VA Presents: My Life, My Story31 Aug 2020

Simon: When Work Is Your Hobby

If you were asked to tell your life story, what would you talk about the most?

Your family? Your career? Love? Loss? That one day in your 20s that "changed everything"?

When people first hear about the "My Life, My Story" project, many assume that the stories we hear from veterans focus solely on their time in the military, or on combat and heroism in the battlefield.

Not quite.

We certainly hear and collect "war stories" in our project, and you'll hear some of those on our podcast. But more often, the veterans we interview weren't on the front lines of battle. Maybe they were supply clerks or mechanics or served between wars. And even if the veteran did see extensive combat, he/she doesn't always want to talk about it much, and that's fine with us.

Instead, we try to give veterans space to talk about things that have meant the most to them over their lifetime. As a result, a lot of our stories focus on things very unlike war. In this episode of our podcast, for example, Simon focused most of his attention on … a department store.

After listening, if you're feeling in the Christmas-y mood, take a look at this article about the Yuletide traditions in Chicago that Simon discusses in his story.

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Episoder(31)

Kari: A big, wonderful, dysfunctional family

A smart, funny sailor talks about her journey from being a cook on a destroyer to a counselor on an aircraft carrier.

2 Aug 202310min

Luke: Turnip soup, black bread

This amazing story details the day-to-day existence of a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II, and also what followed his liberation.

9 Jun 202310min

Eugene: He helps me, and I help him

A veteran discovers at 20 years old something that upends everything he thought he knew about himself. But life goes on.

2 Jun 20238min

Greg: Just keep pedaling

“You never know what other people are going through." That's a cornerstone idea for the "My Life, My Story" project, and it really rings true in this story about Greg.

26 Mai 20238min

Kevin: Boring can be good

Where you start in life can go a long way toward determining where you end up as an adult. But it doesn’t have to.

19 Mai 20239min

Florian: the story everyone wants to hear

The story that Florian tells in this episode is literally the stuff movies are (and have been) made of. Whether or not you know the history of the USS Indianapolis, this is a story worth hearing.

26 Aug 202110min

Jimmy: Leaving a mark

A taxidermist who trekked alone through China and made it into a book called "Weird Wisconsin" -- those are some of the highlights of this wonderful veteran's story.

19 Aug 20219min

Jeb: The Guy Who Got Out

A lot of people have screwed up, royally, at least once in their lives. They've crashed cars, yelled at the wrong guy in a bar, fallen asleep on guard duty, cheated on their spouse . . . or worse. Som...

12 Aug 20219min