GREEN: Retired Marine Col. H. Speed Wilson wants the stories of the men and women who served in war to be remembered because so many gave so much.“They don’t realize the sacrifices that were made,” Wilson, a 91-year-old pilot who flew about 180 battle missions, said of people who have not experienced war. He flew in battle about 90 times each in World War II and Korea and was shot down four times.“I was in a fighter squadron ... and of the original 32 pilots, only 12 remained” after World War II, Wilson said.He is one of about 100 veterans or family members of veterans who have told their stories to the World War II and Korean War Roundtable, a group that will celebrate its 10th anniversary at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Fairlawn Kiwanis Community Center, 3486 S. Smith Road.Over those 10 years, about 25 to 30 percent of the speakers have died, estimated group founder Dean Smith, 78, an Air Force veteran and retired Akron lawyer.“When you hear them give their stories, there are items that are not in the history books,” Smith said.After about a year, Dick Sutherland, 81, a Navy veteran of the Korean era from Bath Township, began videotaping the speeches.Those tapes have been placed on file in the University of Akron archives.“I am so appreciative that we have videotaped these people,” Sutherland said. “So many are gone now.”Tom Swope, 58, of Mentor, knows the value of collecting stories from war veterans. He has interviewed 450 veterans, including 420 for the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project.“It is very important to get these personal stories from the men and women who were there to get a much more accurate picture of what really happened during these historic times,” Swope said. “Historians have documented the facts and figures, but wars are fought by people, and everyone should know what they went through. The heartbreak, the humor, the heroism, it is all part of it.“Hearing these stories brings greater appreciation to the veterans and better understanding for the rest of us.” Swope advises family members to “do whatever they can to coax the veterans in their families to tell their story.” “They can make a video or audio recording, but get it done,” Swope said. “And don’t be concerned with perfection. Just let them to tell their stories. Actually making this happen is overwhelming for some, and that is why I decided to volunteer to help 10 years ago.”Wilson, who served 31 years in the Marines, met his wife, Ruth Heller Wilson, in 1945 on a blind date. She was in the Women Marines and was serving as an air traffic controller at the Marine Corps Air Station at Cherry Point, N.C.Ruth Wilson, who will turn 89 this month, called it essential to preserve the stories of all who served.“It is a shame that people don’t realize what they did — like the Marines coming out of the Chosin Reservoir,” she said, referring to a key battle in North Korea.Her husband later served in Vietnam as chief of staff of the 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade, an air-ground force of 20,000.Wilson, a Texas native, said with sadness in his voice that it is hard for people who were not in combat to totally understand.“You sort of had to be there,” he said.So often, he said, he would go out on a mission and come back and another of his friends would not return.“You seldom ever knew what happened,” Wilson said. “They just didn’t make it back.”Bataan Death March survivor Richard Francies, of Willoughby, was the first veteran whose speech was taped at the Fairlawn meetings in June 2002.At the age of 24, Francies said, life experiences following 3› years of captivity “are hard, if not impossible, to forget.”He spoke of post-traumatic stress disorder and of “torture, starvation and beating and humiliation that the Japanese Army imposed on us.”Ten thousand Americans started on the death march on the Philippines. Only one-third were alive at the end of the war. “We were expendable,” he said in his video.At the time of his speech, only 500 Bataan survivors were still alive, he said.Francies, 94, an Ohio Bell retiree, died Oct. 13 in Geauga County. A memorial service was held Sunday in Cleveland. A private burial is pending at Arlington National Cemetery.The roundtable normally meets at 6:45 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of the month. Because of Thanksgiving, the group will meet on the third Thursday in November; it does not meet in December.For information, call group President C. David Post at 330-668-2447.Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or at jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.