In 2002, I organized the East Anglia Air War Project (EAAWP) and began a twenty-three-year journey of oral history interviewing, archival research, and archaeological site surveys at British airfield locations and the nearby villages and towns. The oral history interviews were completed in rural Britain and across the United States (including four interviews in Schweinfurt, Germany).

These voices, whether American airmen or British family members, speak of the life lived in the villages and towns in wartime England. These interviews have never been available to any other author, nor have they seen the light of day. During the interview phase, I was determined to complete as many interviews as possible before the window closed, and the interviewees were gone forever. My interview schedule and my access to this generation of voices have now closed. Only now am I beginning the process of digitalizing the video tape recordings and creating a digital archive to preserve these voices for the future.

In addition to the video recordings, I have copied over 150,000 wartime images from archives and personal collections, many of which have never been seen before. The preservation process will include upscaling each image, restoring each photo-graph in digital form, and creating a high resolution and a low resolution set of the entire collection so that these photographs will last long into the future.

So the twenty-three-year interview journey is now complete. The interviews are now safely stored in my studio. The massive photograph collection has taken its place with the interviews and the first books are underway.

So how can those who want to have a part in ensuring that the interviews and the massive photograph collection are digitized, restored, and preserved for the future? Consider partnering with OPHF in this important digital project to preserve the history of ordinary people who have done extraordinary things.

The giving goal for the Preserve the East Anglia Air War Archival Collection is $50,000. It will take all sizes of donations to complete the mission. Small, medium, and large donations are all needed. No gift is too small, and no gift is too large. Please click on the QR code below to join our mission.

This digital project will guarantee that these interview recordings and the thousands of photographic images will be available for generations of Americans who are not yet born. That is our mission.