Wednesday marks 50 years since North Vietnamese troops took the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon, effectively ending the Vietnam War.
For decades, a congressionally-created project through the Library of Congress has chronicled the stories of individual service members during their time at war.
“Seven guys materialize with AK-47s and pith helmets. Oh, that’s the end of my fighting,” said Air Force veteran Marion Anthony Marshall during an interview that has been archived as part of the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project.
Marshall was shot down in Vietnam and then taken as a prisoner of war in the infamous Hanoi Hilton.
“The thing that made me mad was that nobody would know that I had survived the ejection and how I died. And even worse, nobody could do anything about it. Kojak, my mother, police, the U.N., I was out there on my own and that was a very empty feeling,” Marshall said, describing his time in a POW camp.
He is one of about 27,000 Vietnam veterans whose stories are available for public viewing through the Veterans History Project.
“With this 50th anniversary of the conclusion of the Vietnam War, in this season, we’re really pleased to be able to share collections of oral histories,” said Monica Mohindra, the project’s director.
The archives also include audio diaries in which service members would record their voices on tape and send to their family members and loved ones during the war, and photographs taken during the time of service.
She hopes any other Vietnam veterans or their families will add their story online.
“Vietnam veterans are now in their 70s and 80s, and we are losing them every day,” Mohindra told WTOP. “If we don’t capture their stories now, it will be a lost opportunity.”
Families and vets can add their own oral or video history on the projects’ website. Simple forms need to be filled out before a profile and history can be added.
“It’s really as simple as taking that recording device that everyone carries around in their pocket, and taking video or audio recording of that veteran in your life and helping them to gather their first person perspective on that website,” Mohindra said.
You can also add a collection for a veteran, loved one or community member who has already died through original collections of letters and photographs, journals or diaries.
“The opportunity now to ensure that picture is more holistic, more truthful to the approximately 2.7 million that served,” she said about adding more Vietnam Veterans.
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