WHEREAS, In an effort to preserve the memories of our local World War II veterans so future generations can hear first hand the sacrifices made by the “Greatest Generation,” the Collier County Communication and Customer Relations Department worked with local veterans organizations and other county departments to identify Collier County World War II veterans and coordinate interviews to record their war experiences on audiotape; and

WHEREAS, The goal of this oral history project is to capture the memories of these veterans and share with the community personal stories that reflect the tremendous sacrifices this generation made so that we could continue to live in a free nation; and

WHEREAS, To date, nearly 100 WWII veterans have signed up to participate in the WWII Capture Living History project and more than 60 interviews have been conducted; and

WHEREAS, All interviews were conducted by 10 volunteers, most of whom are veterans themselves. These volunteers dedicated more than 150 hours to this project. All of the volunteers went out of their way to rearrange their schedules to accommodate the project's needs, often going above and beyond what was asked of them including picking up WWII veterans from their homes and driving them to the Collier County Government Center to ensure that they could participate in the project; and

WHEREAS, A WWII Capture Living History Web site, linked to the Collier County government's site, was developed to display information regarding the veterans who participated in the project and contains photos and biographical information about each veteran along with segments of their interviews; and

WHEREAS, Collier County residents wish to express appreciation to all WWII veterans for their unselfish service to this great nation and hope that this project serves as a small token of our admiration and gratitude to the “Greatest Generation.”

NOW THEREFORE, be it proclaimed by the Board of County Commissioners of Collier County, Florida, that September 27, 2005 be designated as

Collier County WWII Veterans' Day

DONE AND ORDERED THIS 27 th Day of September

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA
FRED COYLE, CHAIRMAN

ATTEST:
DWIGHT E. BROCK, CLERK