Preserving Veteran Stories Across 17 Countries | Zach Dunn

Zach Dunn has interviewed over 165 veterans from 17 allied countries, and he does it all with an iPhone, a $30 tripod, and a $10 mic. It started when he found his grandfather’s war medals in a box in his parents’ basement. Now it’s a race against time.

In this episode, Zach talks about what it takes to preserve the stories of WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam War veterans before they’re gone. He shares how some veterans carried their experiences in silence for 50 to 80 years before opening up for the first time. He talks about the healing that happens when someone finally asks. And he makes a case for something simple but powerful: be curious, ask questions, and listen well. You never know what story is waiting to be told.

Please note that this transcript was made through a software and it may not be entirely accurate.

00;00;02;14 – 00;00;11;11
Unknown
You’re listening to the Behind the Village podcast, where we invite you to join us on a journey to understand how to live a life worth living.

00;00;11;14 – 00;00;29;22
Unknown
Our guest today is Zach Dunn from Global Veteran Stories. He started this passion project as a way to preserve the stories of Canadian and allied veterans, and has now been able to interview over 150 people. It’s a race against time to capture as many as he can.

00;00;29;25 – 00;00;52;06
Unknown
I was cleaning out my parents basement. They lived in poor area at that time and and found a bunch of old boxes with some old photos and medals of my granddad, who I found out later who served in World War two. This is my mom’s father, and I asked my mom, and she said he never talked about his time in the service, and he would have been 100 that year.

00;00;52;08 – 00;01;11;03
Unknown
And I thought to myself, there’s got to be maybe other veterans around his age just want to learn a little bit more about him. Asked all my aunts and uncles different things, different questions, and again found my first World War two veteran in Lakefield, Ontario. And I said, wow, let’s let’s go interview him. I just brought my phone, my $20 tripod.

00;01;11;06 – 00;01;28;18
Unknown
I don’t even have a microphone at the time. I just use the the audio on my iPhone and sat down with them for 45 minutes and recorded my first interview, and the idea kind of sprung to my mind. I said, wow, he’s 95. He was 18 when he joined. There’s got to be more veterans out there. And that just kind of kickstarted this project.

00;01;28;21 – 00;01;57;08
Unknown
Since then, I’ve interviewed over 165 veterans, from World War II to, Korea, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and other wars and conflicts, and not only from Canada but from 17 other allied countries. And I post all these on my website. I have a YouTube channel I started a couple of years ago, and I also donate the footage to schools and museums, and it’s all about, again, educating kids on this important history.

00;01;57;08 – 00;02;17;14
Unknown
Each veteran gets their own dedicated video, that I added together and basically put a mini documentary together. And I post on my YouTube channel, Global Veterans Stories by Zach Dunn as well as my website. Then I also got a TikTok page and a, and a Facebook page where I post many clips and full paragraph write up stories.

00;02;17;16 – 00;02;35;21
Unknown
So it’s all access is, you know, for free. You know, so people can kind of search come across it and, yeah, people can kind of learn about these incredible veteran stories. My favorite class or my favorite subject in school was history. That’s the only one I got an A on. I was a pretty terrible student.

00;02;35;23 – 00;02;57;28
Unknown
But I’ve always I’ve always been interested in, in history, you know, movies, documentaries. I like reading a lot of books. And, yeah, I just kind of learn about, like, you know, even ancient Rome, ancient Egypt. But I think, yeah, especially World War two was really interesting, you know, to me, just be it’s not that far route from us, you know, only 80 years ago, 81 years ago now that World War two ended.

00;02;57;28 – 00;03;15;21
Unknown
So, you know, I always kind of have that connection. And then when I found out my granddad served, it was like, wow, this is really close to me. You know, it’s, you know, two generations removed. And then I found out my two uncles also served in World War two. And then I had a great grandfather who served in World War one.

00;03;15;21 – 00;03;35;23
Unknown
And I have his medals, you know, displayed downstairs, my house here. So. Wow. Yeah. Just always had an interest, you know, since being a kid. But it really kind of kickstarted, a passion project in 2021. And, yeah, I was 22 at the time, so it’s, Yeah, they’re almost five years now. Wow. That’s amazing.

00;03;35;25 – 00;03;51;23
Unknown
And you just you don’t get, like, paid for this. This is just like a passion project. Do you get funding? Like you’re just doing it because you love it? Just doing it because I love it. You know, there’s some generous donations from, you know, family members or, you know, anonymous people online, you know, every once in a while.

00;03;51;24 – 00;04;21;05
Unknown
But, it’s very rare. So I bet basically 90 to 95% of my travels purely out of pocket. What is it about the stories that makes you want to keep going and to keep these people connected, you know, to the future? Yeah, I think it’s because so many are still untold. You know, I just did an interview with a World War Two veteran who’s going to be 104 this November, I believe.

00;04;21;09 – 00;04;53;13
Unknown
Wow. And he’s from the small town in northern Alberta, and he now lives in Edmonton. And, you know, he served, you know, three, four years in World War Two. He was in Italy. He served in Africa, Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands. And he’s never been interviewed. So you think if you’re a guy who’s, you know, born in 1922, who was never, ever shared his story, there’s still so many out there that have never been shared, never, never open about their their stories, whether they haven’t been asked before or they just didn’t feel comfortable.

00;04;53;16 – 00;05;19;23
Unknown
You know, there’s, I think the government of Canada put out a, post the other day. There’s still 3300 World War Two veterans left in Canada. Is there something in particular either a story or a piece of advice that stuck with you? Kind of from everyone you’ve spoken to? Yeah, I think there’s there’s a couple there’s a couple funny ones and then a couple ones that, I’ve really taken into my own life.

00;05;19;23 – 00;05;41;04
Unknown
I think staying active physically and mentally. You know, some of the veterans I’ve interviewed, again, they’re over 100 years old. And, Audrey Hines, who in Toronto, she’s is going to be 105. This year is 105. Her birthday was last month. She walks three miles every single day at 105. Like every, every morning she has a routine.

00;05;41;04 – 00;06;01;18
Unknown
She walks. So there’s that aspect, you know, eating healthy exercise and keeping your mind healthy. But I think it’s more of a more of the mind, to be honest. There was a World War Two veteran in North Carolina who I interviewed, Merle Jean Hughes. And she said her secret to living over 100 years old was staying away from vegetables.

00;06;01;21 – 00;06;27;12
Unknown
She said she’d never had a vegetable in their entire life. So it’s, you know, there’s there’s different things, too. So walk me through the process of how you find the veterans. What your kind of day looks like. Yeah. And then kind of how you bring it all together in the end. So come, interviews or veterans contacts come to me in a lot of different ways.

00;06;27;14 – 00;06;52;26
Unknown
Of course, I work with non-for-profit museums or schools. But one of the best ways people can get a contact with me is just reaching out to me on social media. Some of my favorite interviews have happened literally because, someone watched a TikTok of mine and messaged me on TikTok, and then we scheduled an interview. Jack Thomas at a Blem, Ontario, was one of my personal favorite stories to share.

00;06;52;26 – 00;07;12;23
Unknown
His grandson, Brian. Literally, this is what, November of 2024 saw a TikTok video, messaged me and said, hey, my granddad, grandfather is a World War two veteran, but did a little summary about him and said, do you want to interview to go a couple of months going back and forth? And we ended up doing an interview and again, his story was incredible.

00;07;12;23 – 00;07;36;28
Unknown
It’s posted on my YouTube channel. He was shot down during the Battle of Arnhem. He was a D-Day veteran. And he. Yeah, was a prisoner of war for eight months. So just this incredible story of of, you know, seen in a little TikTok video sometimes it’s literally just from, hey, I read this Facebook post or I searched something and and I found this name, you know, have you interviewed so in such and such awe.

00;07;37;05 – 00;07;45;00
Unknown
And I said, yeah, here’s more information. So, I think technology is a great thing, and the internet’s such a great thing for that. And just kind of connecting people.

00;07;45;02 – 00;08;03;01
Unknown
I talked about it a little bit earlier, but, Joseph, I should say Hammond is, gone. The one of the last. I think he’s the last gone, born World War two veteran, in West Africa. And, he was with the Gold Coast Regiment who served in Burma.

00;08;03;03 – 00;08;21;05
Unknown
And the only way I was able to interview him was over zoom. He was in a, you know, a village in West Africa. I was in Toronto, and we were able to connect to think about it. We were able to connect on these two laptops that his grandson set up for me, set up for him, and then my laptop right now that I’m on right now.

00;08;21;08 – 00;08;43;00
Unknown
And I was able to speak with them for over an hour at 5 a.m. because there’s a five half hour time difference, 10 a.m. there. Yeah. So they’re waking up really early and it was well worth it. But now I’m able to share that video posted online. So people all over the world now can hear his story. That’s pretty cool.

00;08;43;02 – 00;09;14;01
Unknown
That, again, is something that technology has granted us the access to, to do. You know, I, I would probably never even talk to him maybe over the phone, but having that like face to face contact, like that’s something that we would never have even imagined to do even 20 years ago. Even the one in Edmonton that I mentioned earlier, you know, he’s in a veteran hospital in very northern Alberta, and I’m in, you know, southern Ontario.

00;09;14;01 – 00;09;42;01
Unknown
We’re able to set up an iPad and a computer here, and I’m able to talk to him almost 104 years old, sharing a story about fighting in Italy and Monte Cassino. You know, again, I can mention other stories and Sri Lanka, and India, the UK. Like, have you picture how far that is from where to where we are right now, like thousands of kilometers across massive oceans.

00;09;42;04 – 00;09;46;22
Unknown
Yeah. It’s, it’s incredible to think about.

00;09;46;25 – 00;10;07;07
Unknown
A question aside, because you keep impressing me with remembering names and birthdays and you know how old people are going to be. Is that just stored in your head? Absolutely. Yeah. It’s it’s a passion. Like out of love, like, you know, you think about, like sitting down with a veteran who’s in their 90s, who’s over 100 years old, like, how can you not remember?

00;10;07;10 – 00;10;27;27
Unknown
I’m not saying I remember every single name, but I think I could probably 80, 85% of I can rifle off right away just because they’ve left. You know that impact on me? Yeah. How could you not remember? Yeah. Oh, it’s it’s. You keep, like, pulling these names out, and I’m just like. Like, do you have the written somewhere?

00;10;27;27 – 00;10;32;19
Unknown
Like. No, I got no notes in front of me.

00;10;32;21 – 00;10;42;20
Unknown
So once again, once I get that contact from wherever it comes from, you know, I’ll send them an email, we’ll set up a call and say, hey, you know, I’ll be there at this time.

00;10;42;23 – 00;11;03;12
Unknown
I always like to ask veterans if they have photos of themselves in uniform or, even younger photos of himself. If they have a Legion blazer with their medals on it. So that’s way it’s, it’s a really good visual video. And then just it’s a really simple set up. I’m a one man show, so I literally film with my iPhone.

00;11;03;14 – 00;11;24;02
Unknown
I have a $30, you know, tripod I got from Amazon, a $10 mic and just, you know, set them up in a chair. Also in the chair, I have my little laptop with my questions. And then just, you know, question my question, which I don’t call myself a historian because I, I don’t know, I don’t know the like regiment names or too much, too many of them.

00;11;24;02 – 00;11;47;21
Unknown
I don’t really know dates that well, you know, I’m just just someone who’s really passionate about asking questions and interviewing. I think that’s more of my strong suit than, you know, in 1942, at this month and this year, whatever. Do you what do you remember? It’s just more the firsthand accounts. So once I get all the, you know, the footage done, it, then I upload the, you know, the footage to my website.

00;11;47;21 – 00;12;13;28
Unknown
I write up a whole blurb, about their story, and edit together these videos and, Yeah. And then I donate all the footage to a few different schools in Toronto and museums in the US and the, and Europe that I work with. And, again, a few not for profits and that’s, that’s kind of it. And obviously I give a, a copy of the interview to the veteran and the veterans family even that’s, that’s kind of a whole process.

00;12;13;28 – 00;12;41;28
Unknown
It’s, getting the contacts and then the veteran film on their stories and then sharing it, you know, to as many channels, as I can. That’s really cool. So what I picked up on while you were talking was, you know, you mentioned you’re not so much kind of dates focused, but, it really felt like to me, you’re more impact and emotion focused, like you’re really trying to get the, the story and the feel, from who you’re speaking to.

00;12;41;28 – 00;13;10;11
Unknown
And so I was curious what it feels like for you to be on the other end of that when you’re hearing them recount these stories and their lives from, you know, as far back as, you know, it was for them. What is that like? Yeah, sometimes it’s it’s incredibly emotional. There’s been, some interviews where, you know, I’ll be honest, I was tearing up, like, just the way that they described their stories.

00;13;10;11 – 00;13;31;12
Unknown
You can tell that a lot of the times they’re reliving it as they tell you, you know, William Cy Freed out of Guelph, Ontario, unfortunately, just passed away a few months ago. He was at the Battle of the shell during World War Two. And, you know, a very difficult battle for the Canadians. And he was in the infantry.

00;13;31;14 – 00;13;51;18
Unknown
And as he was telling the stories, he got really, really emotional. And, you know, I got emotional, too. So we were both sitting there crying a little bit. But sometimes, you know, you got to hold it together a little bit. But again, a lot of the times they’re there, they’re so emotionally fueled. I mean, you can you can see that they’re again reliving it.

00;13;51;18 – 00;14;17;22
Unknown
And I’m a big visual person. So sometimes I can almost see what what they’re explaining. I did an interview, you know, again, a lot of different interviews where you can see that it it hasn’t been told in so long. And again, the emotions are still there. A lot of those stories come out in different ways and meet the personalities of the veterans are completely different.

00;14;17;25 – 00;14;44;20
Unknown
And, yeah, it’s it’s captured in these incredible videos that I feel are the veterans fairly open in terms of sharing their stories? I guess because they reach out to you mostly. I’m sure they are. But, you know, are people maybe a bit more reserved sometimes about sharing. Sometimes they are. And, you know, I’ve been very fortunate to interview again over 150 veterans now, but I have gotten some no’s and a lot of the times they say it’s too difficult to say or, you know, it’s too long ago.

00;14;44;20 – 00;15;05;08
Unknown
I don’t want to talk about it. But some veterans, you know, take a little bit of convincing, you know, once you kind of get them on the phone. But, I think I was speaking to a veteran the other day and they said it takes between 50 to 70 years for someone to open up for a veteran to open up about their time in the service.

00;15;05;10 – 00;15;40;06
Unknown
A Vietnam veteran that I interviewed in Barrie on Saturday, he said it took 35 years for him to open up. So you think about that time, the way that they were caring for that long with the World War Two veteran. Sometimes, you know, it’s it’s 70 years at minimum. Korea 50, 60, 70 years, same thing. And and a lot of the times it’s, you know, 20 plus years, whatever it is to even just what I did, you know, a lot of the times they put their medals, they put their uniform paperwork, they just put it in the closet and they forget about it.

00;15;40;08 – 00;16;02;24
Unknown
George Ferguson, he’s in a really Ontario. He just opened up about his time in the service in 2024, and that’s 80 years. You know, by the time he. He landed in Normandy with the, with the Canadian Army during World War two. And so a lot of the times are open, but a lot of times are not because maybe no one has asked them.

00;16;02;26 – 00;16;20;01
Unknown
That’s been the biggest thing. I’ve interview veterans in this and I say, you know, why haven’t we share your story? He said, I was never asked. And that just gives me goosebumps. I’m like, wow, that’s it’s sad, but also exciting. Like, you know, this is the first time you’re sharing your story. It’s, it’s a lot of responsibility.

00;16;20;01 – 00;16;40;11
Unknown
I think it is. Yeah. And what’s the the feedback typically, you know, once you’ve concluded your your interviews and I’m assuming you chat a little bit after, you know, the cameras are off, or is it because you mentioned the weight that they carry? I was curious if this is, healing in a way for them or a way to process.

00;16;40;13 – 00;17;03;26
Unknown
Yeah, I think, yeah, I think it is really healing it. There was, again, a World War Two veteran interviewed in Brampton, Ontario. He’s 103, never been interviewed, saw my name in the newspaper article and said, you know, I want to share my story with you. And he said, it’s so I can this this weight off my shoulders are so relieving to to share these stories.

00;17;03;26 – 00;17;22;23
Unknown
It because it’s been built up for over, you know, 80 years or so. And, his niece actually reached out to me to schedule it. And she was, you know, in tears when we when I sent her the footage, she was so thankful. And, you know, because in recent years, he had some health problems, but he was quick as a whip, and he was just amazing.

00;17;22;24 – 00;17;29;28
Unknown
What gets lost when veterans don’t share or don’t tell their story?

00;17;30;00 – 00;17;55;27
Unknown
Oh, wow. I think their names, you know, you think about, like, what is your name? Your name is your your family name, but it’s also like who you are and your story. You know, I remember reading something online the other day. It was in someone’s lifetime. Somebody dies twice when they actually die. And then when the last time someone ever says their name.

00;17;55;29 – 00;18;20;11
Unknown
Oof! So I thought that was a pretty interesting quote. So I think what gets lost is, you know who they are, who they are, who their story was, and what their story was really, you know, what they experienced the, the life advice, the, the the joy. Yeah. Just what they experience in life, I think that gets lost.

00;18;20;11 – 00;18;44;03
Unknown
And, you know, and again, my interview style is I’m not just going to talk about the combat and the war. It’s like, you know, what was like growing up in the Great Depression? What? Yeah, I get life advice do you have for kids nowadays? What do you do for fun? Like, it’s it’s just like a. You’re capturing who they are and who they’re, they’re, they’re what their life was, you know, 30, 40, 50 minute video.

00;18;44;03 – 00;19;15;02
Unknown
It’s, difficult to do, but it’s it’s fun. Yeah. You’re you’re kind of recording a story that might never be shared or might never be seen by anyone until it’s shared. It’s like a race against the clock. Now, did you have anything else you wanted to share? I think I just want people to be curious. If I if anyone listening gets one thing out of this, listening to this, podcast, I think I want people to be curious, you know, whether it’s in your life or about your own family history.

00;19;15;05 – 00;19;40;06
Unknown
You never know what path it might lead you down. Like you might have a famous painter or famous, you know, athlete in your family that you never knew about. And now you have a brand new passion, to, to kind of pursue. And now it’s like a family heirloom. So I think I want people to be passionate, or curious, rather in, in themselves, in their family history and, and anything that they do.

00;19;40;08 – 00;19;59;24
Unknown
Because you never know what you’re going to find. And ask your family questions. Ask your aunts and uncles, ask your grandparents who hopefully are still around. Yeah. Just sit down with them, learn from them. There’s so much knowledge there that could be slowly slipped away. If you if you aren’t curious, you don’t ask those ask good questions.

00;19;59;26 – 00;20;19;29
Unknown
Be a good listener. That’s that’s the skill I’ve learned. So I think it’s, it’s a skill that you have to learn and, I think, yeah, like, try to be a good listener and ask good questions and soak up as much knowledge as you can. You never know what project or passion or hobby might come out.

00;20;20;02 – 00;20;38;09
Unknown
I actually encourage people to do what I’m doing and in any other parts of the world, because I’m not going to be able to save all these veteran stories. There’s their stories are important. They need to be shared. Anyone can do what I’m doing, and I really encourage people to do what I’m doing in their spare time.

00;20;38;12 – 00;20;59;10
Unknown
They don’t have to interview 10 to 15 veterans a month like I’m doing, but, you know, one a month. What do we want a year? That’s that’s going to be worth it. Five, ten, 20, 30 years from now when these stories are not not accessible anymore. If you know what a veteran wants to share their story again, please reach out to me.

00;20;59;17 – 00;21;08;23
Unknown
Global Veteran stories.com I would love to be able to share their story.

00;21;08;25 – 00;21;19;20
Unknown
Thank you Zach for sharing your passion project with us. Preserving these memories of people who may not have shared otherwise is important, and I look forward to hearing many more.

00;21;19;23 – 00;21;39;10
Unknown
Thank you for listening to the entire episode. All the links and info you heard in this conversation will be featured in the show notes on our website. If you’d like to know more about anything we mentioned in this episode, make sure to check Villager Magazine Talks Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you’re listening from.

00;21;39;12 – 00;21;48;04
Unknown
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