From Combat to Kentucky Oral History Project: KCTCS

The interviews generated from this project build upon existing WWII, Korean, and Vietnam veterans' collections held at the Nunn Center. In contrast to veterans of previous foreign wars, veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan were in a volunteer military and thus are a small percentage of the population. Their stories are historically relevant but m any Americans have no personal connection to service members or veterans. Some do not even realize the wars are still going on, as Andrew Napier, one of the interviewees, remarks in his interview. He speaks about returning home from the war in Iraq and meeting someone that asked, "Oh, is that still going on?" This collection of interviews not only educates fellow Kentuckians about the wars but they also personalize history, providing little known stories of active duty and the challenges associated with returning to civilian and student life.