Region's Veterans Tell Their Stories

ABINGDON, Va. – For the first time since she returned from war, Naoma Whitehead was thanked for her service on Sunday.

She served three years in the Signal Corps during World War II, and her first thank-you came more than 60 years after she came home.

“It never occurred to me that anyone should thank me,” the 88-year-old Bristol, Va., resident said. “I was glad to serve my country. I love my country.”

The appreciation came after an extensive interview Whitehead had Sunday afternoon with Larry Cappetto, a documentary filmmaker who interviewed local veterans at the Farris Funeral Home in Abingdon, Va., over the weekend for an upcoming film.

“He said his camera makes everyone look 10 years younger,” Whitehead said with a laugh. “And I said, ‘Great, how wonderful to look 78 again.’ ”

She was one of several veterans Cappetto sat down with during the second day his three-day visit to Southwest Virginia. By day’s end, he was exhausted, he said. Each interview lasted about an hour – if not more – and each was emotionally draining.

“The first time a guy starting crying during an interview. I thought, ‘I’ve really tapped into something here. Hollywood cannot script that,’ ” he said. “My purpose is really to honor our veterans, to thank them. For me, every day is Veterans Day.”

In the last six years, Cappetto said he has interviewed more than 600 veterans in America and Canada and made seven war documentaries. His films are both educational and therapeutic, he said, adding that the experience is therapeutic for those who’ve served and lived to share their story – and their stories are an education for those who’ve never been to war.

Cappetto’s trip to the area was paid for by the Farris Funeral Home. He said he e-mailed general manager Sonya Farris a while back and expressed his interest in coming to the area and meeting with local veterans.

“At first I thought, ‘Who is this?’ ” Farris said. “I didn’t know if it was for real, and so I called him. That’s when I realized this would be perfect for our area and for our people. We have so many veterans with so many stories that should be told.”

Farris said she helped Cappetto connect with interviewees by traveling to various VFWs to speak about Cappetto’s project, and asked for volunteers to meet with him. The response was overwhelming.

“I’m a mother of four, my youngest is 9 and my oldest is 19, and in the 10 years that my kids have gone through school I have watched the stories of our country’s wars go from chapters to paragraphs to sentences,” she said. “These are not movies, they are not video games. These are real stories, real people, real lives.”

Cappetto said he was first inspired to begin work on war documentaries while watching “Saving Private Ryan,” a Steven Spielberg movie, several years ago. He wondered what it must have been like to be 18 or 19 years old and in a foreign land under enemy fire.

After talking at length with hundreds of veterans – both men and women – Cappetto said he discovered two common themes – freedom is not free and war is hell.

“When you boil it down, combat is about survival. Some people handle it differently from others. I don’t know if I could,” he said.

“ ... What strikes me about all the interviews I’ve done is that no one has ever called themself a hero. They always say the people they left behind are the heroes.”

Whitehead was one of those people.

She said she was doing was she believed was necessary during a time of need. But she’s certainly a patriot.

“I’m just so sorry that I’m so old – If I were younger I’d be in Iraq fighting right now,” she said. “I love my country.”

ahunter@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2531