Monday, Dec. 7 marked the 74th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and citizens around the country had different ways of commemorating that infamous day. Students at Allentown High School in New Jersey did their part by conducting video interviews with war veterans as part of the U.S. Library of Congress' Veterans History Project.
Covering the experiences of military veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan all the way back to World War I, the project simply asks volunteers to record interviews with those who served to preserve their stories for future Americans.
New Jersey.com reported that students with the History National Honor Society talked to 10 veterans over two interview sessions while students in Allentown's technology program – run by Michael Dean, a U.S. Navy Reserve public affairs officer since 1988 – filmed the men's responses with school equipment.
"It's really cool," Mari Kay Hannon, a junior honor student, told the site. "I'm glad I got to do this."
At first there were concerns not enough veterans would volunteer, but after the project was announced, so many offered their time and stories that more sessions are already in the works.
Chicago experienced an even larger turnout last month, when nearly 30 veterans were interviewed by volunteers from the local legal community and media. Lake County Chief Judge John Phillips, who chose to study law in his life after service, told the Chicago Tribune that the project was important for how it captured the on-the-ground details of battles whose number of veterans is always shrinking.
All of the transcripts of the oral histories will be archived at the Library of Congress indefinitely. Researchers and anyone interested enough to go looking will find there thousands of personal stories of war and service in the veterans' own words.