News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Veterans Sought For Oral History

Date: November 09, 2001

"Veterans Sought For Oral History
By CARL HARTMAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Millions of veterans of American wars from 1917 to 1991 - World War I to the Gulf War - will get the chance to take part in an oral history project that will be available to the public in mid-2002.

As of Sept. 30, there were nearly 19 million surviving war veterans, according to a count by the Veterans Affairs Department. About 1,500 die every day. But civilians who supported the war efforts are also eligible to contribute.

Craig D'Ooge of the Library of Congress said the project expected to collect thousands of interviews, letters, diaries, photos and other accounts.

"A national effort like this is also a public education process," said a statement from the library's American Folklife Center. The project "will encourage grandchildren to interview their grandparents, classrooms to interview people in the community, veterans to interview one another."

Last year Congress approved legislation to carry out the project and former President Clinton signed it into law on Veterans Day.

The library has recruited 100 partners, such as the Maine Folklife Center and the Red Willow Institute of Omaha, Neb., whose members are Indians from the Northern plains. Professional oral historians and folklorists will be available for training the partners.

Participants in the collection effort are asked to cover such themes as their first battle and their experiences, if any, as prisoners of war.

Separately, the folklife center is asking for oral accounts from witnesses to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "