The '40 Thieves on Saipan: A Son Uncovers His Father's True
Story' 19-minute segment, produced by Pioneer PBS Postcards,
received a 2022 Upper Midwest Emmy® Award for the
Historical/Cultural/Nostalgic - Long Form Content category on
October 15, 2022. The story featured
Award-Winning Co-Authors Joseph Tachovsky and Cynthia Kraack, who were at the Emmy® Gala in
Minnesota to thank the Pioneer PBS
team.
MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 19,
2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- In a ballroom filled with
hundreds of top media, the '40 Thieves on Saipan: A Son Uncovers
His Father's True Story' feature story by Pioneer PBS Postcards
Executive Producer Dana Conroy and her team received a 2022 Upper
Midwest Emmy® Award for the Historical/Cultural/Nostalgic - Long
Form Content category on Saturday, October
15, 2022. "40 Thieves on Saipan" Co-Authors Joseph Tachovsky
and Cynthia Kraack, who are in this
segment, were there to thank the team for sharing the true story
about Joseph's father, Lt. Frank
Tachovsky and his World War II U.S. Marine platoon.
With more than 1,000 nominees, this sold-out Emmy® Gala at the
Radisson Blu Mall of America was the 23rd Annual Upper Midwest
Regional Emmy ® Awards "honoring excellence in television". As part
of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, this
Minnesota division was founded in
1973, and includes 600+ members from Iowa, Minnesota, North
Dakota, South Dakota and
Western Wisconsin.
"40 Thieves on Saipan" Author Joseph Tachovsky expressed thanks,
"Everyone at Pioneer PBS has our deepest gratitude for the
wonderful tribute they paid to our 40 Thieves. On behalf of my
co-author Cynthia, myself, and the 40 who are no longer with us,
many thanks for helping us tell the inspiring story of these noble
and selfless Marines."
This Emmy® Award winning story was featured in Pioneer PBS'
Postcards Season 13, Episode 11 called "Elite Marine Scout-Snipers
of WWII I 40 Thieves on Saipan" (April 21,
2022) as a 19-minute segment filled with historic WWII
photographs, letters, animation, and videos of some of the "40
Thieves".
Based on 10 years of research, Joseph explained in this PBS
story, "The story of the '40 Thieves' is true. My father led the
platoon....I discovered this all from a eulogy that was delivered
at his funeral..., which made me curious to do an online search...
and write the book."
This segment includes two previous interviews with platoon
members: Platoon Sergeant Bill
Knuppel (from Minnesota),
and also Marvin Strombo (from
Missoula, Montana), who returned a
Good Luck Flag to the family of a Japanese soldier in 2017.
After collecting over 600 pages of oral histories from survivors
and their loved ones, Joseph explained in this Pioneer PBS segment
how he was fortunate to meet Co-Author Cynthia Kraack, who helped
him put together a creative non-fiction narrative about the "40
Thieves" and these brave young men (mostly 18-20 years old).
Co-Author and Award-Winning writer Cynthia Kraack explained their writing process,
"We worked hard to create a real sense of authenticity of the era
by looking at detail. What did Christmas cards look like? What
would people at home have been saying? ...so it sounded like 1944."
They also read books, including "Battle Cry" (Author Leon Uris
wrote about the "40 Thieves"), and watched movies, including
"Saving Private Ryan" and "The Pacific" to study the era.
This historic segment also takes you to the National Memorial
Cemetery Of The Pacific (known as the Pacific Punchbowl) in
Honolulu, Hawaii, where Joseph
visited the graves of six men who served with his father during
WWII on Veterans Day 2021. Some of the men featured include Cpl
Don Evans (aka Mr. Kansas City), Cpl Martin Dyer, Colonel Kenneth F. McCloud, and Lt. George "Pappy"
Morehead. Joseph thanks Kelli Bullock Photography for taking moving
photos and videos of him next to these graves, which are in this
Pioneer PBS Postcards story.
According to Pioneer PBS, "Five Emmys were received by the
Pioneer PBS Postcards team of Producer Dana Conroy with
Videographers/Editors Ben Dempcy and
Kristofor Gieske. Since 2013,
stories created by the Postcards production team have received 22
Upper Midwest Emmys." The Pioneer PBS team also won an Emmy® Award
for their Prairie Sportsman program, resulting in a combined total
of six Upper Midwest Emmy® Awards for this 2022 ceremony.
After the producer thanked her several times for pushing them so
long to cover this "40 Thieves on Saipan" story, Goody PR Founder
and Publicist Liz H Kelly, who was also at this event, reviewed her
notes to discover that the entire process from first pitch email to
this Upper Midwest Emmy® Award was almost two years (December 2020 – October
2022). Kelly emphasized, "We are beyond grateful to the
entire Pioneer PBS Postcards team who worked so hard on the
interviews, editing and graphics to shine a light on our client's
mostly untold World War II story. Your work is extraordinary, and
means the world to the members of the '40 Thieves' family."
With 850+ reviews on Amazon and an overall 4.6 rating, "40
Thieves on Saipan" is available in hardcover, paperback, eBook, and
audiobook formats via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, Target, and
in many independent bookstores.
Pioneer PBS Story (April 21,
2022)
40 Thieves on Saipan: A Son Uncovers His Father's True Story (19
minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkhVjr4Hs0I&t=4s
Plus - New - Pioneer PBS Extended Interview with Author
Joseph Tachovsky (Aug 31, 2022)
BOOK on Amazon
40 Thieves on Saipan: The Elite Marine Scout-Snipers in One of
WWII's Bloodiest Battles
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085CNY46R?ref_=k4w_oembed_ECythcyJSEissn&tag=kpembed-20&linkCode=kpd
FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/40ThievesSaipan
MEDIA CONTACT:
Liz H. Kelly, Goody PR,
310-987-7207
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
JOSEPH TACHOVSKY (Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an Award-Winning
Author and son of WWII Lieutenant Frank
Tachovsky ("Ski"), whose book "40 Thieves on Saipan: The
Elite Marine Scout-Snipers in One of WWII's Bloodiest Battles"
(June 2020) documents many stories,
photographs, letters and memories of the 40 brave men in his
father's platoon. Known as the "40 Thieves" for their covert
Special Operations and prowess in acquisitions made through "Marine
methods", these American war heroes took great risks and
contributed to V-J Day (Victory over Japan Day). As a graduate of
the University of Minnesota, Joseph is
a successful Minneapolis-based
restaurant consultant. Members of the "40 Thieves" and this book
have been featured on the TODAY Show, Pioneer PBS Postcards, KFMB
CBS 8 San Diego, WBAY ABC Green Bay, NBC 26 Green Bay, KTMF ABC/FOX
Missoula Montana, WBAY ABC Green
Bay, KHON2 FOX/CW Honolulu, KITV ABC Honolulu, KATU ABC 2 Portland,
National Defense Radio Show, The American Veteran Show, and in
Stars and Stripes, Task and Purpose, The Washington Examiner,
FoxNews.com, AP, Missoulian, Montana
Standard, and many more. https://www.40thievessaipan.com
CYNTHIA KRAACK (Minneapolis, Minnesota and Fish Creek, Wisconsin) is an Award-Winning
fiction writer, who partnered with Co-Author Joseph Tachovsky to
write the story of his father's heroic WWII War platoon in "40
Thieves on Saipan: The Elite Marine Scout-Snipers in One of WWII's
Bloodiest Battles". Kraack holds a B.A. in Journalism and History
from Marquette University, a Master's
degree from the University of Minnesota
and an M.F.A. from the University of Southern
Maine. https://cynthiakraack.com
Media Contact
Liz Kelly, Goody PR,
310-987-7207, info@goodypr.com
SOURCE Pioneer PBS