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CNN Sunday Morning

Ossie Davis Discusses Memorial Day Concert

Aired May 27, 2001 - 09:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: Irish tenor John McDermitt with a very American kind of song in a dress rehearsal for a stars and stripes kind of evening today in Washington. America will be treated to the National Memorial Day concert. And hosting the event for the ninth year is noted actor, director and World War II veteran, Ossie Davis, who joins us now from Washington. Good morning, Mr. Davis. Good to see you.

OSSIE DAVIS, HOST, NATIONAL CONCERT: Good morning, sir.

WATERS: I haven't seen you since the jazz series by Ken Burns on PBS and now you're back on tonight for the ninth time. Why are you so engrossed in this particular project?

DAVIS: Well, you mentioned one thing -- first, I'm a veteran of World War II but more than that I like to believe our country needs an annual ritual from time to time to bring us all together to give us something around which we can bond so that whatever our differences are, wherever we came from, we can set all of that aside and speak with one voice as Americans. And I think Memorial Day is the most appropriate time to do that.

WATERS: It certainly seems that the music and oratory will move us beyond places than we normally are on Memorial Day. A lot of folks celebrate a Memorial Day weekend -- they don't even realize what it's all about.

DAVIS: Well, that is true. We'd like for this country to be participatory. We want to reach out and involved everybody to bring us all together. And we do have a program that will express our feelings not only in words but in song. We'll have Art Garfunkel, Travis Tritt, Kristin Chenoweth, Debbie Boone, John Snyder, Tom Wopat. And among the actors will be Charles Durning, Richard Crenna, Hector Elizondo, Chris North, Jim Bosley -- Tom Bosley and myself.

Our purpose is to say to all of those who sacrificed over the years some of whom have given their lives, our purpose is simply to say, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

WATERS: We're listening to a little bit of the "music for the soul" as "The Washington Post" puts it. Art Garfunkel singing Bridge Over Troubled Waters but some of the sacrifice of which you spoke was expressed in Charles Durning expressing his sentiments as he reflects on his service during the Korean War. Let's listen to that and get a little bit of your reaction to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES DURNING, KOREAN WAR VETERAN: All around me were my buddies moaning and screaming -- screaming out for their moms, for girlfriends. I crawled over to one of my friends and held him in my arms and begged him to hang on but it was too late. I crawled over to another one and then another one. There must have been five or six of my buddies that died in my arms. I had to get help. I started crawling up the hill. I guess the pain leaves you're scared and you see your friends dying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATERS: That is especially stirring -- is that -- is that...

DAVIS: Yes, that's a part of what we'll be offering tonight. These are the actual words from a veteran, from the people who participated in the armed struggle in their diaries, their letters home. We try to give them a voice and we respond to that voice in this Memorial concert. And you see that that bit is moving. It's a very moving thing we have to offer America. And we think it's time, as I said before, to say thank you.

WATERS: And why do you supposed that it is while there's been a lot of promotion in books and movies -- why is it now that America is recognizing what has been generously been called the Greatest Generation do you think?

DAVIS: Well, I think it's because it was such an astonishing affair, World War II, that in a sense it has taken us some time to digest it, to figure out what the whole thing meant. And now as we who fought in the war are growing older and disappearing from the scene, we feel a kind of urgency that the stories are important and must be told -- should be told -- by those who participated themselves.

And I think the country agrees with us. World War II was America at it's finest -- at it's greatest -- and it gave us something that we should all remember and be proud of.

WATERS: And we'll all certainly be looking forward to this evening -- 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. on PBS. I guess it's live?

DAVIS: Yes it is -- very much so. So if you can join us on the west lawn of the Capitol, come. If you can't, tune into PBS and join us that way.

WATERS: Ossie Davis, thanks so much for being here and for your work.

DAVIS: Thank you, sir.

WATERS: And as we go to break, let's listen to a little bit more of Art Garfunkel's performance of "Bridge Over Troubled Waters."

(MUSIC)

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