Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Keeping history alive

Friday, April 13, 2001 | 9:03 a.m.

Mike O'Callaghan is the Las Vegas Sun executive editor.

THE FLOW OF PEOPLE coming to live and work in Clark County has increased our wealth a hundredfold. I'm not thinking about money but something much more valuable -- new ideas. We who have lived here for several decades should not only welcome newcomers but also take time to listen and soak up the ideas they bring with them.

A good example of this was the promotion of UNLV professor Richard Wiley and business executive Glenn Schaeffer to make Las Vegas the first North American city to be a City of Asylum for writers. It was one year ago that their ideas were put forth in this column, and today those two dreamers and doers have poet Syl Cheney-Coker in residence.

Now along comes Dr. Kevin Murray, associate professor and chief Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. Not only is he a skilled surgeon and teacher, he is a man of quality who is interested in the world around us. The interest he has developed in the stories World War II veterans told him should result in a most valuable history source for Nevadans. Let him tell the story:

"My work at the Las Vegas Veteran's Administration Outpatient Clinic (VA) and the Mike O'Callaghan Federal Hospital (MOFH) puts me in contact with many WWII veterans. Soon after beginning my clinical work at the Las Vegas VA, I instituted a routine, when meeting new patients, that I would ask them to describe their military service. This question served two purposes: First, it placed the patient at ease given the overwhelming stress of visiting a thoracic surgeon; secondly, it provided an opportunity for the patient to speak and remain occupied while I searched for their computer files.

"What grew from this experience was my hearing many compelling stories of U.S. military service during WWII. Over time I found myself becoming engrossed in these life experiences. These personal remembrances of events from 1941 to 1945 became stories that I devoted my complete attention and a significant amount of time. As I would watch each person's facial expressions and detect an increased intensity in their voice, it was obvious that for those moments of shared memory these veterans were reliving each experience in vivid detail.

"Although many prefaced their remarks stating that they had never fired a shot at the enemy, their stories were none-the-less compelling facets of individual experiences during WWII. It became apparent to me that these individual memories of WWII, no matter how seemingly trivial, need to be preserved as a permanent historical archive if future generations are to have a complete picture of this major historical event."

Murray is proposing a living audio/visual recording that will provide a library for students and teachers for several generations to come. The men and women of World War II are leaving us in large numbers every day. As Murray says, "Their personal stories need to be heard if we are to retain a comprehensive and accurate first-person account of America's effort in WWII." Because of the passage of time he is concerned that unless we now record their voices, this history will go to the grave with them.

Murray's plan is bigger than author Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation" and is more important to the people of Nevada. Yet the entire start-up cost is about $50,000 and the results can be invaluable to us and for many generations to come.

I hope to be writing a column this time next year about the ideas of a bright young doctor resulting in a course of action that provides an audio/visual archive, which is another step forward for the Silver State.