Veterans Legacy Program (VLP)

Photo provided by Kirt Morris via Unsplash 

We requested a CCESL Bridge Grant in order to continue our work on the Veterans Legacy Program (VLP) during the summer of 2021. Funding was requested to pay for a small group of
student researchers and we were able to hire three undergraduates who worked within a larger cohort of undergraduate researchers. 

Under the supervision of Professors Escobedo and
Helstosky, the student researchers edited and fact-checked veteran biographies to prepare them for publication on our website, morethanaheadstone.org; students also researched and wrote original biographies of veterans for publication on the website. As a result of student summer work, we were able to add over forty new biographies to the website. The website, morethanaheadstone.org, comprises a virtual commemoration of the lives and legacies of veterans buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery. Professors Escobedo, Helstosky, with the assistance of Professor Esteban Gòmez, previously secured funding for the website. The content of the website, however, is entirely created by DU undergraduates, many of them history majors and several of them DU veteran students. Based on student interest and commitment, our project has evolved to reach out to underrepresented communities in Denver and Colorado, to ask individuals and organizations to tell us the stories and details of veterans’ lives. Thus, both the student community and larger communities (both military and civilian) have been engaged in the formulation, conduct and dissemination of this project. Inspired by our students, our interest has been in telling and making public the stories of veterans, many from traditionally underrepresented communities. In publishing these stories, we validate the experiences of veterans, their families, friends, and communities. 

In funding our work with undergraduates, the Bridge Grant also provided Professors Escobedo and Helstosky to consider new directions for their pedagogical and scholarly work involving the history of veterans and
veteran commemoration.