Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project records veterans’ stories for future generations

The stories of five Texas veterans will forever be preserved as part of United States history.

The Texas Court Reporters Association (TCRA) visited Argent Court, 953 N. Highway Bypass 123, an assisted senior living community, and recorded the stories of five veterans living there as part of the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project.

“The Texas Court Reporters Association is taking a Texassized step statewide to assist in recording America’s history in the form of transcribing veterans’ stories and submitting them to the Library of Congress for future preservation,” TCRA Area 6 Director Kathleen Ullrich said, who served as a stenographer for the event.

Seguin attorney Sheila Old, Guadalupe County Court-At-Law Judge Robin Dwyer and Guadalupe Court Reporter DeeDee Jones also took part in the initiative by interviewing and recording.

“The Texas Court Reporter Association wanted to do something this November to give back to the community with our unique skill of using the stenography machine,” Ullrich said. “Since Veteran’s Day is the 11th we thought ‘Well why don’t we make a push to try to save the veteran’s history that we can?’ That’s kind of where we got this all started. We’ll collect the stories and send them in, and they’ll be put into the Library of Congress to document America’s history.”

In 2001, the U.S. Congress created the Veteran’s History Project as part of its American Folklife Center. Since its creation, the project has collected more than 90,000 stories from veterans of World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The National Court Reporters Association, which is the parent organization of TCRA, has transcribed more than 3,600 interviews, Ullrich said.

During the interviews, Old and Dwyer had the opportunity to ask the veterans questions about why they chose to pursue the military and the journey they all experienced while they were enlisted.

“I think it went really well,” Old said. “It was interesting. I think Mr. (Hugh) Hawkins told us some interesting stories to be recorded … things that probably he hadn’t told very many people in his life and things we wouldn’t think about necessarily that went on while he was in Germany during World War II.”

Old said she decided to participate after Jones told her about the event.

“She sent me an email and asked me to help,” she said. “I thought it was a great opportunity. I enjoy talking to older people and especially hearing stories about their past. I think it’s exciting to hear those things no matter if it’s about the vet

erans or not, but I’m especially fond of veterans. I think learning from people’s history is just very important.”

Additionally, Old said the project hit close to home for her as there were stories of family members she wishes were documented.

“I wish I had the opportunity to talk to my own ancestors, relatives who served and to hear about them. I didn’t always get that opportunity,” she said. “My father served in the air force in the Korean War, but he didn’t talk about it very much. My husband’s father served two tours in Vietnam and he would tell little things, but really they don’t want to talk about those stories very much.”

Argent Court Activities Director Karen Warren said she was excited that the court reporters could meet the veterans at the living community.

“Being an old social studies teacher I’m thrilled … especially with our World War II vets … There are fewer of them and it’s a piece of history we’ll never get back without their input,” she said.

This is the first time TCRA visited Seguin to record stories, Ullrich said.

“I know we’ve done it a couple of times in San Antonio … I have 17 counties, so I was trying to hit a lot of the counties,” Ullrich said. “I can’t hit all 17, but at least we can try and get as many as we can. It’s a statewide push to get as many as we can.”

TCRA plans to visit more veterans in Fredericksburg, San Antonio, Dallas, Arlington and Del Rio, she said.

Preserving the veterans’ stories allows others to learn more about the people who served, Ullrich said.

“We have very few WWII veterans left … we’re losing their stories,” she said. “I think the young people learn about history in a textbook, but that’s not personal … we don’t necessarily want to hear horror stories, but we want to hear what they did during the day. Where did they sleep? These things you don’t learn in a school book. They served and sacrificed so much, so I think it’s the least we can do is take down their story, if let us,” she said.