Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Vets' History Project

Aired May 26, 2003 - 07:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: As America remembers its war dead, the nation is calling on its veterans again; this time, to preserve their stories for future generations in an unprecedented veterans' history project.
Bruce Morton is in Arlington, Virginia this morning with more on that.

Good morning -- Bruce.

BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. A rainy morning here, as you can see.

The big event at Arlington will be President Bush's address, which comes a little more than three hours from now. But they're doing something else about the veterans, as you said. Over at the Library of Congress, they're collecting memories.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was the man that carried the maps, and my instructions were: Get to the designated point without getting lost or getting shot. And I fortunately made it.

MORTON (voice-over): William Loncarack (ph) remembering World War II. The Library of Congress is collecting veterans' memories. Photographs Frederick Stilson (ph) in his World War I gas mask.

Project director Ellen McCullough-Lovell likes Samuel Boylston's (ph) World War II letters home.

ELLEN MCCULLOUGH-LOVELL, VETS' HISTORY PROJECT: This is a little bit of war humor. Everything he sent he did a drawing on.

MORTON: Jean and Brian Markel (ph) were in Vietnam together. Here's how they look today.

Sometimes the library has just their voices. William Arnett (ph), World War II:

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'd say after about a week in combat, you're old. I don't care if you're 19 years old or what.

MORTON: McCullough-Lovell says the memories have some common themes.

MCCULLOUGH-LOVELL: The horror of battle. You know, what I saw that I will never forget. Why did I live? Why did someone else die? But there is also a lot about loyalty and camaraderie. And there's a lot of longing, too.

MORTON: Rutherford Brice, a Korean vet, remembers a hill.

RUTHERFORD BRICE, KOREAN VETERAN: And they couldn't get to the center of the hill, because they were being held down by machine gunfire. So, it just evolved into quite a little battle. We finally settled it down.

BOB BABCOCK, VIETNAM VETERAN: I really believe that every veteran and every home-front worker owes it to their family, to their country and to future generations to save that history so that they can learn from it.

MORTON: Babcock, a Vietnam Vet, remembers friendly fire, something that's been in the news from Iraq and Afghanistan.

BABCOCK: We told them to cease fire, and they kept firing. And one fell in the middle of us, and it killed one and wounded 10.

MORTON: The memories do matter. They tell us who we were and are. Some of the stories are on a Web site: www.loc.gov/warstories. Strong memories.

MCCULLOUGH-LOVELL: I think if there is any lesson, it's a lesson about service, that there are times when we're required to serve and we're called to serve or we volunteer to serve. And service is a really important part of what we do as citizens in a democracy.

MORTON: Seven thousand vets have contributed so far. The library wants more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't too tough (ph). It was just -- we just didn't think we'd make it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MORTON: So, at the Library of Congress, memories of old wars and new ones; here at Arlington, rain and not too many hours from now a speech from the president of the United States, a man who just a little over three weeks ago declared that the era of major combat in the Iraq war is over -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, Bruce Morton, thanks so much for that, an incredible historical project indeed. Thanks again.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired May 26, 2003 - 07:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: As America remembers its war dead, the nation is calling on its veterans again; this time, to preserve their stories for future generations in an unprecedented veterans' history project.
Bruce Morton is in Arlington, Virginia this morning with more on that.

Good morning -- Bruce.

BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. A rainy morning here, as you can see.

The big event at Arlington will be President Bush's address, which comes a little more than three hours from now. But they're doing something else about the veterans, as you said. Over at the Library of Congress, they're collecting memories.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was the man that carried the maps, and my instructions were: Get to the designated point without getting lost or getting shot. And I fortunately made it.

MORTON (voice-over): William Loncarack (ph) remembering World War II. The Library of Congress is collecting veterans' memories. Photographs Frederick Stilson (ph) in his World War I gas mask.

Project director Ellen McCullough-Lovell likes Samuel Boylston's (ph) World War II letters home.

ELLEN MCCULLOUGH-LOVELL, VETS' HISTORY PROJECT: This is a little bit of war humor. Everything he sent he did a drawing on.

MORTON: Jean and Brian Markel (ph) were in Vietnam together. Here's how they look today.

Sometimes the library has just their voices. William Arnett (ph), World War II:

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'd say after about a week in combat, you're old. I don't care if you're 19 years old or what.

MORTON: McCullough-Lovell says the memories have some common themes.

MCCULLOUGH-LOVELL: The horror of battle. You know, what I saw that I will never forget. Why did I live? Why did someone else die? But there is also a lot about loyalty and camaraderie. And there's a lot of longing, too.

MORTON: Rutherford Brice, a Korean vet, remembers a hill.

RUTHERFORD BRICE, KOREAN VETERAN: And they couldn't get to the center of the hill, because they were being held down by machine gunfire. So, it just evolved into quite a little battle. We finally settled it down.

BOB BABCOCK, VIETNAM VETERAN: I really believe that every veteran and every home-front worker owes it to their family, to their country and to future generations to save that history so that they can learn from it.

MORTON: Babcock, a Vietnam Vet, remembers friendly fire, something that's been in the news from Iraq and Afghanistan.

BABCOCK: We told them to cease fire, and they kept firing. And one fell in the middle of us, and it killed one and wounded 10.

MORTON: The memories do matter. They tell us who we were and are. Some of the stories are on a Web site: www.loc.gov/warstories. Strong memories.

MCCULLOUGH-LOVELL: I think if there is any lesson, it's a lesson about service, that there are times when we're required to serve and we're called to serve or we volunteer to serve. And service is a really important part of what we do as citizens in a democracy.

MORTON: Seven thousand vets have contributed so far. The library wants more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't too tough (ph). It was just -- we just didn't think we'd make it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MORTON: So, at the Library of Congress, memories of old wars and new ones; here at Arlington, rain and not too many hours from now a speech from the president of the United States, a man who just a little over three weeks ago declared that the era of major combat in the Iraq war is over -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, Bruce Morton, thanks so much for that, an incredible historical project indeed. Thanks again.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.