It has been said that every time someone dies, a library worth of information goes with them.
Preserving the history of war-time memories is something that many veterans feel is important to share with younger generations that will come after them, which is why a new studio in the Brigadier General Bud and Doris Day Interpretive Center at Siouxland Freedom Park was officially opened on Veterans Day with a ribbon-cutting attended by a mix of young and old, from middle school students to many local veterans who served in wars dating back to the Vietnam era.
Thanks to the help of Larry and Julie Delperdang and years of fundraising efforts, the “A Place To Remember” recording studio was officially opened Tuesday. The Siouxland Freedom Park Board teamed up with Ideum, a New Mexico-based company specializing in immersive digital experiences and interactive designs, to construct the studio, which is housed in a small room in the northwest corner of the interpretive center.
The new addition to the center is something Mike Newhouse, who retired as the board’s president Tuesday, is important to help document the past for future generations.
“This is a dream come true,” Newhouse said at Tuesday’s unveiling. Years ago when we envisioned that someday Siouxland Freedom Park would have certain features, one of the ones I said we had to have was a studio where veterans could come in and tell their stories. The technology didn’t really exist at the time, but this will allow anybody to come in and give us a valuable piece of history. The tragedy is that is that we don’t preserve this history and when a veteran dies, some of that history is gone.”
The studio is self-contained and easy for a veteran to use. After viewing a tutorial on how to do basic recording, the user answers a set of 18 questions. Once that is completed, the session is uploaded to a viewing station located outside of the booth and is also uploaded to a cloud-based system that can be retrieved in full or based on certain segments such as name or subject matter. This information will be accessible through a touch screen at the center, or through the park’s website at siouxlandfreedompark.org.
Being able to share these stories is important to help document the history of our nation’s involvement in foreign wars so that it can be shared with future generations.
“History teaches us lessons,” said John Ludwick, commander of South Sioux City American Legion Post 307. “When we came back from Vietnam, we did not get much of a welcome, but that tide is turning and we wanted to make sure that veterans weren’t treated that way in future wars. Something like this will help personalize the events more and gives a veteran an opportunity to gather their thoughts in a quiet space.”
For many veterans, having to remember those experiences can be tough.
“For every combat veteran it’s tough,” he said. “There isn’t a day that goes by that you don’t think about it and sometimes something will come along and trigger a memory and you’d rather keep those memories in the back of your head.”
Newhouse agreed.
“Many veterans are reluctant to talk about their experience because it’s painful. There are experiences that they’d rather not remember, but once the floodgates open it’s amazing how much they have to share,” he said.
A very small percentage of our nation’s population has given of themselves in service through the Armed Forces, and Newhouse said it’s important to remember what these people have done for our nation.
“Only 1 percent of our population has served,” he said. “And thank God for that 1 percent.”
For more information on the new recording studio, go to siouxlandfreedompark.org.
