Contribute to a greater understanding of history by recording your wartime experience for the largest Veterans' oral history archive in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Veterans' Voices Oral History Project at Battleship Cove.

Please refer to the following list of questions to conduct your own oral history by recording on audiotape your thorough and complete answer to each question, adding any other pertinent memories you might have.

When you have completed the oral history, please sign on the "Signature of Donor" line on the Deed of Gift form, allowing us to keep and use the oral history for informational and educational purposes. Then return it to:

Oral History Department
Battleship Cove
P.O. Box 111
Fall River, MA 02722-0111

"It was a very, very good experience for me even though I lost my left arm, and I was left handed, you know."

-Belton Copp

COURAGE UNDER FIRE: Brilliant, handsome, and athletic, twenty-one-
year-old Belton Copp was poised to inherit a life of privilege on December 6, 1941. The grandson of legendary nature artist John James Audubon, Copp was a varsity playmaker on the Yale gridiron when the Japanese Imperial Navy launched their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

Copp enlisted in the Navy, triggering a series of events that would land him on a motor torpedo boat in the Pacific, speeding headlong into the jaws of the Japanese. In his final firefight, Copp was wounded in the arm, which became gangrenous and required amputation.

Says Copp, "It was the best thing that happened to me really - this whole incident -because until then I'd had everything my way, you know - Exeter (Academy), Yale, all that stuff - and a football player. And I learned that there are some people that aren't quite that lucky. It was a very, very good experience for me even though I lost my left arm, and I was left handed, you know."

Visit Battleship Cove to explore the Veterans' Voices oral history archives, or click here to listen to samples from the collection.

THE SON ALSO RISES: If any man epitomizes patriotism, it is Senator John McCain. A distinguished veteran, statesman, and family man, this retired naval aviator has dedicated his life to national service, as his father and grandfather, both four-star admirals, did before him.

Click here for the interview with Sen. McCain.