91-year-old Army veteran donates collection of American war veterans' stories to EMU

Army veteran donates decades worth of American war heroes' stories to EMU

Eastern Michigan University is now in possession and digitizing at least 20 years of history from American war heroes.

YPSILANTI, Mich. (FOX 2) - A 91-year-old Army veteran is donating his collection of invaluable resources to Eastern Michigan University to ensure that American war veterans' stories and experiences are remembered forever.

Bill Volano understands that many stories that are a key part of American history are not being told. Those include his family members who served the United States thorough military service.

"You never know who has a story to tell until you ask," Volano said. "I look back at what we have as a family, in terms of history and there was zero."

Twenty years ago, Volano decided to change that by preserving the stories of military vets. He volunteered for the Veterans History Project through the Library of Congress and he started recording stories.

"I would take my camera and tripod and record them in their home," he said.

In those two decades, the stories included Detroit Tigers broadcasting legend Ernie Harwell and more, including former Detroit meteorologist Sonny Elliot who had to lie about this faith so he could be set free.

"He was shot down and became a Prisoner of War in Germany," he said. "If he admitted being Jewish, he’d be off to one of their other camps."

Volano also documented the story of Ypsilanti resident and Eastern Michigan graduate Charles Kettles. That story of service sparked Volano to successfully lobby for Kettles to get the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama.

For two decades Volano documented these stories of patriotism, many of which brought him to tears. At 91, he started searching for a place to donate his original recordings and he found that place at Eastern Michigan University.

EMU Assistant Professor & University Archivist Alexis Braun Marks said it will leave a lasting legacy.

"We'll be able to preserve it, provide access to it and then it could help our current students, our future generations of students and the community," Marks said.

EMU grad students like Connor Ashley have worked to catalog the donated materials, cross-reference them with those already available at the Library of Congress, and digitize the videos.

"All of the digitized items are available either on our website or on YouTube Channel - Eastern Michigan University Archives - and we’ve created a web page," Ashley said.

Now that EMU has the recordings, the project won’t end. Volano hopes the collection will have an impact on generations to come

"I would hope that they would appreciate the sacrifice most of these guys did during their service," Volano said.