Veterans Invited to Write and Preserve Their Military Stories
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TROY - “If you are like most of us who have been in the military, you have papers, photographs, certificates, clothing and awards stuck here and there around your home,” Miami Valley Veterans Museum board president Ted Jones says.

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   He added that now is the time to gather those items in one place and sign up to begin writing your story. Sessions will be held Aug. 1 and Oct. 3, 2026, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Miami Valley Veterans Museum, 2245 S. County Road 25-A, Troy. Signing up is available by calling 937-332-8852 or by emailing instructor Dr. Vivian Blevins at vbblevins@woh.rr.com.

 

   Veterans, college students and prison inmates have been among Blevins’ students who have written their stories. She believes that with her 15 years as a volunteer at the museum, her many relatives who have served and her extensive reading of military history, she can help veterans — as well as those currently serving in all branches — capture in writing the moments that are important to them.

 

   “Lots of us know where commas and semicolons go — and that’s not important — but only those who have served are positioned to write about their military experiences,” Blevins says. “They might end up with four or five pages or 100-plus, as a veteran I taught two years ago at the museum did. There is the veteran with whom I worked in that same class who got as far as landing in Da Nang before he stopped writing and passed. And writers make the decision on persons with whom they share their writing.”

 

   Blevins will be available at the museum after classes to give assistance and can be contacted by email with questions.