Preserving Legacies: Capturing Veterans’ Stories

A Veteran’s military service memories, captured in their own words and photographs, is one of the most valuable legacies a former service member can provide for his or her family. Reading about what Veterans did to serve their country allows family members and future generations to understand and appreciate what they went through to provide the freedoms we all enjoy today.

Togetherweserved.com (TWS), an online community with a membership of over 2.3 million U.S. Veterans, has been preserving the military service stories of its Veterans for over 20 years. TWS is seen as an important archive of living military history.

By way of a guided questionnaire and a specially designed interface called ‘Service Reflections,’ TWS makes it very easy for Veterans to record memories of key people and events from their military service. Their service story comes to life by simply answering one question at a time to which they can add accompanying photographs.

The result is a beautiful 12-inch-wide presentation of a Veteran’s entire Military Service Story, from enlistment to separation, complete with their personal Military Service Plaque. Veterans can download and save the plaque as a PDF file or share it with family and friends via a personal web address.

One Veteran who has appreciated this free service is retired Marine LCpl Ramon D. Arredondo, who served from 1968 to 1972.

“My story is a humble one,” Arredondo said. “I served my country and had a few moments of valor and virtue. But since all of us will fade into the pages of history, virtually unknown, Together We Served has allowed me to tell my story of duty, honor, God and country, for which I am very grateful.”

Click here to learn more about preserving and sharing your Military Memories using Togetherweserved.com.

Meanwhile, Togetherweserved.com has been collaborating with VA by hosting a monthly competition, promoted through the weekly #VetResources newsletter, encouraging Veterans to write about a specific memory from their military service. Over 6,400 exceptional stories have been submitted since the Military Memories competition commenced in February 2023. All 55 winning entries can be viewed at on the TWS blog