by Donna Emert

Like the once controversial Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, the Veterans History Project (VHP) educates those who have not gone to war, and facilitates healing for those who have. Like the wall, the VHP provides a collective definition of honor and duty by chronicling individual bravery and sacrifice.

The VHP is a project of the U.S. Library of Congress. The collection will include audio and video histories of individual veterans to be permanently housed at the American Folklife Center in Washington D.C. VHP participants will gather first-hand histories, memoirs, photographs, letters, diaries, official separation papers, and other historical documents dating from WWI through current conflicts.

The regional arm of the effort to collect those stories, the Inland Northwest History Project (INHP), is supported by a $1,000 grant from the University of Idaho 4-H Operation: Military Kids Project.

“The project reaches out to veterans and their families and raises public awareness,” said Sue Philley, state 4-H program coordinator. “Those are goals shared by Operation: Military Kids. We hope to see many 4-H kids get involved.”

Involving youth is key to success of the project

Using laptops on loan from Idaho 4-H Operation: Military Kids Mobile Technology Lab, INHP coordinator Brad Schmitz worked with young volunteers from Anchor House, a facility for at-risk youth in Coeur d’Alene. The Young Marines, a high school student organization, also helped contact northern Idaho veterans in August at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.

Veteran Michael Adams, a sergeant during the Vietnam conflict and current commander at Legion Post #14 in Coeur d’Alene, is working with Schmitz to engage young people in the project.

“The value of the program is tremendous,” said Adams.“It involves youth in the history of what their grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles, aunts, moms, and dads experienced in preserving life as they know it today. The one-on-one interviews can be very emotional for veterans. This program will bring to light the sacrifices they made.”

Volunteers from the Idaho Oral History Center in Boise provided one-day training sessions on gathering oral histories.

Interested participants: 4-H leaders and veterans interested in participating should contact American Legion Post #14 at Legion.14@verizon.net or Schmitz at HeroesAcrossAmerica@yahoo.com.

By October, 85 veterans from Idaho and Washington had already signed on for interviews. Each participating veteran will be given a DVD of the interview, a remembrance for his or her family before the record goes to the Library of Congress.

If it proves successful, the Inland Northwest model for youth involvement in gathering veterans’ histories will be adopted in other regions around the country.

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