Yadkin Historical Society to show 'Two Soldiers' on May 7

The Yadkin County Historical and Genealogical Society and the Yadkin Arts Council will host a showing of “Two Soldiers”, a 2004 Oscar award-winning movie filmed in and around Yadkin County, at its regular membership meeting in the Willingham Theater at the Yadkin Cultural Arts Center, 226 E. Main Street, Yadkinville, on Tuesday, May 7, at 6:30 p.m.

Filmed in 2004 at locations in Yadkinville and Winston-Salem, this 40-minute film is based on a short story by the same name written by William Faulkner. It concerns the effect of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on two closely-knit brothers, the older of whom volunteers to serve in the US Army during World War II and the much younger brother who believes that he can do the same. When the Society first showed this film in 2004, many local World War II veterans and their families felt the heroism of their military service and the pangs of separation that they endured to win the war.

The film’s director, Aaron Schneider, chose to film at several familiar Yadkin County locations: the historic Hines House on Old US Highway 421 east of Yadkinville, the banks of North Deep Creek, the historic Ebenezer J. Eaton House on Horseshoe Road, and stretches of Speer Bridge Road and Dinkins Bottom Road. In historic East Bend, downtown became Jefferson, Mississippi, its former Yadkin Valley Hotel became the Sheriff’s Office, and the Davis Brothers Store, now Kitchen Roselli’s restaurant, became a Greyhound bus stop. Forsyth County locations include the Old Winston-Salem Post Office, now the Millennium Center, which became an Army recruiting station and Z. Smith Reynolds Airport on the northside of Winston-Salem, which became a point of embarkation for enlistees as they left in a vintage Piedmont Airlines passenger plane and flew into the sunset. Many local residents supported the production of this film. They are invited to attend as honored guests at the showing.

The Society and Yadkin Cultural Arts Center will sponsor the 20th anniversary showing of this film, courtesy of its director and producers. Admission is free and open to anyone who is interested. Following the movie, the Society will lead a discussion about the movie.