Storytelling: :Tony Pritchard and "This Business of Fighting".

French Refugees and American Troops, Normandy, 1944

"A powerful story, an empathic point of view - I really appreciated that it informed me of military operations realistically and did not deny or dramatize the human fear, neither did it preach a specific point of view.  Its honest perspective helps me have a broader understanding of what a person who does military service goes through. War is awful and to loose sight of the pride in those who serve ... your story brings out that need in a loving and human way" --listener from Fairfield, CT

 
"This Business of Fighting", is a live performance story, based on Tony Pritchard's letters to his parents in Rhode Island between his sailing for Europe in February 1944 and Germany's surrender about fifteen months later.

For most of his time overseas Tony was the forward observation officer for a battery of artillery.-in charge of a small team which was very often in the front lines with the infantry, using a radio or field telephone to tell the big guns a mile or two behind them where to fire.

Tony's letters don't tell you much about the "big picture"; you won't learn about why the Presidents and Prime Ministers and Generals made the decisions they did.  You will hear a young man wonder how he will respond to his first combat.  You will hear him describe crawling through the freezing, snow-covered woods of the Ardennes under enemy fire during the Battle of the Bulge. And you will hear about driving into Germany as the Nazi regime was collapsing and seeing crowds of released slave laborers wandering the roads and German women desperately trying to stop their homes from going up in flames. 

Here's a link to a video of an excerpt from the story (same video as appears on the first-timer page):

Link to video

More Listener Responses 

I hope you could see how rapt + attentive all the residents were last night.  You struck a chord very close to our hearts.  Arnie, how fortunate you found your father's letters and how beautifully you shared them... - A listener from Bloomfield, CT

Great! You did such a wonderful job at VoiceMail.  Your story is so well developed and delivered ... and was really riveting.  We talked about it all the way home.  Very impressive.  Thanks.  – Ellie Toy, Schools Program Coordinator, CT Storytelling Center.

Great presentation the other night.  You do your father - and history - great honor. - Bruce Marcus, Feature Coordinator, Story Space, Cambridge, MA.  

Thanks a lot for sending me these fascinating selections from your father's letters.  What a remarkable man he clearly was, in his down-to-earth way--sociable, and yet very introspective and curious, too...a gripping page-turner...In the  browsing I'd done in published editions of soldiers' letters, I'd been struck by the conflict between a desire to send reassurance and the need to share often chaotic and frightening or disturbing experiences;...your father's letters dramatize that conflict deeply, and even comment on it themselves.  - Professor Jill Campbell, Yale University (commenting on a somewhat longer selection of letters that she used in one of her courses).

Logistics

Running time: About 45 minutes.  Has sometimes been followed by discussion with the audience, which often gets quite lively. 

Suitable Audiences: High School on up.  Has been told at libraries, veterans' groups, retirement communities, storytelling series, and other venues; there are probably some possibilities I have never thought of.  Contains some salty language and obviously a good deal of violence, though the violence is not very graphic.

Fees: Negotiable at this point.  Contact me on your specific situation. 

Contact Info

Arnie Pritchard
19 Colony Road
New Haven, CT 06511

203-624-2520
Email Arnie