The documentary film “Running Towards the Fire” – about World War II war correspondents, including one from Nebraska – will premiere at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, followed by a panel discussion featuring:

director/producer Barney McCoy (Gilbert and Martha Hitchcock professor of journalism at UNL),
assistant professor of practice and documentary videographer Kristian Anderson,
award-winning filmmaker and project consultant Christine Lesiak, and
project consultant, author, military historian and senior archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration Mitch Yockelson.

Visit The Ross website to RSVP for tickets.

“Running Towards the Fire – A War Correspondents Story” will also make its debut statewide broadcast on Nebraska Public Media on these dates and times: Thursday, May 23 at 8p.m. central time and rebroadcasts on Sunday, May 26 at 5 p.m. and Tuesday, May 28 at 8 p.m.

RUNNING TOWARDS THE FIRE vividly captures the pivotal roles war correspondents played during the Allies 1944 D-Day invasion of Europe and subsequent defeat of Nazi Germany and the Axis powers in 1945. The war correspondents were unsung heroes who risked their lives informing the world with firsthand accounts of the bravery and sacrifice of the American and Allied forces who fought the Nazis.

The documentary draws extensively from the previously unpublished memoirs of Robert Reuben. The Omaha-born war correspondent parachuted into Normandy, France, hours before the D-Day invasion and was the first journalist on the ground. Reuben chronicled the Allies’ liberation of France and Belgium and fierce fighting in Germany that forced the Nazi’s May 7, 1945, surrender.

RUNNING TOWARDS THE FIRE also pays tribute to the courage and resilience of the men and women who fought tyranny in WWII. Through newspaper articles, radio broadcasts and film reports, war correspondents like Reuben boosted the morale of soldiers and civilians by highlighting the sacrifices they made in the pursuit of freedom.