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Ancestry Daily News
5/22/2003 - Archive
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Honoring Our Ancestors: Seeking Foreign War Letters |
Honoring Our Ancestors: Seeking Foreign War Letters
He's at it again. Andrew Carroll, best-selling author of Letters
of a Nation and War Letters, and founder of the Legacy Project, which
collects and preserves wartime correspondence, is launching another initiative.
(See two previous articles: first,
second.) And this project is one that's especially appropriate to discuss as we approach
Memorial Day.
Around the World in Eight Months
Starting in August, he's beginning an eight-month, 25-nation trip to seek out
war letters written by and to foreign troops. What prompted this? Andy explains:
"The Legacy Project (LP) focuses on American war letters. Since 1998, people
have sent me an estimated 75,000 pieces of war correspondence from every conflict
in U.S. history, ranging from (photocopies of) handwritten missives from the
American Revolution to emails from Iraq.
"As I have traveled around the U.S. speaking with veterans and active duty personnel,
they have repeatedly asked me if I would ever consider seeking out letters by
troops from other nations. Service members emphasize that they, personally,
would be interested to learn how major wars have been perceived through the
eyes of both allies (for example, Russians in WWII, South Koreans in the Korean
War, Australians serving in Iraq, etc.) and our former enemies (the Germans
in the two World Wars, the North Vietnamese, etc.). The veterans I talked with
made a special point of saying that they recognized many of their 'enemies'
were young kids like themselves who simply wanted to get home alive.
"The Legacy Project has already received a handful of incredible foreign war
letters, which were shared with us by the American-born children of veterans
from other countries. I thought it would be great to expand on what we have
by putting the word out in the States and, most important, traveling the world
to search for more letters. On the trip, I also intend to set up efforts similar
to the Legacy Project in other countries. They, like the U.S., are losing their
veterans—and an important part of their history—on a daily basis."
"As with the 75,000 letters the LP has already received, the international war
correspondence will be donated to a respected museum or archive. Some of the
most moving, thought-provoking, dramatic, unexpected, amusing, or otherwise
exceptional ones may also be featured in another book and possibly a documentary
(although nothing is used without permission from the contributor)."
A Chance to Honor the Veterans in Your Family
Although Andy will be taking this extended trip to gather such letters, it's
not necessary to wait until August to submit copies or transcriptions of any
you might have in your personal collection. This is a unique opportunity to
humanize warfare through the words of those who have endured it firsthand, as
well as a fitting way to pay
tribute to the veterans and active duty personnel in your family by ensuring
that their words and experiences will be captured for posterity.
And we, as genealogists, know how important this is. In fact, previous articles
about the LP in Ancestry Daily News generated more responses from readers
than stories in national newspapers and magazines. Let's keep our reputation
intact and our loved ones' memories preserved by supporting the Legacy Project's
latest initiative!
But Does it Apply to Me?
You may be thinking, "But they're looking for war letters by foreigners and
my grandfather was American." I know from the emails I receive that many readers
are from around the globe, so this project may be of particular interest to
you and I especially hope you will participate. But while it's true that emphasis
is being placed on letters from the international community, the LP is continuing
to accept American letters too (and is especially interested in letters and
emails from Iraq). And if you think about it, many who have served for the U.S.
were born elsewhere.
All war-related letters pertaining to a conflict in which the U.S. was involved
in some significant way qualify. These include the American Revolution, the
Civil War, the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War, the Philippines, WWI,
WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Operation Iraqi
Freedom, etc.
I know that those in my own family who served in the Civil War were all born
in Ireland. Michael Strank, one of those commemorated in the famous Iwo Jima
Memorial, emigrated to the U.S. from what is now Slovakia. These are just a
couple of examples. I suspect that with a little consideration, we would discover
that a surprising number of Americans' military heroes were foreign-born.
And the letters don't have to be from actual combatants. Just to be clear, here
are some additional details to give you an idea of what the Legacy Project is
seeking:
Letters and emails written by soldiers, as well as those written to them
by their loved ones at home
Letters from civilians (e.g., the British in London during the Blitz, Germans
in Dresden, Kuwaitis during the 1990 invasion, New Yorkers during 9/11, etc.)
Letters from other non-combatants such as nurses and members of peacekeeping
forces
Letters from foreign-born war brides of American service personnel
Letters between veterans from different countries who have corresponded
after they returned home are especially appreciated. (There are many moving
stories of former enemies who wrote to one another and ultimately became friends.)
In short, the odds are very good that this project applies to your family regardless
of where you may be reading these words.
How do I Participate?
If you have some letters you'd like to submit, please copy the original and/or
make a typed transcript. If a letter is in a language other than English, the
LP would appreciate it if you could send a translation, but it's not a requirement.
And if you're certain you don't have letters to share, you can help the LP with
this historic initiative by simply spreading the word in your community or online.
You can email submissions to WarLetterProject@aol.com mail them to,
The Legacy Project, P.O. Box 53250, Washington, D.C. 20009. For more information
about the history of the LP, go to: www.warletters.com. Everything goes
directly to Andy, and again, nothing is used without permission.
If you're American, why not steal a few quiet moments this Memorial Day to make
a copy of that letter written by your German-born great-great-great-great-grandfather
during the Revolutionary War or your Mexican-born uncle in Korea? And if you're
the proud citizen of any other country, I ask you even more fervently to consider
sending a copy of that letter about your grandfather's service in Gallipoli
or your son's involvement in Bosnia. Andy would also welcome ideas on military
museums, archives, memorials, and other important places he should visit as
he travels the globe. A few minutes' effort by many of us can go a long way
to ensuring that the contributions of our loved ones will become a part of our
all of our nations' recorded history.
Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, author of Honoring Our Ancestors (HOA)
and In Search of Our Ancestors, can be contacted through www.honoringourancestors.com.
Andrew Carroll is featured in one of the fifty stories included in Honoring
Our Ancestors, a collection of unique and special ways people have paid tribute
to their forebears.
Upcoming Events
In upcoming weeks, Megan will be at:
National Genealogical Society 2003 Conference
(28-31 May 2003, Pittsburgh, PA)
Lake Erie Chapter of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society
(1 June 2003, Erie, PA)
New Jersey Chapter of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society
(7 June 2003, Passaic, NJ)
BookEnds, book signing
(9 June 2003, Ridgewood, NJ)
Central Jersey Genealogical Club
(10 June 2003, Hamilton, NJ)
Westchester County Genealogical Society
(14 June 2003, White Plains, NY)
Genealogical Society of Rockland County
(14 June 2003, New City, NY)
Family History Center of Newport News
(21 June 2003, Newport News, VA)
National Austin Convention
(22 June 2003, Richmond, VA)
ZCMI Center Deseret Book
(17 July 2003, Salt Lake City, UT)
FEEFHS International Convention
(18-19 July 2003, Salt Lake City, UT)
For details and links to upcoming events, visit:
www.honoringourancestors.com/schedule.html
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