Veterans' Stories Are Fading Fast

Quick answer: Why are veterans' stories disappearing?

Time and changing family life wear them away. Most family narratives fade within two generations, and by the VA's 2024 estimate only about 66,000 of the 16.4 million Americans who served in World War II were still living. John urges families to record veterans in their own voices now.

John begins with news that Frank Wal, a World War II veteran his team interviewed earlier in the year, had died. Wal had seen the USS Indianapolis before its sinking, survived kamikaze attacks, and walked the streets of occupied Tokyo. His advice was simple: be persistent, don't give up, keep plugging away. John is grateful it was captured. Most of the time it isn't. Family stories tend to vanish within two generations. Names and dates survive, a medal in a drawer survives, but the voice goes, along with the pause before a hard sentence and the tremor in a hand pointing at an old photo. By the VA's 2024 projection, about 66,000 of the 16.4 million Americans who served in World War II were still alive, and the number keeps falling. John asks families to sit down with the veterans in their lives, press record, and build libraries of letters, photos, and interviews. Heroes' Path, the organization he was building, intends to help carry that work forward.

Why it matters for leaders: If no one records a veteran's account while they can still tell it, the lessons go with them.

Q: Who was Frank Wal?