A group in York County is working hard to preserve history and they need help from local veterans. The group is looking for veterans from any county who served during WWII or the Korean War.
Anthony Stabile is a veteran who is decorated as the walls in his home. He served during several wars. “The latter part of WWII, the Korean War and Vietnam,” said Capt. Anthony Stabile, retired USMC. “Every base was surrounded in Vietnam, every base. At night time they would mortar, and try to infiltrate, and get in. In one case there was a bridge our outfit, the tank battalion and they blew the bridge up and it killed a couple of marines,” said Capt. Stabile.
It’s stories like this, both good and bad, that he wanted to share for the Veterans History Project. “I did a lot of things for this country and I think somebody should hear what I did,” said Capt. Stabile.
“If you were on the front lines what type of combat did you experience?” said Stephanie Knaper as she read one of the questions veterans are asked during their interview. Knaper and Dave Sunday both work at the York County Courthouse. Knaper is a Court Stenographer and Sunday is an Assistant District Attorney. ”
Two days are scheduled for interviews: September 26th and October 3rd The interviews will be conducted at the York County Courthouse. Both are on a committee in charge of finding veterans for the project.
“We were trying to get 60 veterans, and to date we only have about 25,” said Knaper.
“As sad as it is, we have two of the people that were signed up to give us their stories pass away in the last few weeks. I guess that is sort of a testament to we need to get this done sooner than later,” said Sunday.
Sunday said they need more local veterans to tell their stories and help preserve history. “Every story lost is a history that we won’t ever be able to understand,” said Sunday.
Veterans are sent a list of questions before their interview so they can prepare. The interviews have to be 30 minutes in duration and they have to be 20 pages long. If there’s any pictures submitted with the transcript they have to be original pictures.
The National Court Reporters Association took on this project a few years ago. “Interviewers that ask questions of the veteran take down in steno graph what they are saying,” said Knaper.
For more information or to help, call Stephanie Knaper (717) 771-9320.
