Published: February 04, 2007 12:46 am      

Military Project: Area vets sharing stories

Niagara Falls Junior Military League Cadets interview veterans

Staring into the camera, Bill Davis described the machinery he piloted, his struggles in boot camp and the soldiers who were wounded or died at his side in battle.

The Niagara Falls resident and Vietnam veteran, his hair banded into a pony tail sticking out from beneath a worn blue cap, didn’t shy away from the details of his three stints in southeast Asia with the Marine Corps. His interview was the first in a series conducted Saturday by the Niagara Falls Junior Military League Cadets at The Summit in Wheatfield.

The project is meant to offer future generations a glimpse into what their forefathers went through to maintain America’s freedom, according to Christopher DiDonna, cadet commander.

“It’s for the kids,” said DiDonna, who served a tour of duty in South Korea. “Maybe in 100 years, 150 years, someone will get some of these CDs and see what it was like.”

Running the show on camera was Nick Forster. The 11-year-old cadet private, whom DiDonna said could turn out to be “the next Dan Rather,” wrote the questions as part of an assignment and conducted the interviews.

“I enjoy learning about it,” said Forster, who gained information from the veterans on the units in which they served and what weapons they used, among other details of military service.

The focus of Saturday’s event was on World War II and Korean War veterans, DiDonna said, because they are dying at a rate of about 3,000 a day. Only about 3 million World War II veterans are left, he said.

All veterans were welcome, though, including Vietnam vets like Davis, who supported the effort.

“I think it’s a good idea to give these kids something to do,” said Davis, who came to Western New York after returning to the United States in 1977.

Sharing the stage at the mall Saturday were the Western New York Young Marines, who held a recruiting session. The group, while not a recruiting tool for the U.S. Marines, gives children ages 8 to 17 some of the tools they might need in the armed forces or anywhere else in life, said Cyndi Stonebreaker, the unit commander.

“They find out the world is bigger than just their video games and what they do in school,” Stonebreaker said of her troops, who take part in parades and community service, among other duties.

While that group focused on its members’ future, the cadets put an emphasis on the past. The recordings made Saturday will be sent to the Library of Congress for archiving, DiDonna said.

“I wish we could have has something like this (in the past) so we could have records about other war veterans, like the Civil War veterans,” he said.

Contact Paul Lane at 282-2311, Ext. 2259.