Nearly 100 videos have been collected locally in the last year for the U.S. Library of Congress’ Veterans’ Oral History Project. Around 80 need to be edited for submission.
Former Sgt. Maj. Ronald Burkhart, a 28-year veteran of the Marine Corps infantry, leads the project in the Monroe County area. Over the last year, he has interviewed almost 100 veterans.
“I’ve got at least 150 in the pipeline of guys that I need to get interviewed. I’ve got a lot of names,” he said.
The majority of those men are in Monroe County, though some also come from Greene, Owen, and Lawrence counties.
The project was created by the U.S. Congress in 2000 as a way to collect first-hand accounts of veterans’ experiences for research and preservation purposes.
Copies of the accounts Burkhart collects go to the veteran he interviewed, Burkhart’s file at the Monroe County Historical Society, and to a U.S. Senator for Indiana whose secretary looks over the documentation and, if everything looks good, forwards it to the U.S. Library of Congress.
“When I was interviewed with one of the assistants to Sen. Lugar early last year, he stated that they have interviewed 10,000-plus (veterans) from Indiana,” Burkhart said. By searching the U.S. Library of Congress’ database, Burkhart was able to confirm Lugar’s office had contributed more than 8,000 interviews to the Library of Congress.
Of those, Burkhart said, Monroe County has contributed around 350. That was thanks, in large part, to the work of Homer “Bud” Lynch.
“When (the national project) first started, there was a highly decorated Green Beret who started the thing up in Monroe County,” Burkhart said.
Lynch conducted 166 interviews before cancer forced him out of the project.
“He got it off the ground and carried it for about 10 years,” Burkhart said. “Since I know him well, he asked if I would take over and that’s how I got into this.”
The sergeant major said it was important to seek out veterans for their stories before those stories are lost forever, especially those veterans involved in World War II and the Vietnam War.
“We’ve got to get the WWII guys done. They’re going too fast,” Burkhart said. He added that the Vietnam veterans “are going faster than the WWII guys.”
Burkhart emphasized that all veterans’ stories were needed, even those who never served on the front line.
“I can’t dig them out of the walls. I need people to get the word out,” Burkhart said.
“It’s more than one guy can do,” said Rebecca Nunley, Retired Senior Volunteer Program director and volunteer coordinator for the Veterans’ Oral History Project. “We’ve had a backlog. It’s been a sticking point for a while.”
RSVP has put out a call for volunteers to help edit video interviews. Volunteers would remove gaps and long silences. Free editing software is available, though the process is time-consuming.
“We’ve actually had several (volunteers) step forward,” the RSVP director said, including a teacher with 10 to 20 students that may get involved.
“When you talk about veterans and need support with some sort of veterans’ project, it’s amazing the people that step forward and want to get involved and want to help out in various ways. This community really supports our veterans and I think that’s wonderful,” Nunley said.
Burkhart and RSVP will not be collecting new interviews for a while as they focus on submitting those from the backlog they have built up over the last year. Burkhart said, however, that he would push that aside for WWII and Vietnam veterans who want to be interviewed.
Veterans willing to tell their stories for the project can contact either Nunley at 812-876-3383, ext. 523, or Burkhart at 812-606-2522.
Those who wish to volunteer as video editors should contact Nunley. Though she is the volunteer coordinator for RSVP, volunteers do not need to be over 55 years of age.
Originally published in Ellettsville Journal, 2013. Republished here for archival and portfolio purposes.