Attending the presentation were Bradley Haggard, former administrator at the Cameron Veterans Home and now assistant director of the Homes Program, who gave the welcome; Chaplain Mary Smith, St. Joseph Chapter, who gave the invocation; William Pollard, WWII veteran and resident, who gave the pledge; Joe Hegeman, District Field Representative for Congressman Sam Graves; and Jerry Steele, veteran and retired history teacher.
Mr. Pollard said the gift of a video camera by the DAR was for him “the finest day of all of them since World War II.” Mr. Pollard extended an invitation to the community to a March 18 morning event at the Cameron Veterans Home. Mr. Pollard, a combat medic who helped liberate the Dachau Concentration Camp in World War II, says two sons of Gene Greenberg will be at the Veterans Home to talk about their family’s experiences in a concentration camp. Two other Greenberg sons were killed at the camp because they had no “use” to the Nazis. The Greenberg parents lived because they were both tailors and were forced to make uniforms for the Nazis. A book of photographs called “Memories Unearthed” will be on display at the library. The photographs were taken by Henryk Ross, the official photographer of the Jewish ghetto in Lodz, Poland. Ross buried his negatives in the ground in order to preserve them, and dug them up when the ghetto was liberated in 1945.
Missouri State Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), including the Gallatin Chapter, presented the Cameron Veterans Home with a video camera, microphone, stand, and cart for storage on Feb. 25 during a ceremony held in the chapel. The goal of the “Video Project” is to record history and preserve and highlight each veteran’s efforts to fight for our country and for peace.
State Vice-Regent Joan Magee, representing the DAR, noted that the video project focused on the DAR state theme — to seek to serve what matters most in historic preservation, education, and patriotism.
Sue Wagner, St. Joseph Chapter Regent, presented the program. She recognized Jerry Steele of Cameron, a veteran and a retired school history teacher. Mr. Steele was responsible for planting the seed for the Video Project. He’d heard a lot of veteran stories, plus he had a few stories of his own. He witnessed many of our World War II veterans passing at an alarming rate, without their stories being recorded.
Mr. Steele felt there was a need to record the stories on video and house them in the library at the Cameron Veterans Home. The stories could be shared with veterans’ families, area students, visitors, scholars, and all interested audiences. The stories could be viewed and personal copies could be made.
Mr. Steele shared his idea to record the stories with Barbara Caldwell, the Volunteer Coordinator at the Cameron VA.
After Mrs. Wagner became regent at DAR, she reached out to Brad Haggard, Assistant Director, Homes Program, with the Missouri Veterans Commission. She asked what the DAR could do to benefit the veterans. He put her in touch with Mrs. Caldwell, who told her about the Video Project.
Sandra Dozier, St. Joseph Chapter, researched video equipment. At the Northwest District DAR meeting last September, an invitation was issued to other chapters. Seven other chapters quickly joined with their support. Those Northwest District chapters include: Continental Congress – Leah Ankeney; Dorcas Richardson – Lucinda Guthrie; Gallatin – Markay August; Hannah Hull – Gina Smith; Major Molly – Barbara Drager; Olive Prindle – Hazel Wood; Virginia Daughters – Deanna Swan.
Mrs. Wagner said Project Video is a way of educating present and future generations, plus preserving patriotic history.
“Veterans, I hope you know how special you are to us,” said Mrs. Wagner. “We, the Daughters of the American Revolution, thank you for your service, sacrifice, and commitment to the preservation of our freedom. It is an honor to serve you in this way today.”
