Utah Public Radio is partnering with the USU College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Mountain West Center for Regional Studies and the USU Museum of Anthropology in the Bringing War Home Project.
What is 'Bringing War Home'?
War is saturated with objects shaped and carried from battlefields to homes. Sometimes such objects end up in Museums, but the personal stories of how such objects came to make journeys from Vietnam, for example, to rural Utah often do not. One of the main goals of the project is to disperse basic tools that will allow veterans and members of military families as well as the general public to understand the things brought home from war.
How is UPR involved?
UPR will record stories from military veterans and their families and friends at several project roadshows. Stories and photos will be included in a digital archive housed at the USU libraries that will benefit future generations.
How can I get involved in this project?
UPR invites you to share your story in a recorded interview. Remember to bring your object from war with you to the interview.
Find a list of events here.
This project has received funding from Utah Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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"As a kid it was more of something that I used that I thought was pretty neat. But it was always in the back of my mind that it was his." -
Ron Irvin served for 13 years in the military before his wife joined him in the service — making their total time serving together 10 years. -
Robert Hawthorne served in the U.S. Navy from 2003 to 2007. His flight deck jersey and hat remind him of his accomplishments during his time at sea.
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Mary Walker-Irvin served as a U.S. Airforce weather officer until 2006. "It was nice getting to know them because that was my first real experience with a former enemy," she said. "The regular guy is not really any different from we are." -
A man grapples with his mother's refusal to accept the death of his father, who died as a soldier in World War II — a loss that shaped his view on war.
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D-Day, June 6, 1944. Waiting in the waters of Omaha Beach, a soldier asks his commanding officer what's on his mind. -
A woman searches for the story behind a mysterious painting of her father from the summer of 1945. -
She always saw her husband as a hero, though it wasn’t until the end of his life that she would finally learn of his war experiences in the Pacific Theater of WWII. -
After surviving World War II, soldiers returned to civilian life forever changed — their war experiences inevitably impacting their communities and the next generation. -
Upon first arrival in Vietnam, a soldier found himself enthralled by the history and culture, but the ever present threat of danger forced his attention elsewhere.
