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<p>SCRANTON &#8212; For Gracie Jean Zanghi&#8217;s family, the first blow was learning her Uncle Paul had been killed.</p><p>The second blow came soon after. Uncle Gene, the youngest of five brothers who had been serving in World War II, became a prisoner of war.</p><p>Zanghi&#8217;s voice caught slightly Wednesday morning as she recalled the ordeal, but she persevered.</p><p>&#8220;He gathered all the beautiful words he could imagine,&#8221; she said, describing how her uncle, Gene Boylan, lifted his spirits by writing a song in which he reminisced about the way the sun rose over the Keyser Valley back home, and about his 3-year-old niece who lived there.</p><p>The little girl is 78 now, living in West Scranton, and happy to sing the tune that helped her uncle cope with his captivity.</p><p>It&#8217;s one of several musical numbers and memories of World War II that a group of seniors and teens, led by co-artistic directors Rudy Caporaso and Rosemary Hay of REV Theatre Co., will present in The 1940s Canteen, a theatrical production set for 7 p.m. Saturday at the Oppenheim Center for the Arts on Jackson St. Admission is free.</p><p>While participants like Zanghi and Carlene Howard, of Clarks Summit, who sang as a child with the USO, will share their own recollections of World War II, memories supplied by other residents of Northeastern Pennsylvania are being presented by young &#8220;alums&#8221; of REV&#8217;s summer theater program.</p><p>Miranda Chemchick, 21, of Scranton, for one, is portraying a woman named Helen who was 11 years old in the 1940s, growing up in a Scranton-area &#8220;melting pot&#8221; where the neighbors were &#8220;Polish, Irish, English, Czech and Italian; we were Russian.&#8221;</p><p>Helen&#8217;s family didn&#8217;t have a telephone, and since she was the only family member at home who spoke English, she went to a neighbor&#8217;s house to take the call from a man who delivered the news her brother-in-law had been killed by a sniper.</p><p>&#8220;My sister was working at a munitions factory. I had to be the one to tell her her husband wouldn&#8217;t be coming back,&#8221; Chemchick said, closing her eyes at the horror.</p><p>&#8220;Even though he was buried in Belgium, we had a funeral in Scranton,&#8221; she continued, explaining how the neighbors contributed their best ethnic foods. &#8220;It was terrible, but it was wonderful, too.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve heard of &#8216;Hogan&#8217;s Heroes?&#8217; &#8221; 16-year-old Joey Olsen of Scranton asked, in character as one of eight young men on an American aircraft. &#8220;I know a Hogan who was a hero.&#8221;</p><p>Speaking in the voice of a man who had enlisted in 1942, Olsen described a scene in which four German planes attacked and damaged the American plane in which he was riding.</p><p>His buddy, Staff Sgt. John Hogan, &#8220;went down into the belly of the plane and manually operated the guns by himself,&#8221; Olsen narrated.</p><p>Hogan shot down three of the enemy aircraft and kept on fighting after he took a shot through the spine. &#8220;He shot down that last damn German plane and saved every one of our Yankee asses.&#8221;</p><p>For the rest of his life, the heroic Hogan was paralyzed from his chest down. &#8220;He was the bravest man I knew,&#8221; Olsen said.</p><p>Along with the poignant stories, Caporaso and Hay have interspersed light entertainment, including an ensemble singing &#8220;Enjoy Yourself (It&#8217;s Later Than You Think),&#8221; which Guy Lombardo made famous in the 1940s.</p><p>Howard, the USO performer, will accompany herself on the piano as she sings &#8220;Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan-dowdy&#8221; as well as &#8220;After You&#8217;re Gone,&#8221; which she recalled was a favorite that veterans would ask her to sing when she visited them in the hospital.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;d sit at their bedsides and ask what they wanted me to sing,&#8221; Howard said. &#8220;Bob Hope was upset that I couldn&#8217;t tour with him, but I was too young.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;If I were Bob Hope, I would have smuggled you into a suitcase,&#8221; Caporaso teased the singer during rehearsal.</p><p>In other portions of the show, professionally trained guest artists will sing the difficult harmonies The Andrews Sisters made famous such as &#8220;Don&#8217;t Sit Under the Apple Tree&#8221; and &#8220;Bei Mir Bist Du Schon,&#8221; and Scranton resident Mary Dux, 92, will dress up in a yellow dress and fruit-covered turban to sing and dance in the style of Carmen Miranda.</p><p>&#8220;My friend made this for me,&#8221; Dux said, showing off a necklace of plastic bananas.</p><p>Singer Gus Reed, 72, of Throop, said he&#8217;s glad The 1940s Canteen offers a chance to honor veterans.</p><p>&#8220;I really have a lot of respect for the servicemen and women and what they did,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Olsen, one of the younger participants, said he&#8217;s learned some history from the project.</p><p>&#8220;I knew bombs were dropped in Europe,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t know they blacked out windows over here (to be ready in case of air raids.)</p><p>Caporaso said he&#8217;s wanted to stage a World War II program like this for quite a while, giving people who experienced that era a chance to shine.</p><p>The music&#8217;s great, too, he said.</p><p>&#8220;My grandmother adored this music,&#8221; he said, &#8220;and it made its way into my consciousness.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">With Carlene Howard of Clarks Summit at the piano, a group of seniors and teens prepare to practice singing &#8216;Enjoy Yourself (It&#8217;s Later Than You Think)&#8217; for The 1940s Canteen. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/web1_canteen.piano_-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>With Carlene Howard of Clarks Summit at the piano, a group of seniors and teens prepare to practice singing &#8216;Enjoy Yourself (It&#8217;s Later Than You Think)&#8217; for The 1940s Canteen. </caption0><photoCredit0>Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/web1_canteen.bananas-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">With help from castanets and plastic fruit, Mary Dux, 92, of Scranton dressed a la Carmen Miranda as she rehearsed a song from the 1940s at the Oppenheim Center for the Arts in Scranton. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/web1_canteen.bananas-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>With help from castanets and plastic fruit, Mary Dux, 92, of Scranton dressed a la Carmen Miranda as she rehearsed a song from the 1940s at the Oppenheim Center for the Arts in Scranton. </caption1><photoCredit1>Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/web1_canteen.uncle_.song_-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Gracie Jean Zanghi, 78, of West Scranton shares her memory of her uncle, Gene Boylan, who wrote a song about her while he was a prisoner of war and she was a 3-year-old back home in Keyser Valley. She will sing the song during The 1940s Canteen performance on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/web1_canteen.uncle_.song_-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Gracie Jean Zanghi, 78, of West Scranton shares her memory of her uncle, Gene Boylan, who wrote a song about her while he was a prisoner of war and she was a 3-year-old back home in Keyser Valley. She will sing the song during The 1940s Canteen performance on Saturday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/web1_canteen.memories-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">In character as a woman named Helen who was 11 years old during World War II, Miranda Chemchick, 21, of Scranton, shares Helen&#8217;s memory of learning, as a child, that her brother-in-law had been killed by a sniper. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/web1_canteen.memories-1.jpg</photo3><caption3>In character as a woman named Helen who was 11 years old during World War II, Miranda Chemchick, 21, of Scranton, shares Helen&#8217;s memory of learning, as a child, that her brother-in-law had been killed by a sniper. </caption3><photoCredit3>Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/web1_canteen.singers.with_.rudy_-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Rudy Caporaso, right, co-artistic director of REV Theatre Co., practices a song with Gus Reed and	Mary DeSarno as they prepare to present The 1940s Canteen. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/web1_canteen.singers.with_.rudy_-1.jpg</photo4><caption4>Rudy Caporaso, right, co-artistic director of REV Theatre Co., practices a song with Gus Reed and	Mary DeSarno as they prepare to present The 1940s Canteen. </caption4><photoCredit4>Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader </photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Public is invited to performance 7 p.m. Saturday at Oppenheim Center</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mary Therese Biebel</p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO </strong></p><p><strong>What:</strong> The 1940s Canteen</p><p><strong>Who:</strong> Presented by REV Theatre Co., United Neighborhood Center seniors and teens</p><p><strong>When:</strong> 7 p.m. Aug. 25</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Oppenheim Center for the Arts, 1044 Jackson St., West Scranton</p><p><strong>Admission: </strong>Free</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

REV Theatre offers ‘The 1940s Canteen’ in Scranton Aug. 25