
Veterans Resources: Serving Those Who Serve
Welcome to the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System’s Veterans Resource Page. Explore virtual programs, films, short stories, poems, print and digital resources, and engage in the rich history, diverse stories, and important contributions of our service members. The Library invites you to reflect on, celebrate, and honor the 362,000 Veterans that call Maryland home.
Local Veteran's Programs
Reader's Advisory for Veterans
Fiction
Nonfiction
Documentaries
Available Through PGCMLS
- Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 - 2013: Counsellors provide support, guidance and hope to despondent servicemen dealing with emotional, physical and financial troubles.
- Served Like a Girl - 2017: Five female veterans who have endured unimaginable trauma in service create a shared sisterhood to help the rising number of homeless female veterans.
- The Good Soldier - 2009: Following the journeys of five combat veterans from different generations of American wars as they discuss their conflicting feelings on what they did in the name of duty.
- Shoah - 1985: Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years on this sprawling documentary about the Holocaust, conducting his own interviews and refusing to use a single frame of archival footage. Dividing Holocaust witnesses into three categories -- survivors, bystanders and perpetrators -- Lanzmann presents testimonies from survivors of the Chelmno concentration camp, an Auschwitz escapee and witnesses of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, as well as a chilling report of gas chambers from an SS officer at Treblinka.
Movies
Available Through PGCMLS
- Saving Private Ryan - 1998: Captain John Miller takes his men behind enemy lines to find Private James Ryan, whose three brothers have been killed in combat. Surrounded by the brutal realities of war, while searching for Ryan, each man embarks upon a personal journey and discovers their own strength to triumph over an uncertain future with honor, decency and courage.
- 1917 - 2019: During World War I, two British soldiers -- Lance Cpl. Schofield and Lance Cpl. Blake -- receives seemingly impossible orders. In a race against time, they must cross over into enemy territory to deliver a message that could potentially save 1,600 of their fellow comrades -- including Blake's own brother.
- The Cranes are Flying - 1957: Veronika and Boris come together in Moscow shortly before World War II. Walking along the river, they watch cranes fly overhead, and promise to rendezvous before Boris leaves to fight. Boris misses the meeting and is off to the front lines, while Veronika waits patiently, sending letters faithfully. After her house is bombed, Veronika moves in with Boris' family, into the company of a cousin with his own intentions.
- Lincoln - 2012: With the nation embroiled in still another year with the high death count of Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln brings the full measure of his passion, humanity and political skill to what would become his defining legacy: to end the war and permanently abolish slavery through the 13th Amendment. Having great courage, acumen and moral fortitude, Lincoln pushes forward to compel the nation, and those in government who oppose him, to aim toward a greater good for all mankind.
- Courage Under Fire - 1996: Already dejected about a crucial mistake from the Desert Storm incident, a US Army officer has to run a scan on a female chopper commander's worthiness for the Medal of Honor.
- Full Metal Jacket - 1987: Stanley Kubrick's take on the Vietnam War follows smart-aleck Private Davis, quickly christened "Joker" by his foul-mouthed drill sergeant, and pudgy Private Lawrence, nicknamed "Gomer Pyle," as they endure the rigors of basic training. Though Pyle takes a frightening detour, Joker graduates to the Marine Corps and is sent to Vietnam as a journalist, covering -- and eventually participating in -- the bloody Battle of Hué.
- Platoon - 1986: Chris Taylor leaves his university studies to enlist in combat duty in Vietnam in 1967. Once he's on the ground in the middle of battle, his idealism fades. Infighting in his unit between Staff Sergeant Barnes, who believes nearby villagers are harboring Viet Cong soldiers, and Sergeant Elias, who has a more sympathetic view of the locals, ends up pitting the soldiers against each other as well as against the enemy.
- The Hurt Locker - 2008: Following the death of their well-respected Staff Sergeant in Iraq, Sergeant JT Stanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge find their Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit saddled with a very different team leader. Staff Sergeant William James is an inveterate risk-taker who seems to thrive on war, but there's no denying his gift for defusing bombs.
Available Through Kanopy
Kanopy is an online video streaming platform with 26,000 movies, documentaries, and indie and foreign films from over hundreds of producers including The Criterion Collection, The Great Courses, Kino Lorber, PBS, and thousands of independent filmmakers. Users are limited to 10 videos streamed every month.
- Thank You For Your Service - 2017: Sgt. Adam Schumann tries to readjust to civilian life after returning home from the war in Iraq. Fellow soldier Tausolo Aeiti must deal with the aftermath of a bombing that left him with a traumatic brain injury. Will Waller searches for normalcy after surviving several explosions, while Michael Emory must deal with the effects of a sniper's bullet to the head. With memories of the battlefield still lingering, the soldiers soon begin their long journey to physical and emotional rehabilitation.
- Almost Sunrise - 2016: Two retired soldiers who are battling the moral injuries of war and the temptations of suicide walk across America to confront their demons and discover the power of spiritual healing.
- All Quiet on the Western Front - 1930: The film follows a group of German schoolboys, talked into enlisting at the beginning of World War I by their jingoistic teacher. The story is told entirely through the experiences of the young German recruits and highlights the tragedy of war through the eyes of individuals.
- Of Men and War - 2014: A dozen combat veterans come home from the war and cannot put their traumatic memories aside. They turn to The Pathway Home, a PTSD therapy centre, to end their ongoing mental torment.
Available Through Hoopla
Hoopla offers thousands of movies, television shows, music albums. Borrow up to 6 titles per month for free with your PGCMLS library card.
- Let There Be Light - 1980: Directed by renowned filmmaker John Huston, this documentary depicts the effects of war by focusing on American soldiers who are suffering from mental trauma after their tours of duty. The movie follows numerous hospitalized veterans as they receive psychiatric care for their various symptoms, which include depression, phobias and antisocial behavior. As the soldiers undergo treatment, many of them make progress and slowly begin to reclaim their lives
- The Invisible War: From Oscar and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick (This Film Is Not Yet Rated; Twist of Faith) comes THE INVISIBLE WAR, a groundbreaking investigative documentary about one of America's most shameful and best-kept secrets: the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military. The film paints a startling picture of the extent of the problem - today, a female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire.


