Daily Veterans History Project (LOC)

Name: The American Legion Boys State of Kansas Leadership Academy
Uploaded: 2013-02-06
Duration: 5 min 53 s
Description: Project Overview/Background:

Project Overview/Background:

Every day another veteran dies. With them dies the stories of their experiences serving this country. It is our job as representatives of the media to capture those stories for historical preservation.

To do that, you will be taking part in the Veterans History Project, which is a project of the Library of Congress. Here is how the LOC describes the project:

The Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.

The Project collects first-hand accounts of U.S. Veterans from the following wars:

World War I (1914-1920)
World War II (1939-1946)
Korean War (1950-1955)
Vietnam War (1961-1975)
Persian Gulf War (1990-1995)
Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts (2001-present)

In addition, those U.S. citizen civilians who were actively involved in supporting war efforts (such as war industry workers, USO workers, flight instructors, medical volunteers, etc.) are also invited to share their valuable stories.

How did the Veterans History Project start?

The United States Congress created the Veterans History Project in 2000. The authorizing legislation (Public Law 106-380), sponsored by Representatives Ron Kind, Amo Houghton, and Steny Hoyer in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senators Max Cleland and Chuck Hagel in the U.S. Senate, received unanimous support and was signed into law by President William Jefferson Clinton on October 27, 2000.

AARP is the founding corporate sponsor of the Veterans History Project. In addition to providing initial major funding for the Project, AARP also spread the word to its legion of volunteers and almost 37 million members, encouraging them to get involved. Numerous state chapters have also been involved in the Project.

Your Task/Requirements:

You need to interview Legion members about their service to the United States of America. Capture their stories. Find out what it was like to serve, paying special attention to where they served, during what war, and for what branch of the military. You should interview at least one veteran each day. That interview should be showcased prominently in either your broadcast or print edition. Ideally, it will be part of a series of reports, so you need to come up with tagline or slogan (ex: Veteran Spotlight).

Resources:

http://www.loc.gov/vets/ (main site)
http://www.loc.gov/vets/vetquestions.html (suggested questions)

Notes: These interviews may be submitted to the LOC for inclusion in the Veterans History Project. Your work then will forever be part of the National Archive. Take this responsibility very seriously as you will not only be representing yourself but also Kansas Boys State, the organization that sent you to State, your family, and veterans everywhere.