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Project makes last push to interview remaining Augusta-area WWII veterans

Augusta Chronicle - 6/25/2020

Jun. 24--For the past decade, Fred Gehle has been on a mission to make sure every World War II veteran in the area has a chance to tell their story in front of a camera.

Gehle is the program coordinator for the Veterans History Project, a national program from the Library of Congress which aims to record interviews of every American war veteran so future generations can hear directly from them and understand the realities of war. Gehle grew up during WWII, so he decided to focus on finding and interviewing veterans from the second World War as part of the project.

"At the time, we thought it might be a two-year project with maybe a couple of hundred veterans in the CSRA. We have interviewed way over 850 veterans," he said.

Now, the project is nearing completion with most of WWII veterans passing away. Gehle said its in the summary stage and few additional interviews are expected considering most of the veterans are close to 100 years old.

Gehle said Tuesday they will be interviewing a couple of veterans in Washington, Ga.,at a Kiwanis Club luncheon. He said there is always the possibility of a WWII veteran who recently moved to the area and hasn't been interviewed.

"If someone is 105 years old, which I doubt, a year or so from now and he just moved into town to be with his family, we will interview him," he said.

Gehle said he is troubled every time he sees a local obituary of an veteran who was not interviewed. He said the interviews have even been used at their funerals.

"Each veteran was given a copy of the interview. Many have passed on since then, some of these interviews have been played at their funerals," he said. "We feel very proud of having done a national program relative to the veterans in the CSRA."

Gehle, who is retired and works from his dining room table, said he is always open to interview more WWII veterans who might have moved to the area. Those interested, who have not been interviewed, can contact him at (706) 738-8242.

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