Lest We Forget | 91FM

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Tracy and June Sugarman invited 91FM listeners into their private lives when they shared the story of their wartime correspondence during Lest We Forget. View dozens of Tracy's sketches (like "The crew, LST 491," pictured) and read more than 270 of his personal letters to June at the Veterans History Project site "Experiencing War." An excerpt of one such letter is below:

To his wife, June 13, 1944:

A week ago today was "D" day -- and these past seven days have been filled with sights and sounds I'll probably recall always. Most of it was pretty exciting, a lot of it pretty narsty [sic], none of it enjoyable. For the greatest part we haven't been close enough to catch the impact of the business being done. The glimpses we've had have been enough. Through it all and leading up to our coming there must have been -- looking back now -- a certain growing tension in all of us...

Lest We Forget

When Tracy Sugarman was stationed with the Navy in Europe during World War II, he captured its people and war-torn nations through blue-pencil drawings and poetic words, sending hundreds of sketches and letters to his wife June (pictured with him), who saved each and every one. Sugarman's story is one of several shared in this extraordinary hour of intimate memoirs recorded by World War II veterans as part of the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project. As vivid as if they happened yesterday, these stories of the atrocities witnessed and unimaginable hardships endured by veterans are as invaluable as their honorable service to the United States, and are especially relevant as we celebrate Memorial Day. Photo: Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Monday, May 30 at 1 p.m. & 9 p.m.