Heritage Center assembles men and women who took part in Veterans History Project

Nov, 16-2009 1:51 pm

By JACKIE HANUSEY
Staff Writer

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP – For the first time, in honor of Veterans Day, the servicemen and women who have had their oral histories taken by the Atlantic Heritage Center for the Library of Congress were brought together Saturday afternoon, Nov. 14 at Zion United Methodist Church.

In the two years that the Atlantic Heritage Center has been conducting interviews, more than 50 area veterans have related their stories about serving in the armed forces before, during and after times of war.

The oldest veterans are in their late 80s, and the stories are not just the World War II generation, but from Korean and Vietnam veterans too.

With more than a thousand veterans dying every day, the Library of Congress launched the Veterans History Project nine years ago to preserve their stories.

“Here in South Jersey is it easy to go unrecognized,” said Richlyn Goddard, committee chairwoman for the Atlantic Heritage Center Veterans History Project.

A professor of Africana studies at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Goddard was the one who decided to start this project in this area.

And the veterans who took part in the project are not only men; three women are being honored Saturday for sharing their stories as well.

Frances Galati Wyand of Atlantic City joined the Marines in 1943. She went with a group of women from her native West Virginia to a recruitment office, but she was the only one who went through with enlisting.

After six months as a teacher, the 21-year-old would serve until 1945 at Camp Lejeune as a cook.

The camp was comprised of all women, but when Marine William Wyand was wounded in the South Pacific, he was brought there to rest and recover.

The two met and got married at the camp and went on to have nine children.

While William Wyand passed away before the project started, his wife put her and her husband’s stories on tape for the record.

“I think it is important to let people know,” Wyand said in an interview before the presentation. “Men don’t like to talk about it.”

The veterans who participated Saturday got a special packet of information that included a cassette tape copy of their interview.

Betty Steelman of Egg Harbor Township was a member of the WAVES, a division of the Navy that stands for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service.

She accepted a packet for her and her husband, John Steelman, who served in the Army Air Force.

She enlisted during World Ward II to get help furthering her education and did office work from 1944-1946.

“I wanted to study,” Steelman said.

She qualified for the GI Bill and studied business, then worked 10 years for Boardwalk National Bank of Atlantic City and a decade with Prudential Insurance.

She said that at another Veterans Day event last week, she was the only woman there who served when she did.

Steelman joined the Atlantic Cape chapter of AmVets only recently.

“In the last couple years I felt I wanted to feel more patriotic,” she said. “I want to think about it and remember those still living.”

Helen Walsh of Margate, a trustee of the Atlantic Heritage Center, volunteered as one of the interviewers.

She said she had the chance to meet many interesting people.

“This is a chance for future generations to listen to the real voices of their grandparents or great-grandparents,” Walsh said Saturday.

“It is incredible the important sacrifices and generosity of these people,” she said. “They don’t see their own stories as being very special.”

Walsh said they are in fact very special and that talking about what they saw and did has been beneficial to them.

“They find it therapeutic to talk about it,” said Goddard, who emphasized that this event is by no means the end of the interview project.

“If you have sons and daughters who are serving in the military now, their stories are just as valuable as our elders’,” she said.

The original audio tapes have been sent to the Library of Congress, but copies are kept for research at the Atlantic Heritage Center, 907 Shore Road, Somers Point.

Anyone interested in sharing their story or volunteering to interview veterans is asked to call the Heritage Center at (609) 927-5218. Interviewers will come to veterans for the interviews, which run about 90 minutes.

To learn more about the project see www.loc.gov/vets.

To comment on this story email Jackie.Hanusey@catamaranmedia.com.