I have a bold and maybe naive question to ask of those WWII survivors that may be out there.

Have you taken any steps to keep not just your story, but your equipment's story, alive?

What I mean is, have you recorded your experiences, and have you recorded your keepsake's history?

Many people have recorded their story but have memorabilia or items from their service time that will languish as anonymous trinkets if they do not have their story recorded. What did that web belt accompany you through? Did that bottle in the bottom of your locker help you celebrate something special? Were you one of the lucky ones who got to bring their service rifle back with them, or send home a captured weapon? Does anyone know the story? When you pass away will those items that have a special story be passed on to someone who cares, and who will keep those stories alive?

I urge all of you that have any kind of memorabilia or equipment to try to keep the story of your gear as alive as the story of your own experiences. In another 60 years will someone be seeing just another piece of memorabilia with a generic label on it, or will they see that these were items issued to a specific serviceman in a specific unit, that were carried during a particular action or campaign?

To those of you who have living relatives that are survivors of WWII, or any other conflict were they served this country, get those veterans to tell their stories, and get them recorded. Urge the veteran to pull out all of their old memorabilia and share the stories with you. Take a camcorder, or voice recorder and capture all of the information that you can before it is too late.

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PEOPLE SLEEP PEACEABLY IN THEIR BEDS AT NIGHT ONLY BECAUSE ROUGH MEN STAND READY TO DO VIOLENCE ON THEIR BEHALF. GEORGE ORWELL