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Middle-schoolers collect veterans' stories to be stored in the Library of Congress
BY KAREN BOLIPATA Morgan King didn't have to travel far to complete a class project. Many of her classmates went to New York, Rhode Island and Maryland. One turned in his project during yesterday's field trip to Washington, having recently returned from New Jersey to interview a war veteran. But Morgan, 13, knew just who to turn to: her father. "He didn't really talk about it much," she said of her dad, Ty King, who served in the Gulf War and in Iraq. "It was really special to be able to get him to talk about it." The seventh-grader and her classmates at Ni River Middle School in Spotsylvania County each had to interview a war veteran, do some research and capture it on film or a voice recorder. Yesterday, they handed over their CDs, enclosed in small manila envelopes, on a field trip to the Veterans History Project, archived in the Library of Congress. The projects will then be entered in an online database. "As an adult, we know how important it is to preserve that memory," said teacher Tracie Short, whose father was a veteran. "There were things that I wish I'd known, I want my children to know." Armed with a video camera and 35 questions, Morgan learned more than she ever knew about her father's years in the Marines. In the 1980s, the 19-year-old King joined the Marines. He wasn't ready for college. "He didn't know if he would be coming back to America, but he was willing to do it anyway to fight for his country," Morgan said. The project enabled her to understand what her father must have felt, leaving his family and a newborn daughter behind. "It was kind of hard to listen to that," she said. King, 41, said he wished he had the foresight to do the same with his grandparents, who also fought in wars. "She asked me questions for things she never would've known," he said. At the Veterans History Project office, the students lined up to hand in their CDs. "Who here talked to a relative?" they were asked. "A grandpa? Your mother or father?" Hands shot up. Moments later, their videos were part of history, tucked away in the library's archives. Karen Bolipata 540/374-5418
Sometimes, when we read about all the crap going wrong in today's world I wonder whether our children are being allowed to feel proud of our nation, its ideals, its history and its veterans. When I see efforts like what these kids and their teacher have accomplished, I feel a little better about our future-our children. As long as there are schools like Ni River with teachers that teach it's OK to be proud of our veterans and their sacrifices, we'll be OK.
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