterans. 

The upcoming meeting’s speaker will be Dave Nakayama, who will share an interesting story about a Japanese and a United States soldier who came to know one another. Sisk said this was not common, especially after the war.

Nakayama is a retired military officer with a passion for WWII, which is how Sisk got to know him. 

Sisk shared that her father was a World War II veteran, but she felt she never thanked him for his service. She then gathered the remaining WWII veterans in the city to hear what they had to say. Afterwards, she started hosting events to honor them, such as organizing a D-Day event to celebrate its 75th anniversary. When this event was hosted, approximately 25 WWII veterans were remaining; now there are only three. 

Sisk shared that one of those three is 100 years old but remains active. She said he still goes bowling, drives and works at his part-time job. 

The first meetings in August to October will be WWII stories to remember the 80th anniversary of the end of the war. In future meetings, she will include Korean War and Vietnam War Veterans, which she anticipates will take a long time since there are many Vietnam War veterans in the community. Sisk’s goal is not to miss any veteran and give people the opportunity to hear their stories.

“That’s why I named it ‘Wartime Storytime’ not just for the WWII veterans but [so] that we can continue on to hear the stories of the other veterans that we have in town,” she said.

Sisk hopes everyone can attend, especially students, so they will be able to listen to “history talking.” She wants them to be able to tell their children about their experiences and say they met a WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam War veteran. 

“These men are opening up to let the public hear their stories. We have walking history in this town,” she said. 

In past meetings, Sisk enjoyed seeing speakers getting to know each other. During one of the first meetings, the speaker shared what he went through in Europe, and a member of the audience stood up and said, “My company was going there to help you.” Sisk thought it was cool to see because the men did not know each other before the meeting. 

At another meeting, the speaker was telling his story about being in a bombardment in Japan. The city’s first Fire Chief, Ernest Wood, stood up to say, “I was on that line with you. We were firing at Japan also.” Sisk also thought it was nice to witness that, since the men did not know each other but found out they lived in the same community and were doing the same job during the war. 

Over the course of the event, people created lasting friendships, and Sisk’s friend traveled from Atlanta to hear their stories. That is when she thought, “This is working.”

Sisk hosts this event because of her love of history, especially WWII history, due to her father’s influence. 

“I decided this needed to be done. We need to hear their stories. We had so many [veterans] in this town and now we’re down to three WWII veterans, that’s all we have left that I know of. I wanted them to start telling us their stories,” she said.

Sisk believes it is vital to hear veterans’ stories because Warner Robins is a military town. She said people have to learn from history and hear what veterans went through. She also believes the event creates a deeper understanding for veterans.

Sisk shared that whenever she sees a member of the military in uniform, she makes sure to thank them for their service. Since the city continues to be a military town, she believes people should take advantage of hearing stories. She said Warner Robins has more than most cities. 

“To have a deeper understanding for what the military has done for our country is needed. We all think we know, but to hear their stories out of their mouth, that’s priceless. It’s better than reading a book,” she said. 

Wartime Storytime will be hosted on the fourth Friday of every month at Green Acres Baptist Church, located at 901 Elberta Road. Its first meeting will be on Friday, Aug. 29, starting at 1 p.m.