Interviews of Jackson Residents who Went to World War II
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This website features oral histories of veterans from the Second World War who resided in Jackson, Ohio. Seven vets beginning in 1989 gave oral histories to me. I audio–taped the question–and–answer interviews. Later my wife Aggie and my former legal secretary Bonnie Dameron very capably transcribed them. I removed most of the questions to turn the transcripts into narrative texts.
The veterans’ recollections remain the veterans’ own words‚ with the sometimes coarse language and grammatical errors left in. I included biographical details before and after the war so the reader can understand that these were all very capable and successful men. I was struck by the breadth of wartime experiences which folks from our small town encountered. Every town has similar stories, so imagine the impact which the Second World War had upon our people across the nation!
The texts are quite lengthy‚ so I divided each narration into chapters and prepared extensive links to outside sources‚ frequently Wikipedia or YouTube. Each link opens onto its own window‚ so you can close the hypertext window to return easily to the original text. Just click on the x in the tab for the window. Feel free to click on the links. Also, I styled the text so that it will print from most browsers‚ with appropriate page breaks. The photographs were intended to be taken only from the public domain, or with appropriate photo credit. Please select an oral history below by clicking on the small photographic icon.