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Veterans share stories for library collection
Forbush Memorial Library in Westminster finished an oral history project, which will be added to the library's Special Collection, in time to go on display before Veterans' Day. For the last few weeks, five high school students have spent time interviewing seven area veterans and recording their experiences during World War II, the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, as well as Desert Storm in the early 1990s. Altobelli, who served as a member of the Army infantry during World War II, was one of seven veterans who volunteered to the their stories. He was stationed in Europe from the fall of 1944 through the end of the war.
"It was at the time what we called the million-dollar wound," he said. "Bad enough to put you into the hospital but not to put you into a cemetery." He hopes that those who listen to the interview think about those who are unable to tell their story. "That in order to get here where we are today, I had some very wonderful guys helping me to get here. They didn't make it but they made possible for me to," he said. Altobelli was joined by Daniel Kuehl of Ashburnham; George Engman; Roy Hurd of Gardner; Stan Skamarycz, of Westminster; Sidney Walker of Westminster; and Dennis Driscoll of Ashburnham in participating in the project. Altobelli, Skamarycz, Hurd and Walker are World War II veterans. Hurd decided to tell the story of his three years - 1943 to 1946 - as part of the Army's Armed Medical Corps, with the tanks division.
Hurd, who was 18 years old when he enlisted, was stationed for two years in Louisiana and for a year in Europe. "Parts of it you can share, parts of you don't," Hurd said of his experiences. "These girls are in high school and their lives are so different than what we had before we went into the service, getting over the Depression." That is why, Hurd said, "you tell stories more when you get together with other veterans." Many of the World War II veterans expressed similar thoughts about the difference between the experiences of their interviewers and themselves. "You have to have something to measure against," said Walker, who served as an Army engineer in Europe from 1943 to NEWS 1945. "They don't understand the all-out effort. … We were on 24-hour duty and people were trying to kill us. No one can understand that." Walker said it is important for veterans to tell their stories because it is the only way people can come close to understanding. Walker, at 22 years old, was part of a group of Allied forces that arrived in Buchenwald, a concentration/labor camp, near Weimar, Germany. The camp is believed to have operated from July 1937 through its liberation in April 1945. It is believed to have had housed more than 250,000 prisoners and had more than 56,000 deaths. "I was there. I saw the dead bodies. I saw the gas chambers. I saw the ovens. I saw the people that were still in the ovens," he recalled. Walker does have some positive memories that he hopes telling his story will cause people to remember. "I would hope people would see what the United States' flag was to me," he said. "That symbol of United States' freedom. When you haven't seen it for a while and it shows up, it is a very meaning full sight." On his trip back to the United States, Walker was aboard a ship pulling into New York Harbor. "I saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time," he said. "Boy, that was a beautiful sight. … It had special meaning at that time. I still think it is a wonderful symbol." Skamarycz was stationed in Italy during the end of World War II and was defending the border with Yugoslavia. He remembers watching the demonstrations in St. Mark's Square. "It was a very volatile part of the country," he said. He also served from November 1950 to November 1951 in Korea after being called out of the reserves. "One of the things I remember is the weather. The weather was bitter cold. We weren't prepared to go into a cold climate. We didn't have any winter gear. … The elements were as much of a challenge as the enemy." He looks at the current economy of South Korea versus that of North Korea. "Did we do the right thing? Absolutely, I have no doubts about it at this time," Skamarycz said. Driscoll served in the Army during the Vietnam War and earned three Purple Heart medals, and a Silver and a Bronze star after getting injured. Until recently, Driscoll said he didn't say much about his time in the service because of the political issues associated with Vietnam. "I don't think many people in town knew I was a veteran," he said. Over the course of the last few years, he said he has become more public about his service. "I think we have become more and more of a 'me, me, I, I' generation," he said. He hopes by sharing his story that people just take a little time to think about military service and other cultures. "I just want to inform people about war, that it isn't a very nice thing," he said. He said it is important for people to be aware that "history does repeat itself," and that we need to be "aware of and respect different religions and different cultures." He knows his experiences serving were different than those of veterans during World War II because of different information coming out of the combat zone as well as more guerrilla-style warfare in Vietnam. Driscoll agrees that it is hard for non-veterans to understand the emotional bond of combat and the issues surrounding that point of life. "How can you comprehended something that is really incomprehensible," he said. "Having your life consistently on the line, you are responsible for the people on your line. You want to protect the civilians. … To make these life and death decision as a very young man, the combat veteran share tough (circumstances)." He said there seems to be a blasé attitude about the service that military personal have performed and the experience they have gone through. Kuehl served for more than four years in the Marine Corps and during that time he fought in Desert Storm and Desert Shield. "You could hear the squids and the air missiles going over head all the time," he said. He marched into Kuwait. "It was a hell of a trip," he said of the trip through the burning oil fields, through the minefields and through the Iraqi troops. He remembers dealing with the civilians and the prisoners of war. "Most of them couldn't speak English," he said. "It was a language barrier that these kids are facing now. It's really tough." Kuehl said he only recently started talking about his experiences and he is finding sharing the story therapeutic. He has begun to suffer from symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome. "(The interviewers') candor was awesome," he said. "They were really interested in what I had to say. I hope they don't go through what I went through." He was interviewed by Oakmont seniors Dan MacDonald and Paul Wetzonis. The other three students were Chris Louney, Caeli Scotland and Kelsey Imig. "As opposed to a regular project, we got to actually learn from the people that were there," Louney said. He interviewed Skamarycz. Imig and Scotland interviewed the four World War II veterans. They said the stories were different, but so was they way they told their stories. Imig said Altobelli tried to tell the stories with a touch of laughter and humor, but for each of the veterans the stories had emotions attached to them. "Something would strike them and they'd get teary-eyed," said Scotland. The interviews run between 20 minutes to an hour depending on where the questions and answers took it, Rachel Seal, the research librarian at Forbush, said. "We wanted to have an intergenerational project," she said. Altobelli said he was impressed by the research the students did before interviewing him and the facts and details they had on hand. He said during the interview he was surprised by emotional connect the two girls interviewing him made. "They appeared to be somewhat emotionally caught up in what was being said," he said. Driscoll said the students asked him to compare his experiences with the current issues in Afghanistan and Iraq. He said they talked about the political situations as well as about the psychological and physical effects of being in a war zone. "They were truly, truly excellent questions," he said. "I was very pleased. They didn't put questions to you that were uncomfortable answering." The interviews have been compiled on to tape cassettes, CDs and as mp3s. |
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