3:20pm | For the past year, a team of local Red Cross volunteers in the Service to Armed Forces Department of The Greater Long Beach Chapter of the American Red Cross has done the extraordinary work of interviewing over 100 veterans as part of the Veterans’ History Project.
The local effort, being led by Chairman of the Service to the Armed Forces Committee volunteer Mike Farrar, is to ensure that our local vets are part of the Veterans’ History Project. “When we began participating one year ago, our goal was to conduct as many interviews as possible in one year,” said Mike Farrar. “In that time our volunteer team has interviewed over 100 veterans.” Each of these interviews reflects the veteran’s experience during their military service.
The Veterans’ History Project was created by Congress in 2000 to collect, preserve and make accessible personal accounts of American war veterans. The ultimate goal is to ensure that future generations hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war rather than second-hand accounts that are mostly done via journalists and reporters. Veterans from World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq Conflicts, including U.S. citizen civilians who were actively involved in supporting war efforts, such as war industry workers, USO workers, flight instructors, medical volunteers, are invited to participate.
Interviews are conducted by the volunteers at the Red Cross Chapter. Each video tape interview is sent to the Library of Congress, where it will be available on the Library of Congress website and each veteran is given a webpage dedicated to them.
“The Veterans’ History Project congratulates the Greater Long Beach Chapter on the recent accomplishment of reaching the 100th Veterans’ History Project interview. The volunteer commitment to the preservation of the stories of California’s war veterans is an inspiration to our nation and a great service to your community,” said Veterans’ History Project Director Bob Patrick.
For more information on the Veterans’ History Project, please visit the Library of Congress Website. If you are a veteran and interested in preserving your memories for posterity, please call Mike Farrar at (562) 490-4003 to schedule a time for your interview.