BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — It's a celebration of the changes in time.
"But my dad, I'm so proud of him because he always says a bullet knows no race, no sex, rich or poor or rank," Paulette Woods, SGT. US ARMY (RET) said. "We were all brothers on the battle field."
The Buffalo and Erie County Military & Naval Park hosted a documentary film reveal Tuesday night at the Shea's Smith Theatre. The event was to honor, educate, inspire and preserve the stories of African American service men and women who fought to defend out freedom, even when things didn't always make sense.
"Well it was a confusing," Paul Woods, SSG, US ARMY (RET.) & WWII Veteran said. "I went through a segregated Army."
Paul will turn 100 years old in a few weeks and said when it comes to his time overseas and the injustices he faces, he'll never stop sharing.
"We couldn't eat in the same dining room with each other but we'd go in the same door as each other," said Paul. "And the right was for the white and the left was for the black."
It's the story of two wars.
"The things that they had to struggle with in serving our country and being treated as second class citizens when they came back," Paul Marzello, President and CEO of the Buffalo and Erie County Military & Naval Park said.
That struggle is what the naval park hopes to depict in its first original documentary film "Two War: The Road to Integration."
"Its part of our mission statement is to honor and preserve these stories," Steven Tedesco, Writer & Director of Two War: The Road to Integration said. "So for us to do that in another way than just coming down to the naval park it's really something special."
The 30 minute film covers the topic of segregation and the eventual integration of the United States Military through the lens of historians, American history professionals and families like the Woods.
"So we're a military family and we follow the greatest generations example," Paulette said.
"We are the greatest generation," Paul responded.
Through the documentary, all of the struggles and all of the victories from "the greatest generation" will be shared forever.
"It's better for me now because I can understand it," Paul said.
"To put in in a movie so that you see that a significant number of the troops on the front line look like my dad, you and me," Paulette said. It's a story that needs to be told."
You can watch the documentary here and find out more about the Buffalo Naval Park at their website.
