Internship in Public History: Veterans History Project UCF 2022

 Week Five: USS Essex LDH2 USS Essex LDH2 This week in the Veterans History Project, I have been assigned an interview of a veteran who served in the United States Navy in the Naval Hospital through the majority of her service. I have multiple weeks before the interview and in the spirit of preparation, I have decided to conduct my own personal research one one of the two naval assault ships our veteran had served upon.  Indian Ocean. November 2011. Photo from Sea Forces. The USS Essex is a handed down name with 4 previous ships coming before the current model of the named ship. After the retirement of version 4, the current version was awarded it's name on September 10th, 1986 before it's commission on October 17th, 1992 (Sea Forces, 2022).  Following it's commission, it's homeport was finally settled in Sasebo, Japan where it remains to this day.  The ship is classified as a Wasp class Amphibious Assault Ship that specializes in technical data regarding armament, a...

 Week Four: Processing and Logging AV Logs and Abstracts This week in the Veterans History Project, I have been assigned my first official task of finalizing a interview by processing it's AV Log and preparing an abstract for it. I have the privilege of learning and assisting in the documentation of a Vietnam veteran who had been stationed in Virginia as a typist for general supply until he was shipped to Germany as an engineer, building bridges and other necessary objects until his shipment to Vietnam. For the sake of privacy, I will refer to our veterans as John Doe.  Here, There, Everywhere Mr. Doe experienced a very active service with multiple occupations in various places during his time in the United States Army. After being drafted, Mr. Doe studied as an Electrician in New Jersey before transferring to Virginia where he worked as a typist under a quartermaster.  He then spent several months in Germany as an engineer and several months in England on air bases ...

 Week Three: Labor Day Weekend Labor Day Weekend Just like that, I am officially a North Carolinian! This past long weekend I was able to help my family move from our home in Fort Myers to a new location in Murphy, North Carolina. My parents have been wanting to move once they retired and this year they were able to find a house nested in the southern point of Appalachia in the Smoky mountains. Not only is the view gorgeous, but its right in the middle of Civil War history and memory. Andersonville and Veterans History     As I was driving home Monday, Memorial Day, my parents ironically stopped for gas in Andersonville, GA. Unknown to the dark history of the town, I explained how the largest (and most famous) Civil War prison had been located in the town with many Union soldiers meeting their fate in the prison.  Camp Sumter, commonly known as Andersonville, was the deadliest landscape of the Civil War. NPS cites that of the 45,000 Union soldiers imprisoned here, ne...

  Week Two: Getting Started First meeting This past Monday, August 29th, I was able to meet my fellow team members for this project and discuss a game plan for the semester. Much of it was new to me, but it seems there is a lot of work to be done. To start of, I'll be conducting interviews and researching topics regarding information I learn in the interviews I conduct. To do that, however, I must be equipped with the tools to effectively administer interviews and research for this project. After the meeting, I was given a plethora of instructional material to educate me  in such matters with encouragement from the team to push towards those goals. I truly feel equipped and prepared to tackle whatever this internship has to offer.  Veterans Day 2022 One topics we discussed in our first meeting was the preparation of Veterans Day on Memory Mall.  Friday, November 11 is significant not just as a remembrance to Veterans, but the day itself. November 11, 1918 m...