Preserving Your History

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) –” I’ll never forget holding World War II medic Tony Acevedo in my arms. He wept and convulsed for more than 10 minutes, his body constricting and tightening in a way I’d never seen before. “I’m sorry,” he said, repeating, “I’m sorry. I want to say more, but I can’t.”

This is written by Wayne Drash, a correspondent with CNN, writing about American POW’s who were held at a slave labor camp, in Germany, known as Berga an der Elster. A slave labor camp that, until last week, had never been recognized as such by the Army.

He ends his report with this: “My final message is to my generation and the next. Don’t be so quick to shove grandpa and grandma into a nursing home. Sit down with them. Listen to them. Hear their stories. The greatest generation. They’re cut from a different cloth and we’re losing them too fast.”

Read the full story here.

It’s Father’s Day next week. What a perfect time to sit down and ask your dad….what? What are the things that you would need or would want to know if he wasn’t around? Do you know why he lives where he does? Do you know how he met your mother? Do you know what he was called when he was a kid?

There are so many different guides that give you questions to ask in an interview. But one of the best is from StoryCorps, the NPR sponsored radio show that records people talking about their lives. You can download their list of great interview questions from their website.

Take your dad to a quiet room, set up a camera or a tape recorder and start. It doesn’t even need to be all about him. My favorite question is what is your favorite memory of me? My dad told me many times about his favorite memory of me when I was 3 years old. We were in a hotel room in Florida and I was feeling sick. He was sitting with me trying to feed me chicken noodle soup. I looked at him and said “Hello cuckoo-face.” A fairly average moment, but he loved it. And he savored it enough to tell me about it years later.

Start your own conversation.

Do you have a story to tell? Have you thought about writing it down but talked yourself out of it? “No one would want to hear my story.” Not true! Maybe you just need some help to get started.

I would recommend you pick up a copy of “My Words Are Gonna Linger – The Art of Personal History” the anthology of life stories put together by the Association of Personal Historians (of which I’m a proud member). There are 49 stories gathered or written by the members of this organization. These tales range from lighthearted to deeply moving and personal. All show why it’s important to tell your story. (While you are at the website ordering your book, you can also pick up some practical tips for writing life stories. )

Your story is important. Get busy.