Independent Newspapers
World War II veterans are dying at an increasing rate and some are concerned their experiences will be lost if not preserved.
While it is difficult to accurately track the number of World War II veterans who die annually, the Department of Veterans Affairs produces estimates of the monthly mortality rates, which are available on the department’s Web site, http://www.va.gov. When signing a bill to establish a national memorial for World War II veterans, President George W. Bush said they were dying at a rate of 1,100 per day.
Highlighted by the Veterans History Project through the Library of Congress, there are numerous ways younger people can help preserve those histories.
In Sun City, a group presents a weekly World War II roundtable that features veterans sharing their experiences during the war.
"We want to let everyone know about World War II veterans because they will all be gone in 10 or 20 years," said Sun City resident Jimmy Alfano.
Some talk about their experiences as pilots, others as prisoners of war. Some talk about their time as infantrymen and others share their trials at sea. But everyone who attends and speaks at roundtables have one goal in mind — to chronicle the bravery and sacrifice of members of the Greatest Generation, a term coined by Tom Brokaw in his book of the same name.. It is a legacy participants — some of whom are not even World War II veterans — want to leave to future generations, according to Mr.Alfano, group facilitator.
In addition to the weekly roundtables, which are now in recess for the summer, group coordinators, including Jim Bisbee, are working to record quest speakers’ experiences on DVD to be sent to the Library of Congress to be part of the Veterans History Project. The group raised funds for a video camera and each session is recorded, Mr. Alfano said.
The World War II Roundtable meets 9 a.m. the first Friday of each month September through May at the American Legion Hall, 9847 W. Desert Cove Ave., Sun City.
Mr. Alfano said the group’s desire is to get more people to attended monthly meetings and to find more World War II veterans to speak.
"Getting speakers is getting tough," he said. "We’re running out of them."
Call Mr. Alfano at 623-583-3941 or Mr. Bisbee at 480-220-4862.
Meetings are open to anyone and is not restricted to Sun City residents, Mr. Alfano said.
Neithr Mr. Alfano nor Mr. Bisbee were old enough to serve in World War II, but want the personal history of those veterans to be preserved.
That desire is catching on with the country’s youngest generation. Several projects in Peoria Unified School District efforts are geared toward war veterans and patriotic activities. Mr. Alfano said the World War II roundtable group is also attracting a young audience, including those under 20.
"We have a high school student who has been to nearly every one of our meetings for about two years," Mr. Alfano said. "He then takes the stories told at the meetings back and shares them with his school mates."
PUSD earlier this month won two Arizona School Boards Public Relations Association awards for patriotic programs, according to Janet Clarke, PUSD spokeswoman. The World War II Stories of Survival project won an Award of Excellence and the Patriotic Speech Contest won an Award and Merit, Ms. Clarke said.
Eighth-graders from Cheyenne, 11806 N. 87th Ave., and Marshall Ranch, 12995 N. Marshall Ranch Drive, elementary schools interviewed World War II military veterans, mena nd women from the home front, Holocaust survivors and post-war representatives for the survivors project, according to Ms. Clarke. The interviewes were taped and presented in a public screening in March.
The speech contest was started in 1987 and is open to fifht- through eighth-grade students, Ms. Clarkle said.
While Dysart Unified School District students have not been involved in activities related to the Veterans History Project, they are involved in activities honoring military veterans.
Student groups participated in the Surprise Memorial Day parade May 23, which led to a wreath-laying ceremony at the U.S. Army Air Corps memorial at the Northwest Regional Library, 16089 N. Bullard, according to Jim Dean, DUSD spokesman.
The district also, in partnership with Kiwanis clubs in Surprise and Sun City West, sponsorfed a history fair in April. The event focused on advancements in science and technology, but included Civil War re-enactments, Mr. Dean explained.
Established by Congress in 2000, the Veterans History Project is not limited to World War II veterans. It collects first-hand accounts of U.S. military veterans from World War I (1914-20), World War II (1939-46), the Korean War (1950-55), the Vietnam War (1961-75), the Persian Gulf War (1990-95) and the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts (2001-present).
Visit http://www.loc.gov/vets/about.html.
In addition, the project invites histories from civilians who were directly involved in supporting war efforts, such as war industry workers, USO volunteers, flight instructors, medical volunteers and others.
