ROCKFORD, IL. - A six-tape audio cassette interview D.L. Shiloh had with Lt. Col. Fred Olivi in Chicago in the summer of 1995 was recovered Thursday, according to Homefield Multimedia. The interview was part of research Shiloh did for "The Eyewitness", a poetry book about the aftermath of World War III.
"It's History, and I can't wait to sit down with a player and listen," Shiloh said. "It'll take me back. It was a very complex time."
Olivi died in April, 2004. Shiloh copy edited Olivi's memoir, "Decision at Nagasaki: The Mission that Almost Failed." Shiloh went on to produce two back-to-back annual cyberchats on AOL's Centerstage arena with Olivi the guest on the 50th and 51t anniversaries of the Nagasaki bombing, which killed 80,000 people, according to Wikipedia. Olivi and Shiloh had a "falling out" after 18 months of work together on the project.
The audio interview, which covers Olivi's famed career as a pilot and co-pilot on the atomic bomb mission that ended World War II, is at the heart of a screenplay Shiloh is contemplating about his experiences knowing Olivi. The screenplay is a cross between "Chaplin" and "Frost/Nixon."
"The Eyewitness" is scheduled for a summer 2009 release and will run about 100 pages, including a memoir titled "The Nagasaki Copilot."
It was clear whether Shiloh would publish the audio tapes in a iTunes-type of release. Sources at Homefield Multimedia could not be reached for further comment.
