Veterans stories are being preserved in a project making sure these experiences are not lost to history. Sean Winn spends several hours a day on his computer, going over the stories of more than a dozen people who helped change the course of history. Winn started Patriot Features two years ago to tell the stories of the Greatest Generation. Stories that we are losing every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love a story. I love people\u2019s stories,\u201d said Winn going through his project on Jake Simonitsch, a World War II and Korean War Veteran.<\/p>\n
According to the U.S. Department of Veteran\u2019s Affairs, just 620,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in WWII are still living. The department also estimates that nearly 400 WWII veterans die every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to make sure these stories are not lost to history,\u201d said Winn. Simonitsch has a story right out of the history books. He was a navigator in a B-17 in Europe and in a B-29 in Korea. Winn and Simonitsch talk for hours about his service and his life after the war with his wife of 65 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cDonna and I had 7 children and God blessed us with all of them,\u201d Simonitsch told Winn.<\/p>\n
Winn takes the interview and compresses it down to a 10-12 minute documentary told in the veteran\u2019s own words.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to think that we\u2019re helping families and these veterans pass down their values more than their valuables,\u201d said Winn.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean it\u2019s a treasure,\u201d said Janet Simonitsch, Jake\u2019s Daughter, trying to hold back tears when the family watched the story in their Independence home. \u201cI\u2019ve heard all the stories before but just to really see it come alive and to watch my dad\u2019s reaction to it, it\u2019s real special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stories like when Jake, then a first lieutenant in the Army Air Corps was shot down flying one of the first U.S. raids on Berlin in 1944.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys hitting me in the shoulder. He says we\u2019ve got to get out \u2013 we got hit. We\u2019re going to bail out,\u201d Simonitsch recalled.<\/p>\n
He bailed out and landed near a German officer with his gun drawn. Simonitsch spent 15 months as a prisoner of war, not sure if he would ever make it home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in Stalag Luft 1, was a prison camp for military officers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Simonitsch and his family now have all these stories forever told with pictures to go along with the memories.<\/p>\n
Patriot Features is a non-profit organization and produces each video for free as a gift to the veteran and to their families.<\/p>\n
The hope is that these stories will be passed down for generations to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means a lot because we\u2019ll have it forever,\u201d said Janet.<\/p>\n
Jake Simonitsch\u2019s feature is one of more than a dozen Winn and Patriot Features have produced over the past two years, with hopes to tell more in the years to come so these stories are never forgotten.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven long after the veteran is gone, their family is going to have this moment in time,\u201d said Winn.<\/p>\n