May 23, 2004
Press Contacts:
Anneliesa Clump Behrend (202) 707-9822
Helen Dalrymple (202) 707-1940
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT:
400 VOLUNTEERS TO COLLECT VETERANS’ STORIES ON THE MALL,
MAY 27-30
National World War II Reunion Gives All Who Served
a Chance to Tell Their Story
The Veterans History Project (VHP) of the Library of Congress
will participate in the National World War II Reunion on the
National Mall in Washington, DC during Memorial Day weekend,
May 27-30. The four-day event will include ceremonies and activities
produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural
Heritage and the American Battle Monuments Commission. One of
seven pavilions and two performance stages on the Mall during
the Memorial Day weekend, the Veterans History Project Pavilion
(located near the National Air and Space Museum) will collect
memoirs and stories onsite from those who experienced the war
overseas and on the home front.
The National Reunion coincides with the American Battle Monuments Commission’s
dedication of the National World War II Memorial on Saturday, May 29. The Veterans
History Project invites all veterans and civilians who served to visit the Veterans
History Project Pavilion on the Mall during the weekend and to contribute their
stories to the archives of veterans’ histories, which is part of the Library’s
American Folklife Center.
“The National World War II Reunion will be the largest-ever gathering of
World
War II veterans,” said Diane Kresh, coordinator of the VHP volunteers at
the Library of Congress. “Our aim is to collect as many stories as possible
over the four-day period. These stories will find a permanent home in the archives
of the Veterans History Project along with the oral histories of veterans from
other wars already in our collection.”
In an unprecedented effort, the Library of Congress will collect on-the-spot
interviews from World War II veterans and civilians who served in support of
them during the four-day weekend. In teams of two, Library of Congress staff
will roam the National Mall to record the wartime experiences of World War II
veterans and home front workers.
Volunteers from high schools, universities, civic groups and other organizations
will also conduct interviews on the Mall. Participating volunteers will be from
schools throughout the region including Connelly School of the Holy Child, Potomac,
MD; Georgetown Day School, Washington, DC; Rutgers University's Oral History
Archive, NJ; St. Andrew's Episcopal School, Potomac, MD; U.S. Senate Page School,
Washington, DC; and West Virginia University, Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism,
Morgantown, WV. These schools join the other 150 public and private schools around
the country already participating the project.
In addition, more than 30 hours of panel discussions will take place at the VHP
Pavilion during the four days. Topics, times and participants are below. Check
the Web site at www.loc.gov/vets for complete details.
Former Prisoners of War: Richard Francies, Enso Bighinatti,
Jimmie Kanaya and Marty Higgins
1 p.m. on May 27 and 11 a.m.
on May 28
Reunion of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 1st
Battalion (“Lost Battalion”) of the 141st Regiment
of the 36th (Texas) Division
2 p.m. on May 27
Hispanic-American Experience During World War II: Frank
Medina, Miguel Encinias and Evelio Grillo
1 p.m. on May 30
Japanese-American Experience During World War II: Warren
Tsuneishi, Jimmie Kanaya, Marty Higgins and Frank Sogi
4 p.m.
on May 28
Navajo Code Talkers: Sam Billison, Sam Smith, Keith
Little
3:15 p.m. on May 27 and noon on May 30
Tuskegee Airmen: Lee Archer, Charles McGee and Thomas
Lowery
2 p.m. on May 28 and 2 p.m. on May 30
D-Day Veterans: Sam Gibbons 11 a.m. and
Tracy Sugarman, Bob Powell and Brig. Gen. Alvin Ungerleider
2:15
p.m. on May
27
Wartime Journalists: Paul Green, Barrett McGurn, Jack
Pulwers and Col. Peter Sweers
3 p.m. on May 30
Women in the Military: Maj. Gen. Jeanne Holm, Miriam
Ownby, Martha Putney, CW04 Elizabeth Splaine, Cdr. Ruth Erno
3 p.m.
on May 28
Red Cross in WWII: Ruth Belew, Helen Colony, Mary
O’Driscoll
4:15 p.m. on May 27
Women in Military Medicine: Maj. Jennifer Petersen,
Anna Busby, Marian Elcano, and Martha Leierer
11 a.m. on May
30
Memories From the Home Front: Marion Gurfein, Helen
Sudyk, Elizabeth Olson and Venus Ramey (Miss America 1944)
Noon
on May 27
Other WWII Veterans: Sen. John Warner (R-VA) and
Adm. J. L. Holloway; noon on May 28 and Robert
Bloxsom, Jerry Brenner, Joseph DeLuca, John Sudyk and George
Zavadil
5:15 p.m. on May 27 and
4 p.m. on May 29
Special Appearances: Fayard Nicholas; 1 p.m.
on May 28; Venus
Ramey (Miss America 1944); 5 p.m. on May 28. Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI),
Rep. Amo Houghton (R-NY), Everett Alvarez, Jr., Gail Buckley,
Lt. Gen. Julius W. Becton, Francisco Ivarra
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Each of the participants tells the American story through his
or her unique story and memories. Riki (Ruth) Belew from Laguna
Woods, California, worked with the American Red Cross in clubs
for the troops in North Africa: near Algiers, in Oran, and at
the Casablanca Officers’ Club. After crossing the Mediterranean
in the nose of a B-17 bomber during a terrific storm, she began
service at a series of Red Cross clubs in Italy. She remembers
being stationed near a staging area on the outskirts of Naples
and dancing with hundreds of men a night.
Navajo Code Talker Sam Billison of Window Rock, Arizona, enlisted
in the Marines in 1943 and was sent to signal school at Camp
Pendleton, California, immediately after boot camp. He landed
on Iwo Jima on the second day of the battle to take the island,
and with other Code Talkers transmitted more than 800 error-free
messages during 26 days of fighting. Following the war, Billison
served as a school principal for many years and was elected to
the Navajo Tribal Council.
Francis X. (Frank) Medina from Kansas City, Missouri, was a 20-year
old tail gunner in the 459th Bomb Group of the 756th Bomb Squadron,
when he was shot down over northern Italy in July 1944. Hit by
anti-aircraft fire, the crew of nine bailed out; all but Medina
were captured, and he was believed to be missing in action. On
his own in unknown territory, he was befriended by Italians who
helped him link up with the partisans with whom he was active
for eight months. In 1945, Medina was rescued by the British.
In the Library of Congress Whittall Pavilion (Jefferson Building)
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 27-29, the Veterans History Project
will be providing special hospitality, information about the
Project, and a tour of the Library of Congress to invited Congressional
constitutents while they are visiting Washington, DC, for the
World War II Reunion.
Prior to the World War II Reunion, on May 23, volunteers will
videotape members of Rolling Thunder Virginia Chapter 3 as they
wash the walls of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in preparation
for the Memorial Day weekend. The roving interviewers will also
be collecting oral histories at the Pentagon parking lot from
7 a.m. - noon on Sunday, May 30, where Rolling Thunder motorcyclists
assemble for Rolling Thunder Inc. XVII/Ride for Freedom.
Visitors to Washington are invited to view the Library of Congress “American
Treasures” exhibit that is featuring special objects from the Veterans
History Project collection, “From the Home Front to the Front Lines.” The
exhibit highlights experiences of World War I, World War II, Korean, Vietnam
and Persian Gulf veterans with first-hand accounts of war through letters,
photographs, diaries, albums, maps, flags and newspaper clippings. The “American
Treasures” exhibit is located in the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First
Street, S.E., and is open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
In addition to the “American Treasures” exhibit and through July
10, the Library of Congress hosts the first comprehensive exhibit of Winston
Churchill material in the United States. More than 200 items – ranging
from the 9-year-old Churchill’s report card to handwritten notes passed
between Churchill and Averell Harriman as they rode to the 1942 Churchill-Stalin
conference – will be on display. Presented in conjunction with the Churchill
Archives Centre, Cambridge, England, the exhibit is located in the Thomas Jefferson
Building and is open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Authorized by legislation passed in 2000, the Veterans History Project is being
carried out in the way that Congress envisioned: with grandchildren interviewing
grandparents, veterans interviewing each other, and students conducting interviews
as part of classroom assignments. The success of the program relies on volunteers
rather than professional oral historians to collect stories and artifacts.
AARP is the founding sponsor of the project, with more than 1,000 other organizations
also participating.
AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to making
life better for people 50 and over. It provides information and resources;
engages in legislative, regulatory and legal advocacy; assists members in serving
their communities; and offers a wide range of benefits, special products and
services for its members.
To learn more about the Veterans History Project, to submit your story online,
or to view a schedule of panel presentations and other reunion activities scheduled
over the four-day weekend, visit http://www.loc.gov/vets/.
Note: For biographical information on the veterans speaking
in the Veterans History Project Pavilion and to speak with veterans
from the Veterans History Project, contact (202) 707-9822 or
(703) 470-4275.
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