Elwood "Bud" Frum Went More Than 50 Years
without uttering a word about the two years he served as an aircraft engine mechanic in World War II.
The
stories of the time he spent in the small Great Britain town
of Thorpe Abbott, stealing coke to keep warm in his tent and
watching hundreds of men fly out on bombing missions never to
return, were deep within him.
"It's something that the first time you ever talked about it, the people turned away," Frum, who is now 80, said. "That threw a little wall up. I never said a word; I kept it within me."
But in the summer of 2003, Frum decided to talk. It was after speaking with his optometrist, Dr. Larry Schwab, that he found out about a WVU Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism project launched to help chronicle the histories of West Virginia's veterans. Schwab, a Vietnam War veteran, had already given his story.
"Across the country, there are more than 19 million veterans, including approximately 202,000 in West Virginia," said Senator Robert C. Byrd, who in fall 2002 asked the School of Journalism to spearhead the project and coordinate the collection of histories. "Each has a unique story to tell of service to country."
So
in fall 2003 the School of Journalism officially launched West
Virginia's Veterans History Project. The state project is part
of the National Veterans History Project, which was designed
to preserve the real-life experiences of American veterans and
civilians who were involved in World War I and World War II,
and the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars. The project encourages
war veterans, their families, veterans groups, community groups,
and students to audio- and videotape the memories of veterans'
time in service. These records will be preserved in the Library
of Congress.
Every day, more than 1,700 U.S. war veterans die. As of March 23, 2002, there had only been 21 West Virginia oral history submissions to the Library of Congress.
Thanks to School of Journalism students, Frum's story and more than 100 like it will be around for generations to come. "I'm glad the School of Journalism has really played an important part in this project," Frum said. "I'm honored to be able to tell my little part of it."
Discovering Missing Voices
In November 2003 the school held Voices of Honor, an event that
celebrated and acknowledged war veterans from the state of West
Virginia and also kicked off the project. Frum's history, recorded
on video, became a part of a minidocumentary shown at the event.
In the video, Frum discussed being a part of the 8th Airforce, 100th Bomb Group, known as the Bloody Hunters. His group flew the first mission into Berlin. That day they lost 180 men.
"After the first mission, the boys became men," said Frum, who was 16 when he lied to enter the air force and served from 1942 to 1945. "The boys never attended church. After the first mission, the men were there faithfully."
In all, the school's faculty designed five courses of study for the project. The oral history course, taught in summer 2003 by Assistant Professor Joel Beeson and funded by a $4,000 West Virginia Campus Compact course integration grant, allowed students to interview and record the personal stories of state war veterans. Students collected 12 histories during the summer.
But
first, they had to learn what they were dealing with. For many
students, neither World War II nor Vietnam was part of their
consciousness. "Before my students could talk to veterans,
they needed to know things such as what the Bataan Death March
was. If a vet said he was part of that event, and a student replied,
'cool,' and didn't have a good follow-up question, we hadn't
made progress. They had to have a firm grounding in history."
So, for the first part of the course students read Studs Turkel's The Good War. They viewed "Rosie the Riveter," a documentary on women who were asked to work in factories and then, at the war's end, asked to leave those good-paying jobs so that men returning from the war could take them. They also watched a documentary called "We Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company," a chronicle of the testimonies of the men portrayed in the HBO movie Band of Brothers. Students also read the book Bloods, an oral history of black Vietnam vets.
"I tried to open my students up to the time and place of that generation," Beeson said. "They had to know this before they were ready to do oral interviews."
They also had to understand what oral history is. Beeson said it boils down to a "democratization" of history. "Much of our history is from the perspective of generals and the political leaders of the time," he said. "Oral history helps us reevaluate history from the viewpoint of ordinary people."
Beeson
and Interim Dean Maryanne Reed co-taught a fall course in which
students continued their interviews, collecting about 50, and
also developed the minidocumentary to help launch the project.
Beeson's students also developed multimedia stories for the project's
Web site. Beeson then taught a spring course in which students
traveled the state, teaching community groups in Martins-burg,
Clarksburg, and Charleston to collect more histories.
"I think this was a wonderful opportunity for students to get hands-on experience and to contribute to the community, as well as work on a national project," said Beeson, who has directed the project for more than a year now. "It's about who we are as a nation and as a people."
The
project has also been inspirational for students. Adam Webster,
a School of Journalism graduate student who participated in the
project, realized he was missing a part of his own family's history.
His father was a Vietnam veteran and his grandfather a veteran
of World War II. Webster noted that "When my grandfather
passed away, I didn't know any of his stories."
"My brother researched some of his history, but it's my grandfather's voice that is missing. There is a gap that exists when you don't know these stories about your family," he said. According to Webster, "This project is a meeting ground. It's a big step to go to someone's house who had been a war veteran and to talk about the war."
The Veterans History course in the fall and spring semesters taught students to develop a public relations campaign to help publicize the project. Justin Pasternak, a public relations student in Adjunct Charles Harman's public relations class, was involved in the PR campaign that helped promote the project during the fall 2003 semester.
"We had a media team that was responsible
for gaining statewide attention to help draw the public's awareness
for this very worthwhile project," Pasternak said. "It's
not like any other PR campaign I will ever work on because I'm
dealing with something that truly matters to the public."
World
War II Memorial
The Veterans History Project has impressed those beyond West
Virginia's borders. Project officials from the Library of Congress
asked WVU to participate in the National World War II Reunion
on the Mall, citing the school's work on West Virginia's Veterans
History Project as exceptional. The event took place during Memorial
Day weekend, with the dedication of the new World War II memorial
serving as the capstone of the event. "I would definitely
say without hesitation you (WVU) are one of our strongest partners,"
said Tim Shurtter, of the Veterans History Project.
The four-day Washington, D.C., event, held May 27-30, included ceremonies and activities coordinated by the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. WVU journalism students were asked to participate by collecting veterans' histories on the Mall and by helping to staff the project tent. Students collected memoirs and stories on-site from those who experienced war overseas and on the home front.
Barbara Griffin, a WVU journalism graduate student, became involved in the project after attending the Voices of Honor event in November 2003. She signed up for the spring 2004 course and helped with training programs throughout the state. What attracted her to the project was the "individuality and significance of each story and having the chance to interact with those who dedicated years of their life for us, [and] our country."
Griffin has completed one interview and has three
others in the works. She also conducted and assisted with over
22 interviews at the WWII Memorial dedication. "The interviews
help me to better understand the war and all that was involved,
but the interviews in D.C. at the WWII memoril—with all
the vivid stories I heard, props, music, reunions—I felt
like I was actually living in that era," Griffin said.
Continuing Efforts
From the beginning, Beeson and other organizers have realized
that there are far too many individual histories in the state
for journalism students to collect on their own.
Training seminars helped explain the process to organizations, and student volunteers have been working with the AARP and other volunteer groups to teach them how to interview veterans for the project.
Griffin coordinated the project last summer and set up a booth at the West Virginia State Fair in August, along with the AARP, to promote the program and do some interviews. She also takes phone calls and e-mails to the Web site and tells people where to get the project packet that explains how to interview vets.
There
is also a memoir kit for veterans to write their own stories
and submit them to the Library of Congress. Griffin helps volunteers
locate free online tutorials provided by the AARP to learn interviewing
skills, pre-interview research, filling out forms, etc. "We
are willing to set up workshops for those who wish to take on
the Veterans History Project as a project for their group,"
Beeson stated.
The West Virginia Humanities Council has invited Beeson to apply for a grant so journalism students can produce a book/multimedia project on West Virginia veterans' oral histories. He is considering a project on the state's African-American vets.
Even though WVU's role in the project is winding down, its impact has been tremendous. "This was an opportunity for me to let out my inward feelings," said Frum, who "spilled his guts" to students for more than two hours. "It's done me good because I was able to get it out and tell other people what it was like."
For more information on West Virginia's
Veterans History project, please visit http://veteranshistory.wvu.edu.