Oral Histories
Historic Red Hook is documenting and highlighting stories of service in our community, especially from those who have been in the military and those of their family members and friends. Ideally we would like these narratives to become part of the community’s historic archives and for them to be published via Historic Red Hook’s social media and other sites. You can help us gather this information by either sharing with us your own story or interviewing someone else for theirs.
'Stories of Service' is a series of oral histories with veterans produced by Bard's Digital History Lab as part of Historic Red Hook's collaboration with the Veterans of Foreign Wars Red Hook Post 7765. In this nine-minute memoir, Korean War veteran Ken Anderson shares his war memories with Historic Red Hook board member Chris Klose and Digital History Lab coordinator Gretta Tritch-Roman.
In this interview of William Meyer, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Air Force for just over 30 years, Meyer recounts growing up on a farm in Magnolia, Minnesota; being drafted for the armed services; and choosing to serve in the Air Force. Working as an analyst, he was sent to many different places including what is now Vietnam today, Okinawa, Michigan, Thailand, Hawaii, and Germany. He tells many stories about his analyst work including his recollection of the Mayaguez Incident in May 1975 following the US pulling out of the Vietnam War.
In 2017 Historic Red Hook collaborated with the Red Hook High School Oral History Project to match longtime residents with students learning oral history interview techniques. Here Tibbie Klose is interviewed by Mia Barbuto and filmed by Jenna Dorria. You can see more student-produced oral histories, including interviews with Larry Tetford, Don Triebel, Sue Crane, Beth Mead and Peggy Stork here.