May 27, 2025 • 37 mins
Memorial Day honors those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Through parades and ceremonies, we remember the fallen…but even a simple moment of silence can speak volumes. Dan asked the listeners who they were remembering this Memorial Day.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm deeling busy Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well, today was Memorial Day. It is a federal holiday.
It's one that has been on the book since eighteen
sixty eight, so it's been around for a while, over
one hundred years. Over one hundred and fifty years, I
guess pretty close to one hundred.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Yeah, no, no, it is.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah, it's over one hundred and fifty years, and only
half of Americans know what Memorial Day represents. There's a
new research that was done by a group called Talkerresearch
dot Com. It's brought to my attention by one of
my listeners, Andrea Shocking. Data revealed that in a new
(00:48):
survey of two thousand Americans, forty eight percent of respondents
knew that Memorial Day is a holiday honoring military personnel
who died in service to the country. Thirty five percent
of the people correctly thought, excuse me, incorrectly thought Memorial
Day was a holiday celebrating all military personnel, both living
and deceased. That, of course, is Veterans Day. Twenty five
(01:10):
percent thought it was a holiday commemorating all public servants
military of law or law or not, who lost their
lives while working. Kind of a big, big mistake on
that one. The divide is greater amongst young groups older generations.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I'm just going to give you the headlines here.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Older generations by and large more likely to know the
exact definition.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Of Memorial Day when compared to younger Americans.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Only twenty seven percent of Gen Z respondents selected the
correct definition, as well as just thirty eight percent of millennials.
So the younger you are, the less you would know.
Baby boomers from most. On top of it, fifty six
percent knew precisely why Memorial Day was observed. But just
(02:01):
because you don't know what Memorial Day is doesn't mean
you have to work on the unofficial start of summer
of employeed survey responding sixty five percent of the day
are from the job, while thirty five percent will be
still heading into work.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Well, the thing that's interesting about this is that this
is a this was done.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
This survey was taken between May ninth and May fifteenth.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Okay, so.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
His three percent of the public felt Memorial Day commemorated
the founding Fathers in their role in American independence, two
percent to honor past presidents who served in the military,
two percent. Look, the real purpose of Memorial Day is
(02:54):
to honor military personnel who died in service to our country.
Simple as that, Simple as that. What this shows is
that the younger the group, the less they knew about
Memorial Day, which says to me, which proves to me
that history and the purpose of American history is not
(03:18):
being taught with the same rigor that it was taught
to previous generations. I think that's an inescapable conclusion. So
what I'm going to ask you to do is just
tell me your thoughts on Memorial Day. What did you
do today? I certainly thought about people who I knew
(03:42):
who died in service to the country, and I thought
about people who I knew who served in the military,
although again that is not the specific purpose for Memorial Day.
But on a personal level, I think I think that
many people might not know anyone who died in service
(04:06):
to the country. So I'm going to open up the
phone lines six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty
and six one seven nine three one ten thirty and
tell me what what your thoughts are on today. I
think it's a really important holiday, I really do. I
think it's it's right there with the fourth of July.
(04:26):
It's more important than Labor Day. It's more important than
I think many of our holidays.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
But it is.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
It's as important as the fourth of July because without
Memorial Day and the people who have served in the military,
and and and died in service of the country, those
who gave their they're all maybe the fourth of July
(04:55):
would be a footnote in history, and there'd be some
other country. We would always speak in German, Japanese or
something some other language.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Let's go to the phone. Let me go to Steve
and Cambridge.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Steve, I love it when you start off a topic
for us because you always have an interesting perspective.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Steve, go right ahead. Thanks for calling it.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Dan.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
I have some thoughts on Memorial Day, which I think
when it was first founded was decoration Day.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I think you might be right on that, yep, because
decoration refers to decorating gravestones with American flags and flowers.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
I don't know, Okay, I'm not sure. Well, okay, I
think one of my biggest thoughts on it, well, I
have several and is that correct me if I'm wrong?
But the holiday used to be observed on a particular date,
not just on a Monday.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I think it used to be. I think it used
to be May thirtieth, but I can check that out.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Okay, So you have a problem there because the day
has become just another Monday off and people get in
the car and go someplace. Loses the meaning of the day.
At one time, like if it became in the middle
of the week, people stayed in I live in Cambridge.
(06:15):
They stayed in Cambridge. They didn't go away necessarily, and
so therefore they attended the parades, they attended the observances
of the city, and they might even get to know
their neighbors. But now it's just a three day holiday
and it begins the summer, and everyone who ken leaves
(06:38):
Cambridge and the whole I think a lot of the
meaning of the day is lost.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
I think you make a really great point, it says,
I'm just checking out here. It said that in nineteen
sixty eight Congress changed its observance. It was observed on
May thirtieth. The first national observice was May thirtieth in
eighteen sixty eight, and it remained on May thirtieth until
(07:10):
nineteen sixty eight. So it was one hundred years later
that Congress changed its observance to the last Monday in May,
and in nineteen seventy one standardized its name as Memorial Day.
It had been called Decoration Day, which did include the
decoration of military grace with the American flag. So you're
right the holiday has been sort of watered down a
(07:37):
little bit.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
Well.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
I mean, for example, Cambridge had a ceremony. The city
had a ceremony in Cambridge Common for an hour and
a half, and I thought that the city did very
well by it. The councilors and the mayor restrained themselves
from attacking Trump. I'm sure required a certain amount of restraint,
(08:03):
and they really, you know, just talked about the sacrifice
of so many Americans and that was good. But the
problem is there. I mean, we had a reasonable crowd,
but the whole city was empty. You know, there was
I don't know if there was a parade or not,
(08:23):
but in before sixty eight, if it had fallen during
the week, there would be so many more people attending
and realizing exactly what the day meant.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I totally agree with you with your point. I think
Labor Day has always been a Monday. The fourth of
July has not been changed. Obviously, this year, the fourth
of July happens to be on a Friday, but you know,
once every seven years, it's on a Monday. Once every
seven years on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
(09:00):
Thanksgiving has always been pegged, I guess to that last
Thursday in November. Christmas obviously is always on the twenty fifth.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
It's just funny.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Doctor Martin Luther King's birthday is always a Monday holiday.
President's Day is a Monday holiday.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
I'm not even.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Sure if the Fed's still well Columbus Day, it's all
that's also now been turned into a Monday holiday. It
used to be, you know, well President's Day used to
be you had George Washington's birthday on the twenty second
and Abe Lincoln's on the twelfth, so you learned a
little bit of history. I wonder if they did a
if they did some sort of a survey now, if
(09:39):
people could tell you, particularly younger people, Lincoln's birthday and
Washington's birthday they're not the same day.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
And you know, as I say, Cambridge who was dead today,
So there was I mean, we had a good ceremony
and I was very happy that I went and I'm
gonna you know, this is something I should do every year,
and I admit that I haven't, but that is something
(10:10):
we've lost by that.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
I think it's a great observation, Steve. You always a
very perceptive but you always bring an a game and
you bring an obvious point. I think again, what has
happened is that a lot of you know, commercial interests
like to see the long three day weekend, and whether
(10:33):
or not it's the start of summer as it is,
I'm sure there are a lot of people who today
are coming back from wherever and probably stayed over Saturday
and Sunday night somewhere. If Memorial Day this week or
this month, let's see the thirtieth, it would have turned
out it would have been Friday, so there would have
(10:54):
been a long holiday weekend.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
It would have been next weekend. But you're right, I.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Mean it was a today in the middle of the week,
people would take the day off and they probably stay
closer to home.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Great observations.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Can I make one more observation?
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Push again? Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (11:09):
Well, you may have a few other people.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Who I don't know, I will, but your observations are
always spot on.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
To go ahead, Well, every time they talk about the wars,
and they always say the men and women who died
in the Civil War, the First World War, the Second
World War, the Korean War, Vietnam. I think younger people
(11:34):
are going to get the idea that during these wars
there were a lot of women in the ranks and
there weren't. These were men who died. And as a
matter of fact, at Cambridge Cemetery they had a memorial
or they had a monument for fifty five Cambridge men
(11:54):
who died in the First World War and are buried abroad.
So I'm thinking, you know, they wanted to talk about
women all the time. But I think a lot of
young people are going to get the idea that women
were fighting in the Revolutionary War, which is just not
the case.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Well, I think that women were killed certainly during the
Civil War and during World War One and World War Two,
maybe less so in Korea, but I think that there
were a lot of women who were in the military
as nurses. I don't think what we see today we
see women. I was watching the ceremony with President Trump
(12:34):
both at West Point in Annapolis.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
There are a lot of women who are graduating.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
In these days.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Yeah, these days. But I mean, for example, on the
Vietnam Memorial in Washington, d C. There are the names
of fifty thousand American men.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Who died fifty eight thousand?
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Is it fifty eight thousand? Do you know how many
women are on that memorial?
Speaker 3 (12:56):
How going to guess a couple of hundred?
Speaker 6 (12:58):
No?
Speaker 5 (12:58):
Eight?
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Okay, Well, thank you very much, And that puts it
in perspective. Steve great points again, times change and circumstances change,
and there are a lot of women who are in
the military today.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
So that's true.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
And I was very happy that I did go to
the ceremony, and I take my hats off to the
Cambridge government which ran a very nice ceremony.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
I appreciate that. Thanks, thank you, Dandy.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
We'll talk So I got one line at six one,
seven thirty and one at six one seven nine thirty.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
What did you do today?
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Did you think about Memorial Day? Did you think about
someone who you knew who died in service of the country,
in the military, service of the country.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Coming back on Nightside, Night Side with Dan Ray on
Boston's news radio. Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Got to try to get everybody in here quickly go
to Larry, down to the Cape. Larry, you're next on
NISI go right ahead. You have thought some Memorial day.
Speaker 7 (14:05):
Yeah, thanks for talking about this, Dan, I didn't get
a chance to call in Friday in the twentieth hour.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yep.
Speaker 7 (14:11):
So I'd like to honor my father. At the beginning
of the war, he went to work in the shipyard
and then went into the Army Air Corps. He was
a top ten gunner on a B twenty four Wow
got shot down over Germany and his whole unit, the pilots,
(14:33):
everybody bailed out and they got captured by the Germans
and got into a prisoner war camp. This part of
the story is what's unbelievable. When they lined up all
the prisoners, I think I might have told you the
story when they lined up all the prisoners and Nazi
asked all the Jews to step forward. Well, my father,
being Jewish, didn't know what to do. Pilot looked over
(14:55):
to him and winked at him and started talking to
him an Italian, So the Nazi thought my father was
Italian passed over him. Okay, I'm unbelievable. So he was
a prison war for about six months he went into
the militariat maybe one sixty five, came out at one
(15:15):
twenty five, got liberated. He went back to the family business,
and after I got out of the army, I went
to work there. My father, you know, we had an
other repair shop in Chelsea, taught me everything I knew.
He retired yuh young, but he started to get sick,
went to the VA. Turned out he ended up being
diagnosed with meso thelioma, which is from the asbestos that yeah,
(15:41):
at the shipyard. Yeah, and there was a massive and
they explained to us, that doctor explained, so it takes
fifty years for his bestest to metastasize and the cancer
and their lungs. So he was an amazing guy. Never
talked about any of his experience until he was diagnosed,
and I knew he was and to die an amazing guy.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
I'll tell you, apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
And it's amazing to think that what he experienced, including
the pow camp. Thank god that his uh you know,
the the captain of that ship, his plane was thank
god they were they were all you know, did they
(16:25):
all literally land in such an area that they all
were picked up by the Germans together or the Germany.
Speaker 7 (16:32):
Yeah, they were on a bombing mission over Germany and
they all bailed out yep and ended up being they
all they all were captured, the whole crew.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Okay, and all of them. I'm sure he kept in
contact with all of them for the rest of his life.
Speaker 7 (16:44):
You know, I don't think he did. He didn't talk
about It was almost like what was the path that
he just wanted them move forward?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Yeah, my dad, I've mentioned this before, but uh, my
dad was in China, Bourman, India during World War two
and he kept every Christmas he would write a long
hand Christmas card to about eight of his buddies and
he would get longhand Christmas cards back from them. There
was one guy named Hitchcock who was in Wyoming, Paul Butler,
I remember their names in Kentucky. I don't know if
(17:13):
he ever saw them after the war was over because
he didn't travel widely, but he there was always a
Christmas card to and from each one of them.
Speaker 7 (17:22):
Yeah. So what I did to honor for a Memorial
Day today where I live in Dennisport, and I had
to laugh with the who's the guy that answers the
phone today, your producer, and I told him I'm from Dennisport.
He goes, is that in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Well, all of our guys are not geography majors. I'm
not sure where Noah is from originally, but at least
he's asking questions. Just you got to have the courage
to ask questions. Absolutely good.
Speaker 7 (17:46):
You know, I couldn't get up to the Cormon where
they were having a nice ceremony because there was actually
a road race that came right through Dennisport, and our
streets were blocked off to allow the runners to come through.
So I went down the end of the street and
I cheered on. I cheered all the runners on for
doing this.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah, I think that I understand.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I think that that also backing up what Steve said before,
you having a road raise some Memorial Day distracts from
what the purpose.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Of Memorial Day is.
Speaker 7 (18:12):
Yeah, well, at least it was. It was it was
an honor of veterans and to raise money for cancer.
But I agree as soon as they moved the holidays
to Mondays, it was like another day off.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
You got it.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
You got it, Larry, Congratulations. Hopefully your dad is listening
to us tonight and he's very proud of your you know,
recalling for us what he and his crew went through.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 7 (18:34):
Yeah, thank you, Thanks Larry.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Talk to you soon. By the way.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
It's just doing some some research here, and there's an
article which I'm reading which is an estimate and basically
says that between five hundred and seven hundred American service
women were killed during World War Two.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
I don't know if that's.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
You know, I'm just just googling stuff here, but obviously
the American service women have died in combat in recent wars.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I know that in the War on Terror, I.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Think the numbers about one hundred and seventy three Afghanistan,
I Raq, Syria, et cetera. So, you know, as more
and more women joined the military and and get closer
and closer and indeed on the front lines, Uh, they're
going to suffer the same paid as others who engage
in combat activity. We're going to take a break. Uh,
the only line open in six one seven. Here's the
(19:30):
news at the bottom of the air. We're going to
do this for about an hour, so if you want
to get in, you want to get in before we
wrap it up at ten o'clock.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Back on Nightside after.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
This, It's night Side with Dan Ray. Hey Dan, Boston's
News Radio. You're on night Side with Dan Ray on
Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
All right, let's go back to the phones. If we
go to Linda down and way with Linda. Welcome next
on Nightside.
Speaker 7 (19:56):
How are you hi?
Speaker 8 (19:58):
Fine? Thank you? My dad has passed. But when he
was alive on D Day, indeed on some of the
different Veterans Days, he would call up fellow veterans, talk
for a while, and you'll leave them alone for a
couple of hours. I spent the day. I thought it
(20:19):
was going to go to a parade, but they didn't
have the parade down here in Weymouth. What they had
as an extended it's called Freedom is not free Memorial
Day observance and dedication ceremony. They had five bronze probably
(20:40):
statues of veterans from the town that player important role.
It lasted about an hour and a half and then
they had they ended with a concert by the military brass.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
This was in Weymouth. That's right, No good, Weymouth did
it right.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
And.
Speaker 8 (21:07):
Yeah, i'd see incorrected. I thought it was for all veterans.
I used to work at the VA office.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
No Veterans Day is Veterans Day.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Is Veterans Day, Okay, so that's when we honor all veterans.
Memorial Day focuses on those who have served. By the way,
based upon what my first caller, Steve said, there were
eight women who died in Vietnam and they were all nurses.
(21:38):
There were eleven thousand female nurses who volunteered. Excuse me,
I didn't hear what you were saying while you were
interrupting me, Linda.
Speaker 8 (21:49):
Excuse me, I'm sorry I interrupted by My mom was
in the the not the waves, but she was with
First Days for the Veterans of World War Two.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Were she that's called Were those called the wax?
Speaker 8 (22:04):
Yes, okay, I don't think she particular was in that
particular brand.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Well, we're talking about eleven thousand women who served. We're
just we're kind of talking over each other here, Linda.
That doesn't work a lot, So let me just finish
my sentence and then I'll let you have a final word.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
There were eleven thousand women who served in the American
military in Vietnam. Many of them obviously were in the
role of nurses, but many of them had ranks of
captain and lieutenants, and they were on the front lines
because the front lines were not well defined in Vietnam,
and as they say, eight of them died of combat
(22:47):
related injuries.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Go ahead, Linda.
Speaker 8 (22:51):
First off, I stand correct that I apologize, but we
had about I would say, about hundred people at the ceremony.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Oh good, yeah, yeah, we've covered that, Linda. Thank you much.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
I appreciate your call, and thank you very much for
your parents' service and your dad's service. Thanks talk soon.
Let me go quickly here. I'm going to get to
gym in south Hampton, Massachusetts. Is that Southampton, Massachusetts or
Southampton New Hampshire gym? It's Massachusetts, okay, and it's Hampton
(23:26):
ha mp to o n yes, okay, go right ahead.
Speaker 6 (23:34):
So for this day, I'm a vocational high school teacher
and I had a student who was killed in Iraq. Yeah,
and so I always make a point to visit his
gravestone on Memorial Day.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Wow, boy, that's Southampton. Are you out in the western
part of the Stateum, I'm trying to locate that in
my mind.
Speaker 6 (23:54):
Yeah, it's west of Springfield.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah sure, okay, so you are still a tea teacher
and one of your students was killed in Iraq and
you visit and you visit his grave every Memorial Day.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Boy, that's let me.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Tell you, that's quite an honor for him. And it
also is I think really remarkable that as a teacher
you would feel that connected to your students. I mean that,
hats off to you, Jim. I wish there were more
teachers like you. Do you use his passing to you
(24:33):
to talk about him to the students. This recent survey
that we quoted in earlier in the Hour would suggest
that a lot of gen Zers really don't have quite
a solid grasp on what Memorial Day is all about.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (24:51):
Actually, I kind of make a point. If I get older,
I kind of mind my remind of like my father
and grandfather always made a big deal of it, and
as a kid, you didn't really think much about it
at the time though it was important to them. But
as I get older, I find a need to express
that to my current students, and they always pause and
(25:12):
think about it, you know when I talk about it.
Whether it sticks with them, I'm not really sure.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Well, you know, look, I would suspect that if you
did a survey of students who took your classes, they
would do a lot better in terms of their recollection
and understanding of what Memorial Day is all about because
you took the time. I mean, again, what type of
course do you teach? Are you in high school? You
(25:39):
said you're a high school teacher.
Speaker 6 (25:42):
I teach a landscaping in true care programs of vocational
high school.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Okay, so therefore it's not part of your curriculum. But
I think that sort of conversation, even if it's for
twenty minutes someday, is invaluable for young people to realize that, know,
people a little bit older than they went off to
the military and did not come home.
Speaker 6 (26:08):
I would agree. And you know, as a teacher, I
mean I was in my early thirties when that happened.
It wasn't something I expected to have to deal with
as a teacher.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Yeah, yeah, no, no, absolutely absolutely. And I assume you
probably started teaching before nine to eleven, correct, Yeah, so
when you became a teacher, nine to eleven hadn't occurred.
And I don't know what year your student, you know, graduated,
but I suspect it was after nine to eleven. And
(26:40):
he responded to the to the needs of the nation
at that point and put himself in harm's way.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
What Bridge did?
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Did that young man servant if I could ask?
Speaker 6 (26:51):
He was in the army and he was. He was
a junior the year of nine to eleven, okay, and
then instead of two years after high school and died
not long after that. Yeah, so it was it was
kind of a powerful thing at the time. I'm grateful
to have been able to support kids through it, but
(27:12):
it certainly was something you never thought about, you know,
as a young person.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
And people never think about mortality. Would you mind sharing
as an honor to this student the name of the
student with us?
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (27:27):
Sure.
Speaker 6 (27:28):
His name was Matthew Bean.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Matthew Bean, like the E A N. Yes, Matthew Bean.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
And he would have died I'm assuming at the age
of twenty or twenty one something.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
Yeah, it was in two thousand and five, so he
was pretty young. He graduated in two thousand and three, Okay,
so we would.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Have graduated at probably eighteen and so he probably would
have been twenty or twenty one at most. Matthew Bean
of Southampton, Massachusetts, Well.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
Yeah, he was.
Speaker 6 (28:03):
He actually lived in the town of Pembroke.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Pembroke, Okay, I'm sorry. In Pembroke on the south Shore.
Speaker 6 (28:11):
Yeah, I used to teach it.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Oh okay, great, Okay, well that's good. I'm glad you
you said that.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
No, that's thank you for that clarification. So you taught
in Pembroke's Matthew Bean, being of Pembroke, Massachusetts. I drove
through Pembroke today as a matter of fact, so I
know exactly where Pembroke has. I had a tough locating
exactly Southampton because there's also Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, and
I was saying, gee, we talk in New Hampshire, Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
But thank you for doing that today, and thank you
for following up with the phone call tonight. It was
really uh it's a memorable phone call.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
And I really do appreciate, Jim, the type of relationship
that you have had with your students. This speaks volumes
about your your relationship with your students and your relationship
with your profession.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
We need more teachers like you, sir. Well, thank you, thanks,
thanks so much for joining us tonight. Jim.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Matthew Bean, being of Pembroke Massachusetts pat killed in two
thousand and five.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Boy, it's tough. We'll be back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston's News.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
I promise you we're gonna get Greg, John and Georgian.
Let me start it off with Greg. He's been on
the longest. Greg from Lindfield. Greg, next on Nightside. What
do you do to this memorial day?
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Greg?
Speaker 5 (29:49):
I went to the cemetery, I turned the prayer this morning.
Oh we'd love to hear the three guns in the taps.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Yeah did, But yeah, did have any one who.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Gave their life in service of the country.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
I had a great uncle.
Speaker 9 (30:12):
That died in World War One.
Speaker 5 (30:14):
Obviously I never knew them.
Speaker 9 (30:17):
My father served probably in the Army, and my grandfather
served in World War Two and was a tank driver
under General Patton.
Speaker 5 (30:30):
But before I get into his story, which I want
to tell you, like when you said five hundred two
one thousand women died in World War Two, I think
they should honor the women that died in industrial accidents
building the war machine for this country, because.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
There were a lot of women who worked on the
home front. Absolutely, Rosie the Riveter was the epitome of that. No,
I know, I know my history and you obviously know
yours as well. But yeah, there were you know again
they were not There are more women who have who
died during the War on Terror. I think the number
(31:13):
was one hundred and seventy three. I have to go
back and look it up again. But in terms of
there were about five thousand US service personnel who died,
you know, in World War Two there were rather Vietnam
there were eight women, primarily nurses, who were in helicopter
(31:34):
accidents or were at camp at bases and they were
shelled and they were killed. So each each military conflict,
it's a higher percentage of women. It's the numbers are
not equal to men as yet.
Speaker 5 (31:51):
Well, there's more women serving men they were ever before.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
Exactly, Yeah, that's exactly true.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
So I want to get in a story about So
my grandfather who got drafted in his mid thirties in
World War Two, and he was a barber before that,
and when he was in boot camp, his whole training group, battalion, platoon,
(32:20):
whatever you want to call him, came down to measles
and so for graduation because my grandfather was a barber.
He trimmed everyone proper, shaved them all. And there was
a they always had a general overseeing the graduation from
(32:43):
your boot camp.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
Yep.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
Absolutely, And the general was like, these guys have been
in quarantine for a month. How did they get all
clean shaven? And someone mentioned to him that one of
the guys was a barber. Yeah, and this is why
I want to talk about the greatest generation. That my
(33:09):
grandfather was approached by the general to be his personal barber.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
That's good. How about that I missed it. He must
have liked the way the troops looked. That's a great story, Greg.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
And you know what my grandfather said, Like, you know
what my grandfather.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Said, I bet he said, no, I want to stay
with my men.
Speaker 5 (33:27):
He did, and he went and saw a hell in
the war. And he always he always said, he was
like I should have been the barber for that year.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
But Betty did the right thing. He did the right thing.
Speaker 5 (33:42):
He did like he won a bronze star. He wow.
But you know that's all I want to say.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
I would say, I would say, you don't win bruns,
you earned them.
Speaker 5 (33:58):
Yeah, And anyone today would just take easy way out and.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Be like some would some would in some would, and
there's a lot of young men and women today who
do not who do the right thing and dotate these
ways out, Greg, I love the story.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
I got to get two more in here. Thank you,
my friend. Great call.
Speaker 5 (34:13):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Have a great night.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
John and Dorchester. John, want to get you in one
more in maybe go right ahead.
Speaker 10 (34:18):
John, Hey, damn hey John, first time call up a
long time listener.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
The round of applause here from our digital studio audience.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
If you want to.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
I don't think no was able to find the button,
but that's okay, go right ahead, Johnny.
Speaker 7 (34:33):
You're one of my favorite people aligned with Jack Williams,
Liz walks up.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
And bob Blo belt, bob Blo bell ye bringing me back,
bringing me back here, buddy, go ahead.
Speaker 7 (34:47):
Tell you why I know all those people because after
I get out of Vietnam. Oh, and I don't want
to disturb your body and stand okay, but I'm going
to be like the other nice gentleman and all the
people that earlier gentlemen that talked it's emotional.
Speaker 10 (35:04):
Yeah, I'm sure it's all about emotion, Yes, sir, So
I come out of Vietnam after shooting people, and I
worked with some of the nicest guys that you'd ever me.
Speaker 7 (35:20):
But you know what they would do so they would
feel good. They shoot up heroin and then we'd go
out on patrol. Yeah everything, you know, so you know,
boom and then we'd go out. But anyway, yeah, so
I come back. I'm lucky enough to get the gi bill.
I go to Harvard undergrad. I go to Harvard Medical School.
(35:44):
I learned how to be a surgeon. And so I'm
seventy nine years old. Dam Okay, I've been around. I've
been around, all right. I know when did you get
out of college? Did you go to Boston.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
State A long time ago? Yes, sir, you went to
Boston State, right, yes, sir.
Speaker 7 (36:03):
Yeah, you went to with my brother. Okay you all right,
long time ago, that was a long time.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
So did you did you practice? Did you practice?
Speaker 5 (36:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (36:13):
Boston Medical?
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Wow?
Speaker 7 (36:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (36:15):
Wow. Doctor Now it's no longer John from Dorchester. It's
doctor John.
Speaker 5 (36:19):
Go ahead, there you.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Go, all right.
Speaker 7 (36:21):
That's why that's why I know the guy you talked
to first times mountains. The other one was a sleep doctor. Yeah,
and trust trustmen, Dan. When it comes to sleep doctors.
They don't know how to operate on people. They don't
know how to do any stasiology, and they don't know
how to put people to sleep to make them feel better.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
All right, all right, well, John, that's quite an experience
from the jungle to to to the operating room.
Speaker 7 (36:48):
I'll tell you that's right. It's really been something else
then you've seen.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
You've seen a lot of different parts of the world,
not only geographically, but also uh in terms of the good,
the bad.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
And the ugly.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
John, I'm up against it. I hate to run here.
This is your first time calling. Come on back again
and we can talk longer.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Okay, all right, thank.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
You, thank you for your service. There's there's the applaud
for you. We got the button. Thanks John. Okay, bye bye,
bye bye. Unfortunately, George, if you hold over, I will
take one more call of George on the other side
of the ten o'clock news. But I don't want to
cram and George. I'll take you on the other side
if you'd like, stay with us back on night side.
(37:30):
If you want to continue this conversation for a little bit,
I'm more than happy to open up some more lines
on this one. Okay, so we'll make an exception. If
the audience wants to go longer, we'll go longer. Coming
back on night Side,
It's Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm deeling busy Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well, today was Memorial Day. It is a federal holiday.
It's one that has been on the book since eighteen
sixty eight, so it's been around for a while, over
one hundred years. Over one hundred and fifty years, I
guess pretty close to one hundred.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Yeah, no, no, it is.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah, it's over one hundred and fifty years, and only
half of Americans know what Memorial Day represents. There's a
new research that was done by a group called Talkerresearch
dot Com. It's brought to my attention by one of
my listeners, Andrea Shocking. Data revealed that in a new
(00:48):
survey of two thousand Americans, forty eight percent of respondents
knew that Memorial Day is a holiday honoring military personnel
who died in service to the country. Thirty five percent
of the people correctly thought, excuse me, incorrectly thought Memorial
Day was a holiday celebrating all military personnel, both living
and deceased. That, of course, is Veterans Day. Twenty five
(01:10):
percent thought it was a holiday commemorating all public servants
military of law or law or not, who lost their
lives while working. Kind of a big, big mistake on
that one. The divide is greater amongst young groups older generations.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I'm just going to give you the headlines here.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Older generations by and large more likely to know the
exact definition.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Of Memorial Day when compared to younger Americans.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Only twenty seven percent of Gen Z respondents selected the
correct definition, as well as just thirty eight percent of millennials.
So the younger you are, the less you would know.
Baby boomers from most. On top of it, fifty six
percent knew precisely why Memorial Day was observed. But just
(02:01):
because you don't know what Memorial Day is doesn't mean
you have to work on the unofficial start of summer
of employeed survey responding sixty five percent of the day
are from the job, while thirty five percent will be
still heading into work.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Well, the thing that's interesting about this is that this
is a this was done.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
This survey was taken between May ninth and May fifteenth.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Okay, so.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
His three percent of the public felt Memorial Day commemorated
the founding Fathers in their role in American independence, two
percent to honor past presidents who served in the military,
two percent. Look, the real purpose of Memorial Day is
(02:54):
to honor military personnel who died in service to our country.
Simple as that, Simple as that. What this shows is
that the younger the group, the less they knew about
Memorial Day, which says to me, which proves to me
that history and the purpose of American history is not
(03:18):
being taught with the same rigor that it was taught
to previous generations. I think that's an inescapable conclusion. So
what I'm going to ask you to do is just
tell me your thoughts on Memorial Day. What did you
do today? I certainly thought about people who I knew
(03:42):
who died in service to the country, and I thought
about people who I knew who served in the military,
although again that is not the specific purpose for Memorial Day.
But on a personal level, I think I think that
many people might not know anyone who died in service
(04:06):
to the country. So I'm going to open up the
phone lines six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty
and six one seven nine three one ten thirty and
tell me what what your thoughts are on today. I
think it's a really important holiday, I really do. I
think it's it's right there with the fourth of July.
(04:26):
It's more important than Labor Day. It's more important than
I think many of our holidays.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
But it is.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
It's as important as the fourth of July because without
Memorial Day and the people who have served in the military,
and and and died in service of the country, those
who gave their they're all maybe the fourth of July
(04:55):
would be a footnote in history, and there'd be some
other country. We would always speak in German, Japanese or
something some other language.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Let's go to the phone. Let me go to Steve
and Cambridge.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Steve, I love it when you start off a topic
for us because you always have an interesting perspective.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Steve, go right ahead. Thanks for calling it.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Dan.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
I have some thoughts on Memorial Day, which I think
when it was first founded was decoration Day.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I think you might be right on that, yep, because
decoration refers to decorating gravestones with American flags and flowers.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
I don't know, Okay, I'm not sure. Well, okay, I
think one of my biggest thoughts on it, well, I
have several and is that correct me if I'm wrong?
But the holiday used to be observed on a particular date,
not just on a Monday.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I think it used to be. I think it used
to be May thirtieth, but I can check that out.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Okay, So you have a problem there because the day
has become just another Monday off and people get in
the car and go someplace. Loses the meaning of the day.
At one time, like if it became in the middle
of the week, people stayed in I live in Cambridge.
(06:15):
They stayed in Cambridge. They didn't go away necessarily, and
so therefore they attended the parades, they attended the observances
of the city, and they might even get to know
their neighbors. But now it's just a three day holiday
and it begins the summer, and everyone who ken leaves
(06:38):
Cambridge and the whole I think a lot of the
meaning of the day is lost.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
I think you make a really great point, it says,
I'm just checking out here. It said that in nineteen
sixty eight Congress changed its observance. It was observed on
May thirtieth. The first national observice was May thirtieth in
eighteen sixty eight, and it remained on May thirtieth until
(07:10):
nineteen sixty eight. So it was one hundred years later
that Congress changed its observance to the last Monday in May,
and in nineteen seventy one standardized its name as Memorial Day.
It had been called Decoration Day, which did include the
decoration of military grace with the American flag. So you're
right the holiday has been sort of watered down a
(07:37):
little bit.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
Well.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
I mean, for example, Cambridge had a ceremony. The city
had a ceremony in Cambridge Common for an hour and
a half, and I thought that the city did very
well by it. The councilors and the mayor restrained themselves
from attacking Trump. I'm sure required a certain amount of restraint,
(08:03):
and they really, you know, just talked about the sacrifice
of so many Americans and that was good. But the
problem is there. I mean, we had a reasonable crowd,
but the whole city was empty. You know, there was
I don't know if there was a parade or not,
(08:23):
but in before sixty eight, if it had fallen during
the week, there would be so many more people attending
and realizing exactly what the day meant.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I totally agree with you with your point. I think
Labor Day has always been a Monday. The fourth of
July has not been changed. Obviously, this year, the fourth
of July happens to be on a Friday, but you know,
once every seven years, it's on a Monday. Once every
seven years on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
(09:00):
Thanksgiving has always been pegged, I guess to that last
Thursday in November. Christmas obviously is always on the twenty fifth.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
It's just funny.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Doctor Martin Luther King's birthday is always a Monday holiday.
President's Day is a Monday holiday.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
I'm not even.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Sure if the Fed's still well Columbus Day, it's all
that's also now been turned into a Monday holiday. It
used to be, you know, well President's Day used to
be you had George Washington's birthday on the twenty second
and Abe Lincoln's on the twelfth, so you learned a
little bit of history. I wonder if they did a
if they did some sort of a survey now, if
(09:39):
people could tell you, particularly younger people, Lincoln's birthday and
Washington's birthday they're not the same day.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
And you know, as I say, Cambridge who was dead today,
So there was I mean, we had a good ceremony
and I was very happy that I went and I'm
gonna you know, this is something I should do every year,
and I admit that I haven't, but that is something
(10:10):
we've lost by that.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
I think it's a great observation, Steve. You always a
very perceptive but you always bring an a game and
you bring an obvious point. I think again, what has
happened is that a lot of you know, commercial interests
like to see the long three day weekend, and whether
(10:33):
or not it's the start of summer as it is,
I'm sure there are a lot of people who today
are coming back from wherever and probably stayed over Saturday
and Sunday night somewhere. If Memorial Day this week or
this month, let's see the thirtieth, it would have turned
out it would have been Friday, so there would have
(10:54):
been a long holiday weekend.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
It would have been next weekend. But you're right, I.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Mean it was a today in the middle of the week,
people would take the day off and they probably stay
closer to home.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Great observations.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Can I make one more observation?
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Push again? Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (11:09):
Well, you may have a few other people.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Who I don't know, I will, but your observations are
always spot on.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
To go ahead, Well, every time they talk about the wars,
and they always say the men and women who died
in the Civil War, the First World War, the Second
World War, the Korean War, Vietnam. I think younger people
(11:34):
are going to get the idea that during these wars
there were a lot of women in the ranks and
there weren't. These were men who died. And as a
matter of fact, at Cambridge Cemetery they had a memorial
or they had a monument for fifty five Cambridge men
(11:54):
who died in the First World War and are buried abroad.
So I'm thinking, you know, they wanted to talk about
women all the time. But I think a lot of
young people are going to get the idea that women
were fighting in the Revolutionary War, which is just not
the case.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Well, I think that women were killed certainly during the
Civil War and during World War One and World War Two,
maybe less so in Korea, but I think that there
were a lot of women who were in the military
as nurses. I don't think what we see today we
see women. I was watching the ceremony with President Trump
(12:34):
both at West Point in Annapolis.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
There are a lot of women who are graduating.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
In these days.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Yeah, these days. But I mean, for example, on the
Vietnam Memorial in Washington, d C. There are the names
of fifty thousand American men.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Who died fifty eight thousand?
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Is it fifty eight thousand? Do you know how many
women are on that memorial?
Speaker 3 (12:56):
How going to guess a couple of hundred?
Speaker 6 (12:58):
No?
Speaker 5 (12:58):
Eight?
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Okay, Well, thank you very much, And that puts it
in perspective. Steve great points again, times change and circumstances change,
and there are a lot of women who are in
the military today.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
So that's true.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
And I was very happy that I did go to
the ceremony, and I take my hats off to the
Cambridge government which ran a very nice ceremony.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
I appreciate that. Thanks, thank you, Dandy.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
We'll talk So I got one line at six one,
seven thirty and one at six one seven nine thirty.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
What did you do today?
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Did you think about Memorial Day? Did you think about
someone who you knew who died in service of the country,
in the military, service of the country.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Coming back on Nightside, Night Side with Dan Ray on
Boston's news radio. Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Got to try to get everybody in here quickly go
to Larry, down to the Cape. Larry, you're next on
NISI go right ahead. You have thought some Memorial day.
Speaker 7 (14:05):
Yeah, thanks for talking about this, Dan, I didn't get
a chance to call in Friday in the twentieth hour.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yep.
Speaker 7 (14:11):
So I'd like to honor my father. At the beginning
of the war, he went to work in the shipyard
and then went into the Army Air Corps. He was
a top ten gunner on a B twenty four Wow
got shot down over Germany and his whole unit, the pilots,
(14:33):
everybody bailed out and they got captured by the Germans
and got into a prisoner war camp. This part of
the story is what's unbelievable. When they lined up all
the prisoners, I think I might have told you the
story when they lined up all the prisoners and Nazi
asked all the Jews to step forward. Well, my father,
being Jewish, didn't know what to do. Pilot looked over
(14:55):
to him and winked at him and started talking to
him an Italian, So the Nazi thought my father was
Italian passed over him. Okay, I'm unbelievable. So he was
a prison war for about six months he went into
the militariat maybe one sixty five, came out at one
(15:15):
twenty five, got liberated. He went back to the family business,
and after I got out of the army, I went
to work there. My father, you know, we had an
other repair shop in Chelsea, taught me everything I knew.
He retired yuh young, but he started to get sick,
went to the VA. Turned out he ended up being
diagnosed with meso thelioma, which is from the asbestos that yeah,
(15:41):
at the shipyard. Yeah, and there was a massive and
they explained to us, that doctor explained, so it takes
fifty years for his bestest to metastasize and the cancer
and their lungs. So he was an amazing guy. Never
talked about any of his experience until he was diagnosed,
and I knew he was and to die an amazing guy.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
I'll tell you, apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
And it's amazing to think that what he experienced, including
the pow camp. Thank god that his uh you know,
the the captain of that ship, his plane was thank
god they were they were all you know, did they
(16:25):
all literally land in such an area that they all
were picked up by the Germans together or the Germany.
Speaker 7 (16:32):
Yeah, they were on a bombing mission over Germany and
they all bailed out yep and ended up being they
all they all were captured, the whole crew.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Okay, and all of them. I'm sure he kept in
contact with all of them for the rest of his life.
Speaker 7 (16:44):
You know, I don't think he did. He didn't talk
about It was almost like what was the path that
he just wanted them move forward?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Yeah, my dad, I've mentioned this before, but uh, my
dad was in China, Bourman, India during World War two
and he kept every Christmas he would write a long
hand Christmas card to about eight of his buddies and
he would get longhand Christmas cards back from them. There
was one guy named Hitchcock who was in Wyoming, Paul Butler,
I remember their names in Kentucky. I don't know if
(17:13):
he ever saw them after the war was over because
he didn't travel widely, but he there was always a
Christmas card to and from each one of them.
Speaker 7 (17:22):
Yeah. So what I did to honor for a Memorial
Day today where I live in Dennisport, and I had
to laugh with the who's the guy that answers the
phone today, your producer, and I told him I'm from Dennisport.
He goes, is that in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Well, all of our guys are not geography majors. I'm
not sure where Noah is from originally, but at least
he's asking questions. Just you got to have the courage
to ask questions. Absolutely good.
Speaker 7 (17:46):
You know, I couldn't get up to the Cormon where
they were having a nice ceremony because there was actually
a road race that came right through Dennisport, and our
streets were blocked off to allow the runners to come through.
So I went down the end of the street and
I cheered on. I cheered all the runners on for
doing this.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah, I think that I understand.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I think that that also backing up what Steve said before,
you having a road raise some Memorial Day distracts from
what the purpose.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Of Memorial Day is.
Speaker 7 (18:12):
Yeah, well, at least it was. It was it was
an honor of veterans and to raise money for cancer.
But I agree as soon as they moved the holidays
to Mondays, it was like another day off.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
You got it.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
You got it, Larry, Congratulations. Hopefully your dad is listening
to us tonight and he's very proud of your you know,
recalling for us what he and his crew went through.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 7 (18:34):
Yeah, thank you, Thanks Larry.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Talk to you soon. By the way.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
It's just doing some some research here, and there's an
article which I'm reading which is an estimate and basically
says that between five hundred and seven hundred American service
women were killed during World War Two.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
I don't know if that's.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
You know, I'm just just googling stuff here, but obviously
the American service women have died in combat in recent wars.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I know that in the War on Terror, I.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Think the numbers about one hundred and seventy three Afghanistan,
I Raq, Syria, et cetera. So, you know, as more
and more women joined the military and and get closer
and closer and indeed on the front lines, Uh, they're
going to suffer the same paid as others who engage
in combat activity. We're going to take a break. Uh,
the only line open in six one seven. Here's the
(19:30):
news at the bottom of the air. We're going to
do this for about an hour, so if you want
to get in, you want to get in before we
wrap it up at ten o'clock.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Back on Nightside after.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
This, It's night Side with Dan Ray. Hey Dan, Boston's
News Radio. You're on night Side with Dan Ray on
Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
All right, let's go back to the phones. If we
go to Linda down and way with Linda. Welcome next
on Nightside.
Speaker 7 (19:56):
How are you hi?
Speaker 8 (19:58):
Fine? Thank you? My dad has passed. But when he
was alive on D Day, indeed on some of the
different Veterans Days, he would call up fellow veterans, talk
for a while, and you'll leave them alone for a
couple of hours. I spent the day. I thought it
(20:19):
was going to go to a parade, but they didn't
have the parade down here in Weymouth. What they had
as an extended it's called Freedom is not free Memorial
Day observance and dedication ceremony. They had five bronze probably
(20:40):
statues of veterans from the town that player important role.
It lasted about an hour and a half and then
they had they ended with a concert by the military brass.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
This was in Weymouth. That's right, No good, Weymouth did
it right.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
And.
Speaker 8 (21:07):
Yeah, i'd see incorrected. I thought it was for all veterans.
I used to work at the VA office.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
No Veterans Day is Veterans Day.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Is Veterans Day, Okay, so that's when we honor all veterans.
Memorial Day focuses on those who have served. By the way,
based upon what my first caller, Steve said, there were
eight women who died in Vietnam and they were all nurses.
(21:38):
There were eleven thousand female nurses who volunteered. Excuse me,
I didn't hear what you were saying while you were
interrupting me, Linda.
Speaker 8 (21:49):
Excuse me, I'm sorry I interrupted by My mom was
in the the not the waves, but she was with
First Days for the Veterans of World War Two.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Were she that's called Were those called the wax?
Speaker 8 (22:04):
Yes, okay, I don't think she particular was in that
particular brand.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Well, we're talking about eleven thousand women who served. We're
just we're kind of talking over each other here, Linda.
That doesn't work a lot, So let me just finish
my sentence and then I'll let you have a final word.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
There were eleven thousand women who served in the American
military in Vietnam. Many of them obviously were in the
role of nurses, but many of them had ranks of
captain and lieutenants, and they were on the front lines
because the front lines were not well defined in Vietnam,
and as they say, eight of them died of combat
(22:47):
related injuries.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Go ahead, Linda.
Speaker 8 (22:51):
First off, I stand correct that I apologize, but we
had about I would say, about hundred people at the ceremony.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Oh good, yeah, yeah, we've covered that, Linda. Thank you much.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
I appreciate your call, and thank you very much for
your parents' service and your dad's service. Thanks talk soon.
Let me go quickly here. I'm going to get to
gym in south Hampton, Massachusetts. Is that Southampton, Massachusetts or
Southampton New Hampshire gym? It's Massachusetts, okay, and it's Hampton
(23:26):
ha mp to o n yes, okay, go right ahead.
Speaker 6 (23:34):
So for this day, I'm a vocational high school teacher
and I had a student who was killed in Iraq. Yeah,
and so I always make a point to visit his
gravestone on Memorial Day.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Wow, boy, that's Southampton. Are you out in the western
part of the Stateum, I'm trying to locate that in
my mind.
Speaker 6 (23:54):
Yeah, it's west of Springfield.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah sure, okay, so you are still a tea teacher
and one of your students was killed in Iraq and
you visit and you visit his grave every Memorial Day.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Boy, that's let me.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Tell you, that's quite an honor for him. And it
also is I think really remarkable that as a teacher
you would feel that connected to your students. I mean that,
hats off to you, Jim. I wish there were more
teachers like you. Do you use his passing to you
(24:33):
to talk about him to the students. This recent survey
that we quoted in earlier in the Hour would suggest
that a lot of gen Zers really don't have quite
a solid grasp on what Memorial Day is all about.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (24:51):
Actually, I kind of make a point. If I get older,
I kind of mind my remind of like my father
and grandfather always made a big deal of it, and
as a kid, you didn't really think much about it
at the time though it was important to them. But
as I get older, I find a need to express
that to my current students, and they always pause and
(25:12):
think about it, you know when I talk about it.
Whether it sticks with them, I'm not really sure.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Well, you know, look, I would suspect that if you
did a survey of students who took your classes, they
would do a lot better in terms of their recollection
and understanding of what Memorial Day is all about because
you took the time. I mean, again, what type of
course do you teach? Are you in high school? You
(25:39):
said you're a high school teacher.
Speaker 6 (25:42):
I teach a landscaping in true care programs of vocational
high school.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Okay, so therefore it's not part of your curriculum. But
I think that sort of conversation, even if it's for
twenty minutes someday, is invaluable for young people to realize that, know,
people a little bit older than they went off to
the military and did not come home.
Speaker 6 (26:08):
I would agree. And you know, as a teacher, I
mean I was in my early thirties when that happened.
It wasn't something I expected to have to deal with
as a teacher.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Yeah, yeah, no, no, absolutely absolutely. And I assume you
probably started teaching before nine to eleven, correct, Yeah, so
when you became a teacher, nine to eleven hadn't occurred.
And I don't know what year your student, you know, graduated,
but I suspect it was after nine to eleven. And
(26:40):
he responded to the to the needs of the nation
at that point and put himself in harm's way.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
What Bridge did?
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Did that young man servant if I could ask?
Speaker 6 (26:51):
He was in the army and he was. He was
a junior the year of nine to eleven, okay, and
then instead of two years after high school and died
not long after that. Yeah, so it was it was
kind of a powerful thing at the time. I'm grateful
to have been able to support kids through it, but
(27:12):
it certainly was something you never thought about, you know,
as a young person.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
And people never think about mortality. Would you mind sharing
as an honor to this student the name of the
student with us?
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (27:27):
Sure.
Speaker 6 (27:28):
His name was Matthew Bean.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Matthew Bean, like the E A N. Yes, Matthew Bean.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
And he would have died I'm assuming at the age
of twenty or twenty one something.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
Yeah, it was in two thousand and five, so he
was pretty young. He graduated in two thousand and three, Okay,
so we would.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Have graduated at probably eighteen and so he probably would
have been twenty or twenty one at most. Matthew Bean
of Southampton, Massachusetts, Well.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
Yeah, he was.
Speaker 6 (28:03):
He actually lived in the town of Pembroke.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Pembroke, Okay, I'm sorry. In Pembroke on the south Shore.
Speaker 6 (28:11):
Yeah, I used to teach it.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Oh okay, great, Okay, well that's good. I'm glad you
you said that.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
No, that's thank you for that clarification. So you taught
in Pembroke's Matthew Bean, being of Pembroke, Massachusetts. I drove
through Pembroke today as a matter of fact, so I
know exactly where Pembroke has. I had a tough locating
exactly Southampton because there's also Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, and
I was saying, gee, we talk in New Hampshire, Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
But thank you for doing that today, and thank you
for following up with the phone call tonight. It was
really uh it's a memorable phone call.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
And I really do appreciate, Jim, the type of relationship
that you have had with your students. This speaks volumes
about your your relationship with your students and your relationship
with your profession.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
We need more teachers like you, sir. Well, thank you, thanks,
thanks so much for joining us tonight. Jim.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Matthew Bean, being of Pembroke Massachusetts pat killed in two
thousand and five.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Boy, it's tough. We'll be back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston's News.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
I promise you we're gonna get Greg, John and Georgian.
Let me start it off with Greg. He's been on
the longest. Greg from Lindfield. Greg, next on Nightside. What
do you do to this memorial day?
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Greg?
Speaker 5 (29:49):
I went to the cemetery, I turned the prayer this morning.
Oh we'd love to hear the three guns in the taps.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Yeah did, But yeah, did have any one who.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Gave their life in service of the country.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
I had a great uncle.
Speaker 9 (30:12):
That died in World War One.
Speaker 5 (30:14):
Obviously I never knew them.
Speaker 9 (30:17):
My father served probably in the Army, and my grandfather
served in World War Two and was a tank driver
under General Patton.
Speaker 5 (30:30):
But before I get into his story, which I want
to tell you, like when you said five hundred two
one thousand women died in World War Two, I think
they should honor the women that died in industrial accidents
building the war machine for this country, because.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
There were a lot of women who worked on the
home front. Absolutely, Rosie the Riveter was the epitome of that. No,
I know, I know my history and you obviously know
yours as well. But yeah, there were you know again
they were not There are more women who have who
died during the War on Terror. I think the number
(31:13):
was one hundred and seventy three. I have to go
back and look it up again. But in terms of
there were about five thousand US service personnel who died,
you know, in World War Two there were rather Vietnam
there were eight women, primarily nurses, who were in helicopter
(31:34):
accidents or were at camp at bases and they were
shelled and they were killed. So each each military conflict,
it's a higher percentage of women. It's the numbers are
not equal to men as yet.
Speaker 5 (31:51):
Well, there's more women serving men they were ever before.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
Exactly, Yeah, that's exactly true.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
So I want to get in a story about So
my grandfather who got drafted in his mid thirties in
World War Two, and he was a barber before that,
and when he was in boot camp, his whole training group, battalion, platoon,
(32:20):
whatever you want to call him, came down to measles
and so for graduation because my grandfather was a barber.
He trimmed everyone proper, shaved them all. And there was
a they always had a general overseeing the graduation from
(32:43):
your boot camp.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
Yep.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
Absolutely, And the general was like, these guys have been
in quarantine for a month. How did they get all
clean shaven? And someone mentioned to him that one of
the guys was a barber. Yeah, and this is why
I want to talk about the greatest generation. That my
(33:09):
grandfather was approached by the general to be his personal barber.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
That's good. How about that I missed it. He must
have liked the way the troops looked. That's a great story, Greg.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
And you know what my grandfather said, Like, you know
what my grandfather.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Said, I bet he said, no, I want to stay
with my men.
Speaker 5 (33:27):
He did, and he went and saw a hell in
the war. And he always he always said, he was
like I should have been the barber for that year.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
But Betty did the right thing. He did the right thing.
Speaker 5 (33:42):
He did like he won a bronze star. He wow.
But you know that's all I want to say.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
I would say, I would say, you don't win bruns,
you earned them.
Speaker 5 (33:58):
Yeah, And anyone today would just take easy way out and.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Be like some would some would in some would, and
there's a lot of young men and women today who
do not who do the right thing and dotate these
ways out, Greg, I love the story.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
I got to get two more in here. Thank you,
my friend. Great call.
Speaker 5 (34:13):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Have a great night.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
John and Dorchester. John, want to get you in one
more in maybe go right ahead.
Speaker 10 (34:18):
John, Hey, damn hey John, first time call up a
long time listener.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
The round of applause here from our digital studio audience.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
If you want to.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
I don't think no was able to find the button,
but that's okay, go right ahead, Johnny.
Speaker 7 (34:33):
You're one of my favorite people aligned with Jack Williams,
Liz walks up.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
And bob Blo belt, bob Blo bell ye bringing me back,
bringing me back here, buddy, go ahead.
Speaker 7 (34:47):
Tell you why I know all those people because after
I get out of Vietnam. Oh, and I don't want
to disturb your body and stand okay, but I'm going
to be like the other nice gentleman and all the
people that earlier gentlemen that talked it's emotional.
Speaker 10 (35:04):
Yeah, I'm sure it's all about emotion, Yes, sir, So
I come out of Vietnam after shooting people, and I
worked with some of the nicest guys that you'd ever me.
Speaker 7 (35:20):
But you know what they would do so they would
feel good. They shoot up heroin and then we'd go
out on patrol. Yeah everything, you know, so you know,
boom and then we'd go out. But anyway, yeah, so
I come back. I'm lucky enough to get the gi bill.
I go to Harvard undergrad. I go to Harvard Medical School.
(35:44):
I learned how to be a surgeon. And so I'm
seventy nine years old. Dam Okay, I've been around. I've
been around, all right. I know when did you get
out of college? Did you go to Boston.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
State A long time ago? Yes, sir, you went to
Boston State, right, yes, sir.
Speaker 7 (36:03):
Yeah, you went to with my brother. Okay you all right,
long time ago, that was a long time.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
So did you did you practice? Did you practice?
Speaker 5 (36:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (36:13):
Boston Medical?
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Wow?
Speaker 7 (36:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (36:15):
Wow. Doctor Now it's no longer John from Dorchester. It's
doctor John.
Speaker 5 (36:19):
Go ahead, there you.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Go, all right.
Speaker 7 (36:21):
That's why that's why I know the guy you talked
to first times mountains. The other one was a sleep doctor. Yeah,
and trust trustmen, Dan. When it comes to sleep doctors.
They don't know how to operate on people. They don't
know how to do any stasiology, and they don't know
how to put people to sleep to make them feel better.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
All right, all right, well, John, that's quite an experience
from the jungle to to to the operating room.
Speaker 7 (36:48):
I'll tell you that's right. It's really been something else
then you've seen.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
You've seen a lot of different parts of the world,
not only geographically, but also uh in terms of the good,
the bad.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
And the ugly.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
John, I'm up against it. I hate to run here.
This is your first time calling. Come on back again
and we can talk longer.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Okay, all right, thank.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
You, thank you for your service. There's there's the applaud
for you. We got the button. Thanks John. Okay, bye bye,
bye bye. Unfortunately, George, if you hold over, I will
take one more call of George on the other side
of the ten o'clock news. But I don't want to
cram and George. I'll take you on the other side
if you'd like, stay with us back on night side.
(37:30):
If you want to continue this conversation for a little bit,
I'm more than happy to open up some more lines
on this one. Okay, so we'll make an exception. If
the audience wants to go longer, we'll go longer. Coming
back on night Side,
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