Digital Museum for United States Veterans

Veteran Stories

The Stories

The Veterans Museum is here to share the stories of our Veterans and their families.

At the heart of the Veterans Museum are the Veteran stories that define our mission. These are the real voices of service — unfiltered, powerful, and deeply human. Every story told helps us preserve the personal side of military history, ensuring that no veteran’s experience is forgotten.

The videos below include the hundreds of stories of Veterans with a wide range of experiences. These are the same videos that display in all of the kiosks we have placed in locations throughout Florida.

Use the search options below to find videos of interest. 

.50 caliber machine gun 1st Cavalry Division 5" guns 5-inch 9-11 15-6 investigation 25th Infantry Division 48th base camp 64th Engineer Topographic Battalion 428th Tactical Fighter Squadron 886 927th 1989 A-1E A-7 Addiction admiral Afghanis Afghanistan Africa African Americans Air Assault Air Assault School aircraft carrier Air Force air rescue Air Wing 8 AK-47 Al-Qaeda Albanians Allied Occupied Japan AMCROSS Antarctica Anti-Submarine Rocket anti-Vietnam sentiment anti-war demonstration Arlington Army Army doctor Army National Guard article 15 ARVN asbestos asbestosis ashes ASROC attack aviation boatswain's mate B-52 B-52H B-52s Baathists babies Bagram Balkans War ballistic missile bank Barack Obama barrel baseball Battle Rattle Berlin Wall Bethesda Blackhorse Blue Dragons blue on green boatswain boatswain's mate boiler room boiler technicians bomb blast bombing bombing runs Bombs bootcamp Bosnia Bosnia & Herzegovina brass Brigadier General Buffalo Buffalo New York bunk burial at sea C-130 California fires Camera Camp Carroll Camp Edwards Camp Lejeune canopy capped Captain's mast Captain T.J. Harper Captain Wise Captured career cartels cash casket Cason Castro Catholic Nuns Ceasefire Cease fire chart chiefs mess Children China Christmas City Of Jacksonville civilian acquired skills cleft palate close air support Clyde Lassen Coast Guard coffee College combat missions Combat Service Support Combat Sustainment Support Battalion Coming Home Command Commanding Officer Commission Communication Communism Community Service computer operator computers convoy cook corpsman councilman counternarcotics crane crash Croatia Crying CS3 Cuba Cuban Army Cu Chi culinary specialist (CS) damage controlman Da Nang daycare deck department Defense Computer Institute Degree demilitarized zone Deployment Desert Storm design flaw destroyer detainees Detention dirt disability dive-bomb dive school DMZ doc doctor DODCI dollars drug boats drugs duty Duval earthquake education eject electrician's mate Email embassy Emergency emergency breakaway engineers engine room Evasion Expo '70 F-111 FA-18 Family FDVA Federal Reserve Fence Line fire Fire Controlman Fire Control Technician fire control technicians flagship flagship USS Rochester flight deck flight program flight status flood Florida Florida A&M Florida Hall of Fame Council Florida National Guard Florida Veterans Foundation Florida Veterans Hall of Fame Fort Hood forward air controller forward operating base Frank Cius friendly fire funerals Gadsden County gauntlet gender discrimination General Dynamics General MacArthur General Shoemaker George H.W. Bush Germany Ghazni Province Gitmo glider Gobi Gold Star Family gorilla Government Car Grappa Great Lakes Green Beret Green Berets Greenpeace Green Zone Grenades grounded Guantanamo Bay Guard Gulf of Tonkin gunfire gunfire director gun line gun mount gun mounts gunner's mate gunner's mates gunnery officer H-3 Hachi Hachi Roku Ham Radio Hanoi Hanoi Hilton Hartsell Hazara tribe HBCU head injury Healthcare Healthcare Management helicopter helicopter crew chief helicopter pilot helicopters helicopter squadron high-tension wires highline Highway 1 HMX-1 Hoa Lo Prison Ho Chi Minh Trail Ho Chi Min Sandal Ho Chi Min Trail homecoming Homestead Hong Kong hooch hospital hospital corpsman hospital ship Hue Huey human body experiments humanitarian humanitarian aid humanitarian relief humble hung bomb Hung ordinance hung rockets Iceland IED IMA imagery Inauguration Individual Augmentee insurgents integration intel intelligence gathering missions Internet interpreters Invasion of Inchon IRA Iran-Contra Affair Iraq Iraqi police Italy Jacksonville Jalalabad Japan Japanese Jet John Dunham John Wayne joint forces Judge Justice Thurgood Marshall Kalashnikov Kamakura KIA kidnapped kids kids books Kings Bay Knighthawks Kobe Korea Koreans Kosovo Kuril Islands Kuwait lacerations LA County Sheriff Department Lake Charles Laos launch lawyer Lebanon leper Letters lifeguard Lithuania logistician logistics Lompoc London LPH LST Lyndon Johnson MacArthur MacDill Macedonia Machinist Mate Madison County main condenser main galley Malinois man overboard Marine Corps Marines Martin Sheen Mayor medal medevac Medical evacuation medical school Mediterranean mentor MEPS MIA military service minority missile missile tests missing Missing in Action missionary money Monterey mop mortar Mortors Moscow Mount Fuji MP mugs napalm Naples NAS Oceana National Guard National League of POW/MIA Families NATO Naval Academy ring navigator Navy Navy Medical Service Corps NCIS NEDU New York Noriega North Koreans North Vietnam North Vietnamese North Vietnamese Army North Vietnamese border Nùngs officers oiler Operation Deep Freeze Operation Iraqi Freedom Operations Specialist opportunity Ordinance Orlando Orleck Orphans P-3 paint Panama parachute jumps Paris Peace Accords Patrick Air Force Base Peace Treaty Pearl Harbor penguins Pensacola Pentagon Philippines Phu Bai physician pilot Pirmasens planes shot down polar bear Polaris police transition team politicians port call Port Orange Port Visit post 9/11 POW power lines POWs pregnancy president Presidental Helicopter Squadron President Eisenhower President Gerald Ford Presidential Helicopter Squadron Presidential Honor Guard President Nixon prison Prisoner prosecutor Provincial Reconstruction Team provisions PTSD Quantico R&R radarman radio radioman Radios re-enlistment mandate Ready Room Reagan reconstruction Recruiters Red Cross message red phone Reese replenishments rescuer resilience Retirement retirement ceremony RIO rivalries rocket Rockets rotary school ROTC rounds Russia Russian sacrifice Saddam Hussein Saigon River sampans San Diego sandstorm Sandy pilots Sarajevo Sasebo satellite saturation diving scrapped Seabees Sea King seals Security Senator Serbia service dog shell casings Shia Shinjuku Ship Tour shock and awe Shoot shot shot down shrapnel Signature Silver Star Sixth Fleet Snipe SOCOM soldiers solitary confinement South China Sea Soviet Union space command Space Force Special Forces special ops special response batallions sports spouses STABO Statue of Liberty steam steam leak steam line strafing student loans Subic Bay Submarine submariner submarine tender Sunni supersonic support operations officer surgery survival swift boat T-37 T-38 Takhli Taliban Tallahassee tank tape recorder taxi runs teacher telephone television tent Terrorism Tet Offensive Texas Thailand Thanksgiving Thompson submachine gun Tigers Tokyo Top Secret training translation Trauma Treasure Island tribal leaders Turkey typhoon Ty stuffed animals U.S. Air Force U.S. Marine UAV undesignated unexploded ordinance United Through Reading University of Florida UN Peacekeepers USAMMC-E USS Guadalcanal USS Kitty Hawk USS Maryland USS Orleck USS Saratoga USS Theodore Roosevelt Vandenberg Veterans Veterans' stories Veterans Treatment Court VFA-136 Viet Cong Vietcong Vietnam Vietnam War VTC ward room war in Israel warrant officer helicopter program warrant officer training White Horse wife Women women in aviation World's Fair wounded Wounded Warriors Project WWII Xi'an XM1 Yellow Ribbon Program Yeltsin Yokosuka
Video Gallery
In the mid-1970s, Ritaann Schultz breaks barriers for women in the ...
Murial A. H. Kweyama remembers her younger brother LCPL Clemon ...
Pat Patten served as a data processing technician in the Navy, ...
As a motor transport operator in the Army, Jodona Brown drove in truck ...
As a young sailor, Benjamin F. Walker was encouraged to take a ...
As a teen mom with no high school diploma, Stacy Douglas enlisted in ...
Unable to find a job because of no work experience, Denise Everett ...
Dr. Pia Woodley, a Navy veteran, shares her journey from growing up in ...
Ann-Marie Knight describes being an electrician's mate in the late ...
In this compelling interview, Marine Corps Veteran Frank Cius shares ...
In this compelling interview, Marine Corps Veteran Frank Cius shares ...
In this compelling interview, Marine Corps Veteran Frank Cius shares ...
In this compelling interview, Marine Corps Veteran Frank Cius shares ...
In this compelling interview, Marine Corps Veteran Frank Cius shares ...
In this compelling interview, Marine Corps Veteran Frank Cius shares ...
In this compelling interview, Marine Corps Veteran Frank Cius shares ...
In this compelling interview, Marine Corps Veteran Frank Cius shares ...
In this compelling interview, Marine Corps Veteran Frank Cius shares ...
In this compelling interview, Marine Corps Veteran Frank Cius shares ...
In this compelling interview, Marine Corps Veteran Frank Cius shares ...

The Veterans Museum is here to share the stories of our veterans and their families in their own words. We believe these voices matter. From combat experiences and moments of courage to reflections on service, transition, and healing — each story adds meaning and depth to our understanding of military life.

Our goal for these exhibits is to capture meaningful excerpts of veteran stories and make them accessible to the public. These narratives provide insight, education, and inspiration for civilians and fellow service members alike. Whether you’re a student, a fellow veteran, or a curious visitor, these stories offer a connection to the people behind the uniform.

Why Veteran Stories Matter

  • They preserve personal history that might otherwise be lost

  • They honor service and sacrifice in a deeply human way

  • They bridge the civilian-military divide through storytelling

  • They educate future generations about the realities of military life

  • They empower veterans to share their truth, in their voice

If you’re interested in exploring even more stories beyond our collection, we encourage you to visit the Library of Congress Veterans History Project, where thousands of personal accounts are preserved for public access. You may also find meaningful perspectives at the National Veterans Foundation, which offers veteran-led support and shares lived experiences to promote healing and advocacy.

As you explore these veteran stories, we encourage you to listen with an open heart and mind. Each story is a thread in the fabric of our national identity — brave, complex, and real.

If you or someone you know would like to share a personal story for this collection, please visit our Share Your Story page or contactus so we can include you.

Let’s make sure these stories are never forgotten.