Bargain basement attitudes
Every week at the newspaper office I get a fat envelope of miscellaneous information from the Kansas Press Association. They send notices about workshops and legislative stuff, and there is usually a nifty little bunch of filler items I can slip into the paper if we ever decide to run 12 or 14 pages and need to fill up space. (Don't hold your breath on that one — I would need an entire staff of people to pull that off.)
Anyway, the filler items swing between pretty interesting and pretty lame. I usually read them because I think I should. After all, they are from the Kansas Press Association — people who know the ins and outs of the newspaper world! I'll admit that sometimes I get a little smug when I read the lame ones. I think, "Shoot, how much are they paying THIS yo-yo? I could do better than that!" (But I have learned that getting smug about what someone else writes is never a good idea. Smug-ness always seems to settle in the week before I make a major screw-up of my own.)
A couple of weeks ago one of the filler items was a piece encouraging World War II vets to write their stories. I think that is an excellent idea! Last summer Janet Post interviewed Gene Obee of Burns about his time in a German POW camp. I have had more requests for that newspaper than for any other since I took this job. Yes, Gene got several copies for friends and family, but hardly a month goes by that someone doesn't come into the office and ask if I still have one of those "POW papers." I am down to 10 and have begun photocopying his story instead of selling those that I have left.
I don't know for sure what all that means. The people who have bought the old issues vary in age. I don't see a pattern except for their desire to read his tale. There seems to be a need to hear the stories of the veterans who fought in the war. I have read that World War II vets are dying at the rate of 1,000 a day. They are our fathers and grandfathers. They were kids when they signed up to do the job, but now they are leaving the ranks for good and many of them have never spoken of what they encountered, what they endured, or what they did.
Here is a thought. I still have that KPA filler item. How about if I make a bunch of copies and leave them in the city buildings in Burns, Elbing, Florence, Peabody, Potwin, and Whitewater? There are guidelines about getting started with a personal narrative. They list things to jog your memory (sketch your camp or ship quarters, name your 10 best friends, list 10 things you didn't like about chow, etc.) and give information about where to go for a cheap, but reliable, tape recorder if you just hate to write. Would you be willing to pick up the form and share your memories with the rest of us?
You don't have to send your stories to the paper, although I would jump at the chance to run a series on this and you are more than welcome to send them to me. Most of all, you just need to write them for yourself, your family, and your community. Perhaps your local library, historical society, American Legion or Auxiliary, or VFW would be willing to be in charge of keeping your stories available for future generations.
My father fought in Europe and the Pacific. He died in 1986 and I never thought to ask his story. Now I will never know. Don't do that to your offspring; what you did is too important. Share it.
Time is running out. Let me know what you think. Phone, fax, and e-mail addresses are listed below. Don't put this off.
— SUSAN MARSHALL
