"Letters Home to Hero Street" focuses on a young Mexican-American veteran's personal view of World War II as told through the letters he sent home to his family in Silvis, Illinois. He becomes one of eight veterans of WWII and the Korean War killed in combat from the same block-and-a half long neighborhood now called Hero Street, USA.
Frank Sandoval was just beginning a new job at the Rock Island Arsenal when he was drafted in 1942. He sent hundreds of letters to family and friends during the two years he was in the service and the 130 letters that remain tell the story of one man's dramatic and epic journey from Illinois to India. Killed on the bank of the Irrawaddy River in Burma on June 1944, Frank was one the first of the Hero Street Eight to fall in combat.
"Letters Home to Hero Street" features Eric Juarez, Maya Chavez, Cindy Ramos and Josh Wielenga.
The film is a co-production between Fourth Wall Films and WQPT-PBS.
"Letters" was produced by Lora Adams, produced and written by Tammy Rundle, and written and directed by Kelly Rundle.
The film was partially funded by a grant from the Illinios Arts Council.
