McCarthy visits Oceanside High School

New York Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy visited Oceanside High School last Tuesday to speak to students about participating in the Veterans History Project.

The project is part of the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. The Veterans History Project was created by Congress in 2000 to document the stories of as many of the country’s veterans as possible.

“We collect and preserve the personal war accounts of U.S. veterans so that future generations may access and learn from them,” McCarthy told the assembled group of about 30 students. “The Library of Congress really counts on volunteers. They accept stories in many ways. And it’s really kind of easy. You might have an uncle, you might have a grandfather who served in World War II.”

McCarthy brought Oceanside resident Joe Librizzi, a World War II veteran, along with her to the high school. Librizzi talked to the students about his time serving on a submarine in the Pacific during the war.

“The reason I ended up on a submarine was that I was afraid of guns,” Librizzi said. “I always felt there was a bullet out there with my name on it. Or ‘to whom it may concern’ and I was there. So when the chance came to sign up for the submarines, a buddy of mine in the service school dared me. And I said, ‘I will if you will.’”

Librizzi’s talk was an example of the kind of interview that students should get if they participated in the Veterans History Project. Librizzi talked about how the submarine corps was responsible for 56 percent of all the ships sunk in the Pacific during the war. He also recounted one incident where his submarine had to sail into the mine-filled Tokyo Harbor to rescue a pilot who had been shot down — all while being chased by a Japanese Destroyer that dropped depth charges on them while they were trying to escape.

McCarthy encouraged the students to visit senior centers, nursing homes and local VFW halls to try to find veterans to interview. But she also reminded the students that there are more than just World War II veterans out there.