[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 120 (Monday, October 2, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H8598-H8599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THE VETERANS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Dickey). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, in April, as a matter of 
fact, this Congress declared the American GI the Person of the Century. 
I believe it was entirely proper and fitting that we did so. But I also 
believe it is appropriate that those men and women whose contributions 
were recognized as the single-most significant force affecting the 
course of the 20th century have an opportunity to share their unique 
experience so that future generations might better understand the 
sacrifices made for the cause of democracy. Now, we have the technology 
to do so, Mr. Speaker.
  That is why I, along with my friend, the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Houghton), introduced a couple of weeks ago H.R. 5212, the Veterans 
Oral History Project. What the bill would do is direct the Library of 
Congress to establish a national archives for the collection and 
preservation of videotaped oral histories of our veterans, as well as 
the copying of letters that they wrote during their time in service, 
diaries that they may have kept, so there is a national repository of 
this very important part of our Nation's history.
  We also believe that time is of the essence with this oral history 
project, given that we have roughly 19 million veterans still with us 
in this country today, 6 million of whom fought during the Second World 
War, roughly 3,500 still exist from the First World War, but we are 
losing approximately 1,500 of those veterans a day. With them go their 
memories. That is why we feel this project and this legislation has a 
sense of urgency attached to it.
  Abraham Lincoln during his Gettysburg Address I think underestimated 
his oratorical skills when he stated, ``The world will little note nor 
long remember what we say here, but we must never forget what they did 
here.''
  That is exactly the concept behind this oral history project. It will 
require the cooperation of people across the country, not only the 
veterans to come forward to offer their videotaped stories, but also 
their family members to do the videotaping, or friends or neighbors, 
with VFW and American Legion halls across the country participating in 
it.

[[Page H8599]]

  I envision class projects centering on students going out and 
interviewing these veterans and preserving those videotapes for local 
history purposes, but to send a copy to the Library of Congress so that 
the library can digitize it, index it, and make it available, not only 
for today's historians and generation, but for future generations.
  I envision students, young people in the 22nd, even the 23rd century, 
being able to pop up on the Internet the videotaped testimonies of 
their great-great-great-great-grandfather or grandmother and learn 
firsthand from their grandparents' own words what it was like to serve 
during the Second World War, Korea, Vietnam or the Gulf War. What an 
incredibly powerful learning opportunity that will be for future 
generations.
  Every year I organize, on Veterans' Day, kind of a class field trip. 
I bring student groups into the VFW and American Legion halls, and I 
connect them to the veterans in our local communities and the veterans 
share their stories of the Second World War, Korea, Vietnam, for 
instance, and the students are silent with attention, absorbing every 
last syllable that these veterans enunciate during that time.
  It is an incredible event that goes on, not only the veterans sharing 
of the stories, many of them for the very first time since they served 
their country, but for the students to learn on this firsthand account 
what it was like with the sacrifice and the courage that our men and 
women in uniform provided our country at the time of need.
  That is what is behind this Veterans Oral History Project. Last year 
we had some veterans that went into the American Legion Post 52 back in 
La Crosse that remind me of the purpose of this legislation. Ed Wojahn, 
a veteran of the Second World War; Jim Millin, also a veteran of the 
Second World War; Ralph Busler, who served three different tours of 
duty in Vietnam, all of whom came out and spoke to these student groups 
at the American Legion in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in my congressional 
district.
  I can recall as if it happened yesterday, Ed Wojahn telling his story 
and breaking down as he recounted visiting last summer in Belgium the 
grave site of a World War II comrade in arms who fell during the 
opening days of the Battle of the Bulge.
  Mr. Wojahn is 77 years old, and he told the students he was a 22-
year-old Army combat engineer when he was captured by German forces in 
Belgium on his birthday, on December 18, 1944. His unit was without 
food, without ammunition, and was surrounded by German soldiers for 2 
days before his captain finally surrendered. He stated, ``There was no 
way to go. You went forward, you went backwards, sideways, there were 
Germans everywhere.'' It was an incredible story that he told along 
with the other veterans on that day.
  Mr. Speaker, that is why I ask my colleagues, 250 of whom are 
original cosponsors, to move this legislation forward as quickly as 
possible since time is of the essence.

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