September 2, 2005
Library of Congress contacts: Anneliesa Clump Behrend aclump@loc.gov;
Helen Dalrymple hdal@loc.gov
“FOREVER A SOLDIER” TO BE PUBLISHED ON VETERANS
DAY
Advance Copies To be Sold at the National Book
Festival on Sept. 24
“Forever a Soldier: Unforgettable Stories of Wartime Service” will
be published by National Geographic Books in association with
the Library of Congress on Nov. 11, Veterans Day. Advance copies
of this compilation of stories of 37 servicemen and women will
be on sale in the Library of Congress Pavilion at the Library’s
National Book Festival on Saturday, Sept. 24, from 10 a.m. to
5 p.m. on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
“Forever a Soldier” is the second in a series
of collected oral histories from the growing collection of
the Library of
Congress Veterans History Project. It joins “Voices of
War: Stories of Service From the Home Front and Front Lines,” a
336-page hardcover book that was published last November, and
will debut in paperback at the National Book Festival.
These unforgettable eyewitness accounts of wartime service from
veterans of World War I through the current conflict in Iraq
are culled from letters, diaries, private memoirs and oral histories
collected by the Veterans History Project. Included are tales
of frontline action, from doughboy Hillie Franz’s 1918
baptism of fire to battleship gunner Ray Brittain’s duel
with Japanese planes at Pearl Harbor to medical officer Rhonda
Cornum’s capture by Iraqis when her helicopter was shot
down during the Gulf War. Each story is unique, but taken as
a whole the compilation puts a familiar face on the universal
realities of war: courage and fear, horror and exhilaration,
sorrow and triumph.
A companion Web site to the book with selected stories will
preview on Sept.6 at http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/foreverasoldier/.
All 37 stories will
be accessible on this site when the book is published in November.
“Forever a Soldier,” a 352-page hardcover book with more than
65
illustrations, will be available in November for $26 in bookstores nationwide
and through the Library’s Sales Shop, Washington, DC 20540-4985. Credit
card orders will be taken at (888) 682-3557. Online orders can be placed at http://www.loc.gov/shop/index.php?action=cMain.showHome.
The earlier volume, “Voices of War,” is now available in bookstores
nationwide and through the Library’s Sales Shop for $30 in hardcover and
for $16 in paperback. A companion Web site is also accessible at http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/voicesofwar/.
In addition to presenting its publications, the Veterans History Project will
sponsor a number of activities at the National Book Festival. Appearing will
be noted author Andrew Carroll, who wrote the introduction to “Forever
a Soldier.” He will join Tom Wiener, historian for the Veterans History
Project and author of “Forever a Soldier,” in a discussion followed
by a book signing. Several veterans whose stories are told in “Forever
a Soldier” will also appear at the book festival to discuss their stories
and sign the new book.
Authorized by legislation passed by Congress in 2000, the Veterans History
Project of the American Folklife Center is a nationwide volunteer effort to
collect and
preserve oral histories from America’s war veterans. The collection is
housed at the Library of Congress. To date more than 35,000 individual submissions
have been received. Those who are interested in participating are encouraged
to e-mail the Veterans History Project at vohp@loc.gov or
to call toll-free (888) 371-5848 to request a free project kit. For more information
about the Veterans
History Project, visit http://www.loc.gov/vets/.
For more information about the National Book Festival, visit the Web site
at
http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/.
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PR 05-187
09/02/05
ISSN 0731-3527
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