WWII Book ’40 Thieves on Saipan’ Feature Story by Pioneer PBS Postcards receives 2022 Upper Midwest Emmy® Award

2022 Upper Midwest Emmy® Awards – L to R: “40 Thieves on Saipan” Co-Authors Cynthia Kraack and Joseph Tachovsky, Pioneer PBS Exec Producer Dana Conroy, Goody PR Founder Liz H Kelly

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 Kraack, myself, and the 40 no longer with us, many thanks for helping us tell the inspiring story of these noble and selfless Marines. – Author Joseph Tachovsky

MINNEAPOLIS (PRWEB)
October 19, 2022

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