SECTION 1.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(1) In 1998, the Legislature enacted a grant, through the California Arts Council, to the California Military Museum to fund the California Military History Educational Project, in conjunction with the University of California, Los Angeles, and the School of Education of the California State University, Los Angeles.
(2) The California Military History Educational Project was established to develop a military history educational program that would meet all relevant state elementary and secondary educational standards and requirements for grades in which California history is taught.
(3) California has the nation’s largest population of World War II veterans and military retirees.
(4) However, the population of the “Greatest Generation” is rapidly declining, and will drop dramatically in the next 10 years.
(5) In this time of relative peace and prosperity, many of California’s elementary and secondary school pupils are unaware of the sacrifices made by the World War II generation, and the above-mentioned organizations have launched the World War II Oral History Program as a means of capturing the stories of these Californians.
(6) It is in the best interest of all Californians and the nation that the stories of the World War II generation be gathered and preserved for posterity before it is too late, and that these heroic stories be integrated into the California curriculum for those grades in which California history is taught.
(b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature that one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars ($125,000) be appropriated for this worthy effort.