Lenoir Community College once again will offer a chance for World War II veterans to record their personal war experiences and have them cataloged in the Library of Congress. Last summer, LCC offered the opportunity for area WWII vets to be interviewed by Michael Taylor, a Lenoir County native and retired community college president who has been involved with the interview project for the last 10 years.
During those sessions, 12 local veterans were interviewed and the 30-minute DVD’s were sent to the Library of Congress to become part of the Veteran’s History Project.
“The Veteran’s History Project was created by Congress in 1992 to record the personal stories of as many American war veterans as possible,” Taylor explained.
When the VHP was started, there were still WWI vets to be interviewed, Taylor explained. However, the last WWI veteran died several years ago and the number of WWII vets is declining quickly as well.
“More than 16,000,000 American men and women served in the armed services during the WWII era. It is estimated there are less than 2,000,000 surviving, so while the VHP is designed to interview veterans of all American conflicts, the emphasis is on talking to as many WWII vets as possible,” Taylor added.
The interviews will take place in Heritage Place, inside the Learning Resources Center at LCC. Interviews are being scheduled weekly and will be ongoing as long as there are veterans to interview.
Taylor explained that interviews and the paperwork required to submit them require about 45 minutes. Veterans do not need to provide any “proof of service.” They just need to be able to identify the unit they served in and dates of service.
“This is a fairly painless process. It is really just a conversation with the veteran about their basic WWII experiences,” Taylor said.
Veterans are provided a copy of the interview, and the original is sent to the Library of Congress. The interviews are cataloged and then become part of the national database of war veterans. The 80,000 interviews are not available online, but after they are cataloged and recorded, basic biographical information about each veteran is available online.
Persons interested in an interview should contact LCC Marketing Assistant Jimmy Taylor at 252-527-6223, ext. 313.
Veteran’s History Project
World War II veterans desiring to be interviewed can contact Marketing Assistant Jimmy Taylor at 252-527-6223, ext. 313, at Lenoir Community College. Interviews are being scheduled weekly at the Heritage Place, inside the Learning Resources Center at LCC