I Spent Five Years Interviewing WWII Veterans Around America. Here’s What I Learned

In 2016, I set out to have as many World War II veterans as possible sign my M1 Garand rifle.  The reason? I wanted the challenge of competing in a race against time. I was well aware the Greatest Generation was departing at an alarming rate, with almost seven hundred dying each day. Initially, the thought of a rifle used in World War II, covered in as many names as possible of men who had fought in famous battles, sounded like the ultimate collector’s item for my man cave. But it became so much more to me. 

I would always make small talk with the veterans when meeting with them. Their stories were amazing to hear, and of course, I needed to know where and when they had served. I was thirty or so signatures into the project when one veteran’s daughter said, “Wow, I never heard Dad say that before.”