World War II Memories Captured on Web Site

By NICOLE WALLACE

A San Francisco charity has created a Web site that allows people who lived through World War II to share their memories of that time — with one another and with younger generations.

The Ameritech World War II Living Memorial is a project of SeniorNet, an organization that teaches older people how to use technology.

Visitors to the site can post messages on more than 20 message boards. The topics of the discussions include various theaters of the war, the Holocaust, life on the home front, and the experiences of children during the war. Other subjects include books about the war, such as The Good War, by Studs Terkel, and travel to World War II battlefields.

Since the site went online this spring, participants have posted almost 6,000 messages, including ones from people sharing their memories of the time and younger people asking what life was like during the war.

The site also includes essays and photographs that visitors have submitted and annotated links to other Web sites about World War II.

The project is the first site to be developed as part of SeniorNet´s “Living Archives” program.

The organization plans to build similar sites devoted to the Depression, the Korean War, the Golden Age of Entertainment, the Arts and Crafts movement in design, and technologies of the 20th century.

To get there: Go to http://www.seniornet.org/ww2.