Museum to Collect Stories of Local Vets

DENNISVILLE—The Old School House Museum is looking for a few good men and women. At the township committee meeting on Sept. 17, Committeeman Al DiCicco announced that the local museum is planning to undertake an oral history project involving any interested township residents who are military combat veterans.
“We want to audio tape their stories so that there will always be a record of the brave service they’ve provided,” said DiCicco, who serves as committee liaison to the museum.
DiCicco hopes that veterans from our nation’s military engagements will come forth to share their stories which will be recorded by museum volunteers. Copies of the recordings will be given to participants with a copy of each interview retained for the museum for future use by anyone doing related history projects.
The idea originated, DiCicco recalled, when “we were visited at the museum by a veteran of several military campaigns going back to Vietnam. As the gentleman examined our display cases, he began telling us some of his experiences. We realized right then that we have to get stories like this recorded for future generations.”
Committeeman Frank Germanio asked if the museum would be reaching out to the referring to the Belleplain VFW. The answer was that the museum currently houses a display case containing memorabilia from a number of Belleplain residents who gave their lives during World War II and Korea. DiCicco hopes that the VFW and other organizations will provide a good source for the project as it unfolds.
“All we really need by way of supplies is a good tape recorder and lots of blank tapes. We’re prepared to record each participant either via a question and answer interview or just turn on the machine and let them speak…whichever way is more comfortable for the participant.”
While the project is still in the planning stage, museum volunteers are gathering names and contact information of any township veteran who is interested in participating.
For more information, email the museum at dennistwpmuseum@comcast.net.
The Old School House Museum is located on Petersburg Road in downtown Dennisville. It is open the first and third Saturdays of the month from 9:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.