FAIRFAX, VA — The Fairfax County History Commission is asking county residents and Vietnam War veterans to participate in an oral history project for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project, Annandale Today reports.
Interviews will run through early May 2027 and will be conducted by an adult and a teen age 15 or older.
Residents who know a veteran are encouraged to ask them to participate.
When Congress passed the Veterans' Oral History Project Act in 2000, an estimated 3,400 U.S. World War I veterans were still alive.
The last U.S. World War I veteran, Frank Buckles, died in 2011 at age 110. The following year, the world's last known surviving World War I veteran, Florence Green, who served in Britain's Women's Royal Air Force, died at 110.
The act also noted that about 6 million U.S. World War II veterans were alive in 2000, with nearly 1,500 dying each day. By 2026, an estimated 30,607 remained, according to Department of Veterans Affairs figures cited by the National WWII Museum.
According to Disabled American Veterans, a nonprofit organization that supports veterans, fewer than 850,000 of the 2.7 million Americans deployed to Vietnam are still alive. Getting their stories before their numbers dwindle further is critical to preserving history.
Residents and veterans interested in participating can email Sue Kovach Shuman, chair of the commission's Oral History Committee, at queenofcheaptravel@gmail.com.
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