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University keeps vets story project alive

COLUMBIA, Mo. — As a veteran of Afghanistan and an active member of the Army National Guard, Rep. Jason Kander knows the importance of sharing stories from combat. But he isn’t keen on the idea of doing that on taxpayers’ dimes — 6 million dimes, to be exact.

Kander was one of the state lawmakers who helped scrap $600,000 from the upcoming state budget that had been requested to support Missouri Veterans Stories, a project that records Missouri veterans talking about their war experiences.

Now, he and several other representatives are teaming up with the University of Missouri to recreate that veteran video program in a way that benefits students and saves taxpayer dollars.

Missouri Veterans Stories debuted in 2007 and has since produced about 1,300 videos of men and women sharing their memories from World War II. It has been operated out of Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder’s office and managed by a private video company, Patriot Productions.

When Kander began questioning the allocation during a budget committee meeting this past session, he learned that the state was the company’s only client. Further investigation revealed that those affiliated with Patriot Productions also made campaign contributions to Kinder, said Kander, D-Kansas City.

Then Kander asked how much each video cost. When lawmakers learned the price tag was $1,400 a video, “there was an audible gasp in the room,” he said.

Arguing against funding that supported a veterans program wasn’t easy, Kander said. “But when we’re in a budget crisis and cutting funding left and right from vital state services, it’s impossible to justify,” he said.

Enter Rep. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, who pointed out to lawmakers that the Missouri School of Journalism was located just up the road.

“Why aren’t we utilizing that entity to help create these videos?” she asked. “That serves a couple of purposes, including giving students not only technical training but also sort of a historical perspective.”

One faculty member was already doing similar work on campus. Last semester, professor Elaine Lawless tasked her graduate students to conduct field research by recording oral histories with veterans. She had been involved at the national level with the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project and wanted to see how it would work in the classroom.

“It was very successful,” Lawless said. “So it just represents one possibility of what can be done in Missouri.”

Last month, Lawless joined Kander, Schupp and Rep. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, and university representatives on the MU campus to discuss a future veterans’ video program for the state. The Missouri Veterans History Project Coalition is meeting again Monday to continue to hash out details of a new, non-political oral history program.

Committee members will have to determine how to implement oral histories into existing curricula on campus, how the equipment and supplies will be funded and whether to expand the histories to include interviews of younger veterans returning home with fresh memories.

Training also will be a key component, Lawless said. Her students sat through training on privacy laws and were armed with sample questions and release forms from the Veterans History Project before heading out with cameras to interview veterans. The preparation paid off.

“The feedback I got was that they felt like my students were thoughtful and good listeners and energetic about what they were doing,” Lawless said.

Although the program is in a preliminary stage, those involved in the endeavor agreed it’s worthwhile.

“We just felt that the story of Missouri veterans is sort of the story of our community, so we know who we are as a people, as a town, as a county and as a state, and the importance of recognizing the deeds of our citizens and what they’ve done,” Webber said.

And, perhaps just as important, “we’re going to continue it in a way the state can actually afford,” Kander said. “I’m a veteran of Afghanistan so I know a lot of people who have valuable stories to tell. I’m just not willing to spend $1,400 in taxpayer money for every one of those stories.”