Project brings together 'The Latest and the Greatest' Library's veterans' archive teams teens with veterans BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer PHOTOS BY ANDREW MILLER staff Harold Beach, 81, Middletown, discusses his service with the U.S. Navy during World War II with John Lou, 14, Middletown, a member of the library's Teen Council, which is creating a veterans' archive. Below, Louis Bures, 83, Middletown, points to his image among those of fellow soldiers in Company A 346th and 86th Division during WWII. MIDDLETOWN - In the eyes of a teenager, World War II or the Korean War are facts they may have only heard about in a history class or seen in a movie. But on Nov. 12, a group of teens will hear firsthand about the experience of veterans of those conflicts. For the observance of Veterans Day, the Middletown Library Teen Council will be bringing the veterans and teens together for a day of interviews that will be archived on the library's Web site. Teen librarian intern Ellie Strbo came up with the idea as a library student at Rutgers. While taking a technology course in the summer, she had to create a podcast as a project. Her idea was to do a podcast with a World War II veteran and his wife discussing the former soldier's service and the Battle of the Bulge. To Strbo's surprise, she got a lot more interesting information than she expected. "The day of the interview the vet decided that he didn't want to discuss his service and the Battle of the Bulge," Strbo said. "He and his wife, mostly his wife, discussed how they'd met and courted during the war." She realized that veterans of war are not always comfortable talking about their time in the service. But the story that the veteran and his wife told took her in a direction that eventually led to the Veterans Day event. "Their story was beautiful, and she wanted me to come back to podcast her take on the Depression," Strbo said. "Amazingly, despite all of their hardships, being away from each other, rationing and other things, they were happy during those times." She thinks that it is important for the community, especially teenagers, to experience hearing these stories from veterans of war. Strbo also mentioned how the current World War II documentary series by Ken Burns was the impetus for the project. "It brought out so clearly to me how precious these stories are and how we'll soon be at a loss when all of the people who lived through these times are gone," Strbo said. "I know how much more school children get out of hearing a Holocaust survivor speak in comparison to just reading a book." The teenagers were to conduct the interviews with the veterans last Monday, bringing together two generations to create the veterans' archive. Each audio segment will be approximately 20 minutes in length and the veterans can bring in photographs, three of which will be scanned into a computer so that they can be viewed online. Strbo wants the teens to see and hear what the vets and their families experienced, not only in the war but also at home. "Another point which may not be well received by all is to see how these people sacrificed meat, sugar, clothes, gas and other things which were rationed," Strbo said. "Today we'd get upset if the grocery store didn't have our favorite ice cream. I wonder what has happened to us as a people, when we couldn't possibly understand doing without what those [people] of the 1940s did and made the best of it." She also was hoping that many of the veterans would arrive at the same time so that they could experience the camaraderie of being with others who share similar experiences so that they would feel more comfortable telling their stories. When talking to veterans in the past, Strbo has found that it's the wives of the men who served who do most of the talking. She said that she did one interview with the wife of a man who served in the Korean War who said she would send five letters a day to her husband. Along with librarian Kathleen Ligon, the two have been planning this event that they hope will lead to future events where older residents of Middletown could come together in the library and just talk. "I think there might be an interest in having some of our older residents come together monthly maybe and discuss old times: the Depression, war times, the good old days," Strbo said. "I think this could be facilitated by the township's shuttle transportation system." Another idea would be to introduce newer technology and have teens show the older residents how they can be used and just have fun together. "We hope to be getting the Nintendo Wii gaming system in the future and not only could it be used for the teens and children but also for the older residents," Strbo said. "Those with limited mobility could bowl or play tennis on the system, even in a wheelchair." The idea is something she wants to call "The Latest and the Greatest," borrowing a term from newscaster Tom Brokaw, who termed the WWII generation "The Greatest Generation." She envisions "fireside chats" between teens and the older residents that will bridge the gap between the generations. The Veterans Day event was designed to take the facts from history class and the scenes in a movie and bring them to life for the teenagers to understand and appreciate. "This is all food for thought for all of us today," Strbo said. "If we can glean anything from these stories, then maybe we can become the great country we once were."