Korean War veterans to speak at Grand Valley

A panel of Korean War veterans from West Michigan will share their experiences in and out of combat during an event at Grand Valley State University sponsored by the GVSU Veterans History Project and the GVSU Stars and Stripes Club.

“Tell America: Korean War Veterans Share Their Stories,” is planned for   Wednesday, April 8, at 6 p.m. at the Alumni House, Allendale Campus. After the panel discussion, the veterans will answer questions and mingle with the audience over light refreshments. The event is free and open to the public. Media are encouraged to attend.

Professor James Smither, in the Department of History, serves as the director of the Grand Valley Veterans History Project. In partnership with the Library of Congress, the Grand Valley project records oral history interviews with veterans of and civilian witnesses to the wars and conflicts that Americans have participated in over the last century, with the purpose of creating as complete a record as possible of the American experience in wartime.

The interviews are archived in the Special Collections of Grand Valley’s libraries, which is housed in Seidman House on the Allendale Campus, and available online as part of the libraries’ Digital Collections at www.gvsu.edu/library/digitalcollections. Biographical information on each interviewee also goes to the Library of Congress for its Veterans History Project database.

For more information about the event, contact Smither at (616) 331-3422. For more information about the GVSU Veterans History Project visit, www.gvsu.edu/vethistory.