smallest hero image

C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience

Veterans Project

The combined energy and experience of an intergenerational team of collaborators that includes Washington College students and local veterans brings wartime memories vividly to life. 

 

Starting in the summer of 2014, the Starr Center’s StoryQuest students embarked on an ongoing mission to search out and interview members of “The Greatest Generation;” local Kent County heroes who served in World War II.  Students conducted interviews with veterans, capturing vivid first-person stories of remarkable men and women, including an eyewitness to the Pearl Harbor attack, a B-24 gunner shot down over the Adriatic Sea, and one of the first female officers in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Students recorded their experiences in a project blog, curated a traveling exhibition, posted the interviews to iTunesU, invited World War II historians to speak on campus, and hosted a film series. The project culminated in an innovative performance piece, “The Real War,” created by students and veterans that combined historic and contemporary images, oral recordings, spoken word performances, and a musical score by the renowned Trio Galilei.