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William Tool at time of interview

Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: Persian Gulf War, 1991
  • Branch of Service: Marine Corps
  • Unit of Service: Military Police Company, Headquarters Battalion, 1st Marine Division
  • Location of Service: Lackland Air Force Base, Texas; Camp Pendleton, California; Twentynine Palms, California; Saudi Arabia; Kuwait; Italy; Paris, France
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant
  • Collection Number: AFC/2001/001/110299

View full service history

"It took me a while to figure out I wanted to do, and how to navigate my life so that I could get to someplace I was proud of and happy with." (Video interview, 50:50).

Enlisting in the Marine Corps in 1989, William Arthur Ehren Tool served in a Military Police unit in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War, and then at the U.S. embassies in Paris and Rome. Following his service, he used the GI Bill to pursue an undergraduate degree, where he discovered his vocation, ceramic arts, and then began making small ceramic cups decorated with images and shapes evoking violence and war. To date, he has crafted over 14,000 of these cups. In his oral history interview, conducted as part of the PBS documentary series “Craft in America,” he discusses the connection between his service and his art.

Interview / Recording

About this Item

Title

  • William Arthur Ehren Tool Collection

Names

  • Tool, William Arthur Ehren
  • Feldman, Beverly
  • Sauvion, Carol
  • Craft in America

State of Birth

  • SC

Home State

  • CA

Headings

  • -  Tool, William Arthur Ehren
  • -  Persian Gulf War, 1991 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Marine Corps.

Form

  • DVD

Extent

  • 1 item

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • Persian Gulf War, 1991

    • Branch of Service: Marine Corps
    • Unit of Service: Military Police Company, Headquarters Battalion, 1st Marine Division
    • Location of Service: Lackland Air Force Base, Texas; Camp Pendleton, California; Twentynine Palms, California; Saudi Arabia; Kuwait; Italy; Paris, France
    • Highest Rank: Sergeant
    • Dates of Service: 1989-1994
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Video: DVD [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 04/01/2015)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/110299

Cite as

  • William Arthur Ehren Tool Collection (AFC/2001/001/110299), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Tool, William Arthur Ehren, Beverly Feldman, Carol Sauvion, and Craft In America. William Arthur Ehren Tool Collection. 1989. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.110299/.

APA citation style:

Tool, W. A. E., Feldman, B., Sauvion, C. & Craft In America. (1989) William Arthur Ehren Tool Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.110299/.

MLA citation style:

Tool, William Arthur Ehren, et al. William Arthur Ehren Tool Collection. 1989. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.110299/>.