More than 200 former Crimson Tide players saw military duty during World War II, and at least eight were killed while in service. Now, staff members of the University's Paul W. Bryant Museum plan to publish a book that honors those players, and have launched a search for information and photographs that will help tell the story.

Ken Gaddy, director of the Bryant Museum, will supervise production of the book, with research and writing by award-winning journalist and author Delbert Reed.

"We're not only looking for what the players themselves may have, but also information from their families or people who had contact with them later in life," Gaddy said. "Photographs or short stories are great — anything that will help us round out the circle of their lives." He added that he hopes to be able to collect all information by the end of 2009.

"We're encouraged by our early research, but we really need photographs and information on the military service of the former players," Reed said. "We're really counting on family members for much of this information because so few of the veterans survive today. Alabama football players and coaches, like other able-bodied men in the nation, took time out from their college years to serve in the Marines, Army, Navy and Army Air Corps, and they served heroically.

Photographs and information about the Tide's WWII veterans should be sent to Gaddy's attention at the Bryant Museum, P.O. Box 870385, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487.

For more information, contact Gaddy at 348-9375 or kgaddy@ua.edu, or visit www.bryantmuseum.ua.edu.