Storyteller Alton Chung premieres his new tale, "Heroes," about the Japanese-American members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Sunday at the 18th annual Talk Story Festival.

Before he does, however, he'll face an even tougher audience: members of the combat team.

The 47-year-old Chung, an 'Iolani School graduate who now lives in Portland, Ore., has been researching and working on the story of the famed combat team for almost two years.

When word got out that he would unveil it at this year's Talk Story Festival, surviving members of the team asked to hear it first, said organizer Jeff Gere. Chung will grant the veterans' wish Saturday afternoon at their Mo'ili'ili clubhouse.

"It's a little intimidating, but it's also exciting," said Chung, who last year won the National Storytelling Network's J.J. Reneaux award for an emerging artist. "I'm hoping that they'll either tell me that I got their story right, or how I can do it better."

For Chung, telling stories right was a passion discovered late in life, after he earned degrees in oceanography and business administration and worked full-time for years for an Oregon computer company. He first took a storytelling class in 1997 and got serious about it a few years ago, finding something in the art form that appeals to all ages.

"Our society is bombarded with stories on TV, movies, DVDs, computers, but they all lack that basic human connection," Chung said. "We're always passing each other by, and that's why when a storyteller can breathe life into something written on a page, it can be really magical. It's how wisdom is passed down."

Only recently has Chung gained enough confidence in his art to create his own stories, and that's when the idea for "Heroes" really started to take hold, he said.

"The 442nd was really famous when I was growing up in Hawai'i, but it sort of dawned on me that no one is telling their story anymore," he said. So he started his research, digging into some of the many oral history archives of the soldiers that can be found through the Internet.

The story starts with one of the aging soldiers at a dedication ceremony reflecting back on the death of his younger brother in World War II and then jumps back in time to the war days to recount some of the unit's accomplishments.

"I want people to remember some of the hellacious combat they went through," Chung said. "They don't want to talk about their experience very much, but someone needs to."

For the first time, the Talk Story Festival will feature a Sunday session that combines storytelling and music. For "Heroes," Chung will team up with koto player Bernice Hirai in what Gere says will be an improvised dance between the two art forms. In other sessions, storytellers will be accompanied by Maui-based pianist Les Adams, who has performed and recorded with Gere.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.