During this month's Veterans' Day ceremony in Princeton, Derek Welski, dressed in a blue blazer, white shirt and red tie, proudly helped carry and place a flower wreath at the foot of the All Wars Monument at Nassau and Mercer streets.
As an American, the 16-year-old Princeton High School junior was honoring those who have served his country. As an aspiring historian, he was also doing some serious networking.
Mr. Welski, a self-described history buff, set out during the summer to locate and interview local veterans to create an oral history. Since then, he has recorded interviews with five veterans, created a Web site where he plans to post the interviews, and made preliminary plans to publish the stories he gathers as part of what he has titled the "Princeton Area Veterans Project."
Mr. Welski said the project is intended to honor local veterans by preserving their tales of service and sacrifice. He also hopes the stories give his peers and younger students a greater appreciation of the efforts veterans have made to protect democracy.
"If a history book says the Battle of the Bulge was really cold, someone who experienced it can say, My feet were freezing off,'" Mr. Welski said. "It makes history more personal, more interesting in that sense."
The Veterans Project is not a school assignment, yet Mr. Welski is approaching it with the seriousness of a small business owner. In addition to his Web site (www.veteransproject.us), he has a separate phone line, business cards, and a fact sheet. The publicity materials are important because his most urgent task is finding local veterans.
He recently joined the Spirit of Princeton Committee, a group of volunteers that organizes civic events in Princeton, including the Veterans' Day ceremony. Through the Committee, he has been able to swap stories with vets including Brooks Dyer of Princeton Township.
Mr. Dyer, a 68-year-old retired Marine Corps pilot who chairs the Veterans' Day program, gave Mr. Welski the honor of placing the wreath at this year's ceremony. He has also put him in touch with several vets.
"It's always good to recognize the heroes who have made our way of life possible," Mr. Dyer said. "I have a lot of respect for him. He's just a nice kid."
The son of Eleanor and Joseph Welski of Gallup Road in Princeton Township, Mr. Welski said he has always been interested in history, particularly World War II, because his paternal grandfather served in the Polish army and later the Polish resistance to German occupation. Welski says he first thought about the Veterans Project at the end of last school year, but he cannot point to a single event that sparked the idea.
He said he was motivated, in part, by reading an alarming statistic: an estimated 1,100 World War II veterans die each day, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Fewer than 3.7 million of the 16.5 million men and women who served in the armed forces during World War are still alive, and their median age is 82.
"When veterans die, all their stories and experiences die with them," said Mr. Welski. "These are all people who fought for our country and did some really great things that we should all hear about and read about."
Mr. Welski, who lists Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms as a favorite book, speaks directly, placing his knuckle against his chin to make his serious points. He addresses his elders as "Mister" and refers to his interview subjects by their military titles.
"He is like having a history professor in the family without a Ph.D at the end of his name," said his 25-year-old sister, Alison.
For the time being, however, Mr. Welski said he expects to pursue a history major and has not made a college choice.
He hopes to have interviewed two dozen or so area veterans by the end of his research. Although Princeton is in the title of his project, he said he wants to hear from veterans throughout central New Jersey, emphasizing that he is not searching for any one type of veteran. Most of his interviewees, so far, have been World War II vets, but he hopes to locate veterans from all of America's wars, including the War on Terrorism.
"To me, it doesn't matter if a veteran was a tank gunner, a member of the M.A.S.H. unit, an infantryman or a sailor," he said. "Each and every story is important and should be told."
Among the stories he has already collected is that of Sergio Bonotto, his partner in carrying the wreath during the November 11 Veterans' Day ceremony. Mr. Bonotto, an 80-year-old retired research chemist who resides in Princeton Township, earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his service as an infantryman in the U.S. Army during World War II.
Mr. Bonotto said Mr. Welski seemed most interested in the story about how he became a soldier. Bonotto was born in Torino, Italy, and came to America on the last boat to leave Italy for the U.S. before Mussolini's Italy declared war in June 1940. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in October 1944 and was sent to Germany six months later.
Mr. Bonotto said he spoke with Mr. Welski at The Cafe in the Princeton Shopping Center where a group that calls itself Retired Old Men Eating Out, or the Romeo Club, meets for coffee each weekday. Many members of the group are veterans.
"It surprised me that someone so young would be so interested in what us old fogies are doing," Mr. Bonotto joked, adding that Mr. Welski has a tough job ahead. "You listen to the accounts of veterans, and there are so many stories. You just don't know which ones to pick."
Mr. Welski said he expects to enjoy every minute.
"I like discussing people's lives; everyone has interesting and unusual experiences that we can gain a greater appreciation for."
Local veterans interested in speaking with Mr. Welski and participating in the Princeton Area Veterans Project can contact him at derek@veteransproject.us or by calling (609) 924-5285.