D-Day +75 Years-- Part 3: Oral Histories Are Setting the Record Straight

Stephen Ambrose is a historian and an author, best known for his books "Band of Brothers" and "Citizen Soldiers.  He has a knack for convincing veterans that every thing they have to say about their experience is worthy of being preserved.

'He knew that the voices of those who fought at Gettysburg are long gone, but thanks to recorded oral histories, those of the D-Day veterans will be with us long after they are gone.

Leonard Lomell was a sergeant in th 2nd Ranger battalion explained why he participated in Ambrose's D-Day oral history project at the University of New Orleans.  "I've kept a low profile for fifty years as have most of my men.  We weren't heroes, we were just good Rangers, as we believed the record would forever show.

But, inaccurate accounts by those who were not there, Lomell realized that time was running out to set the record straight, so he did.

--GreGen

D-Day +75 Years-- Part 2: Thank Goodness for the Oral Histories

Seventy-five years have passed and the ranks of men have thinned even more than they did that day.  They braved machine gun, rifle and cannon fire on the French beaches that were marked on the American maps:  Omaha and Utah.

Fayette Richardson died in 2010, but fortunately for us and future generations, he and other veterans kept diaries, wrote memoirs or recorded their memories.

Oral history as a study was in its infancy when Stephen Ambrose began tape recording D-Day veterans according to Toni Kiser, assistant director for collections management at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.

Kiser told the Tribune:  "Ambrose, who began collecting the oral histories housed in our archives, was a distinguished historian.  He recognized that official accounts couldn't capture the subtleties of a historic event like D-Day.  They are bound to reflect the generals' perspective.  He wanted to know how it looked to the GIs, who were on the beaches or dropped by parachute.  What was it like to see a buddy you have trained with for months get killed minutes after they rushed out of a landing craft?"

Personal World War II Stories Going Online-- Part 5: Interviews

So far there are 4,000 staff-collected video oral histories, 3,000 video and audio recordings made by others, and nearly 2,000 "written histories" like journals, diaries that can be photographed, annotated and transcribed for online research.

The museum's six historians travel widely, scheduling at least four interviews per trip.  Afterwards, they add catalog information, including a short description of contents and when and where the interviews were made.  They annotate key words most likely to be searched.

Now, this is a job I would really love.  Just cover my expenses, I don't need to be paid.  Researching is obviously a big love of mine.  And, the chance to get to talk to and record these people.

Wow, I Could Really Go For That Job!!  --GreGen

Personal World War II Stories Going Online-- Part 4: The Story of Harold E, Ward at Pearl Harbor

Harold E. Ward was a lookout on the cruiser USS San Francisco when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.  He made four videos, covering two hours of interviews.  The videos are divided into 12 segments, each with detailed annotations describing what Ward was talking about.

The USS San Francisco was being overhauled when the planes came in low and slow.  "I just stood and watched," said Ward.  As a lookout, he was wearing headphones.

An ensign somewhere else in Hawaii asked him to describe the scene.  "He says, 'What's going on there?'"  Ward recounted:   "So I told him we were being attacked by the Japanese air force."  The ensign's response:  "Don't you get wise with me, Ward.  I asked you a question."

"So I began to describe what I was looking at.  And there was a dead silence when I finished speaking."

--GreGen

Personal World War II Stories Going Online-- Part 3: Collecting Oral Histories

Since May 2016, the National World War II Museum has collected 500 oral histories.  But the war generation is fading fast.  Even people who were children during the war are in their 70s and 80s.

The U.S. Holocaust  Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., has about 10,000 oral histories available online.  These are among the 66,000 that can be viewed or listened to on their site.

Putting oral histories online is not just a matter of uploading and linking to huge audio and video files.  At the World War II Museum, their six historians also describe the contents for online searching.

Greatest generation.  --GreGen

Personal World War II Stories Going Online-- Part 2

Ultimately, all of these first-hand accounts of Pearl Harbor, D-Day, Germany fighting, surrender, Hiroshima, Japanese surrender and the home front will be online.

Founded in 2000, the National World War II Museum is one of New Orleans' top attractions.  The digital collection is open to anyone, anywhere, but only about 250 of the oral histories are online so far.  Uploading more will take time, partly because the museum's six historians are racing to interview the last veterans.

I'd have to say this recording the histories of the surviving veterans is much more important at this point.

--GreGen

Personal World War II Stories Going Online-- Part 1: Digital-Days, Now

From the December 21, 2016, Chicago Tribune by Janet McConnaughey.

It's D-Days these days, and that's not the famous D-Day.  This stands for "Digital Days."  The National World War II Museum is seeking to move thousands of first-person accounts of experiences in the war online.

The museum is creating a vast online collection of 9,000 oral and written histories.  This will take longer than the war itself lasted, with length figured to be 10 years and cost $11 million.  They have more than 22,000 hours of audio and video and thousands of documents to be digitized as well as millions of words to be transcribed.

--GreGen

Battleship North Carolina Curators Keep History Alive-- Part 1

From the Nov. 11, 2012, Wilmington (NC) Star- News by Ben Steelman.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the median age of World War II veterans is now 89.  Of the 16 million who served 1941-1945, only around 1.7 million remain.

The small staff pf curators on the battleship are taking care of what the men carried.  They have videos of oral stories from about 200 of the 7,000 plus sailors and Marines who served aboard the ship.  These are stored in the former chief petty officer's quarters, normally off limits to the public in rows of acid-free bankers' boxes.

--GreGen

Chicago Veterans Recall D-Day

Chicago's French Consulate presents the Legion of Honor to about 200 World War Ii veterans each year.

The historian at the National World War II Museum, aid it is important that Americans learn what they can from the surviving veterans of the war.  He sends interviewers out to veterans' homes to video-record them for an oral history collection.  Veterans visiting the museum can also video their recollections.

The idea is to allow future Americans to hear first-hand from the men who stormed the beaches at Normandy as well as against the Japanese in the Pacific.

"You will be able to see what the veteran really looked like, what that person really sounded like.

--GreGen

Small World: Aviators' Paths Crossed in War-- Part 2

Both Bill Hohan and Paul Tuck believe they are the last-surviving members of their plane crews.

Millville High School senior David Brewster has assisted in about a dozen interviews and has "a strong passion for history." A ninth grade teacher told him about the interviews being conducted with World War II veterans which have been going on for ten years. These inteviews will be turned over to the Library of Congress. I always like to find out about a young person with an interest in history like David.

Paul Tuck enlisted in the Army Air Corps at age 25 and was sent to an air base in Italy and served with the 767th Squadron, 461st Bombardment Group as an engineer and knew the workings of planes.

--GreGen