Area WWII Vet Hopes To Document Fellow Veterans’ Stories on DVD

Story by David Brewer

Texas native Ken Wiley was still a teenager when he joined the Coast Guard and was shipped off to the Marshall Islands during World War II, where he drove landing vehicles full of troops onto beaches strewn with enemy combatants. Like millions of other young servicemen and women who saw action, Wiley has never forgotten the harrowing experiences that changed his life.

Now Wiley is on a mission to document those experiences for posterity—one veteran at a time.

Last year, the Tennessee resident began meeting with area WWII veterans from each branch of the service to video their life stories for a series he calls The Veterans’ Voice. Wiley conducts extensive video interviews with each veteran, taping detailed accounts of their experiences during WWII. Following the interview, Wiley edits the footage into a DVD, which he then gives to the veterans free of charge.

So far, Wiley has completed DVDs of more than 150 veterans in the Mountain City area.

In addition to providing families of veterans with a cherished keepsake, the DVDs are archived in a local veteran’s video museum. The first such video museum is located in the public library in Mountain City.

The Veterans’ Voice program has been receiving local and regional media coverage in the Tri-Cities area thanks to area newspapers and TV stations. Last year, Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey attended a standing-room-only dedication of the video museum.

“What we’re doing is for the veterans,” said Wiley. “The whole thing is geared so that there’s no charge to the veteran and no charge to the local video museum.”

Wiley does ask that families make a small donation for extra copies of the DVDs.

Now Wiley is bringing his operation to Watauga County in hopes of documenting the stories of local veterans. He also wants to start a corresponding video museum so the public can have access to the veteran’s stories.

Wiley hopes to connect with veterans throughout the High Country with the assistance of local chapters of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.

Eventually, Wiley hopes to launch The Veterans’ Voice as a national program aimed at capturing as many first-hand accounts of surviving veterans as possible.

To schedule a taping with Wiley or for more information on The Veterans’ Voice series, call 423-727-8729.