Rossmoor Filmmaker Focuses on 'Children of the Greatest Generation'

A film crew led by a Rossmoor woman is wrapping up interviews for a documentary that will tell the story of World War II as experienced by children — today's senior citizens who were terrified children during the war years.

The documentary is titled I Am One of the Children of the Greatest Generation. Producer Patricia Weaver said she was inspired by the patriotism of her Rossmoor neighbors and her personal experience as a child in Los Angeles during the war years, according to a press release on the project.

Weaver said she intends to use the film in national speaking engagements to develop connections between the children of World War II and children of today.

In a clip Weaver makes available on line and has shown at recent meetings in Rossmoor, Lafayette and Brentwood, Dawn Harding remembers watching air battles from her home in Sussex in the south of England. Her biggest trauma was at age 10, with her younger brother, being evacuated from the south that was threatened with invasion by the Germans and separated from her parents.

When the invasion threat receded, her mum came to get her and her brother, but "it took awhile to settle down."

Weaver recalled an English woman interviewed in Walnut Creek who, as a child in England listened to King George’s 1939 radio declaration of war on Germany. “She speaks about the calming words of King George to a nation that was bombed night after night for two years.” That very speech was featured in the Academy Award-winning film, The King’s Speech, with Colin Firth.

“Her story is one of many that will have a resounding impact on viewers,” said Weaver.

Greatest Children is due to be shown at a ceremony marking Pearl Harbor Day, at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7, at Creekside No. 3 at Rossmoor. The speakers will be Patricia Weaver as well as Dan Tovar, a Vietnam veteran combat engineer and Army aviator.

Weaver is seeking individual contributions and business, military and corporate sponsorships to complete production of her planned 30-minute  documentary. You may contact her at patriciaweaver70@comcastnet, (925) 938-4388.