Brooklyn College student Elizabeth Jefimova interviewed World War II veteran Seymour Kaplan on February 24, 2017, at Kaplan’s home in Brooklyn.
In this clip, Kaplan recalls how his willingness to tell his story of service was shut down. He did not speak of the war for fifty years. In my experience as an interviewer, I have often found that veterans are encouraged to be silent about what they have seen and done in war — often by their very own families.
Day two of the VVA Board of Directors and Conferencen of State Chapter Presidents meeting, Silver Spring, MD. Very moving and useful. Great opportunities for oral histories here.
The VVA is worrying about its longevity. Some years ago it decided to be a ‘last man standing’ organization. How long can it hold out? If the decision is made to close down, how will this be done? The VVA has assets that will have to be disposed of. But, even as discussion about this issue grows, membership numbers are increasing nationally; VVA now has 78,816 members, an all time high.
At bottom, oral history is about telling stories and thinking about their meaning. John Del Vecchio, author of The 13th Valley and other books about Vietnam and Vietnam veterans, once wrote that
Women warriors described their struggles
Saturday evening, December 7 at the New York Public Library four women veterans of the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan gathered at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (42nd and 5th Ave.) of the New York Public Library.
A part of the NYPL
At a panel presentation held at the Brooklyn Historical Society in 2008 called The Impact of Listening and Being Heard, Rudy Thomas said the following:
My grandmother raised me from 2 months old. She brought me here at age 16, I never lived with my mother, and I visited, but never stayed with her.
I had the opportunity to see [her] after 30 years and I wanted to talk to her about my life, One of the first things she said to me was,
John Hamill, a medic with the 173 Airborne Brigade (the Herd) in Vietnam in 1967-1968, explained to me the connection between war time trauma and what happens after a veteran returns home:
I think a lot of Vietnam veterans didn
Today I visited the
In 1971, E. James Lieberman published a study in the Journal Of Marriage and the Family, entitled