Preserving the Stories of our Veterans

As we celebrate a more subdued Memorial Day this year, without parades and with fewer barbecues and swimming parties, perhaps we have more time to think about why we have this holiday in the first place. Originally called Decoration Day, it was intended as a quiet day of remembrance, one in which to decorate the graves of those who gave service to the country. It's a rare family, indeed, who doesn't have one or more member who served in the military. From drummer boys in the American Revolution to military generals in countries all over the world, our relatives, male and female, helped to preserve our democracy and way of life. If you are lucky, you may have a veteran from World War II, Korea, or Vietnam still alive in your family. Or, you may know a younger veteran from one of the more recent conflicts. Their experiences in the military undoubtedly affected their lives, and, with your help, could be preserved to add to our collective history.

Preserving Personal Military History

The easiest way to preserve the military history of your relatives is to encourage them to tell their stories, either orally or in writing. In this day of videos and computer chats, it is relatively easy to put someone in front of a camera to capture their memories. If you (or they) find that too daunting, they
can dictate to someone or create their own memoirs. Some of us are lucky enough to have relatives who have done just that. Although your blogger seldom injects herself into these posts, this week I will introduce you to Sgt. Sol Kanfer, my dad, who served in the Army Air Corps in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands as an armorer during WWII. Dad never saw combat, but he and his squadron were responsible for the weapons used by troops and on airplanes that flew over the Pacific. Luckily for my family, he loved to write and take photographs, so he returned to civilian life with a rich archive of memories, which, some fifty years later, he published as a series of anecdotes in book form. We always knew that those war experiences had a huge influence on Dad's life, but without his book of stories, we never would have understood exactly how and why. He explained the importance of the medals he kept in a frame, the odd pieces of memorabilia he brought back, and the need for preservation of the giant stack of love letters between my mother and him. His book is a priceless treasure!

If you want to share your family's military stories, one of the largest repositories for personal military history is the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. According to the website, the project "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." They are collecting information from all conflicts beginning with World War I through the Iraq War and are interested in personal narratives in any form, correspondence, and visual materials. You may want to begin with a look at their Frequently Asked Questions for details on what and how to submit.

If you have family military memorabilia that will not be passed down, consider donating it to any military museum in your city or region. Most will gladly accept donations. Dad's collection has gone to a small military museum in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he spent the last twenty-five years of his life. They were delighted to have everything we gave them.

Here in St. Louis, the Soldiers Memorial Military Museum at 1315 Chestnut Street (currently closed because of COVID-19) honors those who served from the St. Louis region. You can look at their online collection to get an idea of the wide variety of objects in their possession, and, once the museum reopens, contact them for details on submission of artifacts.

Honoring those who have and will continue to keep us free and safe is so very important. We, as family historians, have the ability to make sure they and what they did for us are not forgotten.