Bayonet, rifle, helmet, mess kit, dry socks, and a tape recorder. It is time, according to the Library of Congress, to get the soldier stories down before they’re lost.
For generations, war stories from this country’s millions of veterans have been traded in kitchens, bars, and legion halls. Many soldiers have dedicated themselves to collecting the anecdotes. Military institutions have their own oral history projects. But now the resources of the nation are being pressed into service.
Anyone with a tape recorder or a video camera is being asked to help, to interview a neighbor, an uncle or a grandmother. It is the Veterans’ History Project, a chance, an imperative, to preserve a nation’s memory, and to learn the lessons of combat from first-hand narratives.
Guests:
Peggy Bulger, director of The American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress
Bob Babcock, founder of Americans Remembered and author of “War Stories, Utah beach to Pleiku”
Bill Parfitt, WWII infrantry Veteran , Private First Class, 22nd Infantry
Chartley Morley, WWII and Korean war Army dietician, 42nd Infantry.