insignia, field gear, and a very unique thing, veteran autographs. I have a collection of autographs from military veterans who served during WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, and the present war in Iraq. I have been interested in history for over 6 years now, and I have collected the autographs and stories from nearly 1,600 veterans in 20 countries. The oldest veteran is currently 112 years old and the youngest enlisted at age 14. I have autographs from Pearl Harbor survivors, D-Day veterans, airman, POWs, USS Indianapolis survivors, Holocaust survivors, and even German soldiers! Back in June (of 2007), I was interview by PBS, to talk about my collection for an interview that was to be shown online. After that, I was interviewed for “The Columbus World War II Roadshow.” They mentioned that it was to come on (in Central-Ohio) before some of the episodes of Ken Burns’ “The War.” You can find this interview on YouTube unde “Kyle Nappi.” I was recently interviewed by the American Legion for an article that will appear in their August magazine. There have been several other people have taken the time to post my request online and in newspapers. There are too many for me to list, but if you go to Google or Yahoo and search “Kyle Nappi” you can find most of them.
Recently, I also had the privilege of going to Washington, D.C. during the early part of March. I was invited to the Pentagon for a Ceremony honoring WWI veterans. I was able to meet with the last American WWI veteran, Frank Buckles.
I was wondering if it is possible to provide any veterans (who are interested) with my questionnaire, put me in touch with them, or pass along the word about my collection. Please let me know if this is possible.
If not, is it possible to post my request?
My main purpose for writing it to share with you that there are people from my generation who do remember the past and the sacrifices that were made for our great country. I would greatly appreciate it if you could pass the word around that there are people who remember, along with the information about my collection. Thank you very much for your time.
KYLE NAPPI
knap607@yahoo.com
Ostrander, OH
