in this event from 2002 at the library of congress, andrew carroll is joined by guests including chuck hagel and former senator bob dole in a reading of passages from the book. this is about an hour. >> good evening. the library of congress. i'm john cole, the director of the library's center for the book, and here tonight -- we are here tonight for a historical event, to reintroduce the armed services editions, and especially the idea of distributing free books to our servicemen and women and to our veterans. in other words, on the initiative of andrew carroll, who i will introduce any moment, we are launching a great big book giveaway. the original armed services were part of a cooperative venture between the american publishing industry and the u.s. government that took place between 1943 and 1947. in these years, the government distributed to american servicemen and women nearly 123 1322on copies of the popular titles that were published in the series. the books included best-selling fiction, classics, mysteries, history, poetry, westerns, and even reference books. you can see many

to introduce tonight's program, pleased to present andrew carroll. [ applause ] >> good evening. thank you to those of you who came out, particularly those of long distancesed to be here. i'm thankful to john cole and the one at the center of book. i have barraged them over the ast several months with an endless stream of anxious faxes, e-mails, phone calls, there are are less who demanding than i've been. they have been a joy to work with. i appreciate them. this is historic and all the more so because of the seven readers we have tonight. we're grateful beyond words to them as well. in the interest of time, it's list all of the people who made this evening and possible, but i want to say a special thanks to veterans of foreign wars, the bush's office. the folks in pentagon have been incredible. the folks at jeep which i will explain in a moment. and the volunteers who are here, some who drove up from north carolina to help out tonight. word of the legacy project and why we are here. of y marks the beginning national military appreciation month. who's py to say alex wax instrume

correspondence from american is letters from military personnel in every major war.ict since the civil andrew carroll is joined by hagel andluding chuck former senator bob dole in