Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer, the three-day weekend that gives us a much-needed excuse to go to the beach, have a picnic, or just enjoy a lazy day at home. It can be easy to forget that, though, that it’s meant to be a day to remember those who died while serving our country.

We’ve selected a few interviews with living veterans to learn more about the experiences of those who served in the military.

The videos linked in this post are interviews with veterans conducted by the Brooklyn Public Library for the Veterans History Project. Signed into law by President Clinton in 2000 after unanimous support in Congress, the Veterans History Project collects firsthand stories by wartime veterans for posterity. With the help of schools, libraries, veterans service organizations, and community groups, these remembrances are recorded, where they will be sent to the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center.

The story above is from an interview with Vietnam veteran Donald MacIver, Jr. at the Central Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. This is part three of a four-part interview series detailing MacIver’s experiences before, during, and after the war. We cued up his gripping story of a daring helicopter mission that went wrong, and how soldiers deal with the wartime loss of their comrades.

Click through to hear more local stories from Brooklyn recorded for the Veterans History Project.

 

Full interview with Valesta Lynch, veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, conducted at Medgar Evers College in 2014. Lynch talks about her experiences as a woman with fellow U.S. soldiers as well as Afghan and Iraqi men.

 

Full interview with Richard Mallin, Jr., a World War II Navy veteran, recorded at his home in Brooklyn in 2014. His stories include meeting his wife at the USO and sleeping under torpedo tubes.

 

Full interview with Arthur Williams, Sr., World War II veteran, recorded on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation in 2014. Williams recounts being bombed by the Japanese in New Guinea, and the rainy season in the Pacific.

 

If you or someone you know wants to share your experiences as a wartime veteran, call the Brooklyn Public Library at 718-230-2745, or email nhiggins@bklynlibrary.org.


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