"Military Intel: The Inside Story," a selection of 22 digitized collections of materials submitted by war veterans who served in military intelligence, has been added to the Veterans History Project Web site at www.loc.gov/warstories/ in honor of Memorial Day 2006.
This is the 12th set of individual stories—comprising interviews, letters, photographs and written memoirs—to be featured on the site, which is titled "Experiencing War:
Stories from the Veterans History Project." Since the launch of this site on Memorial Day 2003, the Veterans History Project has been selecting stories to illuminate certain themes and making them available online. Past themes have included D-Day, prisoners of war and military medicine.
"Military Intel" is divided into three types of experiences: "In Harm's Way," "In the Field" and "Behind the Scenes." Flying reconnaissance missions in a Mohawk aircraft over North Vietnam and Laos in 1967 in a plane nicknamed "The Widowmaker, George Paris Davis was one of many soldiers in harm's way. Working at night without air support or weapons, Davis photographed evidence of enemy troop movements and construction for use on future bombing runs. His expertise served him well in directing reconnaissance missions over the DMZ in Korea and at the Pentagon, where he coordinated photo analysis for Special Forces operations around the world. Davis' online collection consists of a two-hour oral interview, 28 photographs and other memorabilia.
Former U.S. Army Col. Alexander Standish entered the Army in 1942 and worked in the field with Generals Eisenhower and Bradley in planning the D-Day invasion and subsequent strategy to regain Europe from Nazi control. Standish's online collection consists of 117 minutes of oral history, 10 photographs, 12 letters, a personal memoir and 41 supporting documents, such as "secret" memorandums.
"Very often I actually knew what a German division was going to do before the German commander of that division knew it," recalls Standish.
Library of Congress benefactor John W. Kluge spent much of his military service working behind the scenes in Army intelligence. Born in Germany, Kluge immigrated to America when he was 8 years old. In 1940, at the age of 26, he enlisted in the Army, anticipating a year's service, which got extended after Dec. 7, 1941. After he graduated from Officer Candidate School, he was assigned to Alaska's Aleutian Islands. His break came with his next assignment: a secret post not far from the newly constructed Pentagon, where he used his fluency in German to interrogate captured German officers and translate captured Nazi documents.
During his 92-minute oral interview, conducted by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, Kluge said, "I would take [the German generals] in my car and show them the Pentagon. And I said, 'You know, this is the annex. The big one makes this place look small.' You did all kinds of things with these people. You were working on their head."
The goal of the Veterans History Project is to collect, preserve and share with future generations the stories of all American war veterans. In response to the project, Veterans from World War I through the current conflict, and the civilians who supported them, are coming forward to record their personal stories and contribute personal documents to a growing archives at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. To date, more than 40,000 individuals have submitted their stories to the collection, which comprises more than 200,000 items. Of these, nearly 2,800 are accessible online.
Those who are interested in participating are encouraged to e-mail the Veterans History Project at vohp@loc.gov or to call toll-free (888) 371-5848 to request a free project kit. For more information about the Veterans History Project, and to see and hear veterans' stories, visit www.loc.gov/vets/.
