Hal Cannon's interests are eclectic. Principally, he is a folklorist at the Western Folklore Center, which sponsors the internationally known annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nev. Cannon is the founding director of that event, now in its 14th year.
But because he was trained as a journalist, Cannon is also an experienced interviewer and broadcaster who has recently produced a six-part series on American holidays, which is distributed by Public Radio International.The latest broadcast, "Voices of the West Radio - Veterans Day Show," will air on public radio stations nationwide over the holiday weekend, Nov. 8-11. (Locally, it will be seen on KUER in Salt Lake City on Nov. 11 at 6 p.m.; KCPW in Salt Lake on Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.; KUSU in Cedar City on Nov. 11 at 9 a.m. and again at 7 p.m.; and on KBYU in Provo on Nov. 13 at 9 p.m.)
It is Cannon's opinion that many Americans have little idea how to honor veterans of war. Veterans typically have a difficult time talking about their war experiences, and some don't even come to terms with it until many years have passed.
Cannon's interest in the subject emanates from his numerous friends who are not only working cowboys about his age, but are also Vietnam War veterans.
"I wasn't a veteran," says Cannon, "but I realized that the experience of going to war was such a defining experience for them that it would be important to understand it. As we became closer friends, I began to realize how dramatically those years in war had marked and separated us."
Over the history of the United States, nearly 42 million Americans have served in the military during war. Over a million have died in the process of defending their country, and another 6 million have served in times of peace.
Interestingly enough, three out of four of those veterans are still alive. That means that the subject of war and of veterans' experience is very close to many hearts.
Cannon has noticed that most veterans' activities are sponsored by veterans, their families or some branch of the military, and they rarely involve anyone who has not had military experience.
As long as we commemorate war in such a cloistered way, the majority of the population will never develop a working understanding of war.
It is this major problem that Cannon's hourlong radio show is designed to address. It brings the heart and soul of the veteran within the range of understanding of the average American.
To touch the chords of American military feeling, Cannon spent three years conducting interviews with veterans from various parts of the country. He found them in a number of different ways, mostly by chance.
They were all so interesting and so rich in emotional impact, that he had difficulty making the final selection.
One of the best of his interviews was with Dorcas Cavett, an 81-year-old woman he met by accident while he was visiting family in Lincoln, Neb. Cavett and Cannon's relatives attend the same church in Lincoln.
As the first enlisted woman in the Marines, and stepmother to TV host Dick Cavett, Dorcas, still remarkably lively and witty, demonstrates the charisma that allowed her to break convention and become the only woman in a camp of 80,000 men during World War II.
Alvin Josephy, a friend and mentor to Cannon, is a renowned Western historian who has written numerous scholarly books. One day while visiting Josephy's home, Cannon learned that Josephy had some audiotapes he had narrated during the American landing at Guam during World War II.
For 50 years, Josephy had been silent about his war experiences, and Cannon had not even known he was a veteran. But Josephy reached a point in his life in which he wanted to come to terms with his experience.
The result is an astounding recording of Josephy describing the Guam landing as it happened. He walked ashore with 40 feet of cable and a prophylactic stretched over his mike to keep it dry as he reported his comrades falling around him. For the NPR program, Cannon also interviews Josephy about his unusual experience.
Cannon includes cowboy poets Rod McQueary and Joel Nelson, who use poetry and stories to elaborate on the sleepless nights that followed their experiences in Vietnam.
He also chats with Dorothy Solomon, a Vietnam veteran's wife, who tells of her shock in learning that her husband's name was to be carved on the Vietnam Memorial. Her husband, who is still alive, has been so severely affected by Agent Orange that the military officially classifies him as a casualty of war.
Regie Sope, a Shoshone-Paiute, talks about how most American Indian tribes honor their veterans at each of their gatherings, an aknowledgement of how necessary it is for friends and family to honor and support returning warriors.
Finally, the Salt Lake Children's Choir sings "The Soldier's Heart," an original Cannon composition, even though he chose not to acknowledge it on the program or in its credits.
"Soldier's Heart" is a Civil War term for what became known as "shell shock" in World War I, "battle fatigue" in World War II and "post traumatic shock syndrome" during the Vietnam War.
The Veterans' Day production was produced with Mary Beth Kirchner and Robert Rand and sponsored by the Utah Travel Council, the R. Harold Burton Foundation, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and Public Radio International.
One of the best selling points of this broadcast is Cannon's down-to-earth, non-threatening, chatty style of interviewing. The people he talks with obviously feel comfortable enough to open up to him.
Fortunately, Cannon, who lives in splendid isolation in a little ranching community between Wells and Elko, Nev., can still find public radio on his receiver. It's a good thing, because he has many more future broadcasts in his head.