News Coverage
Event honors veterans, premieres movie
By Lad Strayer
Betty Herter, who lives at Grand Court Adrian in Adrian Township, views memorabilia from World War II that was on display Thursday as a way of doing something special for veterans and other Grand Court residents.
http://www.lenconnect.com/homepage/x1885880951/Event-honors-veterans-premieres-movie
The Independence Day holiday got off to a celebratory start with Grand Court Adrian paying tribute to America’s veterans — specifically the 20 who live at the facility in Adrian Township.
“We do a lot with our veterans here and wanted to do something special for the Fourth of July,” said Sherri Watkins, director of sales and marketing at Grand Court.
A display of World War II-era equipment and paraphernalia was set up in the entry at Grand Court on Thursday. Vendors from Innovative Senior Care, Lifepack, The Answer and other personal services for seniors were available Thursday afternoon for veterans and their spouses, as well as residents and visitors. Veterans representatives and others took part in the event, which featured health screenings and lots of food.
The “Salute to Our Nation’s Veterans” featured the premiere of a movie. Rick Neeley and Chris Wulf from the University of Toledo Veterans History Project are part of “History Documented.”
Neeley and Wulf interviewed many of the veterans and put together a video tribute telling the stories of the men’s service in World War II. Information is available at the Web site, www.HistoryDocumented.com.
The video will be in the National Archives and will be in the archives at the University of Toledo, Neeley said.
One of those honored was Tom Thompson. Thompson flew missions for the Office of Strategic Services — the OSS, forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency. His job was to help scatter propaganda leaflets on enemy troops and in occupied France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany.
“I called myself a newspaper boy because we delivered these papers,” Thompson said. “We flew at night and dropped the leaflets all over. We called ourselves the Carpetbaggers. A couple of years ago, I met a man who served in the German Army, and he told me I should have been arrested for littering.”
Bob Vandenberg of Adrian, a World War II veteran, was visiting friends at Grand Court. He said he was pleased with the event.
“I made the most of my time in the army,” he said. “I got to see a lot of the world I wouldn’t have otherwise.”
Nine of the residents at Grand Court took part in the May 28 memorial event at Yankee Air Museum near Detroit and signed the poster — Detroit: Our Greatest Generation — honoring veterans. A copy of the poster is also on display in the entrance.
“We do a lot for the veterans who are here. I felt that when I walked in this morning,” said Travis Havens, who was in his first day as executive director.
The Deerfield native transferred to Grand Court, a move he called “coming home.” He began his career three years ago at Bixby Medical Center and also worked at the Charlotte Stephenson Home.
Pair interviews vets for archiving project
By Lad Strayer
Rick Neeley interviews Joseph Scire, 84, about his time on the USS Flasher, the most decorated submarine in World War II, Friday at Grand Court in Adrian.
ADRIAN, Mich. -
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected from its original version to remove an incorrect reference to a veteran’s death.
Two Toledo-area men are documenting area veterans’ stories for a national archiving project.
Chris Wulf and Rick Neeley co-founded History Documented, a quest to preserve the stories of those who served in the military, particularly during times of war. The information they collect is added to the national Veterans History Project for the Library of Congress.
On Friday, they stopped at Grand Court in Adrian and interviewed six aging veterans.
Neeley said he and Wulf discovered a few years ago while working together for the same company that they shared a common interest in history.
The pair started interviewing veterans last May, and to date have documented the stories of more than 50 of them, mostly from World War II. They travel to assisted living facilities in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan to conduct most of their interviews. The work is done out-of-pocket for Neeley and Wulf, but despite financial restrictions, they manage to interview a couple of veterans each week.
He said the project’s goal is to ensure that history will not be forgotten or lost for future generations.
“This project is something good to do, not only for the veterans and their families but to preserve their memories,” Neeley said. “We’ve interviewed some who have never shared their stories before now.”
On May 1, Neeley said, he interviewed war veteran Bob Shake of Toledo, who earned five Purple Hearts, five Bronze Stars and a Silver Star but had never shared his war experiences with anyone.
Wulf said he grew up in a veteran’s household and had several relatives who served in the military.
“I grew up with a respect for their service,” Wulf said. He received a college degree in history, and after discovering his and Neeley’s common interest, decided to do their part to contribute to the national archiving project.
The veterans’ interviews are videotaped, then Neeley and Wulf present a DVD for the service member’s family.
The information is also archived at the Ward M. Canaday Center in the William S. Carlson Library at the University of Toledo.
Among the service members who were interviewed Friday at Grand Court was Les Peck, a World War II veteran from Adrian and a survivor of the 1942 sinking of the Navy aircraft carrier U.S.S. Wasp. The carrier was sunk after being damaged by torpedoes during the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Pacific Ocean.
Peck said Friday he was happy to share his experience in the Navy to not only educate people, but share the stories for future generations.
The Navy veteran enlisted one week after the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. After 28 days of boot camp, Peck shipped out on the Wasp in January 1942, and received two Purple Hearts for his war service.
“I had never seen an anti-aircraft gun, or even a carrier, before I shipped out,” Peck said. After surviving the sinking of the Wasp, he finished his tour of duty before being discharged Oct. 17, 1945.
For more information about Wulf and Neeley’s project, visit www.historydocumented.com.
Toledo project tells veterans’ stories
Toledo Free Press
Written by Julie Ryan | | news@toledofreepress.com
Toledo-area war veterans no longer need to let textbooks tell their stories. Instead, residents and students can hear and see their narratives and learn from their experiences.
Late in 2007, Toledo natives Chris Wulf and Rick Neeley discovered their shared passion for history and began asking area war veterans to convey their stories. They founded History Documented, and gave local veterans the opportunity to document their war experiences.
Rick Neeley
Wulf said he began networking and setting up interviews in the Toledo area with the help of his father and grandfather. They take video clips from interviews and create short documentaries.
Once the veterans understand what they are doing, Neeley said, they open up to them.
Wulf said his family history inspired him to begin interviewing veterans.
“My grandfather, all my uncles and father included, were veterans of war and volunteered at VFW when I was little,” Wulf said. “I didn’t think much of it, but as I got older I realized, ‘Hey, these dads are dying off.’ ”
Neeley said there is immediacy to the project as the World War II veterans are aging, and their stories will be lost if they are not collected.
“We have a lot to learn from guys their age: their sacrifice, their dedication, their humility,” Neeley said.
Neeley said he recently interviewed a World War II veteran who had received five purple hearts. Until he spoke with Neeley, his story had gone untold, and Neeley said children need to hear it.
“We are not trying to glorify war but to show kids the sacrifice of their grandfathers and great grandfathers,” Neeley said.
Wulf said the veterans carry themselves with class and are an example of how Americans can react to today’s economy.
“They all talk about things — like the war and Depression — like, ‘Oh, it’s just a job, it’s not a big deal, it’s what we had to do.’ Compared to today, how they react to events and how we react to events: Everyone’s freaking about the deficit. But the veterans have character,” he said.
Funding for the project comes from Neeley and Wulf, which allows them to hold two interviews a week. Neeley said they would like to do more, but the cost of video recording, processing and editing, restrict them. Wulf is working to make History Documented an incorporated nonprofit.
“I hope future generations and children today would be most affected,” Wulf said. “That was our goal. I know growing up, history class was memorizing dates. I hope they can see the Vietnam War was more than two pages in a history book. I hope children and teachers can use it as an educational tool.”
Neeley said they want the project to be used in schools and they are making it visual to attract children. They are willing to do presentations in schools and at history events, he said.
“We’re looking for vets and we’re willing to travel across Northwest Ohio. We want to get the stories recorded,” Neeley said.
Wulf said they receive positive feedback. The families are thrilled, he said, because they are receiving a documentation of their history.
The documentary is available at the Ward M. Canaday Center in the William S. Carlson Library on UT’s main campus. Videos and project updates can be viewed online at historydocumented.com.
An article written for us by the Veterans History Center.
Remembering the deeds of military heroes
http://www.geaugamapleleaf.com/Story/Remembering-the-deeds-of-long-ago-heros-2-5-09
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
By Glen Miller 
Some of today’s high school history books may devote only a few pages each to World Wars I and II, and the Vietnam War. They say little about the experiences of the men and women who fought and died in them.
Chris Wulf thinks there is much more to be told about the wars, especially the personal stories people don’t hear or read about in the classroom. That’s why he has created HistoryDocumented.com,”>HistoryDocumented.com, a veterans’ history Web site developed in conjunction with the University of Toledo.
The purpose of the Web site is simple. Wulf said he and Web site co-founder Rick Neely, of Toledo, want to make sure the history of the horrific wars will never again be forgotten and lost to future generations.
Too many veterans are forgotten, including their stories.
“We want the world to know the hardships the United States has suffered in order to guard us from foreign evils,” Wulf states in the Web site. “We simply overlook our freedom in this country and the sacrifices so many men and women have given us.”
For many people born after the Vietnam War, the conflict in the Southeast Asian country and the battles fought in Korea have been forgotten. They also know little or nothing about Rommel and Patton, and the battles the German and American generals fought against each other’s armies in North Africa during 1942.
They may know little about the men and women who fought under Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf during the Gulf War of 1991.
Wulf, of Chester Township, and Neely have spent the last 18 months interviewing veterans or their families about their war experiences. The ongoing interviews are chronicled on the Web site. Copies of them also are sent to the National Archives in Washington, D.C.. Others are provided to the University of Toledo, which has created an archives in its library devoted to veterans and the wars in which they have fought.
HistoryDocumented.com is an educational Internet resource that teachers, students and anyone interested in history can access to find “firsthand accounts of history they can’t find in textbooks–things that bring historical events to life and make them more real.”
Eventually, Wulf said he and Neely plan to create their own large archive devoted to veterans’ who fought in wars over the last nine decades. This way, students and teachers can visit HistoryDocumented.com knowing the information is “real documented evidence,” he said.
A 2005 graduate of Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Wulf had been unable to find a job in his profession–history. So his wife, Rebecca, suggested he start his own Web site dealing with veterans. He was working on a truck loading dock in the Toledo area when he asked Neely, a co-worker who also loves history, if he was interested in helping to interview veterans.
“I was kind of frustrated by not keeping my hands in some aspect of history, so my wife thought this would be a good idea because this is becoming a forgotten part of our history,” he said.
Some veterans are willing to talk about their experiences, others are not. About 20 interviews have been completed for HistoryDocumented.com,”>HistoryDocumented.com, a dozen of which have been posted on the Web site. Some include photos.
Wulf said he is looking for veterans or their relatives from throughout Northeastern Ohio and the United States who feel their stories are an important part of the untold history of the wars fought over the last 95 years by Americans.
Most men and women who have fought in wars do not talk about their experiences, publish books or relate their stories to their families. Sometimes families are not interested, so they cannot pass on their loved ones war tales for history’s sake, Wulf said.
World War II veterans have a priority. Approximately 1,300 of them die each day.
Wulf, who now is employed by the Geauga County Archives and Records Center, said and his wife were saddened to read veterans obituaries that only make passing reference to the battles in which they fought or their military service.
“We felt history is literally dying everyday and we needed to do something about it,” he added. “We want to capture their stories while they are still here.”
Bill Travis, a Toledo area man, was in the Battle of the Bulge. He was among the thousands of soldiers who fought against a counter-attacking German Army in Belgium’s dense Ardennes Forest in 1944.
He recalled driving an Army jeep carrying wounded combatants to medical care.
He got lost.
“He said he watched one man die in front of him,” Wulf said.
Another Toledo area man, Robert Zeller, was a radio operator and gunner aboard a B-24 Bomber that belonged to the 445th Bomb Group commanded by Major Jimmy Stewart, the famed actor who personally piloted missions over Germany. The bomber unit was part of the 8th Air Force.
Neither Zeller nor Stewart flew the day 32 out of 35 bombers were shot down by about 100 German fighter planes.
Zeller grimly watched as the lockers of dozens of dead or captured airmen were cleaned out. There was no time to mourn. The next day he was aboard one of 10 B-24s that bombed Germany.
“That’s the kind of history you don’t read about or hear about. It hits home, hard,” Wulf said.
So far only one Geauga County veteran has been interviewed. Wulf is looking for more.
He and Neely will interview veterans from any war or conflict, although they prefer World War II because of rising death rate of those who fought in it. Each veteran is given a copy of the interview on a DVD for them to share with their family.
They also set up historical displays for events and currently are working on many other projects. They often do group interviews with veterans, especially those who visit a World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.
“We have plenty of ideas and goals. It just takes time and money,” Wulf said. “It is difficult because right now we do this out of our own pocket and in our free time. Our first goal is to find time where we can consistently do interviews as a job.”
When he is not working on his Web site, Wulf is a part-time graduate student in an Ursuline College historic preservation program directed by former county archivist Dr. Bari Oyler Stith.
