West Point Launches New Center for Oral History - Telling Soldiers' Stories

Although countless works of fiction and journalism have examined the soldier’s life in wartime, there has never been an archive of soldiers’ experiences, spanning historic conflicts and other missions, told in the soldiers’ own words.
Now there is. The United States Military Academy at West Point, NY, has established the Center for Oral History, an online research center gathering the personal stories of American service men and women of all ranks – beginning with those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and going back to veterans of Vietnam, Korea, World War II and other campaigns. http://www.westpointcoh.org/
Housed by the History department at West Point, the new Center – which will officially launch in 2009 – is advised by a board that includes documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and 1947 West Point graduate and former Presidential advisor Gen. Brent Scowcroft, among many other eminent historians, journalists, and educators.
Gen. David Petraeus, who recently became head of U.S. Central Command, welcomed the new Center: “Our army has a proud history, one that is chronicled in innumerable books and films. This Center aims to record our army's history in a different way, through the personal oral histories of our soldiers captured by thorough, thoughtful interviews. This is an exciting prospect,” General Petraeus said. The Center was conceived to help educate West Point cadets, through the stories of soldiers who preceded them into conflict; but also to create a trove of personal testimony that will assist the work of scholars and historians; and to help build a bridge of greater understanding and empathy between the military and the civilian population it serves. The Center’s web site will be open to all users.
“Oral history delivers a spontaneity and intimacy that you can’t draw from any other research sources,” said the Center’s director, Todd Brewster, a journalist and co-author of two best-selling books with the late Peter Jennings of ABC News. “In the best West Point tradition, we hope our recorded interviews will speak directly to the soldiers of tomorrow while contributing to the policy dialogue going on right now.” The choice of Brewster, who has served as senior producer at ABC News and has written for Time and Vanity Fair, underscores the Academy’s intention to make its new oral history center a resource for the general public as well as the military community.
Among the early projects undertaken by the COH: an oral history of the Iraqi conflict as well as a look back at the West Point Class of ’67, most of whose graduates were immediately sent to Vietnam. The Center will also interview former U.S. Secretaries of State and Defense whose decisions have been so pivotal to the fate of American soldiers.
The Center’s ambition is captured in its motto: “Every soldier has a story. Here is where the story is told.”
Here is a link to additional material about the Center – including a 12-minute video that includes some early interviews of soldiers featured in the news announcement below: http://www.westpointcoh.org/
Let us know if you’d like to speak with Mr. Brewster or others associated with the Center for Oral History.
James Bourne 212 262-7470 jimbournenyc@aol.com Allan Ripp 212 262-7477 arippnyc@aol.com

Contact:
James Bourne
212-262-7470
jimbournenyc@aol.com

Allan Ripp
212-262-7477
arippnyc@aol.com

Expressing Gratitude to Troops During Holidays

My researcher pal (and photographer extraordinaire!) May Lattanzio sends thise links for you to explore if you're looking for a way to support troops this Christmas (and a few other ways to express our gratitude to others, too! ):

http://www.asoldierswishlist.org/events.php

hubpages.com/hub/A_Christmas_Present_for_Our_Troops

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/571233/posts

http://www.operationgive.org/

http://neworleanswebsites.com/cat/co/c-et/c-et.html

http://www.tothepointnews.com/content/view/2559/44/

http://www.operationshoebox.com/

Get other leads for making a difference in our troops lives--frugally--at www.warpeacetolerance.blogspot.com.

Coalition to Salute America's Heroes

Thought you all might like details on something to do to help our soldiers for Thanksgiving as well as other key programs. As you can see, all the "click heres" don't work but they give you an idea of how you can participate.


Contact address:
PO Box 96440
Washington, DC 20090
Providing Emergency Aid to Severely Wounded Troops and Their Families in Crisis

Key Programs:
Kids Camps

Emergency Financial Aid

Homes for Wounded Heroes

Wounded Hero Career Network

Family Support Network

Road to Recovery
Conference


Dear Patriotic American,

Instead of enjoying this Thanksgiving holiday, thousands of severely burned, blinded or paralyzed troops will be struggling to pay their bills and put food on their families' table.

By clicking here you can make a tax-deductible donation to the "Thanksgiving Emergency Relief Drive," sponsored by the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes. Our Thanksgiving Emergency Relief Drive was created to provide emergency relief for our wounded heroes and their families over Thanksgiving weekend.

And by clicking here you can send a special Thanksgiving THANK YOU and GET WELL card to a disabled serviceman or woman. A THANK YOU and GET WELL card from you

can help in their healing and let them know you're thankful for the sacrifices they've made. (You can even type in a personal greeting if you like!)

And I hope you will make an emergency, tax-deductible donation to help the family of a severely disabled GI avoid an eviction, foreclosure or utility cutoff.

My name is General Chip Diehl (Ret.) and I'm writing to you on behalf of the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes. The Coalition is a nonprofit organization founded in 2004 to provide financial and other aid for troops who have been severely wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Here's why our wounded heroes are in such dire straits: Many troops who have lost their arms or legs, or have been blinded, paralyzed or brain-damaged can't be left alone. And most families can't afford a professional caretaker.

So nearly half their spouses have quit their jobs to care for them. Soon these disabled servicemen and women are having trouble putting food on the table and paying their rent and utility bills . . . and many are facing eviction or foreclosure.

As a result, requests for emergency aid have risen by 300 percent over the past several months. That means it's going to be extremely difficult to avoid turning anyone away unless we receive a large infusion of donations right now.

Please click here to make a tax-deductible donation to the Thanksgiving Emergency Relief Drive, sponsored by the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes.

Your generosity can help a severely disabled GI and his or her family avoid an eviction, foreclosure or utility cutoff.

I'm proud to inform you our patriotic donors have fulfilled more than 6,000 requests for emergency financial aid - totaling over $11 million - from our disabled troops and their families. But with the number of requests for emergency financial aid rising by 300 percent, we may have to start turning these desperate families away - right before the Thanksgiving holiday.

Please don't let that happen! By clicking here you can make a tax-deductible donation to our Thanksgiving Emergency Relief Drive.

This Thanksgiving there are thousands of wounded, crippled, blinded, burned and brain-damaged young men and women who need to know their fellow Americans remember them and honor the sacrifices they made.

So please click here to send them your best wishes with a GET WELL and THANK YOU card. And make the largest donation you can afford today to help these severely wounded heroes and their families survive through their financial crisis.

Thanks for whatever you can do,

Brigadier Gen. Arthur F. "Chip" Diehl III
U.S. Air Force (Ret.)

P.S. As I mentioned, hundreds of our wounded troops won't be enjoying time with their families and giving thanks this Thanksgiving because they are facing foreclosures, evictions, utility cutoffs or other financial disasters in the next few weeks. Nearly half their spouses have quit their jobs to take care of them, and their families have gone into a financial tailspin.

Please click here to make a generous, tax-deductible donation to the Thanksgiving Emergency Relief Project, sponsored by the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes.

And don't forget to click here to send a THANK YOU and GET WELL Thanksgiving card to a severely wounded young Marine, Soldier, Sailor or Airman.

Cards for Soldiers.

I'm sure you all know about Holiday Cards for our Heroes but I wanted to remind our MWSA members. Find info about the offer (Snopes approved) at www.warpeacetolerance.blogspot.com. Scroll to the bottom to find other ways to help our soldiers--usually very inexpensively.

-----
Blogger Carolyn Howard-Johnson wrote the foreword for Eric Dinyer's book of patriotic quotations, Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel. Part of the proceeds for the book benefit Fisher House. Her chapbook of poetry won the Military Writers Society of America's award of excellence.

Doing Something Meaningful This Thanksgiving for Our Troops

Thought I'd pass this blog post at WarPeaceTolerance to you--in case any us writers would like to treat a need soldier to Thanksgiving dinner. www.warpeacetolerance.blogspot.com. The link is there for you.

Thanks,
Your fellow MWSA Writer
Author of Tracings, an MSWA award winning chapbook of poetry
www.carolynhoward-Johnson.com

Nice Site for Military Spouses

I just thought you all might like to know about Kate Horrell who contributes to a couple military-oriented blogs. Here is her website. www.SpouseBUZZ.com

Best,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Winner MWSA's Silver medal for Tracings
Available on Amazon at www.amazon.com/gp/product/1599240173/qid=1139084827/sr=1-1/

Also blogging on WarPeaceTolerance and Our Soldiers at www.warpeacetolerance.blogspot.com.

Kid Rock Rocks for National Guard

Today I went to the movies. Not news. What is news is that I found the National Guard trailer/ad more entertaining than Bangkok, the featured movie. I've embeded it on my War Peace Tolerance blog. www.warpeacetolerance.blogspot.com. Hope you all enjoy it.