They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
-Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)
At the end of 2016, there were 18.5 million veterans living in the United States of America (according to the US Census Bureau). Of that number, 6.7 million served during the Vietnam Era (February 28 1961-May 07 1975), 7.1 million during the Gulf War/War on Terrorism (1991-Present), 768,263 who served in WWII, 1.6 million served during the Korean War, and 2.4 million who served during peacetime only. Those numbers have changed dramatically since then, including an estimated less than 496,777 WWII veterans still living.
Research Questions
As Veteran’s day passed by not so long ago you see the appreciation that veterans and soldiers all over the world receive, however, it seems that in the specific region of West Chester they do not have a collection of the local veterans and an archive of the impact this region had from them. That makes us question what amount of people that have served in the past in this area? Also, was there any preservation or collection of these soldiers belongings that they used in Wars or just serving? Furthermore, what memorials and monuments are in the area? Did the area of West Chester have an impact in past Wars or just monumental impacts to Veterans? Is the appreciation of Veterans in the area given a place to look back and preserve the influence they had or impact that the region as a whole did?
Image above is a veterans memorial that is located in Deleware County. 4599 West Chester Pike Newtown Square, PA 19073 Source: https://www.delcoveteransmemorial.org/
Significance
The significance of the creation of this project is the accessibility for past veterans or close ties of veterans in the area of West Chester to appreciate and have a collection of all the impacts they had while in the armed forces. As we know, many of the veterans of past wars have either passed away and if not there is a slim amount of them. We plan on collecting all the data and members who had an influence on them in the area so they are not forgotten. The archive that we would create would give current members of the armed forces something to appreciate and people close to those veterans a place to look back in remembrance of what they did for our country. Creating this archive will give veterans a much larger appreciation than just one day a year, creating a place that shows appreciation for years on.
