Making History Project – Veteran Oral History Preserving Veterans’ Stories
Veteran Oral History Interviews: The Year in Review
2022 was a monumental year for the Making History Project. We continued to hit the road to meet Veterans and conduct new oral history interviews. These adventures included trips to Normandy, France for the 78th Anniversary of the D-Day landings, to Columbus, Georgia for the Golden Brigade Reunion of Viet Nam Veterans from the 82nd Airborne, and to Pensacola, Florida for the Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show.
We conducted numerous new oral history interviews as a result of the project’s trips. Many of these interviews were in-person interviews while in Normandy, France; Columbus, Georgia; and Pensacola, Florida. As a first for the Making History History Project, additional online interviews were completed when travel was not possible. The goal of the Making History Project is to leave no Veteran behind.
Behind the scenes, the Intern Team of graduate film students from Governors State University worked very hard to edit the audio and video of all existing Veteran oral history interviews. We want to make our Veterans and their family proud when they receive their final edited interview. As such, the Making History Project edited nearly one hundred videos in order to upload them to the website. The work continues with creating a searchable time index for the interviews so they can be sent to the U.S. Library of Congress for archiving.
2023 Goals
The ongoing goal for the Making History Project for the New Year includes:
- Editing of all new and recently conducted oral history interviews.
- The creation of a time index for all edited oral history interviews.
- Uploading all edited oral history interviews to the website.
- Final archiving of oral history interviews with the U.S. Library of Congress.
- Creation of a promotional video for the Making History Project that includes excerpts from Veteran interviews.
- Seeking an affiliation with a local public television or radio station to broadcast interview content to bring greater awareness of the effects of combat trauma on Veterans.
- Seeing additional partnerships with educational institutions or corporations who are interested in preserving memories of Veterans and exploring the effects of combat trauma.
- Additional trips and attendance at Veteran reunions and celebrations.
- Implementation of a fundraising campaign to enhance the growth and reach of the project.
We are excited about the New Year and look forward to hearing from you. Let’s do this!
