White Co Historian Working With TTU To Preserve Veteran Stories

A White County man preserving the history of veterans in a joint project with Tennessee Tech University.

Nick Blaylock is interviewing people about their military service. Blaylock said the recordings will be sent to the university’s archives to be stored for public consumption.

“In the past, we’ve had veterans that had dairies and things where they record information while they were in service,” Blaylock said. “Now a days in the last few wars the country fought, a lot of the servicemen did not do that. This is a way to record their stories, so that information is not lost.”

Blaylock who has a masters degree in military history has interviewed a World War II Prisoner of War, several Vietnam veterans and younger soldiers who fought the war on terror. Blaylock said the database will be available to students, scholars and the general public once completed.

“Scholars would listen to it for research and students might also use it for research purposes,” Blaylock said. “Hopefully, they will all learn that there has been a tremendous amount of sacrifice for the freedom for them to be able to do that, and I hope that is how it is used.”

Blaylock said he interviewed a woman that joined the Navy right after 9/11. Blaylock said he learned about her assignment in Gautama Bay, Cuba and interactions with terrorists.

“As a part of her job responsibilities, she had to guard camp X-Ray,” Blaylock said. “She interacted with the terrorists detainees there and at one point, Camp X-Ray had the number three man for Al-Qaeda. She indicated that was a full-circle moment for her.”

Blaylock said stories like this need to be preserved for history.