In honor of Veterans Day, University Libraries, the Canaday Center for Special Collections and the Veterans History Project are presenting five oral histories from veterans who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
The free, public exhibit is located on the second floor of Carlson Library and runs through the end of November. Included with these interviews are artifacts, ephemera, and any other collectibles that the veterans interviewed have decided to donate to the project.
“This Veterans Day we are proud to present excerpts from the Veterans History Project,” said Judson Lohman, event coordinator for university libraries. “Primary source material like this is essential to a full understanding of history, and in this specific instance, provides a lot of context and understanding to the experiences of our military veterans.”
The five interviews are with:
Pfc. George Snyder, Jr.
World War II
337th Infantry Regiment
85th Infantry Division
5th Army
Lt. Cmdr. Washington Ross
World War II
332 Fighter Group
302nd Fighter Squadron
Member of Tuskegee Airmen
Mary Ellen Warchol
World War II
Participant in the “Rosie the Riveter” movement and worked in the Willys-Overland plant to
create parts for war vehicles.
Sgt. T5 Richard Rajner
Korea and Vietnam
76th Engineer Battalion
610th Maintenance Battalion
1st Infantry Division Artillery
1st Battalion 50th Infantry
Lt. Gary Lakatas
Vietnam
25th Infantry Artillery Battalion
The Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand narratives of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service.
Since 2000, Veterans History Project has preserved thousands of individual veterans’ collections, which offer users an unparalleled archive of primary source material.
The Ward M. Canaday Center has been an Official National Partner in the Veterans History Project since 2005. Currently, the Canaday Center houses more than 800 audio and video oral histories of local veterans from World War I through the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
