ILLINOIS—Spectacular summertime scenes at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie will feature prominently in the latest season of Chicago WGN-TV’s series Backstory with Larry Potash.

But with the series’ focus on the “back story” of people and places in the Chicago area, executive producer and host Larry Potash also digs a little deeper into the prairie's history—including a tragic day during World War II that shaped the lives of many local families.

Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie was established in 1996 by the Illinois Land Conservation Act. In increments, land where the Joliet Army Arsenal was active during World War II is being transferred from the U.S. Army to the USDA Forest Service for prairie restoration, recreation, agriculture, research and education. Last August, Potash spoke with several Illinois residents about the events of June 5, 1942, when at least 49 arsenal workers lost their lives in an explosion.

One of his interview subjects is Armeline McCawley, whose late father-in-law, Lawrence “Alvin” McCawley, worked at the plant and lost his life in the blast. Her late husband was only 9 when he lost his father.

“I recall very vividly the day that it happened,” McCawley said, even though she did not yet know the tragedy’s importance in her life—it would be years before she would meet her future husband. Just a child at the time, she was living in an apartment with her own family in downtown Kankakee. The explosion was so strong that it knocked her father out of bed and shook the ground more than 50 miles away.

McCawley’s son, Keith, also shared his sense of connection to the prairie's history. “Younger people who know about the miles of trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie might not know as much about the history of the land, which is so important,” he said.

“Whenever I visit, I feel very much the same as when I visit a cemetery. It is a sacred place because of what happened to my grandfather and to so many others who lost their lives in the explosion.”

Potash also interviewed Joliet resident Bernie Lovati, a volunteer and Midewin Heritage Association treasurer, whose uncle—a foreman at the arsenal—lost his life in the explosion.

“The story is so important because the arsenal had a huge impact on the communities for decades,” Lovati said. “This story is a way of honoring civilian casualties of World War II.”

The Midewin Heritage Association and Forest Service are working on plans to relocate a commemorative statue of an arsenal worker to the prairie and install it near the Iron Bridge Trailhead.

The episode featuring the prairie will air on Saturday, March 13, at 10:30 p.m. CST and again on Sunday, March 14, at 11 p.m. CST. For more information on the series, including the new season’s promotional video, see WGN-TV’s press release. For those outside the local viewing area, episodes will be available at a later date on the Backstory web page.