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NewswireTODAY - /newswire/ -
Boone, NC, United States, 2014/06/18 - With World War II veterans dying at the rate of about 600 per day, the work of the Appalachian High Country World War II Roundtable has never been more important - AppalachianWWIIVets.org.
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Although this group is tasked with operating as a club to highlight and honor older veterans, those graduating from The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Military Officers Association and Disabled American Veterans, organizers knew that the one thing of most importance it can offer the community is sharing of experiences in that fast disappearing section of history known as World War II and the environment of the mid-20th century.
In a survey of membership, the group discovered that it had veterans of almost every major aspect of World War II. It also knew that students and young people, who only got the broad brush treatment in school history, would welcome opportunities to listen and question those veterans.
To that end, the organization set up the following guidelines:
• Open membership to all veterans and charge no dues for membership.
• Make veterans available to any school or church upon request to interchange our experiences.
• Set up nonprofit status to the IRS and operate on donations, book and video sales to raise our own funds. The group has conducted two symposiums that were paid for and plan to conduct at least one each year, with no charge to attend.
• We established LOCAL VETERANS VIDEO MUSEUM’S with the Watauga County (N.C.) Public Library, as we had previously done with the Johnson County (Tenn.) Public Library and provided them with DVDs of veterans who we interviewed to document their stories. The interviews are now conducted by the local television station in Boone, N.C., and are played daily on a program we introduced called, Veterans Voice. More than 100 programs have been conducted at the TV station. In addition to furnishing copies of the DVDs to the libraries and the veterans themselves, the World War II veterans have made them up in books and sold them as collector’s items.
• The TV program has grown in popularity, and in addition to interviewing new veterans, programs of veteran group discussions about specific events and World War II classic movies are mixed in.
• Currently, The AHCWW II Roundtable is visiting surrounding counties schools, upon request and providing students interchange with the veterans.
• Ken Wiley, author of "Lucky Thirteen"; "D Days in The Pacific with the Coast Guard in WW II," and an award-winning author, is publishing four new books. All of the proceeds of one of the books,“Shadows of The Past” will go to the AHCWW II Roundtable.
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veteranken[.]charter.net 
