When a proposal seems desirable, a junior officer may later claim in a memoir, "I told my senior officer we must do this." In reality, the officer may only have raised the point, or someone else may have proposed it. The writer's claim to personal authorship remains uncertain. The memoir still suggests that the idea was probably discussed within the organisation. Historians can use that lead while withholding judgment about who first raised it. If the proposal was not adopted, evidence of that discussion lets them ask why the organisation declined to act.
Notable Point · 0:58-1:26
A memoir can preserve evidence of an internal debate
A junior officer may overstate who proposed a desirable idea in a memoir while still showing that the idea was probably discussed within the organisation.