Preserving history in the form of stories and memories of NewYork veterans is a big part of the mission of the state Military Museum inSaratoga Springs, and the program recently put its 2,000th recording to tape.
The Military Museum in Saratoga has been host to recording the histories of veterans through the New York State’s Veteran Oral History Program since 2000. The program is funded in part by the Division of Naval Affairs Operations, the National Guard and the state. The average recorded story is about an hour long, with some lasting three to four hours, and all veterans are invited to participate.
Mike Aikey, director of the museum and professional military historian, has been working on gathering the histories along with the program’s director, Wayne Clark.
“It’s been a wonderful experience. It’s amazing how many veterans are self effacing, and say that they didn’t do anything. What they’ve done is pretty remarkable, though, said Aikey. “The program took a little while to catch on and there have been ebbs and flows over the years of the program.There was a phenomenon with the WWII veterans, they weren’t interested in talking. We had more success sometimes in talking with their families.”
In listening to their stories, Aikey says that it really makes him and others put things in perspective.
“Some of them lost their sight, or an arm and went on to have very successful careers once they came back,” he said.
One of the veterans who served as a merchant marine at the ageof 17 recalled seeing a British pilot flying so low to him that the pilot waved, so he waved back.
“No longer was that veteran 80 years old, he was 17 again,” said Aikey, who said that almost all of the veterans become young again while telling their stories.
Before the actual recording and interviewing process, participants are given a questionnaire. The information form helps Aikey andClark prepare for the interview, as well as gives the veteran a starting point.The questionnaire then also becomes part of the permanent record with the interview itself.
This February, Charles Evans sat down to give his history and indoing so became the 2,000th veteran to be entered into the project’s records.
“Wayne (Clark) called me and asked if I would do this, and I hadno objection. … I think they’ve got a good program,” Evans said.
Evans enlisted in what was then the Army Air Corps in 1941. Hewas a civilian pilot working for Vultee Aircraft Company, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant after six months of military pilot training inCalifornia.
While in the service, Evans was in charge of a 10-man crew andflew B-24 bombers over Europe in World War II, completing 30 bomber missions, the maximum allowed.
“On almost every mission you had pieces of flak or shrapnel penetrate the airplane, it wasn’t uncommon,” he said, noting too that therewere thousands of 88-millimeter shells being fired at Allied planes.
On one mission, Evans’ tail gunner was hit and flak penetrated his lung. There was a medic on board who saved the tail gunner’s life by giving him morphine to slow the bleeding for the rest of the mission, which lasted several hours.
Many missions are memorable to Evans and he had plenty of close calls, but one that he spoke of makes one wonder if it was more than luck that brought him through unscathed. “I had a piece of flack penetrate my side window about 12 inches from my head. We were on a bomb run in Belgium and all of asudden I felt the cold air on my ear. I was too involved with flying a safe course … when I finally looked it had knocked a hole out of my window. That’s all I got was the cold air, not a piece of steel through my head,” he said.
Evans said that some missions saw the loss of 1,000 airplanes inone day. He recalled, “If the Germans had had the free run they would have won the war, but we bombed their manufacturing resources, mainly their fuel sources.”
After the war, Evans had a long and distinguished career with American Airlines. He now resides in Saratoga Springs and recently celebrated his 94th birthday with many family and friends visiting from out oftown.
The 2,000 veteran interviews are available to the public and researchers at the New York Military Museum located at 61 Lake Avenue inSaratoga Springs, and some can be accessed through the Saratoga Springs Public Library at http://www.sspl.org/research/local_history/veterans.
