SODDY DAISY, TN, March 1, 2011– When teacher Glenn Bolin decided to take 38 of his high school media students from Tennessee to Hawaii to document the stories of Pearl Harbor survivors on video, he knew sound quality would be crucial. Bolin’s plan was to have the students preserve forever the memories of some of the remaining 300 survivors of the attack in 1941 while they attended a memorial service and dedication this past December.
“These great men are, at the youngest, reaching into their nineties and sadly, won't be around much longer,” says Bolin. “We didn’t want this important part of history, their personal stories of that day, to be lost and we knew crisp, clean sound was key for recording national history. That's why we chose Shure. We use Shure microphones in our studio at school and knew we could depend on them in the field.”
Shure provided a ULXP24/58 handheld microphone system and seven ULXP14/85 lavalier microphone systems to ensure excellent sound quality for the recordings. The students did all the work for what they later named “Project Pearl Harbor,” from setting up a multi-camera shoot for the Memorial Service to interviewing the survivors one-on-one. In all, more than 40 survivors told their stories on camera, giving the students a lesson they won’t soon forget.
“Watching these kids, wide-eyed as they heard the firsthand accounts of what happened that day – that’s what education is all about,” says Bolin. “They learned history through the eyes of the heroes who lived it, and we’re pleased that we can share these interviews so these brave survivors’ legacies will live on after they’re gone. Shure helped us do that, and we’re so grateful.”
The students plan to edit the footage into a compilation of survivor stories to be donated to the National Park Service and the National Archives next year, which will be the 70th anniversary of the attack.
“We’re so impressed by the students’ dedication to this project,” says Shure President and CEO Sandy LaMantia. “Shure is honored to have played a small part in this very important endeavor.”