Jay calls on teens to record veterans' histories
The Charleston Gazette
November 11, 2008
To help build oral histories for the Library of Congress, U.S. Sen. Jay
Rockefeller has called upon West Virginia's teenagers for help. One day before
Veterans Day, Rockefeller touted "Take A Veteran To School Day" at Robert C.
Byrd High School in Clarksburg,
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller knows how difficult it can be
for veterans to share their memories of combat.
"My theory is that everybody really comes back from the Iraq war, the Afghan
war ... even the first World War, with scars," said Rockefeller, D-W.Va. He
remembers a friend who was reluctant to share his experiences from the Battle of
the Bulge during World War II.
To help build oral histories for the Library of Congress, Rockefeller has
called upon West Virginia's teenagers for help.
One day before Veterans Day, Rockefeller touted "Take a Veteran to School
Day" at Robert C. Byrd High School in Clarksburg, where he joined West Virginia
veteran Randy Pleva, president of the Paralyzed Veterans of America.
He encouraged students to find a veteran in the community who is willing to
share his or her memories for the oral history project.
"It's a very powerful emotional thing and I think a very personal
experience," Rockefeller said. "I think they'll feel freer to talk to these
young people, these young adults."
The effort is tied to the ongoing Veterans History Project at West Virginia
University, where journalism students have filmed and collected oral histories
for the Library of Congress.
"And I think young people are easier to talk to because you're passing on a
legacy," Rockefeller said. "No matter what the result, it's a wonderful thing to
do."
Rockefeller, the senior member of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs,
does not expect every interview attempt to work out.
"Some will fumble and some will hit it out of the park on their first
attempt," he said. "It's not a veteran in a parade ... but [a veteran] sitting
in a chair directly seated eight feet away from you. The effort has to be made."
In part, Rockefeller said the new idea grew out of Ken Burns' 15-hour PBS
documentary, "The War," a seven-year project that told the story of World War II
from the perspective of veterans and families in four American towns.
The History Channel and the West Virginia Cable Television Association will
sponsor "Take a Veteran to School Day."
Students in 12 West Virginia counties are expected to take part, including
some in Kanawha, Logan, Raleigh, Cabell and Mercer. For more information, visit:
www.veteransinwv.com.
Also, any West Virginian can participate and submit a veteran's oral history
to the Library of Congress. Instructions and recommendations are available at:
www.loc.gov/vets.
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