Workshop keys on vets' stories

State entries in library goal

Kay Tatum (center) and about 65 others gather at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History on Monday for a workshop tied to the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project, which collects, preserves and makes accessible the personal accounts of America’s war veterans.
Kay Tatum (center) and about 65 others gather at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History on Monday for a workshop tied to the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project, which collects, preserves and makes accessible the personal accounts of America’s war veterans.

About 65 people learned at a Little Rock workshop Monday how to collect, share and preserve the stories of Arkansas veterans.

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Jo Blatti, a historian leading a workshop on how to record Arkansas veterans’ life stories for the Library of Congress, talks with Arkansas National Guard Master Sgt. Chris Durney on Monday during a break in her lecture at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History in Little Rock.

The workshop, hosted by U.S. Sen. John Boozman's office, was meant to reinvigorate the Library of Congress' 15-year-old Veterans History Project and archive more entries from Arkansans, said Anita Deason, Boozman's military and veterans liaison.

The Veterans History Project is a Congress-mandated initiative that aims to collect firsthand accounts of American veterans from every conflict since World War I.

"We're breathing new life into it," Deason said. "There are members of the Daughters of the American Revolution here. The VA is here, the [Veterans of Foreign Wars], American Legion. They can take this back to their clubs and start talking to veterans."

The Library of Congress selected Jo Blatti, a Little Rock-based historian, to instruct the class. Inside the MacArthur Museum of Military History on Monday afternoon, Blatti gave pointers on whom to interview, what types of questions to ask and what to collect.

To participate in the project, volunteers record audio or video interviews with the veterans, touching on their days of service, wartime stories and reflections on those experiences. If possible, they also submit veterans' photographs, letters, maps or journal entries.

Some of the interviews are available to hear online at loc.gov/vets.

The collection currently includes approximately 1,000 interviews with Arkansas veterans, Blatti said. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, almost 250,000 veterans live in the state.

"There's a lot of room for Arkansas submissions," she said. "I encourage you to go to it."

Service members, veterans and those who work with veterans made up most of the class, which was filled to capacity.

Kathy Oliverio, a lecturer and military ombudsman at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, attended the session seeking to take the project back to her students.

Oliverio, who spent 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, hopes to establish a class next spring that would require UALR students to record the experiences of World War II veterans and submit them to the archive. She also wants to collect the stories of student veterans, many of whom participated in recent conflicts.

"I just really wanted to do something so we can get Arkansas stories told," Oliverio said. "Arkansas has a lot of patriots, you know? We just need to tell our story. People really need to understand the sacrifices that our veterans have made."

Ron Chastain, a former adjutant general of the Arkansas National Guard, wants to collect the stories of the soldiers he once commanded.

Chastain, now Boozman's agriculture liaison, led the state National Guard when its 39th Infantry Brigade deployed to Iraq in 2004-05. After Chastain retired, the brigade deployed again to Iraq in 2008.

"Some of those guys, some of those soldiers, they went two different times," Chastain said.

Some attendees told Blatti they specifically wanted to interview homeless veterans or crew members of the USS Razorback. Others had an interest in talking with WWII veterans.

Boozman's office will hold another workshop Saturday from 1-3 p.m. at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, 118 W. Johnson Ave. in Springdale. Deason said that session was almost filled as of Monday and that the office would plan future classes in El Dorado and Jonesboro.

For Boozman -- and for Deason -- the effort to collect veterans' stories is personal.

Boozman's father was a veteran who died at age 69, and Deason's father, who fought in the Philippines during WWII, died at age 65.

"You don't get to ask them all these questions. I never had the opportunity," Deason said. "A lot of people we talk to say, 'I wish I had asked.' That's close to his heart -- he doesn't want others to experience that."

Metro on 07/28/2015

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