REMEMBRANCE & HEALING

Sharing Your Stories: Capturing Oral History

Encouraging Veterans to Share Their War Experiences

There is much to learn from our nation’s veterans. However, for some veterans, it can be painful to revisit the memories and difficult to talk about the experiences of war.  Families and friends are often very curious but, because the veteran may not bring it up, they feel they shouldn't.  Each veteran’s experience with war is an important part of history that should be passed on to future generations.  And, though difficult, sharing these stories can have a powerful healing effect both for veterans and their families. The form below provides an opportunity for you to write about your experiences.

How to Begin

The following questions were developed to help start the conversation.

1. What was your reason for enlisting, or were you drafted?
2. In which branch of the military did you serve?
3. What was basic training like? 
4. What was your military specialty (infantry, artillery, airborne, armor)?
5. When you think about your war experiences, what is the thought that first comes to mind?
6. What was your best experience? 
7. What was the worst experience?
8. Among your leaders and colleagues, whose story is the most compelling for you?  What makes it so compelling?
9. How did you cope with the frustrations and horror of war?
10. What would you most like your family and friends to understand about your war experience?

Sometimes getting through the experience of sharing your story the first time is the most difficult part of all.  If you would like, please share your story with us by answering some or all of the questions above and submitting them on the form below.  We would be proud to post some of your submissions on the National Memorial Day Concert website because we feel it is so important that we share our stories with one another.  Please indicate on the form whether we have your permission to post your submission.

The above questionnaire was compiled by Helen Fitzgerald, a certified death educator (CDE), author and lecturer, and her husband, a veteran of WWII.  Source material is from the website of the National D-Day Museum New Orleans.

Please provide the information below to share your story:
*	First Name:
*	Last Name:
	Address:
	City:
	State:	Choose a State ----United States---- Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming   ----US Territories---- America Samoa Guam Marshall Islands Northern Mariana Islands Palau Puerto Rico Virgin Islands
	Zip Code:
	Country:
*	Email:
*	Required Fields
Please type your story in the field below, confirm your preference with the check-box, and then click "Submit."
Your Story:
	I give Capital Concerts permission to display my remembrance on this site with my name. I give Capital Concerts permission to display my remembrance on this site without my name. Please do not post my remembrance on this site.
	Privacy Policy	Terms of Use
Veterans Oral History Sites There are many organizations striving to preserve the oral histories of veterans of America’s conflicts, such as: The Library of Congress Veterans History Project Collects and preserves the extraordinary wartime stories of ordinary people. National D-Day Museum Preserves the stories of those who fought in, supported and lived through WWII. The Oral History Project:  A Cultural and Heritage Exchange Initiative

WWII Veteran Charles Durning, recipient of a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts, shares his harrowing personal account of landing at Omaha Beach on D-Day.

REFLECTIONS

“I miss him so much and am so proud he was my Daddy Charles, in addition to being a WW II veteran. I still remember sitting on the floor intently look through his scrapbooks of pictures taken during the war. He would sit beside me with an opened atlas nearby so he could show me where the pictures were taken.”

Donna Stone Ewing
Norfolk, VA