DON’T LET IT BE TOO LATE If Patti Leitner could convey anything to other Auxiliary members considering participating, it would be, “Don’t wait too long.” Veterans are dying every day, and their histories are going with them — including two men she had considered as possible subjects. “To be honest, it was a touchy thing. A lot don’t want to talk about it,” she said. Leitner, Auxiliary 4513, Fairfield
Bay, Arkansas, had approached several veterans who declined to participate before mentioning it to a friend on the golf course last year. Air Force Vietnam War veteran Andy Terpening and his wife, Johanna, were friends and fellow Post and Auxiliary members. “He was just so proud of what he’d done,” Leitner said. “And what a great opportunity to show respect for him.” Andy thought about it for a few
more holes that day before agreeing. “I hope the interview goes better than my putting,” he joked. In Terpening’s home office,
surrounded by photos and memorabilia from his service as an F4 fighter pilot, Leitner set up a tape recorder for the interview. “The thing that struck me was we had to stop the tape three times because he broke down,” Leitner said. “The thing he really talked about was the camaraderie of all the GIs together.”
WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT... Roxanne Demars heard about
the Veterans History Project through Auxiliary 569, Fulton, New York. The
16 LADIES AUXILIARY VFW MAGAZINE
perfect opportunity arose two years ago while visiting her husband’s cousin, Donald Sholett, an Army veteran of the Vietnam War. Over the years, she had noticed
he resisted talking about his war experiences. Sholett suffered from PTSD and was clearly upset when the subject came up, she said.
So Demars was surprised when he said “yes” to her invitation. “When he did the interview, I was just so thrilled he could.”
Many of his answers were “short and sweet,” she said, but several times the talk brought both subject and interviewer to tears. Other questions would lead from a particular mission to his memories of the soldiers’ daily activities and what they found to do for fun. He remembered all the good things and seemed to have turned much of it into good memories, she said. Demars’ father and uncles were veterans, but they never talked about their experiences while she was growing up. “So I never knew,” she said.
What Sholett gave her was even
more pride for veterans, she said. “I went away from him with a better understanding of what our veterans went through.” It’s so disturbing to attend a parade or sporting event where spectators don’t show respect for the American Flag, she said. “I think people need to be taught — they need to learn this. I hope people will use this information and they will learn from it what a veteran is and what they have gone through for us.” n MS
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