Honouring the Whole Story

Veterans living with dementia often carry rich life stories marked by duty, bravery, hardship, and resilience. Yet as memory fades, those invaluable experiences risk being lost.

Capturing veterans’ service stories offers more than historical preservation—it provides emotional healing, strengthens identity, and fosters connection across generations.

As highlighted by Dementia Australia, even when verbal communication declines, long-term memories can remain accessible—especially when connected to meaningful life events like military service.

The Healing Power of Remembrance

Veterans may experience post-traumatic stress, moral injury, or suppressed grief stemming from their time in service.

Reflecting on their experiences in a structured and compassionate way can bring:

• Emotional release and closure
• Restored sense of pride and identity
• Improved communication with carers and family
• Spiritual and psychological peace

These benefits mirror those seen in life review therapy, which is clinically shown to reduce depression and anxiety in people with dementia.

Organisations such as Advance Care Planning Australia encourage this kind of storytelling as part of holistic dementia care.

Creating a Safe Space for Storytelling

Capturing service stories should be done with empathy and patience. Some veterans may share openly, while others need gentle prompts.

Suggested Approaches:

• Use photos, medals, or old uniforms to trigger memories
• Encourage storytelling through audio or video recordings
• Involve family or carers as supportive listeners
• Allow the veteran to guide the pace and topics

Platforms like Evaheld make this process easy by offering private, secure ways to record and preserve service stories—either in writing, or through voice and video.

Legacy Preservation and Personal Dignity

A veteran’s story is part of their identity. Recording it helps maintain a sense of self, even as dementia progresses. Family members often describe how the act of preserving a veteran’s legacy restores a deeper connection between generations.

Tools like the Evaheld Legacy Vault let veterans share what their service meant, the values they fought for, and the hopes they carry for their descendants.

The Family Legacy Series also provides templates and questions specifically designed to capture stories of service and sacrifice.

Benefits for Carers, Guardians and the Sandwich Generation

Carers and guardians gain valuable insight into a person’s triggers, preferences, and past traumas through legacy storytelling.

This can lead to:

• Improved behavioural management
• More personalised care strategies
• Greater emotional understanding

For the sandwich generation, capturing their parent or grandparent’s service stories creates a bridge between children and elders, embedding history and honour within the family’s collective memory.

Supporting Emotional Well-being in Dementia

Studies have shown that storytelling reduces loneliness, confusion, and agitation in people with dementia.

Veterans, in particular, may feel misunderstood or overlooked in care settings. Preserving their stories reminds them—and others—that their life had profound meaning.

The Evaheld blog shares how veterans and their families use legacy tools to reconnect with joy, identity, and pride, even amid cognitive decline.

Informing Advance Care Planning

Veterans may have specific preferences regarding:

• Honour rituals or military funerals
• Music or readings from their service days
• Care environments aligned with military discipline or camaraderie

These wishes can be documented through Advance Health Directive or included in their Advance Care Planning Australia documentation.

Capturing these preferences early, and storing them securely via Evaheld, helps guardians uphold dignity and respect.

Community and Intergenerational Impact

Sharing veterans’ stories publicly (with consent) builds awareness, preserves history, and combats ageism. Sites like Online Will Blog and Nurse Info highlight the importance of legacy for communal healing and national memory.

These stories also play a role in veteran-specific support programs and care services provided by organisations like Dementia Support Australia, particularly when behavioural or trauma-informed approaches are needed.

Final Thoughts

Veterans deserve to be remembered—not just for their service, but for the full depth of who they are. Capturing their stories honours identity, supports emotional well-being, and strengthens family legacy.

For veterans living with dementia, it is an act of healing. For those who love and care for them, it is an act of remembrance, respect, and love.