Stories Behind the Stars began as a lunch-time hobby of one person writing one story of a US WWII fallen a day. It took four years to write 1,500 stories. Now, thanks to the efforts of hundreds of volunteers, we did more than that many stories in less than one month.
The engagement and output of our volunteers has been lessened by a lack of enough support and assistance on my part as director. Unfortunately, I've only had a few hours a week available since I got a full time job with the FDIC.
The good news is that things are about to get much better. Linda Simpson has accepted the National Assistant Director position here at Stories Behind the Stars, effective immediately. By the end of the summer she will take on the National Director position and I will move over to a senior advisor role.
Linda Simpson, has been volunteering with Stories Behind The Stars since July 2020, putting her in the first vanguard of volunteers. She began first as a writer, then a first story reviewer. She worked on our D-Day and Pearl Harbor projects. She volunteered to serve as our Oklahoma state director, and was also an Arlington National Cemetery project director. Linda's talents and dedication did not end there, because Linda also became our Flight Guidance lead, involved with helping people get answers to questions, and assigning first stories from bomber crews to new volunteers. Plus, she volunteered to take on the role of the State Coordinator Director.
Can you think of anyone better prepared to lead this project?
Linda was born in Montreal and eventually ended up in Oklahoma. She's had a lifelong love for genealogy and research. She's been working on family research for over 40 years. Linda joined the USGenWeb as a county coordinator for the state of Oklahoma specializing in the Seminole Nation Tribe, and is currently serving on their board of directors.
Earlier, she served as a den leader, and was a member of Train the Trainer for the Boy Scouts of America, Black Beaver Council, Oklahoma. Her son rose to Eagle Scout status, and that mean's mom was there to help a lot.
One of her biggest achievements, of a personal nature, was founding Grey Oaks Equine Sanctuary, a 501c3 non-profit rescue for aged and at-risk equine; it’s a passion she has been lucky enough to fulfill.
Her ultimate goal for Stories Behind the Stars is to help it move forward in the production of a white glove memorial for every man and woman who served in WWII but never came home to enjoy the freedoms you and I enjoy every single day.
Linda told me, "Working with the volunteers of Stories Behind The Stars, I think to myself, I don’t have to do this, I get to do this."
Please join me in welcoming Linda and supporting her in making the project an even greater success. Linda can be reached at lindas@storiesbehindthestars.org.
Stay tuned for more news on how many of you can help us complete our mission to honor all 421,000 US WWII fallen.
Don Milne
March 27, 2024