A grassroots effort that collects, preserves, and makes accessible the firsthand narratives of American military veterans from World War I to the present is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War this year with a push to collect the stories of veterans who served during that conflict.
The Library of Congress Veterans History Project has collected more than 121,000 stories, over 27,000 of which are from Vietnam War veterans, since its inception in 2000.
“Those include oral histories and first-person documentation that include letters, diaries, photographs and even artwork,” said VHP Director Monica Mohindra. “It is a tapestry of American military history that is a tapestry of all of our history.”
Mohindra added that hearing directly from Vietnam veterans is crucial to understanding “their sacrifices and preserving their legacies.”
The stories are not after-action reports, she stressed. They are first-person accounts that ensure that future generations can hear directly from those who served, unfiltered and in their own words.
“They capture that story before it's gone and connect it to all of us,” she said.
Mohindra said anyone may volunteer to record an audio or video oral history at least 30 minutes in length or gather and donate a veteran’s original photographs, correspondence or other materials to the VHP.
“It’s you sitting down with a veteran in your life, your community, your university, your faith center and figuring out how to create this moment of purposeful listening,” she said.
Mohindra said the VHP is not simply ensuring veterans' stories are preserved – it is also creating history. The collections are used every day through the Library of Congress Veterans History Project website by family members, researchers and others, she said.
“We take protecting the integrity of protecting the first-person narratives of your veterans ver seriously,” she said. “If they are working with a family member to share their story, that is their story.”
The archival database is not social and does not accept comments. Participants, both interviewees and interviewers, retain the copyright to their materials.
Mohindra shared the story of Capt. Rae Mary Leff, who served during the Vietnam War aboard the hospital ship USS Repose. Leff treated service members who were injured during combat and saw the effects of war through the patients she served. In her oral history interview for VHP, she discussed the close bonds that formed between doctors, nurses, corpsmen, and patients on the ship. The photographs in her collection provide a visual narrative of her time aboard the ship.
“I don't recall the names, I don't recall the faces, but I know they're on that wall in Washington, DC, and they have a large part of my heart with them, every single one of them," she said during the interview.
To learn more about how to record a narrative or what historical documentation the VHP will accept, visit here.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.