5 Tips to Write a Better Veteran Story

Those small details DO matter.

Everyone has a story inside them. Most people die without ever telling those stories. Particularly the traumatic, intense, emotional, unprocessed stories. The stories that they feel no one will ever understand.

As a professional military researcher, countless people have told me when we talk about a project or they hear me teach, ‘My dad/uncle/grandpa….never talked about the war. I heard whispers, rumors, uncovered a secret and have more questions than answers. How could I possibly write a story?’

It is possible to write a story or book even if the veteran never spoke of his or her experience. But you absolutely must do the research first and obtain military records. Then, don’t overlook the seemingly small details that will make for a story worth reading and honoring the veteran’s service.

Tip #1: Obtain the military records.

It is so important you do the military research. I cannot stress this enough. It’s not enough to rely on whatever someone has put online and say that’s the story, especially if they don’t list sources. I see this on many websites and in many groups that are writing stories. They use what someone else wrote, whether it is right or wrong, and go with it. For most writers, only online research is done and you never really know if a story is accurate.

Now let’s go a level deeper. You know if someone puts bad/incorrect data on an Ancestry family tree and everyone copies it without thinking - that bad data is now out there not just on one tree but countless trees? The same is happening with military stories. Sites like Fold3 work with other sites like TogetherWeServed, to pull in what was written there - which may not be accurate either. Only once it’s on Fold3 it’s difficult to get anything edited so most people don’t ask or try.

Then when you have people pulling together research or writing stories, that just take what’s there as fact, even if it isn’t, you continue to spread the incorrect data. This happens on many websites. Copy and paste without thinking or verifying. It’s really important to verify rather than spread bad information.

For those who are writing about someone who died in war, getting the Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) is vital. I can’t stress this enough. If you don’t obtain this file you are missing out on information that is going to answer at least 75% of your initial research questions and the potential personal and family data, letters, and official documents that are included. To learn more about the IDPF and access, read my article at the WWII Research & Writing Center.

I realize not everyone has taken classes and learned how to research. We don’t know what we don’t know. I realize there are myths that all the records burned or you have to be a relative or immediate next of kin to get records. This really isn’t true today. There are so many options to obtain answers, you just need to educate yourself on how. If you’d like to learn how to research and write the stories, I have a six-webinar program with a private coaching session available called Honoring Our Heroes.

Tip #2: Discover & research the collaterals.

When you research the people who served with your veteran, you may uncover facts that will help your research. You may discover a wealth of information you didn’t know existed. Learn about new records you had not encountered. Find photos and contact info for others searching your veteran or the unit.

About 10 years ago I was working on a book, The Tiger’s Widow, and researched a co-pilot on a bomber that crashed 2 November 1943 in Austria. Fred Davis was the co-pilot. After a search online I found very little on him but when I searched the pilot’s name, I came across a website (that was taken down years later) that had an 800 page book about this mission and every plane and crew that flew. Documents, photos, plane details, death details. Everything. This author had exhausted American, German, and Austrian archives to write this book. He never published because he didn’t have rights to all the photos but he did give me a copy. It helped me expand my research.

Today as I’m writing a book for a client whose father was a Japanese POW for three years, I obtained the Individual Deceased Personnel Files (IDPFs) for a few of his commanding officers and those in the prison camps with him that died while a prisoners. The details I discovered about how our POWs were treated, what they ate, what camp life and prison life was like, will expand what I can write in the client’s book. See Tip #4 for more on this.

Tip #3: Create a timeline and spreadsheet.

Timeline. Always create a timelime that contains at least three columns of information. Date (of the document you are looking at); Unit/Station (the unit someone was in at that date and where they were in the world if you have it); and Notes with a source.

I document what was on the record I’m looking at in the Notes field and add a footnote with a source so I know exactly where I got the information. Sometimes I make a mistake in creating my notes. Sometimes the record has the error. Sometimes multiple documents give different details and you have to figure out which is correct or most correct. Having a source will save you frustration and time when issues arise. Plus, for those who read your story or look at your research, they will know where you got the information and can seek it out themselves. Your sources may educate someone else on this work.

Spreadsheet. For some projects, particularly book projects, I’ll also create a spreadsheet that has information on the collaterals. My POW sheet has columns for first and last name (for ease of sorting); unit; death date; IDPF (yes or no or N/A or requested); The name of the file/document I got the information from; Notes.

Creating a spreadsheet has helped me better organize all the names I’ve seen in the records, letters, photos, and scrapbook pages the client sent me. Not to mention all the military records I’m using. The spreadsheet allows me to see more clearly who was part of this POW’s experience and when and know exactly where I saw that information.

Tip #4: Use the “small” details & think outside the box.

When I mentioned above that I obtained IDPFs to learn more about the men who served with this veteran and how they died, I was able to learn so much more. Read the snippet below from the IDPF of Ralph B. Praeger. Doesn’t this make a more interesting story than just the basic facts?

The above is from a six-page letter that a Thomas Jones wrote to Ralph’s widow after the war. Not every IDPF has letters like this that provide so much personal detail about a person, their experience, or death. It is solid gold.

While Praeger was only in my client’s father’s war experience a brief time, both were in Japanese prisons and camps. The details about food, daily life, and torture was similiar across all prisons and camps. Those details can be used to provide context in a story rather than just write something like, Ralph was aboard hellship xyz and at prison camp #4 from this date to this date. It’s more interesting to read what his life was like. Those details make people think, process, and heal.

Read Ralph’s 143 page IDPF and the entire letter, which begins on page 112.

Tip #5: Take time to process, grieve, integrate, then write some more.

Military research and writing is not easy work. It is emotional and often triggering, even when it isn’t your own family. I often tell my clients to consider taking time to process the information they or I uncover. To allow the information to integrate. To take time to feel all the emotions rising, including grief. Great healing can take place if we allow this, not only for us but our veteran whether they are alive or not. Healing ripples out.

When I wrote my books, Stories of the Lost and The Tiger’s Widow, I shed a lot of tears. Felt an enormous amount of pain and love. I cried so much during all the writing and moreso during The Tiger’s Widow. For me it was cleansing. As I wrote I learned that I never knew you could love someone so much that you had never met in this life. But that’s how I felt about my ancestors who died in war. I also felt the pain of clients and their families as I researched for them and sometimes wrote their stories. Being an empath, this happens often, which requires constant energetic cleansing and self-care.

This work can trigger old traumas, pain, thoughts, feelings, and it may feel overwhelming at times. The pain or grief you feel may be decontextualized, meaning you don’t know why exactly you are so sad or crying but there it is. Just allow it to move through. Sometimes we come to this work exactly to heal ourselves, even if we don’t consciously realize it.

Take all the time you need to process this even if it means walking away from your project for a while. In the end, you will be healthier on all levels and probably write a better story because you will see things from a different perspective once you have taken space.

Regardless of how you research and write, take time to process, I can guarantee you will be a different person at the end. This work changes lives.

Are You Ready to Start a Project? I can help!

Are you ready to learn about your family member’s military service? I am taking new clients for research and writing and can help you find the answers and tell a deeper story about your family member. Email me at jennifer@ancestralsouls.com to set up your free phone consultation today to discuss project options, fees, and time. Explore more at the WWII Research & Writing Center.