Home Away from Home’s ‘Meet the Heroes Night’ March 22

A panel of U.S. veterans from different eras of military service, including Tinker’s former 72nd Air Base Wing Commander retired Col. Stephanie Wilson, will share their collective wisdom during Home Away from Home’s “Meet the Heroes Night” starting at 6 p.m. March 22 at the American Red Cross office, located at 601 NE 6th Street in Oklahoma City.

HAFH Co-founder Pam Kloiber said “Meet the Heroes Night” is a collaborative event with the American Red Cross of Oklahoma City.

“Our ‘Meet the Heroes Night’ is designed to capture and share veterans’ stories about their time in the service with younger Tinker Airmen,” Kloiber said. “HAFH’s host families and the base’s senior leadership are invited to enjoy heavy hors d’oeuvres and interact with the veterans.”

Richard Unda, the American Red Cross’ regional service to Armed Forces director, said the idea for the event stems from the Library of Congress’ congressionally chartered concept, the Veterans History Project, which collects, preserves and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations will be able to hear directly from the veterans and better comprehend the realities of war.

“We capture our veterans’ stories on video and submit the video to the Veterans History Project,” Unda said. “They digitize it and make it part of the official record. Some of the videos are featured on their website so the family members can learn about what their veteran did during his or her years of service.

We’re concentrating on our World War II veterans, since we are losing them so quickly. Our senior veterans have a lot of wisdom to share with younger service members. The seniors like it because they cherish the opportunity to share real life history.”