Students help capture vets' stories: the latest developments in math, science, language arts and social studies.

Wanted: More than a few good men (and women). Needed: Yesterday. Veterans History Project volunteers are helping the Library of Congress collect stories of people who have sacrificed for our country on both the home front and abroad during times of war. Unfortunately, says program officer Tim Schurtter, 1,700 vets die every day. "That's 1,700 stories that no one is going to know."

Volunteers interview veterans one-on-one to get their perspectives of events. To date, more than 600 of the 22,000 interviews in the LOC collection--many captured by students--have been digitized for online viewing.

Schurtter, hired three years ago to work with interested schools and youth groups, says, "Kids are learning history directly. Hearing it come from the mouth of the person who lived it ... just means so much more" than reading about events. Students, typically in high school, have interviewed family members, neighbors or others with whom they share a connection. Whole classes have visited VA hospitals and VFW Posts.

From a learning retention standpoint, the experience is a step above the ever-popular veteran classroom visit. Yet, Schurtter advises educators to prep students for the interviews. He often tells of a seventh grader's interview with a World War II vet whose battleship was hit by two torpedoes in a row. "We're beginning to sink ..." the man says, pausing. The student takes a moment, too. He looks down at his notes, looks back at the vet, and then moves along to his next question: "What kind of food do they serve you on the ship?"

"There's a big part of this man's history missing-he could have been floating for days in the Pacific-but all we know is that he did survive," Schurtter says.

Teachers are asked to remind students that it's all about the person's story. They may not get to every question. Some classes practice by chanting an all-important question over and over: "And then what happened?"

The innocence of youth is also an asset in documenting war stories, Schurtter says. Students are "like a new sponge, and they're soaking up this information possibly and most likely for the first time."

www.loc.gov/folklife/vets