Let Your Legacy
Be Their Guide.

Prepare the next generation to better understand the importance of sacrifice, service, duty, and loyalty by sharing your memories.

First Time Shared Story

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Found Process Cathartic

54

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Would Recommend

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Veteran Programs

Your service story is an important primary source of history.
Oral History Interview
Each fall, teachers guide students as they interview veteran participants. Any photos from your service, particularly a service photo, and any memorabilia you wish to share, should be brought to the interview so that the images can be included with your published story. Using the recorded interview and notes, the students will write your story. With your approval of the final essay, students prepare the story during the winter for inclusion in our annual hard-bound publication of veterans’ memories, called Since You Asked.
 Open Veteran Brochure →
Archive Your Legacy
Your recorded interview is submitted to the Veterans History Project in the Library of Congress American Folklife Center, and can be viewed through their website. Every volume of Since You Asked is also donated to the Library of Congress by Veterans Heritage Project. We are honored to provide you a complimentary copy of the recorded interview, and the edition in which your story is published. Your documented legacy becomes a cherished family heirloom, and a source of history for future generations.
 Library of Congress →
Community Book Receptions
Students plan and host regional Community Receptions and Book Signings to present each edition of the current year's volume of service stories published in Since You Asked. The free events are open to all, and are held during April and May. Your student interviewer will ensure you receive an invitation to the event for your edition. The reception includes patriotic music, student statements, and recognition of all veterans in attendance. Attendees have the opportunity to purchase a book, and thank you for your service as you sign the pages of your story.
Save the date for 2024 →
Speaker Series
Veterans who have participated in our program may be interested in continuing to share their story and life lessons. VHP works with school chapters and prospective school partners to bring veteran presentations to classrooms and school assemblies. Organizations also choose to sponsor a veteran presentation as a way to celebrate the service of their veteran employees, while supporting our mission. VHP is happy to guide you in crafting your story into a 20 to 40 minute presentation along with visuals.
 See recorded presentations →

Veteran Library

LOC visit
Library of Congress
Search the interviews filmed by our students and archived with the Library of Congress. Our student authors are the largest contributors to this congressional program.
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books on shelf
Since You Asked™
Our student-published collection of veterans' memories is an annual hard-covered book. Dating back to 2005, each edition is available for online purchase .
Obtain a Copy
phil and howard
Interviewed Veterans
Search by veteran, conflict era, branch of service, student author, school chapter, or year of publication to locate the volume and edition in which the story is published.
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What our Community is Saying

The impact of Veterans Heritage Project runs deep.
Bob Patrick
Extraordinary
"[Veterans Heritage Project] is by far the top single contributor of veterans' interviews to the Library of Congress in America today. What VHP does is extraordinary." - Col. Robert Patrick, Director, Veterans History Project in the Library of Congress
Crow
Nothing Better
"We can leave history to the cynics, who write movies and portray things as if they are fanciful, or morbid, or worse. Or we can have young scholars sit face to face with veterans and hear their stories, write their stories, publish their stories, and advance their stories. There's no history better than that.” - Dr. Michael Crow, Arizona State University President
Vern Clark
Impressed
"The manner in which the student was able to grasp all of the details–and the articulation, it was just fabulous. My generation has a tendency sometimes to reflect and wonder if the next generation is going to be good enough for America. The thing that most impressed me about Sam, is that he convinced me that America is in such good hands.” - Admiral Vern Clark, US Navy, Retired
Joe Brett
Transformational
"The letters and being involved in the book-signing event were transformational moments in my life. They led to me being able to deal with a moral wound of survival guilt that has dogged me since July of 1970 without me fully realizing it.” - Joe Brett, Vietnam Veteran
Ken S
Outstanding
"As my daughter was reading my story, she says "OMG dad, I didn't know you did this." So if your own daughter doesn't know that much about you and your history in the military, how much do the people out there not know about what we do. So I think the Veterans Heritage Project is so outstanding in the fact that it gets that word out." - Kenneth Stefanisin, Coast Guard Reserve, Gulf War Veteran
Jim Kelsey
Vital
"In today’s society, with less than one percent of the US population serving in the Armed Forces, the Veterans Heritage Project serves as a vital role in bringing civilian society and military veterans together. Having a forum that allows the veteran to interact with young students and faculty in a non-threatening environment and receiving positive reinforcement to their life experiences is impossible to quantify." Col. James Kelsey, US Army, Retired

Request an Interview

Please click the sign up button and fill out the form. For more information about the interview process, please review our Veteran Brochure.

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interview

Meet Our Veterans

Veteran David Mills
Joining the Army on his 17th birthday with the consent of his parents, he went to basic training, then headed to the main line of resistance in Korea.
Veteran Lou Conter
After boot camp, Lou boarded the USS Arizona in Long Beach, CA on January 1940. His battleship found itself in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1941.
Bridging the Gap
The gap between the military and civilian population has never been larger. VHP provides knowledge of service and sacrifice, closing the gap so that the civilian population has the information needed to understand the military’s effect on public policy and national security.