ATTN: Vets…Don’t leave it to the historians. Have a story to pass on? There is no time like the present to tell it – When I was a boy, I remember the day the last Civil War veteran passed away. From that day on, it was up to the historians, not the veterans, to tell the story. The lone surviving WW1 vet, Frank Buckles, is 108 years old and the four surviving vets of the Spanish Civil War are all in their 90’s. Don’t leave it up to the historians to tell your story. (Click here to read more)
John McDonald
I am a member of that “Post-war-baby boom” group that the youngsters of today are going to have to worry about one of these days. I grew up in a row house in the 50’s & 60’s in Baltimore. As far back as I can remember I have been interested in history; history in general and military history in particular. As a youngster in a blue collar town, you didn’t need to go far to find a WW2 vet. In those days, you hardly needed to read a book about The War, to be acutely aware of battles and battlefields from distant lands.
One story, in particular, has stuck with me over the years. My uncle George was a Marine who had somehow worked his way into a stateside desk job. He was dating my aunt at that time and took whatever time he could to go off and be with her. One particular time, he got tied up and returned 8 hours late on a weekend pass. Next thing he knew, he was in the first wave of Marines to land at Iwo Jima. The story had a happy ending; he made it through that landing and the rest of the war, came home, married my aunt and helped create a few more baby-boomers. Both my aunt and uncle have since passed away. As far as I know, the first time the above story made it into print, was in this article. There was surely more to that story, but none of us will never know. Uncle George never wrote it down.
Fast forward a few years to my first high school history term paper. I was living outside Annapolis, MD at that point of my life, a few short miles from the US Naval Academy. The subject of my first term paper was the U-boat War in the Atlantic, during WW2. My biology teacher caught wind of my paper and asked me if I would be interested in interviewing an ex U-boat captain who was teaching at the Naval Academy with her husband. Wow… what an opportunity. I spent an afternoon with Fregattenkapitän Rolf Bohn glued to his every word as he described the war from his view. While there were many stories told, the one that sticks in my mind the most was the one concerning the treatment of surviving merchantmen from sunken ships. All the WW2 “flag waving” propaganda films that I had seen to that point showed the Germans, basically with horns, machine gunning life boats of sunken merchant ships. According to this Navy vet, it was quite the opposite. Early in the war, the U-boats would surface and make sure the lifeboats had food, water and a compass to point them in the right directions. Once the allies figured out that this is what they were doing, the escort ships would start lying off the horizon waiting for the sub to surface, making it an easy target to hit and sink. As far as I know, this is the second time this story has seen the printed page. The first time in my tenth grade term paper and the second time, right now.
In the above two narratives, I was playing the role of the historian. Is my historical account 100% accurate? As far as my memory goes it is, but can you imagine the above two accounts written first hand by the person who lived the story? I can. I can hardly imagine what those Marines felt, riding to the beach in a landing craft waiting for the door to drop, or the feeling of being depth charged deep below the ocean. Don’t you think that Uncle George and Kapitan Bohn had a book in them… a story that people would like to read? You bet they did. Unfortunately, the complete story went with them to the grave and it’s up to “historians” like me to pass it on. That’s a shame, isn’t it?
Leon Cooper
Last week I was lucky enough to spend the day at the VA Hospital in the Bronx with my friend, author/publisher Johnnie Williams. Johnnie is a Vietnam Vet who works with other vets in various ways. Johnnie has published four titles. Help is on the Way….. is one of Johnnie’s books. I was asked to come up for the day and answer questions that vets might have about self-publishing. The setting was very informal so I was able to sit down with interested vets and “talk”. There are two people I met with that day who sum up the whole reason for self-publishing.
The first was a gentleman a few years older than me who was there with his grandson. The first thing I noticed, when he sat down, was his hat. It was covered with various pins. I’m not familiar with all the various service pins but one jumped right out at me. That was a purple heart. I also noticed a Combat Infantry Award. As I looked closer, another medal looked very familiar but took a minute for me to realize it was a Bronze Star. Wow…. as I got talking to him about self-publishing, at first he said he wasn’t sure what he would write about. I smiled to myself and answered that his book was right up there on his hat.
Another conversation that stood out was with a younger soldier. He was interested in writing a book but wasn’t exactly sure he had much to write about either. As we got talking, it turns out that in addition to serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, he had been a New York City Detective for quite a few years. We also talked about some other issues that he had going on in his life that would work perfectly into a storyline. Of course he has a book in him.
Eric England
The above story was repeated many times before the end of that day. A line that I coined that morning, talking to these veterans was “You have to get it out of your brain and into a computer….. I can take it from there”. For those of you Vets out there reading this, that’s exactly what you have to do. Get your story into MS Word…. Get it onto an audio tape, if you’re not a good typist, and get someone to transcribe it later. The main objective is to get the story out. Once it’s out, there are many directions you can take.
Self Publishing has never been easier or less expensive. Once you have your word document finished, self publishing goals can be set. If your primary goal is to have something you can give to your family and friends, you can proceed right to the layout & design phase and then print up a few books.
Johnnie Williams
If you think you might want to get your story to a wider audience, you will want to have your manuscript edited before it is made into a book. It’s all about making a plan…a decisive obtainable goal. The only thing I can’t help you with is getting the story out of your head. You have to do that. Beyond that, everything that is needed to be done to publish your story can either be bought or done by you.
One of these days, some other person will be saying “The last WW2 Vet just passed away at 110 or the last Vietnam Vet at 120. Once you’re gone, your story goes with you unless you get it into print now. Do it…. do it for yourself. Do it for your family, Do it for future generations.
For those of you Vets who have already written your story and are ready to self-publish, I am waiving the $100 administrative fee until Labor Day. For those of you who are just starting off, consider attending one of the Publishing Basics Seminars. These full day seminars are scheduled for Boston, Las Vegas and San Diego and only cost $97. For more info on these seminars, visit www.PublishingSeminar.com. For those of you reading this, who are in the New York Metro area, maybe I’ll see you up at the VA the next time Johnnie invites me. If you haven’t done so already, all of you should download a free copy of Publishing Basics – Navigating the Self-Publishing Minefield from http://www.selfpublishing.com/free-ebooks/
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