FOR RELEASE: October 3, 2000

Washington, DC – "We need to ensure that Americans will always remember those who served in battle, and may learn first-hand of the heroics, the tediousness, the triumphs and the terrors of this nation's wars," said Congressman Lane Evans of Illinois, the Ranking Democrat on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, hailing House adoption of legislation to establish a program to collect and catalogue the oral histories of America’s 19 million war-time veterans. Evans is an original cosponsor of the bill.

"Today there are almost 19 million war-time veterans in America," Evans said. "Of the 16 million veterans who served in World War II, only about six million are living today and over a thousand of these brave men and women are dying every day. Over four million served in World War I, but only 3,400 of them are still alive. Only two-thirds of our Korean War veterans are still with us, and one in ten of those who served during the Vietnam War are already gone."

H.R. 5212, the "Preserve Our War Veterans' Memories Act", would authorize the Library of Congress to create a war veterans oral history project. The Library of Congress is excited about the idea, which will be modeled after a variety of very successful oral history projects developed in recent years. The project will solicit and archive personal recollections of men and women who served in combat in the 20th Century. The goal is not to glamorize war, but to use available technology to preserve first-hand accounts of those who have gone to war for future reflection and use by families, students, researchers and historians, so that all generations, now and in the future, will better understand and appreciate the realities of war and the sacrifices of those who are called to fight.

"Our vision is to create a program in the Library of Congress," Evans said, "to coordinate a national collection of video-taped histories and testimonials of American war veterans. The project would include copies of their letters, and would assist and encourage local efforts to preserve the memories of this country's war veterans. Americans now and in the future would be able to learn directly from veterans and better appreciate the realities of war and the sacrifices of those who served in wartime."

Congress permanently established the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress to preserve and present American life for posterity. The Center created a National Digital Library, which uses advanced technology to catalog and deliver historical collections electronically. The Library of Congress believes it can establish a veterans oral history program as part of the American Folklife Center and the National Digital Library for $500,000.

"Patrick Henry said he had no light to see the future other than the past," Evans said. "The testimony of these gallant men and women will provide a living record when they are gone that will literally ‘speak volumes’ about human courage and the horror of war."

The program Evans envisions will encourage US war veterans, their families, veterans service organizations, communities and school-aged children to videotape the memories of veterans' time in service, and will create an easily accessible electronic archive for use by families, students, historians, and all interested in American history. "The oral histories of American War veterans," Evans said, "will be a treasured resource for future generations, providing original information on the lives and times of those who served in war and the conditions they endured."

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