Christopher David Deyo. US AIR FORCE: Chris is an honorably separated Staff Sergeant from the United States Air Force. Chris served from November of 2006 until July of 2011. During that time he was deployed as a Life Support Technician in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn, and Operation Enduring Freedom. He is currently a brand new transfer student at the University of Iowa, pursuing a pre-medical degree with hopes to go on to medical school. Chris feels that The Telling Project is a great way for people to get a different first person point of view on an issue that has shaped our American culture in various different ways over the course of decades. He's very glad to be a part of it.
Joe Gasperetti, US ARMY
: Joe served with the 4
th Infantry Division in Vietnam from 1966-67 in combat operations near Tuy Hoa, along the South China Sea, and the Central Highlands around Pleiku, near the Ho Chi Minh Trail. To bring closure to his experiences with the war, he wrote a novel,
Landon’s Odyssey (2008), which is an historical fiction piece about one man’s epic journey through time and space during the turbulent 60’s, both here at home and in Southeast Asia. Now retired after a career spent mainly in sales and marketing, he has lived with his lovely wife, Anne, of forty-two years
in Iowa City since 1988. A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a product of the University of Wisconsin System, he is an avid Badger fan. But don’t hold that against him, however. Joe and Anne sent their beautiful daughters, Talia and Larissa, to graduate from Iowa. It spices up things in the family when the Badgers and Hawkeyes meet.
Amanda Irish, US MARINE CORPS: Amanda Served 2002-2006-- Parris Island, SC, Camp Lejeune, NC, Fort Leonard Wood, MO, Beaufort, SC, Memphis, TN, Nashville, TN, Camp Lejeune, NC. BS in Human Physiology/Pre-Medicine at the University of Iowa; President, University of Iowa Veterans Association. As a full-time pre-medicine student and University employee, Amanda is extraordinarily pressed for time. That said, the opportunity to tell her story, even if it impacts just one person, was not something she could pass up. Amanda is incredibly impressed with the process and the catharsis it enables. She hopes you gain something from watching and being a part of it as well.
Theodore John, US MARINE CORPS:
Theodore grew up outside of Minneapolis, and enlisted in the USMC in 1986. He was a helicopter electrician on CH-53A/D/E cargo helicopters with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 462. He was stationed in Tustin, CA but did two – six month tours to Okinawa, Japan, with two months spent in the Philippines. In August of 1990, he was deployed with his unit to Saudi Arabia as part of Desert Storm/Desert Shield. After leaving the Marine Corps, he lived in Kansas City, MO for 19 years before returning to UI to study Actuarial Science/Mathematics. His acting debut was in The UI 2011 New Play Festival in “People of the ditch. Theodore hopes that through his story you gain insight and appreciation for the untold number of sacrifices that are made on our behalf each and every day. He thanks God, his family and friends for their support through his continuing journey of healing and growth. May God bless us all, each and every one.
Charles W. Lynch, US ARMY, RN, MBA: Charles makes his debut on stage with Telling: Iowa City. His US Army service began in 1969 at the Brooke Medical Center TX and continued in Vietnam with the 45th MUST and 629th Renal Dialysis ICU. He is the Outreach Specialist for the Iowa City VA Medical Center and helps returning war veterans access care and services. His performance is to honor those who have served and suffered in defense of this nation. He thanks the Working Group Theatre for their leadership and his wife Georgene for forty years of love.
Scott Lyon, US MARINE CORPS: Scott joined the Marines in 2001, and served with Marine Corps Security Force Company Bangor in Washington state from 2002 to 2004, and Charlie Company, 1st Battalion 5th Marines in Camp Pendleton, CA and Ar Ramadi, Iraq from 2004 to 2005. He is currently a third year law student at the University of Iowa and vice president of the UI Veterans Association. Scott would like to thank his parents, Dave and Janice, for supporting him and enduring the anxiety and lost sleep that comes with having a kid in the military, and his wife, Deborah, for supporting him in the years since.
Randy Miller, US NAVY: Randy was born and raised in Waterloo, Iowa. He enlisted in the US Navy in 1973 right after high school. Soon after his advanced specialized training he sustained an injury that left him unable to continue serving his country. Randy now tries to do what he can to serve my fellow veterans instead. He moved to Iowa City six years ago where he is majoring in Therapeutic Recreation at the University of Iowa, with the intent to work at a military or VA hospital where he can help the newly injured people coming home. Randy is currently a senior, or what he usually describes as a "senior senior".
David Miner, US ARMY: David was born in 1964 and grew up in Boulder, Colorado in a time of cultural and social transformation. During high school, he interned at a local television station where he reported, videoed sporting events, interviewed politicians and celebrities. He attended the University of Southern Colorado and studied mass communications. He joined the army and fought in the Persian Gulf War in 1990-1991. It was in the down time that he started developing stories. After the war, he remained in the army being stationed at Ft. Hood, Panama, Ft. Bliss; Nuremberg and Wurzburg in Germany; learning about the culture and history, then traveled to England, Nederland, and Austria. David finished his career again at Fort Hood where he was honorably discharged after being diagnosed with leukemia. He has two daughters, 21 and 17, and currently lives in Waterloo, Ia with his wife Kayla.
Debbie Shattuck, US AIR FORCE: Debbie served from July 1983 to February 2008 at numerous bases and in a variety of roles. She was an aircraft maintenance officer at Dover, Delaware ('83-'86). She married Cliff Shattuck in December 1983 and her son, David, was born in January 1985. She earned her Masters degree in American History at Brown University in Rhode Island under Air Force sponsorship. Debbie's daughter Kristen was born between semesters in January 1987. Later in the year, the family moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado where Debbie taught world history, military history, American history and sport history at the Academy ('87-'91) and where her youngest daughter, Katie, was born in July 1989. Next, Debbie served at Travis Air Force Base, in Fairfield, California working on the flight deck as a maintenance officer. She moved on to attend Air Command and Staff College in Montgomery, Alabama before transferring overseas to Stuttgart, Germany where she served as a logistics staff officer for Headquarters European Command. In February 1998, Debbie and her family returned to the U.S. when she assumed command of the 62nd Aircraft Generation Squadron at McChord Air Force Base, in Tacoma, Washington. Following that assignment, she earned a second masters degree at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at Fort McNair Washington DC in June 200. She became a staff officer in the Logistics Directorate of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon the following month. Debbie was in the Pentagon when terrorists flew a plane into the building on September 11, 2001. She served in the J-4 at U.S. Forces Korea in Seoul from 2003 to 2004 and then took command of the 58th Maintenance Group in the 58th Special Operation Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After two years there, Debbie and her family made its final move to Rapid City, South Dakota where she commanded the 28th Maintenance Group until her retirement in February 2008. Her aircraft maintenance assignments included C-5, C-141, and C-17 airlifters, MH-53, UH-1, HH-60 helicopters, various special ops C-130 aircraft, the CV-22 OSPREY and the B-1B bomber.
