OAK HILL — Sean McVey hopes one day to be relating his military story to an aspiring Eagle Scout.

For now, though, it’s been McVey doing the listening as 12 veterans — representing different branches of the military — told him about their service careers. The interviews were part of McVey’s Eagle Scout project for Boy Scout Troop 1335 in Oak Hill.

During a recent ceremony at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, McVey, the son of Teresa McVey and the late SFC Otie McVey and brother to Joseph McVey, was presented his Eagle Scout award.

A 2011 Oak Hill High School graduate and currently a sophomore at Virginia Military Institute, McVey, 19, has been involved in scouting for 11 years. His Eagle project was centered around the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project, which was signed into law during President Bill Clinton’s presidency and serves as an approved National Eagle Scout project.

“The reason I picked this project is that I wanted to do something that would last forever and not deteriorate like a flagpole or flower garden,” McVey explained. “I felt that it was vital to keeping our veterans’ sacrifices safe and heard.”

During the course of the project, he interviewed local veterans spanning from World War II to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“They all were willing to serve, drafted or not,” he said. “Not one had a negative thing to say about the U.S. military.”

Otie McVey had 32 years of military service, including the Marines, National Guard, Army Reserve and active U.S. Army. His son aims to commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army and branch out to military intelligence upon graduation from VMI. He also envisions a career as an Army officer.

“I hope that one day a scout interviews me for his Eagle Scout Project,” he says.

Besides scouting, during his high school days he was also involved heavily in Oak Hill High School’s marching band and the Fayette County JROTC.

In band, he played the trumpet and treble clef baritone. In the JROTC, McVey acted as squad leader, assistant S1, battalion S1 and battalion commander. As battalion commander, he led more than 100 students in a unit inspection, one that occurs every four years. This inspection was necessary for the unit to keep the title of Honor Unit with Distinction, a National Unit Merit.

“Following my community service within those organizations, I wanted to do an Eagle Scout project that tied into my past, present and future: the U.S. military,” he said. “My project was unique in that I can contribute back to it throughout my life by interviewing more veterans and using it as a service project for school. It’s more of an ongoing project that will span a lifetime than one single project to reflect my community service.”

Among the veterans who already have helped McVey with the project are Charlie Bryant, U.S. Army; Larry Coleman, U.S. Marine Corps; Terry Groves, Larry Hamlin, John Hatcher, Rodney Jones, Randy Lively and Roma Lively, all U.S. Army; Ramon Lopez, West Virginia Army National Guard; Charles McDaniel, U.S. Air Force; William Meadow and Carl Murray, U.S. Army; James Seletyn, U.S. Air Force; Ramond Tinney, U.S. Army; and James White, U.S. Navy.

McVey hopes to graduate from VMI in 2015 with a B.A. in psychology.

While at VMI, he is a member of the Regimental Band and a communications officer in the Newman Club.

After his project and recognition for attaining Eagle Scout, he has given back to his troop in a role as assistant scoutmaster, in which he teaches and “hopefully instills virtues that were instilled into me to younger scouts.” At a weekend campout, he taught orienteering and wilderness survival. He monitored the scouts and gave them feedback as to how well they were performing and insights he learned when he was their age.

— E-mail: skeenan@register-herald.com