Veterans History Project | Senator Chuck Grassley

Since the Veterans History Project was approved by Congress and the President in 2000, over 100,000 veterans have described their service in audio and video recordings that are now part of the collection. Submissions have been archived from veterans of World War I through Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

Iowa has a long history of supporting our nation’s military. In the Civil War, more than 76,000 Iowans served (more than any other state per capita), 114,242 Iowans served in World War I, 226,638 Iowans served in World War II, approximately 85,000 Iowans served in the Korean War, approximately 115,000 Iowans served in the Vietnam War, 3,050 Iowans served in the Persian Gulf War and thousands more have served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa hosts an annual Veterans History Project event the Friday before Veterans Day. He has submitted more than 60 recorded interviews of Iowa veterans to the Library of Congress to preserve their stories and honor their service for generations to come.

The Veterans History Project collects and makes accessible firsthand interviews and narratives of United States military veterans from World War I through the present. Grassley invites Iowa’s veterans to contribute by participating in a 30-minute to an hour-long taped interview about their service in the military. The interviews will then be made available through the Library of Congress. For more information on the Library of Congress’s Veterans History Project, visit http://www.loc.gov/vets.

“Iowa has a rich history of service members fighting on behalf of our country,” Grassley said. “This is an opportunity for Iowa’s veterans to tell their stories and document their contributions to American history for future generations.”

To learn more about this project please call Grassley’s Veterans Fellow, Harrison Swift, at 515-288-1145 or email him at VeteransFellow_Grassley@grassley.senate.gov.

Below are the completed records of veterans who have participated in the Veterans History Project with Sen. Grassley’s office.

· Stephen R. Batten – Page County

· John Biege – Webster County

· Leonard Bisher – Grundy County

· Darrell A. Blasberg - Bremer County

· Erling Bligard – Webster County

· James L. Brandau – Bremer County

· Michael Dean Brees – Marion County

· Cecil Buschbom – Grundy County

· Jimmy L. Carter – Marshall County

· Gerald Alan Edgar – Pottawattamie County

· George Ewers – Marshall County