In this chaotic year, here’s how you can still honor a veteran this Veterans Day

Like virtually everything else this chaotic year - Veterans Day 2020 hasn’t escaped disorder. COVID-19 has cancelled parades, ceremonies and rituals. Military suicides have spiked 20-30%. National Guard units are deploying on American streets. Yet most of the mayhem engulfing Veterans Day is not virus-caused.

Rather an effect of our Commander-in-Chief subverting veterans with unprecedented attacks including - disparaging military leadership as incompetent and corrupt and condescending references to those who served as “losers and suckers.” Reflecting, no doubt, his smirking sentiment since Vietnam when, expending privilege for medical exemption, he dodged his own duty. Minus even a pretense of principle.

This infected environment poses dilemmas for those desiring to acknowledge veterans -- what can be done to meaningfully support them in 2020? Students enrolled in the Veterans Studies Program at Eastern Kentucky University honor vets by recording their stories in intimate interviews, shared with family and archived in the EKU Berge Oral History Library.

“That interview was the longest conversation I’ve ever had with my Dad,” commented current EKU student, a middle-aged Iraq veteran, after interviewing his Vietnam-veteran-father.

Intended to debunk student-held stereotypes, the (informal) class-mantra reminds: If you know a veteran, you know one veteran. But… it seems, we don’t really know even that veteran. Each interview invariably reveals significant insights into the individual, family and military service.

Public perception, likewise, is distorted by stereotypes and manipulated sentiments: everyone serves for noble reasons, sees combat, puts their life in danger, and is a hero. “Most veterans have problems and don’t want to discuss their service.” How did we come to accept that talking to veterans necessarily causes psychological harm?

Interviewing ordinary people, who answer their call to duty, enriches history typically written about leaders – with the flesh-and-bones stories of the rank and file. Because most military service consists of ordinary tasks…. sincere interviews can underscore gratitude for service and reinforce purpose and meaning for vets who feel unworthy of hero worship, much less presumptions of combat survival or victimhood.

Critical to therapies for veterans suffering ‘invisible wounds’ - psyche, heart, soul or spirit - is connecting past to present via reflecting how service impacted their personalities, life choices and values. For some, this means finding expression in poetry, novels, memoirs, articles or songs - a way to say: I served, it was an important experience because I learned….

For many veterans, interviews satisfy similar needs. Advantageously leaving personal stories for family who may want to know more about their grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, brothers or sisters. Children are typically uninterested until they are much older – when it is too late.

“I planned to interview my grandfather,” said one student this year, “but he passed away before I could.” Every class documents the urgency for those veterans who remain: 325,000 of 16 million WW2, 2.25 of 5.7 million Korean War veterans, and Vietnam - 600,000 of 3 million.

Veteran Interviews provide students with an enticing sense of privileged insight into the veteran, family and history. And, hopefully, inspire them to informed citizenship and commitment to veterans’ causes - relevant legislation, interest in a properly functioning VA system, and a desire to prevent unnecessary wars.

So, what can be done to meaningfully acknowledge veterans in 2020? Talk to them. Preserve their stories. Through shared laughs, tears, telling silence, and personal reflection, you’ll develop or strengthen your personal bond with a veteran.

Students rave about these experiences: “I just finished interviewing my grandfather – Wow!” “I felt I knew my dad pretty well, but I now know him.” “My most valuable college project…!” “Always told ‘Uncle’ doesn’t discuss his service - don’t bother him…. We interviewed, we’ve bonded!”

This Veterans Day honor a veteran with an interview. Approach one veteran with humility, empathy, and a desire to learn. If you do, Veterans Day 2020 will most likely be the most memorable yet.

*Kentucky is blessed with two distinguished Oral History Projects. Interviews may be conducted by any willing person with any veteran. For directions and interview support, contact:

• EKU William H. Berge Oral History Center. oralhistory.eku.edu
• UK Louie B. Nunn Center. kentuckyoralhistory.org

Peter Berres, Vietnam veteran and Travis Martin, Iraq veteran. EKU Veterans Studies faculty.