Good luck and Godspeed, @agmoore. You will finish. I somehow feel confident of that. You are motivated, your husband is finally ready to talk about his experience, you both feel that clock ticking, and most importantly, these personal experiences are stories that must be told.
p.s. Video and audio transcription aren't very expensive. One approach could be to interview him while recording, without writing. Just listen, prod, ask him what that was like, and see if you can spend your valuable energy pulling the stories out of him. Then you'd have more of an editing project than a writing project. Just an idea! Hugs to you.
Hello my friend,
I am doing that. My husband is not much of a talker, but I ask a few provocative questions and he starts remembering things. These events are not necessarily related, but they all come together eventually to make the story complete. So far, I'm using my phone. I just sit down and let him talk. He doesn't embellish, which is good. It's almost straight narrative.
It was always my intention to have this be his voice. I will only add background on contemporaneous events to give the narrative context. It will be his voice, I hope. So far I've transcribed a few pages.
Thanks so much for the advice. You and I are on the same page 😇
What a wonderful project for you to do together. Those memories are very powerful. He may be giving an understated and unemotional narrative, but I have a hunch it is a very emotional experience (and I hope a healing one) to talk through what he remembers from the war.