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War records: Veterans tell their stories for posterity
By Jimmy
Tomlin
Apr. 5--HIGH POINT -- For nearly 90
minutes one recent morning, Bernie Sheffield relived his experiences
during World War II.
With a small video camera trained on
him -- and an interviewer gently prodding him with informed
questions -- the 83-year-old High Point man revisited Fort Bragg,
where he was inducted into the Army as an 18-year-old draftee.
He rode the troop train back to Camp
Wheeler in Macon, Ga., where he'd completed his basic training under
a scorching August sun.
He reboarded the USS Wakefield -- the
ship that carried him and about 8,000 other replacement soldiers to
Europe for what would be the final months of the war -- and
remembered his attempts to fight off seasickness.
He relived his first taste of combat.
"It was scary," Sheffield said
softly, "because you didn't know what was coming. You become an old
man fast in the infantry."
Then, in that same soft, unassuming
voice, Sheffield recounted the events of April 15, 1945 -- the day
enemy machine-gun fire riddled his arm, leg and buttocks, and nearly
killed him.
"I crawled (about 25-30 feet) for
cover and then flopped over on my back," he said. "Then I rolled on
my left side to relieve the pain in my hip area. I put my arm up and
felt the hot blood running down my back. Then I passed out."
The injuries earned Bernie Maurice
Sheffield -- a self-described "ol' country boy" from Guilford County
-- a prestigious Purple Heart.
* * * *
Dave Milidonis hears stories such as
Bernie Sheffield's nearly every day. They may not all be as
dramatic, but to Milidonis, they're still worthy of being preserved.
"Of this nation's 20 million
veterans, better than half are peacetime veterans," says Milidonis,
himself a 20-year Army veteran. "They never saw a bullet fired in
anger, and yet their history is no less important than a combat
veteran's history. My job is simply to preserve the veteran's story,
regardless of service and regardless of time."
Milidonis, who conducted Sheffield's
interview, is founder of the National Veterans History Archival
Institute, a Cary-based nonprofit organization dedicated to
collecting, preserving and presenting the history of U.S. military
veterans. He and a corps of volunteers travel the state, recording
that history one story at a time.
"We're losing World War II veterans
at a rate of 1,600 a day -- 50 to 60 a day in North Carolina -- and
unless we collect their oral histories, their stories are going to
the grave," Milidonis explains. "The history those men served in
World War II is priceless."
He is quick to point out, however,
that he wants to interview veterans from any era, not just from
World War II.
Students of all ages, including many
university students, "have proven they do not have a grasp of the
contributions that veterans have made to this country's history,"
Milidonis says, citing several national studies.
The Cary organization makes a DVD of
each interview and sends it to the Library of Congress, to be
archived as part of the national Veterans History Project. Each
veteran also receives his or her own personal copy of the DVD.
"Many veterans have called us once
they've shown the DVD to their son or daughter, and the kids have
said, "Oh my god, Dad, I never knew you did this!'" Milidonis says.
"They had never asked him about his service."
The organization also makes the DVDs
available to school groups -- from elementary schools up to the
university level -- simply for the asking.
"We also bring veterans in for
elementary students to interview for educational purposes,"
Milidonis says. "We get high-school students involved in conducting
the interviews, and we've even had Boy Scouts do it for their Eagle
project to receive their Eagle Awards."
Milidonis says the belief that many
veterans -- especially wartime vets -- do not want to talk about
their experiences is a myth.
"I have never had a veteran turn down
an opportunity to be interviewed," he says.
"It doesn't matter whether it's a
World War II veteran up to Iraq and Afghanistan -- that's just a
myth that hangs out there in society. A lot of families tell the
children, "Don't ask him about that, because he doesn't want to have
those memories.' The veteran himself doesn't think they would be
interested, unless they ask him, but they've been told not to ask
him. And then it's at the grave that somebody finally steps forward
and says, "Gee, I wish I would've asked.'"
Now, Milidonis is asking. All that
remains is for veterans to hear him asking, and to respond.
* * * *
Bernie Sheffield's wife, Helen, had
been urging him for several years to record an oral history of his
wartime service, but he kept procrastinating.
But it wasn't until Sheffield met
with Neil Whitaker, a funeral director for Sechrest Funeral Service,
that he learned about Milidonis and his organization. The funeral
home helps promote the project and has offered the use of its High
Point and Archdale facilities for the interviews to be conducted.
"This is so important -- it's because
of the footprints these veterans left that we have the freedom we
enjoy today," Whitaker says.
"We're just trying to get the word
out to veterans, and hopefully they'll want to come in and be a part
of this. All they have to do is call us, and we'll set up the
appointment."
That's what Sheffield did, and he's
glad he followed through.
"This project will leave a history of
what actually took place, and the trials and tribulations of combat
in that period of time," he says. "I would encourage other veterans
to share their stories, too."
To see more of the High Point
Enterprise, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.hpe.com. Copyright (c) 2009, High Point Enterprise, N.C.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
The NC State Encore Program Presents
Veterans Remembering the Cold War
For many veterans, the Cold War was a “Hot War,” only nobody knows
it! This course will cover
the early Cold War years, from 1946-1963 and will engage the
students in the veterans oral history interview process.
Students will have the opportunity to meet and interview
veterans who flew with the Strategic Air Command (SAC); submariners
who shipped on both attack nuclear subs and “boomers;” US Army and
US Navy veterans who were involved with the early nuclear bomb
testing in the Pacific atolls; members of the Tactical Airt Command
(TAC) who piloted the Berlin Airlift.
From these and many other accounts, students will gain an up
close and personal perspective about military service during those
early, formative years of what became known as the Cold War and
insight into the events leading up to the Korean War.
Coordinators:
Dave Milidonis, USMA,
West Point, NY; MA, Pepperdine Univ., Malibu, CA; former US Army
Infantry Officer (20 years); founder, National Veterans History
Archival Institute, a volunteer organization dedicated to the
collection and presentation of oral histories of US veterans from
both war and peace time; founder, Management Designs, a leadership
development firm.
Six Sessions: 1:15 - 2: 45 p.m.
Dates: Wednesdays, May 6, 13, 20, 27, June 3, 10
Location: Room 11/12 McKimmon Center NCSU
Maximum Enrollment: 56
This activity costs $45.00.
NC State Achieve! Innovation in Action!
919.515.5782 -
NC State University - 1101 Gorman Street - Campus
Box 7401 - Raleigh, NC 27695
Encore is a unit of MCE&CE is a unit
of
McKimmon Center for
Extension & Continuing Education
© 2008 - North Carolina State University -
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