Across a century of military engagements, from World War II through the Global War on Terror, Arkansans have upheld a proud history of serving in our nation’s uniform. Some of their stories have garnered national attention and praise while others have been less heralded, but no less honorable.

The Natural State is home to over 200,000 veterans who have served during international conflicts and times of peace. These men and women have unique perspectives and experiences to offer us and future generations, but we can only benefit from hearing their stories and firsthand accounts if they are invited to share them and then they are cataloged.

Fortunately, there is an initiative dedicated to collecting and preserving these reflections that is celebrating over two decades of effort.

The Veterans History Project, a Library of Congress program, has been working to catalog veterans’ oral histories for 25 years. Unanimously founded by Congress in 2000, the VHP has collected over 114,000 individual stories, becoming home to one of the largest such collections in the world.

My office has been actively involved in promoting this worthy undertaking, as well as interviewing Natural State veterans, for more than a decade. This passion project stems in part from my own family’s experience, having realized we didn’t learn enough about my WWII veteran father’s time serving our country while he was still around to share. 

This is exactly what the VHP was established to correct. And I am pleased it is doing so with the help, enthusiasm and dedication of Arkansans. 

I’m incredibly proud our team has been able to interview and submit the stories of more than 100 Arkansan veterans as well as train over 1,200 people to compile and document these riveting, revealing recollections.

In celebration of the quarter-century anniversary, my office partnered with the Library of Congress directly this year, hosting some of its staff in our state to learn about our progress and train more Arkansans to participate. 

Working together, my team and the VHP personnel collected nine new veteran interviews to submit in just two days, including that of  93-year-old Leonard White, a former Navy pilot responsible for patrolling the skies around Bikini Atoll for enemy ships in the 1950s, Albert Morgan, who served as an infantryman in combat during Vietnam, and Victoria Magdefrau, a school teacher who enlisted and deployed around the world during her thirty years of service. 

With the help of local leaders and partnerships with the Jacksonville Museum of Military History and Fayetteville Public Library, we also conducted VHP interview training sessions. These sessions provided resources, tools and information to empower Arkansans of all ages to conduct their own veteran history interviews for submission.

I am optimistic that we will spur even more interest in this special project in communities across our state in the weeks and months ahead.  

My dad isn’t the only veteran who didn’t speak at length about his military service. From the last of the Greatest Generation to today’s cohort – many more have the same proud but private humility.

We cannot stop inviting them to share their untold stories so Arkansans and all Americans reap the benefits not just of their defending our freedoms, but also the wisdom and insights their service brought out. My office and I will proudly continue to pursue these opportunities as well as mark the VHP’s milestone and all it represents.