The Veterans' Voice Project seeks veterans to tell their story

  • Published
  • By Stacey Geiger
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio – The Wright State University’s Veterans’ Voice Project is on a mission to build bridges between veterans by telling their story and preserving it for generations to come.

 

The Veteran’s Voice Project staff, comprised of WSU military veteran students, are seeking veterans from all generations to conduct and video record interviews of their experiences while in the military.

 

The interviews are then stored in both the Library of Congress and the WSU archives and can also accessible at any public library through Ohio Link.

 

The Veterans’ Voice Project is managed by the Veterans and Military Center at Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio, and is the brainchild of the Director of the Wright State University Veteran and Military Center, Dr. Seth Gordon.

 

“Part of the reason the Veterans’ Voice Project is in existence because being a non-veteran, I could not have those conversations about military experiences with them,” Gordon said. “It is important for the modern generation of veterans to talk to previous generations of veterans, especially ones from the Vietnam War who deployed and had harsh experiences then came back to a really awful reality.” This program allows us to build that bridge between this generation of veterans and the previous. It gives us the opportunity to engage in the community in a way that we are giving back and not just taking.”

 

The Veterans’ Voice Project is also a combined effort by Wright State University’s Veteran Military Center and local NPR station WYSO in Yellow Springs, Ohio, to preserve and document the military experiences.

 

The Veterans’ Voice Project has recorded 76 interviews to date and are seeking more veterans to interview.

 

“Many veterans think they have not done enough to tell their story and that is one of our struggles when recruiting veterans to interview,” Veterans’ Voices Project Coordinator, Jeniffer Seavey said. “Everyone has a story and someone is always going to connect to their story.”

 

Being an Army veteran herself, Seavey said every time she conducts an interview, she always hears a piece of herself. “Not only is it historical but when you listened to their stories, it makes it real,” Seavey said.  

 

Veterans’ Voice Project interviews will take thirty minutes to an hour and as an appreciation for their time, they will receive a copy of their interview and a Veterans’ Voice Project coin.

 

If you are a veteran or know a veteran interested in being interviewed or would like to volunteer to interview veterans for the Veterans’ Voice Project, contact the VMC at (937) 775-5550, or e-mail veteransvoices@wright.edu.