June 20, 2025 • 30 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Diane Hight’s father was a war hero, but he also struggled with alcoholism due to his PTSD from World War II. To honor him, she founded Forever Young Veterans, an organization originally focused on taking WWII veterans to the memorial in Washington, D.C. It soon grew into a mission to take them back to Normandy and beyond. Here's her story.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we returned to our American stories. Up next a
story from Diane Height Forever Young Veterans, an organization in Memphis,
Tennessee that grants wishes for World War Two, Korea and
Vietnam veterans. He does it out of love for one
of the most important men ever to be in her life.
Let's get into the story.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I think I do it for my dad.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
He loved people. He was very outgoing. He was handsome
and people liked him, and I liked him. He was playful,
he loved to go swimming, he liked to play games.
(00:58):
I remember him ride my bicycle. He owned his own barbershop.
He was very talented. He would have people that would
come from long distances to get their haircut by Am.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
He was an artist, he really was. I enjoyed that
part of him. But my dad was known as an alcoholic.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
It was very humiliating, it was shameful, hurtful.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
If his lips touched alcohol, he was a goner and
he would be drunk.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
For a solid week, two weeks. The longest that he
was intoxicated was a month. And that's without stopping. I'm
talking about drinking from the moment he woke up till
he went to bed and just did that for a
solid month. So we really struggled a lot. And back
in World War two, I know that this is very
(02:03):
hard for people to understand, but they didn't trust banks.
It was a new thing giving your money to a bank.
I mean, why would you take that kind of risk.
So he kept all his money in his wallet, which
he would have a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
In his wallet.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Then he would go and start drinking, and what do
you think would happen? He would lose all his money,
somebody would take it from him, and then we didn't
have anything. I remember several times the church bringing us food.
I know my dad did not want to be that
(02:40):
way that I know he hated it, but I don't
think he knew how to get out of it. And
because they didn't address PTSD back in those.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Days, he was just in a vicious cycle.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
When my dad went to war, he was seventeen. I
mean that's just a young, very young man. He had
never been anywhere. He was just a country farm boy,
and I think he probably had a very tender soft heart. Well,
my uncle got drafted into the army and he was
(03:24):
in the first calf. He went on the beaches of Laty,
and they gave him the Silver Star medal. Well, when
my uncle Aaron was drafted, my dad thought, I don't
think I would work out too well in the army,
so he joined the Coastguard. He thought that this would
(03:47):
be the safest branch because he thought they would guard
the coast.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Have you ever heard.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Heard the saying a drunk man's words are a sober
man's thoughts.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
That was my dad.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
He never talked about it, but he did. When he
was drinking, he was crying. He ended up on a
frigate and they lost people. He had lost comrades, He
had been asked to do some things that really devastated him.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
And because he cared so much about people, it wounded
his soul.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
We were on a trip one time and one of
the daughters said to me, the Navy's safe, and I said, oh,
please don't say that. I mean, I knew a man
that was on the USS Indianapolis.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
They all have risks. I know. My dad suffered.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Our family suffered too. When you have something dysfunctional going
on in your family like that, it's really devastating for everyone.
But as I began to grant wishes for War War
two veterans. Something happened that really shocked me, and that
was the fact that I found these War two veterans
(05:14):
were suffering just like my father, and their families were
suffering as well, just like we did.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
And I did not expect.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
That because anytime you go through something like a tragedy
or alcoholism, or you have anything like that going on
in your life, you think you're the only one, and
I really did.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I didn't know that other.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
People were suffering the same way. One thing about my
dad is he loved America.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
And he instilled that in me.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Where there is great sacrifice, there's great love. It's just
like raising children. You know, there's a lot of sacrifice
in raising kids, but oh the love you have for them.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
And it was the.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Same way with my dad in America. He had sacrificed
so much for our country, and oh the love he
had for our nation, so instilling that in me. I
wanted to give back to the World War two veterans
because my dad had never asked for anything from our country.
(06:23):
He didn't for what he had done. I felt like I.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Had a calling.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
I really had this feeling that I was supposed to
do something, and I didn't know what it was. And
I got down on my knees and I prayed, and
I asked God to show me I had a family.
I was always cooking dinner at five point thirty in
the evening, so I never watched the national news. And
on this day, my children were gone. They were older
(06:52):
at this time. My youngest son was the senior in
high school. My husband was a pilot at FedEx. So
I went in and I turned on the TV. It
was the National News, and at that very moment, it
showed a gentleman from Indianapolis who was granting a wish
for a senior lady. She was ninety two years old
and her wish was to ride in a race car
(07:17):
at the Indianapolis five hundred. And I've always had such
a love for older people. And when she got out
of that race car and she had on racing gear
and she had just the joy on her face, I thought,
this is exactly what.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I'm going to do.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
So that's basically how it started granting wishes for World
War Two veterans.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
And you've been listening to Diane Height shared deeply personal
stories about her family, about her dad, and about herself
in the end, and what it was like growing up
with a father who suffered from PTSD due to his
service in World War two, and who knows what other
trauma he might have experienced before World War two, back
(08:12):
before anybody was allowed to talk about such things. It
was just not done. Guys came back from World War Two,
then well they just went back to life. See Best
Years of Our Lives the movie the Oscar winning movie
with Frederick marsh Go to Amazon and buy it. That's
what that movie's about. In the end, one of the
first movies to cinematically and in mass ways look at
(08:36):
the impact of war on mostly men. At the time,
men were the ones at the front lines. Her description
of her father's alcoholism, what heart she had. She didn't
judge her dad. She tried to understand her dad, despite
the havoc he may have wreaked on the family because
of his alcoholism, sometimes going on benders for a week,
sometimes for a month, the mere taste of alcohol setting
(09:00):
him off into a bad place for a long time.
And even that description of him having the money on
him and getting it rolled when he'd get drunk and
coming home with not only no work, but no money,
and yet there she is praying a fervent prayer, wondering
what she can do to honor men like her dad,
who gave so much to the country and asked asked
(09:21):
for nothing back. I think that's what really struck her,
the sacrificial nature of what so many of our soldiers
have and continue to do for this country and ask
for nothing. Truly, they ask for nothing. When we come back,
more of Diane Heights's story, her father's story, and the
(09:41):
prayer that was answered. She was determined to grant wishes
for World War II, Korea and Vietnam veterans. More of
Diane Heights's story here on our American Story, and we
(10:09):
returned to our American Stories and the story of Forever
Young Veterans, an organization that grants wishes for World War II,
Korea and Vietnam veterans, telling the stories the group's founder,
Diane Height. When we last left off, we found out
that Diane started the organization because she wanted to give
back to people like her father who fought for freedom.
(10:31):
Let's get back to the story here again is Diane Height.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
I was thinking in the beginning that I would grant
just some small individual wishes for them.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Maybe we could.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Reunite them with a comrade they hadn't seen, or maybe
get them a medal that they were promised that they
never received.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
That's kind of what I was thinking.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
One of our first was a World War iiO pilot.
He just wanted to sit in a cockpit and just
talk about the advances and aviation technology. So we arranged
for him to do that FedEx. They were kind enough
to let him go into one of their airplanes, and
(11:20):
there were several pilots that.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Went in there with him.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
And in my mind, I'm thinking, Oh, this is gonna
be really nice. He's going to sit in this modern
day cockpit and just talk about some of the things
in there for thirty minutes, and they were in there
for four hours. It brought him so much joy. He
enjoyed it immensely. But the wishes they didn't stay small
(11:46):
very long.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
I can say that.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
I never thought about taking veterans on trips. That never
entered my mind.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
It kind of happened by accident.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
I say, because I had a veteran that asked me
if I would take him to.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
The World War Two Memorial in Washington.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
D C. And I said yes, and of course I
wasn't going to take a trip with him. What I
was doing was arranging for one of my friends who
was a marine in DC. I was going to fly
this veteran there and he was going to intercept him
and take him around to the memorials and then he
(12:27):
was going to fly back. That was my plan. But
what ended up happening is I found out seniors do talk.
I received a phone call from a veteran and he's like, hey,
I was at the athletic club and this World War
two veteran said that you were sending him to Washington,
d C.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
And I want to go.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
I'm a WW two vet And I was like okay,
So I took down his name and number. Then the
next day I get a phone call and this man said,
we were at church last night and this vet said
that you you were taking him to the World War
two memorial There's five of us in our church and
we would really like to go.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I said, okay, and I took down his name and
phone number, and it's just how happening.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
And I get a phone call from our local newspaper
in Memphis and they said, we hear that you're taking
World War two veterans to Washington, DC, and I was like,
I yes, And at this time I really didn't know
how I was going to work all this out.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
And I said, well, we have eight.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Veterans on the list right now, so we can only
take a couple more. My husband used to be stationed
at the Pentagon, and so I asked him, I said,
since you're used to driving in DC, how about if
we just take these eight vets and we will rent
a van there and we'll take them to the Memorial
(13:57):
and we'll just fly back with him.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And he's like, that's fine.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
So I'm thinking about a fifteen passenger van. Well, I
told the newspaper, I said, you have to put in
there that we can only take three more. And guess
what happened. We had thirty World were two veterans contact us,
and they went up to their upper nineties, and I
(14:22):
realized then they were not going to be able to
go alone. So I went to a travel agency and said,
you've got to help me.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Get these guys there. So our first trip to Washington.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
D C. Was in nine We had about fifty of
us total, and when we got there, we just saw
such healing take.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Place in their lives. It was a perfect trip. Now,
in my mind, I was thinking this was a one
time deal.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
But we got back and within forty eight hours we
had fifty more veterans.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
And each time we we would just see.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
God work miracles in their lives. Just even going to
d C, just the camaraderie of them being together. It
was just amazing to see that so many of them, just.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Like my dad, had never talked about it. Many of
them had.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Come home and become alcoholics, or they had dealt with
it in their own way. But one thing that they
all had in common was they were suffering silently. One
thing that happened on one of these trips. We were
(15:41):
in Washington, d C. And one of our veterans he
kept me on the shoulder and he said, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
What I really want. So what do you really want?
Speaker 3 (15:51):
He said?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Will you take me back to Normandy? And I kind
of laughed.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
It's one thing taking ninety five year olds to Washington,
d C. It's a whole other thing taking them out
of the country.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I went to church on Sunday and I said to
my Sunday school class, I.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Said, I need y'all to pray that God will give
me a sign, because if I shouldn't be taking these
men out of the country.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Then I don't want to do this.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
I had never had anyone ask to go to France
or Normandy, not one veteran. Soon as that came out
of his mouth, I started having veterans contact me. Will
you take me back to Normandy. I wouln't want to
go back to Normandy. Please take me back to Norway.
It was just constant and I couldn't believe it. Well,
(16:45):
that week, a gentleman contacted me. Didn't go to our church,
and he said, well, you have lunch with me, and
I said yes, So I went to lunch with them
and he said, well, I've heard that you're trying to
take some of our veterans back to France.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
And I was like, in the world that you know this?
Speaker 3 (17:02):
And he's handed me a check for one hundred thousand
dollars and he said, you take our boys back to Normandy.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
I thought I have a sign.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
So we took our very first trip to Normandy in
twenty eleven. Oh and as healing and especial as going
to DC is, nothing compares to taking them back to
where they fought.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
It hasn't changed there.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
It's not like being in America where everything's constantly changing.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Normandy and Belgium, it's.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Exactly the way it was during the war. We actually
had a veteran find his fox hole. I mean, that
just would never happen here, but it happened there. Just
them being able to walk on Omaha Beach where they
stormed it on June six forty four, and they had
(17:56):
their comrades with them.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
So many of them had.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Never talked about the war, but here they are together
and it would just flow out of them. So many
of their children would say, I've learned more about.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
My dad on this trip than i have.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Living with him my whole life. I've not been in combat.
They're not going to share those kinds of things with me.
But they will talk to one another and you would
just see them over in a corner and they would
just be talking. And that's where a lot of the
(18:38):
healing takes place. Taking them back to where they thought
is healing, but taking them back together.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
There just aren't any words for it.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
And what a story you're hearing. It starts out with
one woman's heart wanting to do something special for World
War two. Veterans taking him to the World War Two
Memorial in Washington, d C. Pretty soon it turns into
taking some vets to Normandy to Omaha Beach, and a
gentleman handing her one hundred thousand dollars check in saying,
(19:12):
take our boys to Normandy, take them to Omaha Beach.
The story of Forever Young Veterans continues here on our
American stories, and we return to our American stories and
(19:40):
the final portion of our story on Forever Young Veterans.
Let's get back to the story here again. Is Diane Height.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Before every trip, I will pray, God, you know what
these veterans mean. I don't give it to them, whatever
it is, give it to them.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
I've got a couple stories to tell you.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
One of the veterans, KT Hardwick. He went with us
for the seventieth anniversary.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
He was a pow.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
He got captured in the hedgerows. He told me a
story that just broke my heart. But he got captured
by the SS. He said that they had stuffed him
in a box car to take him by train to Germany,
and they were stuff so tight in there they could
not move, and if they needed to use the restroom,
(20:43):
they had to soil themselves.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
They couldn't have water or food.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
He said, if it rained, they would just try to
get a rain drop on their tongue.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
And he had suffered greatly.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Sometimes people will say to me, how can you take
these men back? I mean, isn't that a terrible thing
to do to make them think about this? And my
answer is they're thinking about it every single day. After
he went back to Normandy with us for the seventieth anniversary,
(21:21):
he called me and he said, I have had nightmares
about being a prisoner for seventy years. I would dream
I was being tortured. I had terrible nightmares, terrible dreams.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
But an interesting thing has happened now that I'm back.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
I am still dreaming, but instead of dreaming about being tortured,
now I'm dreaming I'm coming home.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
That's healing.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
That is one of my favorite wishes that we've granted,
because there is such a change in his life. And
we also have one very similar from a vet that
went back with us for the seventy fifth anniversary. He
said to me, I know people won't believe this, but
(22:18):
every single morning when I wake up, the first thought
I have is about d day. This was seventy five years.
He said, I steal dream about D Day, think about
D Day. It's the first thing on my mind when
I wake up every single morning. After he came back
(22:38):
from there, he said, you're not going to believe this, Diane.
This is the first time in my life since the
war that I wake up in the morning and I
don't have D Day on my mind. Taking them back
does not make them think about it. Taking them back
(23:00):
gives them closure. We just see these miracles. Oh, this
one just really touched me deeply. We were taking World
War two veterans to Washington, DC, and this lady called
me and she said, my husband's a Vietnam veteran. He
(23:21):
really needs to go on this trip. And I said, well,
this is all World War Two, not that that matters,
but I said, you know, we are going to be
taking some Vietnam veterans on our next trip.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Maybe he would rather go on that one.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
And she goes, no, no, please, She had such an
urgency in her voice, Please, he needs this. And it
was only like a week before we left, and as
you know, the airline tickets go up as it gets close.
But I thought, she's just pretty much begging me. I
can't turn her away. You know, people are more important money,
(24:00):
and so so we're just gonna We're gonna get him
a ticket and he's coming. When you go on a trip,
if you don't know how groups work, So for instance,
if we have fifty people on our trip, we make
arrangements with the restaurants and when we go there, they
have fifty place settings. So we get to our restaurant
(24:24):
at Union train station and we all sit down.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
There's an empty seat.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Next to this Vietnam vet, which that just doesn't happen.
And I was wondering, why is there an empty seat there?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
But I didn't say anything. It didn't matter. Everyone had
a seat.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
And then this man walked in and he's introduced himself
and he said, my dad is on your trip, and
I went, oh, really, I said, I didn't know you
were coming.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
He didn't tell me.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
He goes, oh, he doesn't know I'm here. I just
flew in from Arizona. He said, you know how you
ask everyone to write letters to their loved one and
I was like yes, and he said, you see, I couldn't.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Write a letter to my dad.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
I haven't spoken to him in fifteen years, and he said,
I have flown here today because we'd given the schedule
out to the family and so his mom had sent
it to him, so he knew where we were. And
he said, I have come here to ask his forgiveness.
And I was like, oh my gosh, there's an empty
(25:35):
seat by him, and I.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Said, he's right over there.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Well, his dad was in this conversation to his left.
I mean, they were really talking, and so his son
goes in and slips in that chair beside his dad.
His dad didn't even notice because he was talking. And
then it seemed like forever. Finally he looked to the
right and he sees his son and they begin to cry,
(26:03):
and in front of everyone, his son says, Dad, please
forgive me.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
It was just so emotional.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
And after we ate, his dad came up to me
and he said, do you mind if I go and
stay in his hometel room with him?
Speaker 2 (26:22):
And I said, of course not.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Just be at this place tomorrow morning at a certain time.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
That's all you have to do.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
You all just enjoy each other tonight. And that changed
this veteran's wife. He's the one that was struggling so much,
and look what God gave him his son back, and
it restored not only their relationship, but look what it
did for their whole family. Please see, God do all
(26:56):
kinds of things, even simple things.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
World War Two veteran.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
He lived around Nashville, and he would come visit his
daughter in Memphis, and when he would get here, he
would say to her, please take me to the Naval
Air Station. I just want to see if there's somebody
there that has my ship.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
On their hat.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
He so desperately wanted to talk to someone that had
been on his ship.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
And she's thinking, oh, Dad.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
There's not going to be anybody there from your ship,
but she would always take him. Each time he visited,
this would be repeated, Please take me to the Naval
Air station. Let me find someone from my ship, the
USS Ranger. Well, they were on our very first trip
to Washington, D C and O nine and we get
(27:46):
to the World War Two Memorial and who is there
but a sailor in his original uniform with the USS
Ranger on his hat. And it was the original hat
where it's embroidered in it.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
And he saw that and.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
There wasn't anything that would have meant more to him
than to find someone from his War two ship. Just
the joy of them being able to talk and be together.
It was just such a beautiful thing to watch and
it was such a simple thing, but it meant everything
(28:31):
to him. I do it for my dad, being able
to do this for him. In a way, as we
bring healing and comfort to these veterans, I'm doing it
for my dad, and I think he's no longer remembered
for being an alcoholic. Now my dad is being remembered
(28:56):
for taking his suffering and helping bring healing to his comrades.
It changes their families, it changes their communities because so
many of these men and women have never talked about it.
They start going to schools, they write books. We've had
a lot of veterans write books that weren't even talking
(29:18):
about it when they became a part of Forever Young Veterans.
So we've seen healing take place, and so it's really
changed my dad's legacy.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Monty Montgomery and a special thanks to
Diane Height And if you would like to help Forever
Young Vets, go to foreveryong Vets dot org to find
out more. By the way. They're going to the eightieth
anniversary of D Day next year, and from these stories,
can you imagine the healing that will occur Before every trip.
(29:56):
I pray, God, you know what these veterans need. I
don't give it to them, And my goodness, did God
give it to them. Diana Hate's story, her dad's, and
veterans everywhere who've seen battle up close and personal. Here
on our American Stories.
And we returned to our American stories. Up next a
story from Diane Height Forever Young Veterans, an organization in Memphis,
Tennessee that grants wishes for World War Two, Korea and
Vietnam veterans. He does it out of love for one
of the most important men ever to be in her life.
Let's get into the story.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I think I do it for my dad.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
He loved people. He was very outgoing. He was handsome
and people liked him, and I liked him. He was playful,
he loved to go swimming, he liked to play games.
(00:58):
I remember him ride my bicycle. He owned his own barbershop.
He was very talented. He would have people that would
come from long distances to get their haircut by Am.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
He was an artist, he really was. I enjoyed that
part of him. But my dad was known as an alcoholic.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
It was very humiliating, it was shameful, hurtful.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
If his lips touched alcohol, he was a goner and
he would be drunk.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
For a solid week, two weeks. The longest that he
was intoxicated was a month. And that's without stopping. I'm
talking about drinking from the moment he woke up till
he went to bed and just did that for a
solid month. So we really struggled a lot. And back
in World War two, I know that this is very
(02:03):
hard for people to understand, but they didn't trust banks.
It was a new thing giving your money to a bank.
I mean, why would you take that kind of risk.
So he kept all his money in his wallet, which
he would have a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
In his wallet.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Then he would go and start drinking, and what do
you think would happen? He would lose all his money,
somebody would take it from him, and then we didn't
have anything. I remember several times the church bringing us food.
I know my dad did not want to be that
(02:40):
way that I know he hated it, but I don't
think he knew how to get out of it. And
because they didn't address PTSD back in those.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Days, he was just in a vicious cycle.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
When my dad went to war, he was seventeen. I
mean that's just a young, very young man. He had
never been anywhere. He was just a country farm boy,
and I think he probably had a very tender soft heart. Well,
my uncle got drafted into the army and he was
(03:24):
in the first calf. He went on the beaches of Laty,
and they gave him the Silver Star medal. Well, when
my uncle Aaron was drafted, my dad thought, I don't
think I would work out too well in the army,
so he joined the Coastguard. He thought that this would
(03:47):
be the safest branch because he thought they would guard
the coast.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Have you ever heard.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Heard the saying a drunk man's words are a sober
man's thoughts.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
That was my dad.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
He never talked about it, but he did. When he
was drinking, he was crying. He ended up on a
frigate and they lost people. He had lost comrades, He
had been asked to do some things that really devastated him.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
And because he cared so much about people, it wounded
his soul.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
We were on a trip one time and one of
the daughters said to me, the Navy's safe, and I said, oh,
please don't say that. I mean, I knew a man
that was on the USS Indianapolis.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
They all have risks. I know. My dad suffered.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Our family suffered too. When you have something dysfunctional going
on in your family like that, it's really devastating for everyone.
But as I began to grant wishes for War War
two veterans. Something happened that really shocked me, and that
was the fact that I found these War two veterans
(05:14):
were suffering just like my father, and their families were
suffering as well, just like we did.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
And I did not expect.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
That because anytime you go through something like a tragedy
or alcoholism, or you have anything like that going on
in your life, you think you're the only one, and
I really did.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I didn't know that other.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
People were suffering the same way. One thing about my
dad is he loved America.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
And he instilled that in me.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Where there is great sacrifice, there's great love. It's just
like raising children. You know, there's a lot of sacrifice
in raising kids, but oh the love you have for them.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
And it was the.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Same way with my dad in America. He had sacrificed
so much for our country, and oh the love he
had for our nation, so instilling that in me. I
wanted to give back to the World War two veterans
because my dad had never asked for anything from our country.
(06:23):
He didn't for what he had done. I felt like I.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Had a calling.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
I really had this feeling that I was supposed to
do something, and I didn't know what it was. And
I got down on my knees and I prayed, and
I asked God to show me I had a family.
I was always cooking dinner at five point thirty in
the evening, so I never watched the national news. And
on this day, my children were gone. They were older
(06:52):
at this time. My youngest son was the senior in
high school. My husband was a pilot at FedEx. So
I went in and I turned on the TV. It
was the National News, and at that very moment, it
showed a gentleman from Indianapolis who was granting a wish
for a senior lady. She was ninety two years old
and her wish was to ride in a race car
(07:17):
at the Indianapolis five hundred. And I've always had such
a love for older people. And when she got out
of that race car and she had on racing gear
and she had just the joy on her face, I thought,
this is exactly what.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I'm going to do.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
So that's basically how it started granting wishes for World
War Two veterans.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
And you've been listening to Diane Height shared deeply personal
stories about her family, about her dad, and about herself
in the end, and what it was like growing up
with a father who suffered from PTSD due to his
service in World War two, and who knows what other
trauma he might have experienced before World War two, back
(08:12):
before anybody was allowed to talk about such things. It
was just not done. Guys came back from World War Two,
then well they just went back to life. See Best
Years of Our Lives the movie the Oscar winning movie
with Frederick marsh Go to Amazon and buy it. That's
what that movie's about. In the end, one of the
first movies to cinematically and in mass ways look at
(08:36):
the impact of war on mostly men. At the time,
men were the ones at the front lines. Her description
of her father's alcoholism, what heart she had. She didn't
judge her dad. She tried to understand her dad, despite
the havoc he may have wreaked on the family because
of his alcoholism, sometimes going on benders for a week,
sometimes for a month, the mere taste of alcohol setting
(09:00):
him off into a bad place for a long time.
And even that description of him having the money on
him and getting it rolled when he'd get drunk and
coming home with not only no work, but no money,
and yet there she is praying a fervent prayer, wondering
what she can do to honor men like her dad,
who gave so much to the country and asked asked
(09:21):
for nothing back. I think that's what really struck her,
the sacrificial nature of what so many of our soldiers
have and continue to do for this country and ask
for nothing. Truly, they ask for nothing. When we come back,
more of Diane Heights's story, her father's story, and the
(09:41):
prayer that was answered. She was determined to grant wishes
for World War II, Korea and Vietnam veterans. More of
Diane Heights's story here on our American Story, and we
(10:09):
returned to our American Stories and the story of Forever
Young Veterans, an organization that grants wishes for World War II,
Korea and Vietnam veterans, telling the stories the group's founder,
Diane Height. When we last left off, we found out
that Diane started the organization because she wanted to give
back to people like her father who fought for freedom.
(10:31):
Let's get back to the story here again is Diane Height.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
I was thinking in the beginning that I would grant
just some small individual wishes for them.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Maybe we could.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Reunite them with a comrade they hadn't seen, or maybe
get them a medal that they were promised that they
never received.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
That's kind of what I was thinking.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
One of our first was a World War iiO pilot.
He just wanted to sit in a cockpit and just
talk about the advances and aviation technology. So we arranged
for him to do that FedEx. They were kind enough
to let him go into one of their airplanes, and
(11:20):
there were several pilots that.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Went in there with him.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
And in my mind, I'm thinking, Oh, this is gonna
be really nice. He's going to sit in this modern
day cockpit and just talk about some of the things
in there for thirty minutes, and they were in there
for four hours. It brought him so much joy. He
enjoyed it immensely. But the wishes they didn't stay small
(11:46):
very long.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
I can say that.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
I never thought about taking veterans on trips. That never
entered my mind.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
It kind of happened by accident.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
I say, because I had a veteran that asked me
if I would take him to.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
The World War Two Memorial in Washington.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
D C. And I said yes, and of course I
wasn't going to take a trip with him. What I
was doing was arranging for one of my friends who
was a marine in DC. I was going to fly
this veteran there and he was going to intercept him
and take him around to the memorials and then he
(12:27):
was going to fly back. That was my plan. But
what ended up happening is I found out seniors do talk.
I received a phone call from a veteran and he's like, hey,
I was at the athletic club and this World War
two veteran said that you were sending him to Washington,
d C.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
And I want to go.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
I'm a WW two vet And I was like okay,
So I took down his name and number. Then the
next day I get a phone call and this man said,
we were at church last night and this vet said
that you you were taking him to the World War
two memorial There's five of us in our church and
we would really like to go.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I said, okay, and I took down his name and
phone number, and it's just how happening.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
And I get a phone call from our local newspaper
in Memphis and they said, we hear that you're taking
World War two veterans to Washington, DC, and I was like,
I yes, And at this time I really didn't know
how I was going to work all this out.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
And I said, well, we have eight.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Veterans on the list right now, so we can only
take a couple more. My husband used to be stationed
at the Pentagon, and so I asked him, I said,
since you're used to driving in DC, how about if
we just take these eight vets and we will rent
a van there and we'll take them to the Memorial
(13:57):
and we'll just fly back with him.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And he's like, that's fine.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
So I'm thinking about a fifteen passenger van. Well, I
told the newspaper, I said, you have to put in
there that we can only take three more. And guess
what happened. We had thirty World were two veterans contact us,
and they went up to their upper nineties, and I
(14:22):
realized then they were not going to be able to
go alone. So I went to a travel agency and said,
you've got to help me.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Get these guys there. So our first trip to Washington.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
D C. Was in nine We had about fifty of
us total, and when we got there, we just saw
such healing take.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Place in their lives. It was a perfect trip. Now,
in my mind, I was thinking this was a one
time deal.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
But we got back and within forty eight hours we
had fifty more veterans.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
And each time we we would just see.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
God work miracles in their lives. Just even going to
d C, just the camaraderie of them being together. It
was just amazing to see that so many of them, just.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Like my dad, had never talked about it. Many of
them had.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Come home and become alcoholics, or they had dealt with
it in their own way. But one thing that they
all had in common was they were suffering silently. One
thing that happened on one of these trips. We were
(15:41):
in Washington, d C. And one of our veterans he
kept me on the shoulder and he said, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
What I really want. So what do you really want?
Speaker 3 (15:51):
He said?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Will you take me back to Normandy? And I kind
of laughed.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
It's one thing taking ninety five year olds to Washington,
d C. It's a whole other thing taking them out
of the country.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I went to church on Sunday and I said to
my Sunday school class, I.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Said, I need y'all to pray that God will give
me a sign, because if I shouldn't be taking these
men out of the country.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Then I don't want to do this.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
I had never had anyone ask to go to France
or Normandy, not one veteran. Soon as that came out
of his mouth, I started having veterans contact me. Will
you take me back to Normandy. I wouln't want to
go back to Normandy. Please take me back to Norway.
It was just constant and I couldn't believe it. Well,
(16:45):
that week, a gentleman contacted me. Didn't go to our church,
and he said, well, you have lunch with me, and
I said yes, So I went to lunch with them
and he said, well, I've heard that you're trying to
take some of our veterans back to France.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
And I was like, in the world that you know this?
Speaker 3 (17:02):
And he's handed me a check for one hundred thousand
dollars and he said, you take our boys back to Normandy.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
I thought I have a sign.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
So we took our very first trip to Normandy in
twenty eleven. Oh and as healing and especial as going
to DC is, nothing compares to taking them back to
where they fought.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
It hasn't changed there.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
It's not like being in America where everything's constantly changing.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Normandy and Belgium, it's.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Exactly the way it was during the war. We actually
had a veteran find his fox hole. I mean, that
just would never happen here, but it happened there. Just
them being able to walk on Omaha Beach where they
stormed it on June six forty four, and they had
(17:56):
their comrades with them.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
So many of them had.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Never talked about the war, but here they are together
and it would just flow out of them. So many
of their children would say, I've learned more about.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
My dad on this trip than i have.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Living with him my whole life. I've not been in combat.
They're not going to share those kinds of things with me.
But they will talk to one another and you would
just see them over in a corner and they would
just be talking. And that's where a lot of the
(18:38):
healing takes place. Taking them back to where they thought
is healing, but taking them back together.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
There just aren't any words for it.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
And what a story you're hearing. It starts out with
one woman's heart wanting to do something special for World
War two. Veterans taking him to the World War Two
Memorial in Washington, d C. Pretty soon it turns into
taking some vets to Normandy to Omaha Beach, and a
gentleman handing her one hundred thousand dollars check in saying,
(19:12):
take our boys to Normandy, take them to Omaha Beach.
The story of Forever Young Veterans continues here on our
American stories, and we return to our American stories and
(19:40):
the final portion of our story on Forever Young Veterans.
Let's get back to the story here again. Is Diane Height.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Before every trip, I will pray, God, you know what
these veterans mean. I don't give it to them, whatever
it is, give it to them.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
I've got a couple stories to tell you.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
One of the veterans, KT Hardwick. He went with us
for the seventieth anniversary.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
He was a pow.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
He got captured in the hedgerows. He told me a
story that just broke my heart. But he got captured
by the SS. He said that they had stuffed him
in a box car to take him by train to Germany,
and they were stuff so tight in there they could
not move, and if they needed to use the restroom,
(20:43):
they had to soil themselves.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
They couldn't have water or food.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
He said, if it rained, they would just try to
get a rain drop on their tongue.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
And he had suffered greatly.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Sometimes people will say to me, how can you take
these men back? I mean, isn't that a terrible thing
to do to make them think about this? And my
answer is they're thinking about it every single day. After
he went back to Normandy with us for the seventieth anniversary,
(21:21):
he called me and he said, I have had nightmares
about being a prisoner for seventy years. I would dream
I was being tortured. I had terrible nightmares, terrible dreams.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
But an interesting thing has happened now that I'm back.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
I am still dreaming, but instead of dreaming about being tortured,
now I'm dreaming I'm coming home.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
That's healing.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
That is one of my favorite wishes that we've granted,
because there is such a change in his life. And
we also have one very similar from a vet that
went back with us for the seventy fifth anniversary. He
said to me, I know people won't believe this, but
(22:18):
every single morning when I wake up, the first thought
I have is about d day. This was seventy five years.
He said, I steal dream about D Day, think about
D Day. It's the first thing on my mind when
I wake up every single morning. After he came back
(22:38):
from there, he said, you're not going to believe this, Diane.
This is the first time in my life since the
war that I wake up in the morning and I
don't have D Day on my mind. Taking them back
does not make them think about it. Taking them back
(23:00):
gives them closure. We just see these miracles. Oh, this
one just really touched me deeply. We were taking World
War two veterans to Washington, DC, and this lady called
me and she said, my husband's a Vietnam veteran. He
(23:21):
really needs to go on this trip. And I said, well,
this is all World War Two, not that that matters,
but I said, you know, we are going to be
taking some Vietnam veterans on our next trip.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Maybe he would rather go on that one.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
And she goes, no, no, please, She had such an
urgency in her voice, Please, he needs this. And it
was only like a week before we left, and as
you know, the airline tickets go up as it gets close.
But I thought, she's just pretty much begging me. I
can't turn her away. You know, people are more important money,
(24:00):
and so so we're just gonna We're gonna get him
a ticket and he's coming. When you go on a trip,
if you don't know how groups work, So for instance,
if we have fifty people on our trip, we make
arrangements with the restaurants and when we go there, they
have fifty place settings. So we get to our restaurant
(24:24):
at Union train station and we all sit down.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
There's an empty seat.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Next to this Vietnam vet, which that just doesn't happen.
And I was wondering, why is there an empty seat there?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
But I didn't say anything. It didn't matter. Everyone had
a seat.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
And then this man walked in and he's introduced himself
and he said, my dad is on your trip, and
I went, oh, really, I said, I didn't know you
were coming.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
He didn't tell me.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
He goes, oh, he doesn't know I'm here. I just
flew in from Arizona. He said, you know how you
ask everyone to write letters to their loved one and
I was like yes, and he said, you see, I couldn't.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Write a letter to my dad.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
I haven't spoken to him in fifteen years, and he said,
I have flown here today because we'd given the schedule
out to the family and so his mom had sent
it to him, so he knew where we were. And
he said, I have come here to ask his forgiveness.
And I was like, oh my gosh, there's an empty
(25:35):
seat by him, and I.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Said, he's right over there.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Well, his dad was in this conversation to his left.
I mean, they were really talking, and so his son
goes in and slips in that chair beside his dad.
His dad didn't even notice because he was talking. And
then it seemed like forever. Finally he looked to the
right and he sees his son and they begin to cry,
(26:03):
and in front of everyone, his son says, Dad, please
forgive me.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
It was just so emotional.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
And after we ate, his dad came up to me
and he said, do you mind if I go and
stay in his hometel room with him?
Speaker 2 (26:22):
And I said, of course not.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Just be at this place tomorrow morning at a certain time.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
That's all you have to do.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
You all just enjoy each other tonight. And that changed
this veteran's wife. He's the one that was struggling so much,
and look what God gave him his son back, and
it restored not only their relationship, but look what it
did for their whole family. Please see, God do all
(26:56):
kinds of things, even simple things.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
World War Two veteran.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
He lived around Nashville, and he would come visit his
daughter in Memphis, and when he would get here, he
would say to her, please take me to the Naval
Air Station. I just want to see if there's somebody
there that has my ship.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
On their hat.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
He so desperately wanted to talk to someone that had
been on his ship.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
And she's thinking, oh, Dad.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
There's not going to be anybody there from your ship,
but she would always take him. Each time he visited,
this would be repeated, Please take me to the Naval
Air station. Let me find someone from my ship, the
USS Ranger. Well, they were on our very first trip
to Washington, D C and O nine and we get
(27:46):
to the World War Two Memorial and who is there
but a sailor in his original uniform with the USS
Ranger on his hat. And it was the original hat
where it's embroidered in it.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
And he saw that and.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
There wasn't anything that would have meant more to him
than to find someone from his War two ship. Just
the joy of them being able to talk and be together.
It was just such a beautiful thing to watch and
it was such a simple thing, but it meant everything
(28:31):
to him. I do it for my dad, being able
to do this for him. In a way, as we
bring healing and comfort to these veterans, I'm doing it
for my dad, and I think he's no longer remembered
for being an alcoholic. Now my dad is being remembered
(28:56):
for taking his suffering and helping bring healing to his comrades.
It changes their families, it changes their communities because so
many of these men and women have never talked about it.
They start going to schools, they write books. We've had
a lot of veterans write books that weren't even talking
(29:18):
about it when they became a part of Forever Young Veterans.
So we've seen healing take place, and so it's really
changed my dad's legacy.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Monty Montgomery and a special thanks to
Diane Height And if you would like to help Forever
Young Vets, go to foreveryong Vets dot org to find
out more. By the way. They're going to the eightieth
anniversary of D Day next year, and from these stories,
can you imagine the healing that will occur Before every trip.
(29:56):
I pray, God, you know what these veterans need. I
don't give it to them, And my goodness, did God
give it to them. Diana Hate's story, her dad's, and
veterans everywhere who've seen battle up close and personal. Here
on our American Stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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