Fond of War Stories? Help Us Help the Veterans History Project

by Kay Pinkerton, volunteer contributor

Through the Veterans History Project (VHP), the American Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) invites you to listen to the stories of war.  

Straight from the warriors’ mouths. 

VHP is part of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center.  It was created by the U.S. Congress, in 2000, as an oral history archive that collects and preserves first-hand interviews of America's wartime veterans.  

The North Texas SAF team has now joined the Red Cross nationwide effort to recruit and train VHP interviewers to collect these stories.  Spearheading the Red Cross local initiative is David Barton, VHP volunteer coordinator for the American Red Cross North Texas region. 

“The Library of Congress approached us to help find people who were willing to go out and conduct interviews,” said Barton. “Our team has interviewed a number of veterans, including many who volunteer for the Red Cross.  I’ve logged, I think, ten interviews since starting this.”

Barton said a growing number of local veterans have expressed an interest in sharing their stories.  Due to the project’s popularity, his team is seeking to recruit and train more interviewers.

The Veteran’s History Project’s stated goal is to record 100,000 stories.  The Red Cross is committed to helping the organization surpass that goal.

In addition to audio- and video-recorded interviews, VHP accepts original photographs and letters, diaries, maps, memoirs, and other historical documents from World War I through current conflicts. The result is a priceless, historical archive of first-person interviews that will benefit present and future generations. 

Brown Eyes Blue

When asked about a favorite interview, Barton recalled his meeting with Dr. Jim Nicholson. 
Dr. Nicholson is a physician who lives in Greenville, Texas.  In 2011, he was awarded the Silver Star medal for gallantry in action while serving as a Korean War marine infantryman. 

Sixty years ago. 

Nicholson was part of a four-man rifle team.  His primary job was to operate the deadly Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) portable machine gun.  Called “Nick the BAR-man” by his George Company, 3rd Battalion 7th Regiment buddies, Nicholson was reportedly outstanding at his job. 

The marines’ objective was to push back Communist North Korean and Chinese forces, thereby preventing them from forcing Communist rule upon the whole country.  

Deployed to Korea in early 1951, Nicholson saw action ranging from Operations Killer and Ripper, which were geared to destroy the Chinese Communist People’s Volunteer Army, to the infamous Punchbowl, located in Korea’s Gangwon Province.  It was there Nicholson received a tour-ending shrapnel wound. 

Dr. Nicholson published a book, which chronicled his wartime experiences, titled George - 3 - 7th Marines: A Brief Glimpse Through Time of a Group of Young Marines.  Barton read the book before his scheduled interview with Nicholson. 

 “The things he and his buddies went through.  It’s a miracle he emerged alive,” said Barton.  
He was especially intrigued about a passage in the book recounting cold-war battle in the midst of North Korea’s frigid climate. 

“The Chinese soldiers were wearing these quilted outfits,” said Barton about the book’s passage. “Whether from perspiration or a bleeding wound, the moisture – mixed with the cold - would freeze the soldiers’ uniforms.  They were so frozen, in fact, their bodies couldn’t move.  But their eyes could.  So with their brown eyes, the frozen Chinese soldiers would communicate to the marines’ blue eyes.  And the blue eyes would reply to the brown eyes.”

No words were spoken. Or needed. 

“Dr. Nicholson’s recollection of that event seemed almost poetic.  So I marked the passage and brought the book with me,” said Barton.  “When the doctor reached that point of the war in his interview, I stopped him.  ‘Dr. Nicholson,’ I said. ‘You spoke about this experience in your book…about these Chinese guys being so frozen, they could only move their eyes.  Would you mind reading it for me?’”

Barton handed the book to the doctor.  When Nicholson finished reading the passage, Barton said, “I’ve read the only way you can kill in warfare is by dehumanizing.”

The doctor nodded. 

 “So how do you account for this?,” asked Barton, pointing to the book’s passage.  “This is so intimately personal.”

“That’s a really good question,” the self-described country doctor replied.  He paused a moment.  

“I can compartmentalize.”

Volunteer or Share Your Story

Red Cross volunteer services to U.S. veterans date back to World War I and are consistent with the mission of its congressional charter. Red Cross support for the VHP demonstrates our commitment to veterans and to the historical importance of their recorded experiences.  

If you have a story to tell or know someone who does, please call 214-678-4800. Volunteers are also needed to capture the stories. Visit RedCross.org for more information.

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BOOTS on at Red Cross

by Micaela Rosinski, intern contributor

During the summer months, I interned with the Red Cross communications team in Dallas. It was a great experience as I was able to tie my appreciation for nonprofits with my aspirations of becoming a public relations professional. Even better, I was able to connect my internship with another favorite nonprofit of mine, Boot Campaign.

Boot Campaign is a nonprofit organization created in Texas and serves as an outlet to show appreciation for our troops, and raise awareness and funds to help troops with challenges they face when returning home. All this is done by simply “getting your boots on.”

When I spoke to the communications team about Boot Campaign, they immediately suggested I get our regional CEO, T.D. Smyers, involved. Intrigued, I found his biography on the Red Cross website. Wow. T.D. was a four-year track letterman at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, earned multiple awards and began a career in naval aviation, eventually leading to his reception of the Legion of Merit for his leadership of Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base. In 2009, the Chisholm Trail Chapter of the Red Cross recognized Smyers as the Military Member of the Year.

In addition to his military success, he holds degrees from Annapolis and the National Defense University’s Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

T.D. talked to me each time he walked by my desk, offering a friendly smile and a hello. I took the opportunity to explain my desire to photograph him in a pair of Boot Campaign military boots and how he could help this organization. 

Taking the photos was great. He was intrigued to learn more about Boot Campaign’s mission and how wearing boots was helping. After the completion of the photos, he bought the boots! 
Bringing it full-circle, Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces also provides military members and their families with various outlets of support.  Red Cross links military families during emergencies, provides emergency financial assistance and resiliency training, supports wounded warriors and military hospitals, and more. 

Want to help both organizations? Here are some ideas to get started!

• Buy Boot Campaign boots! In addition to the money benefiting the organization, they are a great way to spark a conversation when people are confused as to why you are wearing military boots with civilian clothes.
• Volunteer for the Red Cross while wearing your boots. Take it a step further and become a Service to the Armed Forces volunteer!
• Donate blood to the Red Cross in boots. Considering donating this Veteran's Day, in honor of those who have served our country!

On this Veterans Day, thank both the troops that protect our freedoms and the organizations that help our armed forces. Organizations such as the Red Cross and Boot Campaign are vital necessities in seeing our active and veteran members of the military receive the services they deserve. 

For more information about Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces, visit redcross.org. Join T.D. at the Veteran's Day Parade in Fort Worth on Monday starting at 10am. 

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Red Cross Provides Services, Camaraderie at 2012 Dallas Homeless Veterans Stand Down

Written by Kay Pinkerton, volunteer contributor

Our Red Cross Service to Armed Forces volunteers worked alongside veterans to bring hope to those who served and have had troubles back home.

On October 26, the American Red Cross North Texas Region’s Service to Armed Forces team offered services, supplies and smiles at this year’s Dallas Homeless Stand Down event. Designed to assist local homeless and at-risk veterans, an estimated 750 former members of the U.S. Armed Forces attended the event. 

Leading the Red Cross team was Brian Moeschler, Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) Program Manager for the American Red Cross North Texas Region. “There are about 50 to 60 Red Cross volunteers at today’s event,” said Moeschler. “Some are handing out toiletry kits. Others are distributing clothing or providing medical services. We’re also giving out 500-minute calling cards so veterans can use them to stay in touch with their families.”

Red Cross "comfort kits" are loaded with toiletries for homeless veterans.

Homeless Stand Down is a community-based intervention program designed to provide a “hand up, not a handout” to Dallas homeless. This year’s event took place at the Veterans Resource Center in Dallas. The Red Cross was among hundreds of local volunteers and organizations that contributed to its success. The Red Cross partnered with other agencies to bring hope and help to homeless veterans, including the Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System Homeless Veterans Outreach program and the Homeless Veterans Services of Dallas, Inc. (HVSD).

For more than a century, the Red Cross has partnered with the United States Armed Forces to ensure that service members, veterans and their families have access to humanitarian services. SAF services are delivered through the Red Cross chapter network both domestically and on military installations around the world.

According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), one out of every six people in a U.S. homeless shelter is a veteran. Those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces are 50 percent more likely to fall into homelessness than other Americans are. To combat this issue, the VA launched a 2009 campaign to eliminate homelessness among veterans by 2015.

The campaign appears to be showing some progress. In January 2011, the VA estimated that on a single night there were 67,495 homeless veterans nationwide. This is a 12 percent decline from January 2010, according to a 2011 annual homeless assessment report.

“The VA is putting a lot of resources into its campaign,” said HVSD President Ken Watterson. “We have a good partnership here and a good turnout. As a community partner, the Red Cross has played a key role. It’s doing a great job.”

To learn more about the Red Cross’ Service to Armed Forces, or to become a Red Cross volunteer, visit us online at redcross.org.

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Three Things We Can do on Veteran's Day

When I woke up on this Veteran's Day morning in the year 2010, I did what most of us do. I checked my Facebook page. One of my friends had posted this as her status:

"A veteran is someone, who at one point in their life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to, and including, their life. That is beyond honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer remember that fact. Copy and paste this as your status if you are a Veteran, know a Veteran, Love a Veteran, or support the Troops."

Our Veteran's, and those currently serving, truly are heroes and it's an honor to be able to support them through our work at the American Red Cross. Maybe you're not familiar with how we support the troops every day so let me give you just a few highlights of our program called Service to Armed Forces:

• The Red Cross helps some 2.6 million members of the military and their families every year.
• We send and receive emergency messages around the world 24/7. For a service member who has left cell phones and Blackberries behind, this service is the connection back to his/her family at home and it's priceless in delivering peace of mind.
• We brief nearly one million deploying service members and their families about how to access Red Cross services when separated.

Those are just the highlights. We do so much more including financial assistance, running a Fallen Solider program like we do here in Dallas, and creating opportunities for you to show your support through programs like Holiday Mail for Heroes. So, I decided to do three things today in honor of Veteran's Day and I'm asking you to join me.

First, I will take a moment of silence to say a very grateful thanks to all of our Veteran's and to those currently serving. Next, I will select a holiday card created by Amy Grant, Dr. Phil, Miley Cyrus or Jane Seymour that will be sent to one of our military members currently serving and lastly, I will make a $25 gift to the Red Cross to go along with that card. It's the least we can do and it's quick and easy to help. Just click here. http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=hmfh_card_gallery&JServSessionIdr004=natkjvom01.app297a

Since I started writing this blog, a Twitter follower posted this as his status: "If you live in freedom, thank a Veteran". On behalf of all of us at the American Red Cross, we do thank you Veteran's. Enjoy your special day.

--Anita Foster, American Red Cross, Dallas, Texas

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