Local veterans interviewed for Library of Congress
Stories collected for Veterans History Project
Veterans at Concordia are being interviewed by U.S. Sen. John Boozman’s office for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project.
Kathy Watson, constituent service director for Boozman’s office, said the project started in 2000, and Boozman’s office began capturing stories in 2011 when the senator took office. She said Boozman’s father was a World War II veteran who had died years ago, and when the senator learned about the project he realized how much he did not know about his father’s service.
“It’s really precious to us to understand the time period and the veteran’s role in it,” she said.
The project is open to all branches of the military and all members. The only rule is the service person must have completed their service, she said.
Watson said samples of interviews conducted by Sen. Boozman’s office are available at boozman. senate.gov under “Salute to veterans.” The office is training people to conduct interviews so that others throughout Arkansas can capture the stories, she said. They can train organizations, such as a high school civics class, for example, or an individual like an Eagle Scout, or just someone who wants to record their own family history.
She said there were few Arkansas stories recorded in the beginning. Now they have interviewed everyone from an Afghanistan veteran to a 105-year-old veteran who flew with the Tuskegee Airmen.
Watson said they are in the process of interviewing 10 veterans from Concordia.
A small group of veterans, some who had been interviewed and others who were going to be interviewed, gathered in the library at Concordia on Monday.
Bill Dieleman, Ronald Madsen and Gerald Vnuk all served in the Army during the Korean War era, and Lora Burch served in the Navy during the Vietnam War era.
Dieleman, originally from Iowa, said he went to college on the GI Bill. He said half the young men in his rural area of Iowa did not go to high school. He enlisted in the national guard in 1951 and was drafted into the Army in 1953. He worked as a teacher for 17 years and served in the Iowa state legislature for 29 years.
Burch enlisted in the Navy at age 19 and served six years. She was also originally from Iowa, and during her service she was stationed in Maryland, Japan and San Diego. Following her service, she used the GI Bill to pay for child care while earning a degree in public administration and then worked in higher education. She said she wanted to be interviewed because she thought it would be interesting for future generations of her family.
Madsen served in Korea in the construction engineers and was a cook for 10 months, feeding 200 people at a time.
Vnuk served at Fort Lewis, Wash., in AWOL and apprehension at division headquarters. He said he got the job because he knew how to type.
Colleen Marie Thompson, business development director at Concordia, said there are at least 40 veterans at the retirement community, but some do not wish to talk about their service.