Veterans History Project

—King Baudouin I of Belgium in an address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, May 12, 1959

They are old now, those who are left of that generation of young soldiers who carried the fate of the nation into the defining conflict of the 20th century.

We tend to think of that war — World War II — in black and white, both in terms of good vs. evil and also because most of the images from it were printed in stark contrast. But both those aspects were colored by real people doing real things, that, given a choice, they would have preferred not to do.

They didn't talk about those things much, as they came home and went on with living normal lives. Only from the vantage point of history did we began to look back and see that they were, in fact, "the greatest generation."

They are old now, some 1,200 of them die each day.

But thanks to the Veterans History Project, many of them will be remembered in telling and poignant ways.

The project was created by an act of Congress in 2000, which gave the Library of Congress a mandate to collect permanent histories of war veterans.

The gathering was launched in November 2001, and has continued to garner attention and support ever since.

"Last year was an absolutely extraordinary year for us," said Peter Bartis, senior program officer for the project, which is being administered through the Library of Congress' American Folklife Center. Bartis and Rachel Mears, who also works with the history project, talked about it at recent meetings of the American Folklore Society held in Salt Lake City.

The project focuses on veterans of all wars, Bartis said, "but our top priority is World War II, because we're losing so many. We want to get the oldest first." Their main objective is to collect audio and video recordings, but they also welcome letters, diaries, maps, home movies, drawings and photographs that tell the veteran's story. They are not collecting objects and memorabilia such as medals and uniforms.

They have also established a Web site where veterans or their families can submit a short (500 words or so) written record of their experience. This works well, said Bartis, for children and grandchildren of veterans who have died to submit a story. "But we are really focusing on the hour- to hour-and-a-half oral interviews."

What is so exciting about the way the project has developed, he added, is that "it is a true grass-roots project." Military, community, school, congressional and other groups have done collecting, as have individuals. The Folklife Center has done workshops to train collectors and has also produced a "field kit" for individuals. (See sidebar for ways to get involved.)

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