thedrifter
01-02-08, 10:22 AM
Veterans talk as part of history project
BY DOUGLAS GRANT Benton County Daily Record
Posted on Wednesday, January 2, 2008
BELLA VISTA - In their own words, veterans across America are telling their stories, and others are recording them for posterity.
But those behind the cameras are running out of time for this monumental undertaking, as thousands of the men and women who served from World War I to the Gulf War are dying every day.
The telling of the stories and the audio and video recordings of those words are part of the National Veterans History Project, designed to collect and preserve the wartime stories of American veterans.
According to the project Web site - www. loc. gov / vets / about. html - civilians who were actively involved in supporting war efforts, such as war industry workers, USO workers, flight instructors and medical volunteers, also are invited to share their experiences.
Congress created the project in 2000. The authorizing legislation, Public Law 106-380 - sponsored by U. S. Reps. Ron Kind, Amo Houghton and Steny Hoyer in the House of Representatives and U. S. Sens. Max Cleland and Chuck Hagel in the Senate - received unanimous support and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on Oct. 27, 2000.
A resolution issued in November, recognizing National Veterans History Project Week, indicated there are more than 17 million wartime veterans in the country "whose stories can educate people of all ages about important moments and events in the history of the United States and the world... provide instructive narratives that illuminate the meanings of service, sacrifice, citizenship and democracy."
Locally, U. S. Army veteran Bill Miller is coordinating efforts to record as many histories as possible from the thousands of veterans residing in Northwest Arkansas.
Miller began in Branson, Mo., in 2001, answering a call from a local veterans group looking for volunteers to participate. Since then, he has taped approximately 150 sessions, nearly half of which were done in Bella Vista. Miller said he believes there could be as many as 2, 000 veterans in the city.
He has interviewed veterans of all ranks, from private to general, and has had at least one interviewee from every war starting with World War I. There has also been one Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.
It all begins, Miller said, with a veteran's interest in participating. The veteran then submits a request and signs a release. Miller said he usually begins by extracting some basic information, such as where they are from, when and where they served and what their military job was.
"I go from the day they entered until they were discharged," he said.
The last questions Miller asks is how their military service affected their life, both during active duty and after they returned to civilian life.
The sessions have no specific time limit and depend on the amount of service performed by each person. Those who might have served only one "hitch "will take about 45 minutes, he said. Career soldiers, sailors or Marines might go the entire two hours of tape in the camera.
Ellie
BY DOUGLAS GRANT Benton County Daily Record
Posted on Wednesday, January 2, 2008
BELLA VISTA - In their own words, veterans across America are telling their stories, and others are recording them for posterity.
But those behind the cameras are running out of time for this monumental undertaking, as thousands of the men and women who served from World War I to the Gulf War are dying every day.
The telling of the stories and the audio and video recordings of those words are part of the National Veterans History Project, designed to collect and preserve the wartime stories of American veterans.
According to the project Web site - www. loc. gov / vets / about. html - civilians who were actively involved in supporting war efforts, such as war industry workers, USO workers, flight instructors and medical volunteers, also are invited to share their experiences.
Congress created the project in 2000. The authorizing legislation, Public Law 106-380 - sponsored by U. S. Reps. Ron Kind, Amo Houghton and Steny Hoyer in the House of Representatives and U. S. Sens. Max Cleland and Chuck Hagel in the Senate - received unanimous support and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on Oct. 27, 2000.
A resolution issued in November, recognizing National Veterans History Project Week, indicated there are more than 17 million wartime veterans in the country "whose stories can educate people of all ages about important moments and events in the history of the United States and the world... provide instructive narratives that illuminate the meanings of service, sacrifice, citizenship and democracy."
Locally, U. S. Army veteran Bill Miller is coordinating efforts to record as many histories as possible from the thousands of veterans residing in Northwest Arkansas.
Miller began in Branson, Mo., in 2001, answering a call from a local veterans group looking for volunteers to participate. Since then, he has taped approximately 150 sessions, nearly half of which were done in Bella Vista. Miller said he believes there could be as many as 2, 000 veterans in the city.
He has interviewed veterans of all ranks, from private to general, and has had at least one interviewee from every war starting with World War I. There has also been one Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.
It all begins, Miller said, with a veteran's interest in participating. The veteran then submits a request and signs a release. Miller said he usually begins by extracting some basic information, such as where they are from, when and where they served and what their military job was.
"I go from the day they entered until they were discharged," he said.
The last questions Miller asks is how their military service affected their life, both during active duty and after they returned to civilian life.
The sessions have no specific time limit and depend on the amount of service performed by each person. Those who might have served only one "hitch "will take about 45 minutes, he said. Career soldiers, sailors or Marines might go the entire two hours of tape in the camera.
Ellie