Veterans Day - Hearing stories and showing appreciation

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You have veterans in the family at all, there Peyton
is a Veterans Day something that you would generally be
aware of.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Yes, definitely. My grandfather he lives in Iowa. He served
in Vietnam, and so he's a proud veteran. He always
which Branch Army nice. Yeah, and every Veterans Day morning
he gets up super early and he goes and sets

(00:30):
up flags throughout the community.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
That's amazing.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah, kind of like you know, other, do.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
You mind if I ask where at like where does
he live? Red Oak? Red Oak?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
That's not far away, No, not too bad. Get to
see him pretty frequently. Not enough as I'd like to,
of course, but of course the way it goes. My
grandfather also was in I believe the Army. I don't
know enough about his service. He passed away when I
was two, so I have no memory. You don't like

(01:01):
Sometimes in my dreams, you know, I'll see myself as
a young person, and I think I've seen enough pictures
that you know, I kind of you know, you know
how it is, you kind of visualize yourself in places
that you don't necessarily remember being, but you can kind
of see it once you kind of like position yourself
where that picture would have been. Yeah, and you kind
of like mend the memory together through what you know.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
It's like you take different parts of what you think
you know and it kind of and this is how
you know, people misremember things sometimes as they take different
memories from different things and they all accidentally kind of
blends into the same thing. But I know he was active,
I believe Korea in the fifties. My uncle who's my

(01:44):
dad's youngest brother air Force served here in off It
at the end of his career. But he was in
all sorts of places. He went to Great Britain, he
was in Turkey, he was in Abilene, Texas. He had
made some rounds for a while there. I think he
was in Turkey for like four or five years. I
mean he was like permanently based there for a while.

(02:07):
But you know, we always I don't know where we
got away from this, and I don't know if it's
just a lack of education. Did you get the day
off of school for Veterans Day? Because I didn't.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
No, I don't recall getting off for Veterans Day.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
I had somebody message me earlier and said, in Maryland,
they are off or at least that school district. I
don't know if it's like a county by county, school
by school, state by state thing. I'm not gonna pretend
like I know, but having it is technically a federal holiday,
and it is one of those holidays that it hits
the same day every year. You know, we observed so

(02:50):
many of the other dates on like the fourth Monday
or the fourth Thursday or whatever it is. Right, this
is a day where on the eleventh day of the
eleventh month, that is Veteran's Day and around the world
Rememberance Day, Armistice Day. This was kind of birthed out
of World War One and just remembering the people who

(03:11):
fought and what at that point was the biggest, craziest,
most violent conflict in anyone in the world I had
ever seen. And little did they know just twenty just
twenty one, twenty twenty one years later, everything would pick
back up again and they're being an even more violent war,
you could say, across Europe, in Asia and the Pacific

(03:38):
and Africa. I mean, it really was a world war. Look,
talking to people who have served, learning about what they
have done as servicemen or women. Not everybody's been on
the front lines. Not everybody has, you know, those stories

(04:02):
of being in combat. Some do, you can, Like I
watched Band of Brothers, which is truly incredible piece of
i'll call it filmmaking, and it's well told. It's like
the story itself as they break it up throughout the episodes,

(04:27):
is coherent, makes you really kind of get an understanding
of what was at stake. There are a lot of
World War Two, especially shows like that, that illustrate what
that was like. But one thing that I took away
from that was at the beginning of the episodes, they

(04:49):
would always have guys who are actually in the airborne
which is the you know unit that they are following
in the show, and they talk to them and you
could hear in their storytelling the pride that a lot
of those guys still had for what they did. And
I'm sure it probably makes you feel good when your

(05:10):
story is getting told. There's been a lot of different
stories told for people who have served in different units
and different conflicts. One of the great flaws that is
not everybody's story gets to be told, but everybody's story
deserves to be heard, I think, and which is why
maybe our country isn't in a position like it has

(05:33):
been in maybe some years past, not certainly always. You
don't have to go back very far. Vietnam is a
great example of the political ramifications of our involvement in
that conflict, the way that people who were opposed to violence,
opposed to war, opposed to us being involved in that war,
and the way that the protests occurred, how unpeaceful a

(05:59):
lot of them were. I know that we act like
now is such a crazy time in American history. It's
pretty crazy. Go back and watch some stuff that was
happening in the late sixties. You know, it's really not
that long ago. There are many people like your grandfather,

(06:20):
that whole generation we're around when that was going on,
whether they were super young, whether they were really coherent,
you know, like I would think if you're ten years
old or older, you probably have some interesting ideas of
what was going on. I mean, there was all sorts
of violence. There were people hijacking planes all over the place.

(06:41):
You had obviously the protests that we were talking about.
The civil rights movement in the sixties, especially a little
bit earlier than that, just really just knocking heads on
so many different issues throughout that entire period of time,
and I don't think we really give that timeframe enough

(07:02):
credit for how insane it was. It really was, you know,
just watching documentaries, reading books about it, just I try
to put it in as much perspective as possible. Of course,
right now feels the most important to us because we're
living it. Those men that were sent to Vietnam, the
women who have served in different capacities for as long

(07:22):
as women have been allowed to serve, you know, and
that's no fault of their own that it hasn't been
as long as men getting sent off for war, but
especially in the Vietnam era, there was no appreciation. There
wasn't We have lost almost all of our World War
two heroes. There's not very many of those left. That

(07:43):
was as unified as this country probably ever will be
about a singular.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
War.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
We didn't want to go into that war until we
were attacked at Pearl Harbor, and then it was an
almost unanimous decision. And I say almost because there were
a couple of holdouts and controversially so as to why
we should not go and get ourselves involved in a
world war again, because it was still pretty fresh for
the people who had lived through, you know, even as

(08:14):
young people who had lived through the Great War, World
War One, and then are involvement in World War Two,
and how we were scraping everything together. It was really
a team effort, the entire country. I mean, you talk
about our sports heroes, they were off to war. You're
going to talk about war bonds. Hey, you know we
really need your financial help. By war bonds? What kind

(08:35):
of material can you help us provide? What companies can
make things that we can use for war? Everything got
repurposed in a way. We've never been more on the
same page than we were in that conflict. And I
feel terrible for the surviving people who served in Vietnam

(08:56):
and why they didn't feel in Historically, they haven't felt
the kind of respect and pride from this nation that
they honestly and certainly deserve. I want to speak with
you about these today. I want to share these stories
today it is Veterans Day. We will certainly talk about
other news and other items, including you know, the government

(09:18):
shutdown and what's going to take for us to get
to the end of that. There's plenty of more stuff
that's taking place when that happens. But I want your
stories today call me if you want to share them,
Yours or anyone that you would like to speak on
behalf of I think today is a great day to
remind ourselves why today is such an important day for
our observance Veterans Day. Doug, thanks for calling in. What's

(09:39):
on your mind?

Speaker 4 (09:41):
He?

Speaker 5 (09:41):
Oh, my dad was in World War Two on the
Ussobrian and oh he went into the war when he
was fifteen and they send him over there and a
comic He first is on a gun, then he that
was blowing his ears out, so they put him down
in the engine room and in Kama Kazi hit the boat.

(10:03):
I think ninety guys were killed and what anyway, since
he was the youngest on the boat, they gave him
all the the Kama Kazi's wallet and stuff and we
my mom's got that at home and stuff.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
Wow, uh, Dougretty wild Yeah, So, so fifteen years old
did he volunteer?

Speaker 6 (10:25):
Like?

Speaker 1 (10:25):
How did that? How does that happen?

Speaker 5 (10:28):
He had trouble at home, his parents were kind of
split up and stuff, So he got permission from the
principal of his school to actually join up and they
accepted him.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
For some reason that would never happen today. You want
to talk about effect. Yeah, that's crazy to me.

Speaker 3 (10:45):
I guess they needed men, you know.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Right, No, for real. And that's the thing, you know,
if they didn't have enough, they would find enough. You know,
something that would go crazy now and was super controversial
in world in Vietnam and World War Two. They would
take literally anyone who was willing to do anything. Well,
thank your your father, thank your family for the service

(11:07):
to this country, because not everybody's got a story like that, Doug,
we really appreciate sharing it.

Speaker 5 (11:13):
You bet.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
Steve's on our phone line at four two, five, five,
eight to eleven ten. Welcome in, Steve, You're on eleven
ten kfab.

Speaker 7 (11:20):
Hey, thanks guys for taking my call.

Speaker 8 (11:23):
I'll just I'll be real quick.

Speaker 7 (11:25):
My grandfather served in the World War Two in the
Brink Corps. My dad served in the Korea War in
the Navy. My brother was in the Army in Iraq,
and then I went in to the Green Corps, dropped
out of high school and signed the papers when I
was sixteen.

Speaker 9 (11:41):
But I went to boot.

Speaker 7 (11:42):
Camp second second week of my seventeenth birthday. But what
I wanted to tell you about has to do with
your statement of watching the movie Band of Brothers and
the imagery that it put in your mind regarding, you know,
a battle scene. When I got out of the Marine Corps,
I signed up to join the National Guard here in Nebraska,

(12:07):
and one of the jobs that I had was to
serve as a chaplain's assistant, and our instructor required us
to watch the movie Saving Private Ryan, so that we
had that kind of mtry going into the task.

Speaker 10 (12:23):
That we had.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, that's a great one too. You want to talk
about an incredible movie that. I mean, the first thirty
minutes of that are essentially D Day. That's the Omaha
Beach in. Hopefully you got a strong summit because those
first thirty minutes they really test you in that film.
So can I ask the follow up Steve, like how

(12:45):
did that end up turning out for you? Did you
take the job and how'd that go?

Speaker 11 (12:51):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (12:52):
You know, I was a mechanic in the Marine Corps.
I was so young as a matter of fact when
we were assigned our job because I went in an
open contract and so here I am a seventeen year
old went behind the ears kind of guy, and our
girl instructor asked me how in the world. I rated
that kind of a job, So it was just kind

(13:12):
of funny there when guys around me were going into
infantry and explosive Bortan's disposal and things like that, and
then he calls up my name and says, Amtrak mechanics.
But the funnest job that I had was with the
National Guard because as a chaplain's assistant, which was basically

(13:33):
a glorified bodyguard for the chaplain because I would stand
behind him to make sure that he was safe in
order to perform.

Speaker 12 (13:44):
His ministry duties. But all the different units that we
went to in eastern Nebraska, I got to train with
them every weekend, so it was something different all the time.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
That's really really something there, Steve. I really appreciate you
for calling in. Thank you so much for your service,
and thanks for listening to our show. We really appreciate
your sharing your story you Betton, Thanks.

Speaker 12 (14:05):
You guys for magnifying the efforts of our military.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
God bless God, bless you too. Definitely honored to do it. Honestly.
Gary's on our phone line four h two, five, five
eight to eleven ten. Gary, welcome into the show. What's
on your Mind?

Speaker 6 (14:19):
That's a great show, gentlemen.

Speaker 10 (14:20):
I just have to mention my dad.

Speaker 6 (14:22):
Served in World War Two and he was in some
bad places New Guinea, Philippines, Okinawa, and he was a
perfect age. He turned twenty one in October, just before
the attack on Pearl Harbor, so he was a perfect
age to be drafted. And he was one of those
guys who just didn't speak to it. He mentioned seeing

(14:46):
General MacArthur several times. But part from that, there are
a lot of those guys who just didn't want to.

Speaker 10 (14:53):
Talk about it.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
Yeah, and I can totally understand why that is something.
You know, you trying to strike that balance of wanting
to make sure the stories are told, but people who
also served who don't really want to share the stories
because of their memories and their experiences. It's definitely something
that we can respect as well. Gary, do appreciate you
calling in. Thank you so much for your family service
to our country. James is on the phone line. James,

(15:16):
Welcome into our show today. What's on your mind?

Speaker 9 (15:19):
Who? I was just sharing a few stories about the
war Vietnam. I was on my way home to the
United States, and it was I hadn't I didn't really
know what's been going on. I've been out of the
country for two years, and while I was doing that,

(15:39):
I talked. I met a flight attendant who knew me
in common, and so we started sharing stories and talking
about things. And when I got off the plane. This
was again nineteen seventy when people did not think much
of veterans, they gave me a standing ovation as I
left the plane.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
Wow.

Speaker 9 (15:58):
I wasn't quite to to think about it, but I
finally decided I'd like to look up the person who
did that, the flight attendant who'd been nice to me,
and I finally found her a year after some years
going by, I found somebody else that knew her in common.
Her problem was she died of cancer in nineteen seventy seven,

(16:19):
so I never did get the thank her. But that
was one of the things that struck me as being
a little odd because and it made me feel good,
but I didn't really know what I should feel about it.
And then later, when I was in grad school, they
were comparing assiszenships and somebody asked me what about mine,
and I said I had what was left of the gipill.

(16:42):
They got very quiet in their little area there the party,
and somebody told me, you don't belong here. You fascist,
We'll get rid of you. And I was later told
I went to see a job counselor because this was
a sort of experimental program. Was you see how long
it would take it to get through to get advanced degree?

(17:04):
So he could get out there sooner? And I was
talking to a job counselor and he told me I
was the wrong sex, I was the wrong color, and
if I wanted to get a job in the North,
I would be better off lying about my service. Never
let anybody know I'd never been in the service, and

(17:26):
I didn't like that too much.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
When was this? That was I'm sorry, what when was this?

Speaker 11 (17:34):
Oh?

Speaker 9 (17:34):
This was nineteen seventy So this is all.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
Happening in the early seventies.

Speaker 9 (17:39):
Yeah, wow, I came back in nineteen seventy and I
was I got my degree in nineteen seventy two, and
when I heard this talk, I thought, this isn't good.
I don't want any part of this, so I just
dropped out and firmed. So I had a pretty good
life that way. Well, but no, that was some interesting

(18:02):
stuff happening there.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
Well, and this is exactly what I'm talking about. And
we've gotten so far away from just sheer universal appreciation
for the sacrifice that has been made by every man
and woman who have warned the uniform in any capacity.
And what's important are stories like yours, James, for us
to tell so we can remember where we've come from,
so we can be better, because as a society, we

(18:26):
just need to be better, and we should never ever
have any shame about the people who have put that
uniform on ever. Again, So thank you so much for
calling in and for sharing that story, and thank you
for your service, James. We really appreciate it.

Speaker 9 (18:39):
Thank you, thank you, goodbye.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
Wow. That is It's what I'm talking about, man, And
I wasn't alive to see it. Like I said, I've
watched documentaries, I've watched shows about it, I've read about it.
In the late sixties early seventies when it came to veterans,
specifically in our involvement in Vietnam, I just couldn't imagine
thinking that you were going and you were doing some

(19:03):
noble task in doing what you were being told in
order to do by the American government and be basically
spat on figuratively and maybe even literally by the very
society that you were swearing to protect, and I know
that we're like, well, why were we in Vietnam? You
really have to understand the Cold War. You have to
understand communism. You have to understand our relationship with the

(19:27):
Soviet Union out of World War Two. To have any
idea how we ended up in places like Korea, in
Vietnam and Cuba for instance, stuff like that, you just
you got to dig into the whole thing to really
get the full picture. Teresa's on our phone line at
four h two five five eight eleven ten. Teresa, thanks
so much for the call. You're on eleven ton kfab.

Speaker 13 (19:49):
Hi Amory. I love your show.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
Thank you.

Speaker 9 (19:51):
So.

Speaker 13 (19:51):
I was calling because my grandfather enlisted in the US
Marine Air Corps in nineteen forty and shortly after basic training,
he was assigned to the Atlantic flagship uss Aujustice. And
while he was on that ship, one of his duties
was to protect rosident President Roosevelt and to also walk

(20:15):
to President's to dog Falla Faula was a very popular
dog back then. It even had its own.

Speaker 14 (20:22):
Secretary, and the secretary took care of the.

Speaker 13 (20:27):
Fan mail that the dog would receive. But while they
were on the ship, they were on their way to
meet with Winston Churchill in the Newfoundland and that's where
the President met with Winston Churchill and they signed the
Atlantic Charter. And my grandfather talked about it a lot.

(20:51):
But him and his brother were both assigned to that
ship unbeknownst to the other, and they ran into said
it while they were on the ship, and they got
to serve a little while together on that same ship.

Speaker 1 (21:05):
That is an incredible story. And what a what an
incredible time of history to know that you were serving
and you were around at that time. I had some
really incredible stuff there, Teresa, thanks so much for calling in.
Thank you to your family for the service that they've
given this country and thanks for sharing that with us today.

Speaker 13 (21:24):
Yep, you bet to have a good day.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
You too. Brian is on our phone line four oh two,
five five, eight eleven ten. Brian, thank you for calling in.
What are you thinking about today?

Speaker 15 (21:33):
Thanks guys, this is great you guys are doing this.
It's good to hear people get in respect to these
guys that really needed guys. I'm Gallas. I just want
to talk about my dad for a second. My dad
graduated high school just at the end of Vietnam as
it was ending enlisted in the National Guard right out
of school. I always felt like he kind of missed

(21:54):
something just by missing out on the Vietnam. He retired
after I think it was about twenty years of service
with the National Guard, and then things started popping off,
Like in Kuwait, he still knew guys that were guys
that were serving and felt bad, you know that all
these people he knew were still serving and fighting, and

(22:15):
and he went through the governor's office how to get
permission to re enlist. He re enlisted and ended up
spending like a year in Kuwait and then spent two
years in Iraq during Iraqi Freedom. He ended up in
an infantry unit as a platoon sergeant.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
Wow.

Speaker 15 (22:34):
And I know he said that his units used to
get hit, you know, all the time. And a friend
of mine that was in my dad's unit ended up
taking astray in the arm, a stray bullet in the arm,
ended up with a purple heart. Yeah, And he said
their base, Scott mortared literally every day. But my dad
was you know, he used to joke that, you know,

(22:55):
luckily they couldn't hit the broadside of a bar, and
so they never felt too worried about it.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, well, Brian, uh so you're if I'm doing the
bath right, he wouldn't have even been forty years old
when he would have retired the first time.

Speaker 15 (23:07):
Right, something like that, I believe.

Speaker 16 (23:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
And then when he re enlisted, he was able basically
to pick up where he had left off before.

Speaker 15 (23:14):
Exactly he had to think he had to take a
rank cut. I think it was like a one rank cut.
I think in order like when you re enlist after
you retired. I think that's I think it was like
a one rank cut. Murphy went like an East seven
or something like that.

Speaker 1 (23:27):
How long had he been How long had he been
out before he wanted to re enlist?

Speaker 11 (23:31):
Oh?

Speaker 15 (23:32):
Lord, quite a while, all the way up until like
just shortly before this Iraqi free I'm still fired.

Speaker 1 (23:37):
Of yeah, okay, yeah, but like how how many years
from when he retired originally to when he re enlisted?
Was it like three when that was? Yeah, it was
it like two or three years?

Speaker 15 (23:47):
Yeah, I don't think it was out horribly long. I
don't know exactly when it was, you know, as far
as those numbers go, how many years? But yeah, I
just know that he was like he just felt bad
because he knew something but they're still there, and felt
like he needed to get.

Speaker 1 (24:01):
In Well this is but that's the pride of a
man who knows that he has the ability to give
more than just what he's giving.

Speaker 15 (24:09):
Now and exactly exactly, you know. And then when he
came back from myraq, he said, okay, he goes now,
I feel like I've done my part, and then he
retired like for good.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
Finally, you know, well and he did his part. He
did more than his part. Brian, and I hoped that
you have had a chance to share that with him,
just as many people hopefully have had to share that
with him. Thank you for sharing his story with us
today and make sure that you know he knows. Happy
Veterans Day, and to you and your entire family, thank
you for your service.

Speaker 15 (24:38):
Absolutely you bet, thanks all for doing this.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
Yeah, no problem, this is my pleasure. Honestly, I'm honored
to hear these stories and to have the outlet to
be able to share them. Julie here, Julie, thank you
for the call today. What's on your mind?

Speaker 14 (24:51):
Hey, Emory, I just wanted to share a little story
since you're interested. So my husband's father served in three
different branches of the military and retired as a drill
sergeant from the Army Reserves. And he died when my
youngest son was very little, and we still had a
box of Grandpa's stuff around the house. And this last summer,

(25:11):
our fourteen year old son, who was like eighteen months
old when Grandpa died, like, he doesn't remember him, but
he found his old Fatigu's jacket and it's a kind
of a wintry jacket, and he just thought it was fantastic.

Speaker 17 (25:25):
He loved it.

Speaker 9 (25:25):
He loved that his.

Speaker 14 (25:26):
Name was on the front of it, because they have
the fame last name, of course, and he just thought
it was the best thing. And I was like, I
love that he, you know, loves grandpa service and that
he's really proud of Grandpa and being in the military
and all that. But I was to bring it to
modern times a little bit worried because today we flipped
from hating veterans to now people call out stolen valor

(25:46):
and all kinds of things. And so I said to him,
you know, I said, Daniel, listen, if somebody sees you
in that jacket and they say to you, what do
you do with that jacket. You proudly tell them that
this is your grandfather's jacket and he served three different
branches of the military and three different combats, and you
wear it with pride in honor of your grandpa, not

(26:07):
to steal his valor. And he was like, I really
get to say that. Well you need to say some
version of that. But they don't think that you're just
some punk kid. You know that you you love your
grandpa and you want to you want to be proud
of his military service. So I just you know, there's
a little modern story for you.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
Yeah. I love that. So did he do that? Yeah?

Speaker 14 (26:27):
Yeah, continue were just school.

Speaker 1 (26:29):
Yeah that's so cool, Julie. Well, I appreciate you sharing
that with me today, and thanks so much to your
family for their service.

Speaker 14 (26:36):
Sure, thank you.

Speaker 1 (26:37):
Let's get Robin here real quick.

Speaker 18 (26:38):
Rob.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
We appreciate you for calling in today. You're on eleven
ten kfab.

Speaker 16 (26:42):
Hey, thanks guys. My father in law you were talking
about the first gentleman called he was how young he was?
My father in law's parents died but and he was
thirteen years old, and he was from the from down South,
and they didn't have any money. So the oldest brother
worded documents and got him into the army right at
the beginning of the Korean War when he was seventeen

(27:06):
years old.

Speaker 19 (27:06):
Wow.

Speaker 16 (27:09):
The he was awarded a silver Star and a bronze
star made himself what he was. He ended up running
the arsenal for civilians at the Rock Island Arsenal for
the Military in Rock Heland, Illinois for thirty years.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
Wow.

Speaker 18 (27:30):
He is the father of.

Speaker 16 (27:35):
Darman Pierson Shell.

Speaker 10 (27:39):
And he had nothing to thanks.

Speaker 9 (27:46):
Thanks all veterans, Rob, Thank you.

Speaker 18 (27:49):
You've made you and your families who.

Speaker 7 (27:50):
You are today.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
Rob. Thank you so much for sharing his story with
us today, and thank you for your family service. Thank
you so much for calling and sharing with us today.
Darlene is on our phone line. Darlene, thanks for holding
what's on your mind today?

Speaker 16 (28:04):
Sure?

Speaker 20 (28:05):
Well, I've got some multi generational army people. My brother
was drafted during Vietnam served in Germany, and my son
just retired a couple of years ago after serving twenty
six years in the army. Wow and her grandson served
two years. But I like to think that my son
was actually inspired by my dad, who was drafted during

(28:28):
World War Two. He spent three years in Italy. And
North Africa, and he.

Speaker 4 (28:36):
Told the stories.

Speaker 20 (28:37):
Often he talked about his military, which I think a
lot of people didn't. But we would go on vacations
and he would be sitting in the backseat of our
minivan with my son, who served twenty six years, and
he'd be telling his army stories. And one story he
loved to tell was when he was in Italy. He
was in the Corps of Engineers and they built a

(28:59):
bridge over the arm and he talked about how the
enemy was in hot pursuit of the American troops and
they had to quick get this bridge built and the
troops got over it safely, although they were engaged in conflict.
And we moved to Nebraska, and in Western Nebraska found
a man after church one Sunday. He shook my hand
and he said, yeah, I've got trapnel in my leg.

(29:20):
And I said, well, how did that happen? And he said, well,
during World War Two, I was in Italy and the
Corps of Engineers had just built a bridge over the
Arnold River and I was engaged in that conflict and
I got shrapnel in my leg, and so I actually
met somebody who went over the bridge. My dad was
in charge of building.

Speaker 16 (29:38):
That was coolnelieva that.

Speaker 20 (29:41):
Yeah, and then Dad did finally get a furlough after
three years he'd been engaged to my mom, came home,
got married quick, got on a ship to go back overseas,
and World War Two ended, so they sent him back home.
So that had a happy ending.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
Yeah, And you want to talk about just somebody willing
to sacrifice everything multiple times for our country in the
bloodiest and worst, most violent conflict the world has ever seen.
That is an incredible story in your family all the
way down, Darlene. Thank you so much for sharing that story.
And Happy Veterans Day to you everyone in your family.

(30:16):
We really appreciate you sharing that story today.

Speaker 20 (30:19):
Yes, thank you for letting me tell it.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
Absolutely. You have a great rest of your day. Phone
lines will stay open four two, five, five, eight, eleven ten.
If you want to call in share your stories, we
can do that as well. Had a few emails I
want to get to here as well. Terry says, Happy
Veterans Day. I served on the USS Ranger CV sixty
one in the mid eighties, worked on the flight deck
as a plane handler plane director. But I'd like to

(30:43):
say something for my grandfather who was unfortunately no longer
with us. He served in the Army Air Corps during
World War Two and the B seventeen Squadrons. He was
stationed over in England. He was an automatic pilot bomb
site technician. His gunnery officer was none other than the
legendary Clark Gable. I'd like to say thank you to
all the vets and their families who have served their

(31:04):
country and given so much. Yeah, I gotta tell you, Terry,
that's quite a story, the Clark Gable connection and a
family of great service. Really appreciate you sharing with us
with us that today. Gina said, my father received the

(31:24):
Bronze Star for bravery for saving multiple people from the
hangar when the F eight crash into the hangar, and
she sent me a link from it was December of
nineteen sixty nine when that happened. His name was John
Marshall Garretson and he is my hero. Wow, you want
to talk about just a harrowing experience. Here's a person

(31:48):
that I think many people are familiar with from this
area and from Iowa. Nile Kennick, Heisman Trophy winner on
the football field for the Iowah Hawkeyes in nineteen thirty nine.
But he goes into service and he dies in a
bad training exercise. Just it hurts so bad to think

(32:12):
about that, and you hear that every once in a while. Heck,
I mean that airplane collision in Washington, DC with the
Blackhawk chopper, and how just devastating that was for the
families who were on the plane, but also for the
military to have service members who die in the middle

(32:33):
of a training exercise. And yes, there was a mistake
that had to have been made to create that problem.
And we can lament mistakes all we want for the
history of time and the damage that it has created.
No individual is perfect, But what I will say is
that's got to be like the worst feeling ever, to

(32:54):
feel like a life was lost prematurely in a training accident.
I couldn't even imagine Michael sending a message day said
thank you for the respect and honor for those who
have worn the uniform. I'm please, I'm honestly honored, Michael
to have this microphone in front of me and get

(33:17):
a chance to do this. If I could do stuff
like this every single day, I would. As much as
I love sharing opinions, as much as I like to
you know, speak about different items. I really do hope
people enjoy listening to that. But I get the most
out of talking about this stuff. Michael is on the
phone line at four O two five five eight eleven ten.

(33:39):
Welcome in, Michael. What's on your mind?

Speaker 10 (33:42):
Whoa Emory?

Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yes, sir, you'll be okay, yep, yeah, but.

Speaker 10 (33:47):
It's been a while since I've spoken with you. Well,
I've got three quick things to say. I I joined
the Marines the day after my eighteenth birthday. My parents
wouldn't sign the paper, so I had to wait till
the day after my eighteenth birthday. I have a total
of nine years in the military. But got a little

(34:08):
bit busted up. I told him I don't fall down
that often in my left hand still works perfectly fine.
But they said that wasn't quite good enough. But I
wanted to tell you a story about something that I
heard when I was a kid. A different veteran and
his story. This is the individual, the pilot that flew

(34:29):
the airplane that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Most
people don't realize that Nagasaki was not the second target
in the war. The second target was Keith the Kshu Japan.
It was the industrial center where they made most of
the weapons. But it was cloud covered and way back then,

(34:50):
you would look through a little scope and then they
would push it out at the correct time. Because it
was cloud covered. They said, well, we can't drop it.
They were taking off and they were just leaving the
island of Kyusha, Japan, and they saw a fighter a
Japanese fightership, and they said, they told us this bomb

(35:11):
was big. I bet we could take out that entire
ship with this one bomb. And they did it to
got the entire ship and part of the city. But
so I was a kid when I heard the pilot
speak about that. Wow, one of them I wanted to
mention is kind of a shout out. It was in Corny, Nebraska,
and it was at a political forum there and they

(35:34):
asked the veterans to police stand up and be recognized,
and there were candidates for governor up there, and there
were two people who stood up to be recognized that
I was one of them, and only one of the candidates.
Then candidate Jim Pillen leaned back and smiled and said,

(35:55):
thank you for your service. And so that's a shout
out to our governor who was the kindest, most considerate
two veterans when he was at Big Governor's forum. So
that's a shout out for our governor, Governor Jim Pillen.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
Yeah, Michael. Is that a rooster back there, Yes, it is.
That's awesome, right, we'll give your rooster some extra food
for me today. And thank you so much for sharing
your story and thank you for your service to our country.
We really do appreciate that.

Speaker 10 (36:26):
Thank you, Emory.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
Yeah, that's pretty cool. Thanks Michael for the call today.
And we have Joe on the line. Joe, welcome to
the show today. What's on your mind?

Speaker 9 (36:37):
Hello, this is Joe, all right.

Speaker 8 (36:38):
Joe, Yeah, yeah, So my father was born in nineteen
eighteen in a family at twelve and of course the
boys grew up in the country and we're excellent shots.
So he gets drafted to World War Two in the
Army Air Corps and he qualified that is an excellent

(37:00):
marksman in boot camp. Well then they realized he only
had one eye he could see out of, so they
busted him from ever being a sharpshooter, and with his
mechanical aptitude, they decided he would be an aircraft mechanic.

Speaker 18 (37:15):
Instructor.

Speaker 8 (37:17):
So that's what he did. Is his specialty were B
seventeen's and B twenty four's And I didn't ask him
enough questions because he's been gone since I was fifteen,
But I do fondly recall him saying, it's wonder any
of them planes flew. But his job, because these planes

(37:39):
were pretty much untested, they were pushing them on the
market so fast. They would bring a plane to him
on a trailer and he was supposed to tear it
down and figure out why it crashed with maybe the
last transmission from a pilot was may day.

Speaker 21 (37:55):
May day and the engines failed or what ever. Well,
and anyway, I still have these notes of his planes
that he tried to put back together and reconstruct, and
I thought it was quite interesting. But that was just contribution.

Speaker 8 (38:14):
Do you know how long he did that was a
little bit older.

Speaker 1 (38:18):
Yeah, How many years did he do that?

Speaker 18 (38:23):
Pardon?

Speaker 1 (38:23):
How many years did he do that? As an aircraft mechanic?

Speaker 21 (38:29):
I think it was three years.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
Wow, three years. That's a lot of pressure in a
difficult spot there. Well, that's incredible. I'm so thankful for you, Joe,
that you called in and shared that story with us today.
Not every day you hear a story of somebody that
involved for that long in the midst of World War two.
Really do appreciate it for and thanks to your family
for their service.

Speaker 8 (38:51):
You see, he was in the Army Air Corps before
we had the Air.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
Force, right, Yeah, that's that's incredible. Joe appreciate sciate it man.
Thanks so much for listening to us today.

Speaker 8 (39:02):
Well, on one funny thing to tell you, so, he
also learned explosives in the Army, in the in the
Air Force. So when I was a kid. I was
born in nineteen sixty, but when I was a kid,
we fished with dynamite and those were good times.

Speaker 1 (39:19):
I could imagine what that would be like.

Speaker 8 (39:23):
Half a stick. You can check any farm pond in
the country, I promise you.

Speaker 1 (39:28):
Joe appreciate it man. Thanks so much for sharing your
stories today.

Speaker 8 (39:31):
Thanks, thank you for honor.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
Yeah, absolutely, it's a like I said, an honor for
me to be able to do this. Joseph's on our
phone line at four oh two, five five, eight eleven ten. Joseph,
we thank you for being a part of our show today.
What's on your mind?

Speaker 11 (39:44):
Well, my dad was in World War two, he joined
the Navy and May got out of high school and
he served nine years in the Navy. He was on
the USS Indiana f which was a heavy cruiser and

(40:05):
a long story short, he was promoted to master chief
two weeks before the Indianapolis delivered the atomic bomb.

Speaker 10 (40:16):
Oh my, he went down.

Speaker 11 (40:19):
A lot of his friends were on the Indianapolis, and
he always never spoke about it very much. When he
got transferred from the Indianapolis, he got transferred to a
mind layer US as Lindsay, and six months later Lindsay
got hit by torpedoes and he ended up in the

(40:42):
hospital for four months.

Speaker 10 (40:44):
Oh.

Speaker 11 (40:45):
I was very lucky in the fact that he got
transferred off of the USS Indianapolis, or I wouldn't be here.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
I just couldn't imagine what he came home with. And
the fact that he survived is honestly a miracle on
multiple count. It's there. But gosh, you say he didn't
speak too much of his service and his experience, what
did you do after he got out, Because I'm sure
all those traumatic experiences, I mean, that has to be

(41:13):
weighing on a man for you know, his entire life
after that.

Speaker 11 (41:18):
Well, as luck would have it. He was a state
championship golfer high He had won a state championship three
years in a row. So when he got out of
the Tavy, he went back to caddy in a field
club long gone years ago, and I kind of he

(41:41):
did that for a couple of years to kind of.
I think it was his way of mellowing out or
basically coming to grips with everything. But then he became
a construction superintendent after that.

Speaker 1 (41:55):
Wow. Yeah, what a life well lived. Joseph. Thank you
so much for calling in a chair and his story today.
Thanks to your family for their service, and we really
do appreciate you calling in to share that with us today.

Speaker 11 (42:06):
You bet you.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
Oh wow, that is incredible. That is an insane story.
Got Kevin on our phone line four h two, five
five eight eleven ten is the number to call. Kevin.
Welcome to eleven ten kfab.

Speaker 4 (42:18):
Oh thanks, Emory.

Speaker 18 (42:19):
I was just calling.

Speaker 4 (42:21):
Because I had a funny story. I deployed Iraq three
times and during my second deployment, we were driving down
the road on the wrong side of the road in
opposition to traffic on a day where the air was red,
which means there's no aircraft up. It was too dusty
and the route was black, which means we shouldn't have
been driving it because of the ied threat. And so

(42:42):
I got in a vehicle accident and tore the bumper.

Speaker 18 (42:44):
Off an Iraqi car.

Speaker 4 (42:46):
So I get back to base and they told me
we're going to put you in for disciplinary action. Well,
the week before I had won the Soldier of the
Quarterboard and they put me up for an Army Achievement medal.

Speaker 16 (42:58):
So both of those pieces.

Speaker 4 (42:59):
Of papering up, and the battalion commander kind of yelled
at him and said, well, well, do you want to
punish the guy or reward the guy? So the next
month they sent me to the Promotion board, gave me
the Army Achievement of medal, and I was promoted on
April fool Day of two thousand and.

Speaker 5 (43:13):
Eight, the sergeant, I mean, And then what happened, Well, then.

Speaker 4 (43:19):
I got promoted, I came home to my wife and
new son, and he'd been born just before I left,
and then we went off to Okhawa, Japan, where my
daughter was born.

Speaker 1 (43:31):
Oh my, Kevin, that's incredible, and I'm glad that it
worked out in a good way for you in that
situation considering all the different circumstances you had to navigate there.
Thanks for calling in and sharing, and thank you so
much for your service to our nation.

Speaker 4 (43:46):
All right, thank you, Emory, I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (43:48):
That's amazing, amazing stuff there. Gosh, a few inches one
way or the other there, that could have been a
real sad ending to that story, Lois is on our
phone line. Lois, thank you so much for calling in today.
What's on your mind?

Speaker 19 (44:03):
Yeah, well, my husband served the Air Force during Korea,
but they ended up getting a stationed at Walker Air
Force based Rosboe, New Mexico, and in his unit were
his two sergeants, and they had been together earlier than that.
But one of them's son was in Korea and said,

(44:23):
as it is, they never ever did know what happened
to him, and they got notified while we were down
there that he was missing an action. And when we
got out and came home, they had never received any
word of whether he was the prisoner or anything. Oh my,
and we thought that was so sad. The other sergeant
went to Vietnam later and coming in his son's body

(44:44):
home from Vietnam.

Speaker 1 (44:47):
And this is why we do this. This is why
we share this story. This is why we opened this
up for you know, all of the people that have served.
Not everybody has a great experience, and everybody has a
good ending, and it's not just a bad ending for them,
it's really bad ending for their families and their loved
ones and anybody that was close to them.

Speaker 19 (45:06):
And then Walker was one of the top elite bases.
And then we got out, and then we got stationed
up office, and then we got pros in, so we
ended up serving a total of almost nine years.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
Wow. Well, Louis, I do appreciate you for calling in
for sharing that. I mean, that's really some tough stories.
Thank you for you and your family service. With everything
that's gone on in the last hundred years of this world,
the United States military has been the preemptive power here,
but we have also had our own share of losses,
and I really do appreciate you for sharing your story

(45:44):
with us today as we remember all of our veterans.

Speaker 19 (45:46):
But I had four brother in laws of World War
Two and my son is just got up out of
the Navy, So yes, we're a very military family.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
Lois. I can't thank you enough for your family service
and for your service as well for your part that
you play in all these people's lives. Thank you so
much for calling in today. Thank you Art, Welcome to
the show. What's on your Mind?

Speaker 3 (46:08):
Well, this story actually comes from my mother in law
many many years ago, during the First Golf War nineteen
ninety to ninety one. She used to go on long
walks in her neighborhood. She was quite an avid walker
at the time, and she used to pass this house
that had a yellow ribbon around the tree. Now she

(46:29):
didn't know who lived there, but she realized they have
a boy overseas during the Golf War. So she would
pray for that family and pray for that young man
wherever he was and whoever they were. Well, that was
my parents' house. And I came back from overseas during

(46:49):
the first go for in ninety one and about a
year later met her daughter, and little did she know,
she was praying for the father for grandchildren and now
the father of two great grandchildren.

Speaker 1 (47:04):
Wow, what are the odds? I mean, how this is?
This is how you know, like if you don't have
faith and if you don't have a feeling that there's
a higher power over us, no matter what your religion.
This is something that would tell you, holy cow, you
couldn't make a movie about this and have people really
believe it. It's unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (47:24):
And also and also be more specific in your prayers.
I should have told her, you know, you should have
been more specific, that he'd be out of dead, that
he'd be rich, finished in college, that sort of thing.
But you know, hindsight twenty.

Speaker 1 (47:35):
Twenty of course, yeah, I mean, why not get a
little greedy?

Speaker 17 (47:38):
There?

Speaker 1 (47:38):
Art great stuff. Thanks so much for sharing that with us,
And thanks to you and all of your loved ones
for their service to this country.

Speaker 3 (47:45):
Thank you very much. By bye.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
Bob's on our phone line at four h two five five,
eight eleven ten. Welcome in, Bob. What's on your mind today?

Speaker 18 (47:53):
Emery?

Speaker 21 (47:53):
Hello?

Speaker 18 (47:54):
Hi, I am a veteran of the United States are
I was in the First Infantry Division from nineteen seventy
eight to nineteen eighty two, but about ten years prior
to that, my unit from the first Infantry Division, specifically
the division Band, had an interesting encounter in Vietnam that

(48:17):
I'd like to share with you. Okay, as the story goes,
they were in stationed in Vietnam in combat and the
division commander, a two star general, ordered the band to
assemble with band instruments instead of weapons. They assembled in

(48:40):
front of the general and he pointed down this road
and he said, approximately one mile down this road is
the enemy. And what we want you to do is
we want you to simulate a parade, to start marching
down that road and playing some kind of band music
very loudly. And they had no choice but to say yes, sir,

(49:01):
and head on the road. The enemy was so frightened
by this, they apparently figured, uh, they must be in
mass in front of us, or they wouldn't have the
nerve to send the bandam coming down this road. So
the enemy retreated and it worked.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
What wow, And it.

Speaker 18 (49:17):
Became known as the thunder Road incident. And I believe
that was either sixty eight or sixty nine.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
That I couldn't imagine being a part of that.

Speaker 18 (49:29):
And I have never I've never been able to personally
meet one of the people who was in the band
who I would love to have been able to Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
And just the story that they would have been able
to tell, and I couldn't imagine the fear they would
have felt. But this is why two star generals are
two star generals, and this is why there's a rank
system in strategy and in tactics. Bob an incredible story
and it's a very pertinent one here on Veteran's Day.
Thank you so much for sharing that with us, and
we do appreciate you for your service to our country

(50:02):
as well.

Speaker 3 (50:03):
Well.

Speaker 18 (50:04):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
I got Bill on the phone line here at four two, five, five,
eight eleven ten. Welcome into the show today, Bill, what's
on your mind?

Speaker 17 (50:11):
Good afternoon, I just have something on. You know, everybody's
talking about people they know that served my first jobs
in Waterloo, and there was a gentleman I worked with.
This name was Jim Sullivan. And I never put two
and two together and tell them of My coworkers said, well,
you know who Jim's dad is, don't you? Oh, dad

(50:34):
was one of the five Sullivan brothers.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
I was, yeah, that's you want to talk about, just tragic,
tragic stories in American military history, the Sullivan brothers, And
I mean that hits pretty close to home here as
well because of where they were from.

Speaker 17 (50:51):
And as a young man, I never had the guts
to ask and many questions, but you know, it's it
was amazing how small the world got.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
Yeah, I just couldn't imagine it. I mean he had
to have been familiar with the whole story at that point, right, Yeah.
I don't know how much of the family would speak
about something like that that often, but unbelievable.

Speaker 15 (51:16):
Bill.

Speaker 1 (51:16):
I appreciate you for your service and for all of
your loved one service, and thank you so much for
sharing that with us today, no problem.

Speaker 17 (51:23):
Shout out to my son in the Navy, appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
Shout out to him as well, and thank him for
his service. That's uh, thank you, Yeah, amazing. First off, though,
I wanted to just thank everybody for it's vulnerable to
share some of these stories. I selfishly, I just want
to hear of his story that I hear, or that
any story that people will have for me. This is
one other thing that probably makes me a less than

(51:47):
ideal talk show host sometimes is because I prefer to
listen as much as I like to talk, and this
is the kind of show that I just love to do.
I wish they could just do this all the time.
So thank you to anyone who is called in or
anybody emailing me with their memories, their stories, their families, history,

(52:08):
in the service to their nation, to this nation and
greatest country in the world. It has been built over
two hundred and fifty years from the bravest individuals and
their families across the entire board. It really does make
an impact, I think on me and hopefully a lot
of people to hear the stories of those who have

(52:29):
willingly put on that uniform, maybe even if they got drafted,
maybe even if it wasn't their idea in the first place,
but the people who have sacrificed more than we'll ever
know in their life, maybe their entire life. Maybe it
was something that they had goals and ambitions of and
it got uprooted by a global conflict or a conflict
that they were called to serve in. These are the

(52:50):
important stories that we need to hear if our society's
ever going to heal and for us to feel like
we're a united front, a legitimate United States of America. Again,
Brad sent me an email and send me some photos here.

Speaker 17 (53:02):
I know I.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
Can't show you the photos, but he said. The photo
I sent is my father with three of his brother's
home in nineteen forty four for their father's funeral. It's
powerful to see photos from this era and to see,
you know, and obviously it was a sad situation of
you know, their father's funeral, but to see men in

(53:28):
uniform in this time span. I remember, you know, a
couple of years ago, we had that giant statue that
was up in Memorial Park. And by the way, Memorial
Park was full today, busy today when I drove past
it of people. I'm sure there was some programming that
was there, but just that giant statue of the famous
picture post World War Two when we announced the victory,

(53:51):
there was a soldier. It looks like a guy from
the Navy, and he kind of is grabbing a woman
and giving her a big, romantic looking kiss. And there
has been some debate as to who that woman was
and whether or not it was a consensual kiss, which,
of course, in the twenty twenties is a bigger story
than just the power of that moment in and of

(54:12):
itself and how iconic that photograph is. But there's just
something about that era when you watch The Band of Brothers,
or you watch Saving Private Ryan, or any of the
great war movies war shows from World War Two, especially
for some reason, we really have a ton of amazing
media about World War Two, and it just kind of

(54:35):
gives me some chills, honestly, to see people dressed like
that in uniform, especially of that era. Legitimately in that era.
It's powerful, it really is. Teresa sent me this said,
I would just want to honor my dad and my
brother today. My dad enlisted in the Navy not quite
eighteen years old at the very tale end of World

(54:56):
War Two. He was on the USS Manchester on the
Mediterranean Seat. My brother was also in the Navy. He
flew a P three over the surface of the ocean
looking for enemy submarines and torpedoes. This was in the
last years of the Vietnam War. I'm proud to be
a Navy daughter and sister. Cancer has taken both my
dad and my brother, but they are here with me forever.

(55:16):
Anchors Away makes me cry every time. Thanks for the platform.
Thanks Teresa, really do appreciate that. Carl sent one in
here and said, while I was stationed at Fort Benning,
I was able to spend time with my great uncle
who lived nearby. Like most World War Two vets, he
didn't talk much about the war, but I did get

(55:37):
a few stories out of him. He was a bomber
pilot and eventually got shot down and captured. At one point,
a number of prisoners escaped, but not knowing where they were,
they all went different directions and he ran into a
German unit and was recaptured. By the time he was
rescued at the end of the war, he was deaf
in his left ear from beatings and nearly starved to death.
He was six foot five inches and only one hundred

(55:58):
and eleven pounds. Far luckier during my service. The fact
that he survived at all, honestly is an insane miracle,
and he's the kind of person that we need to
be thinking about on days like Veterans Day. Carl, thank
you for you your family service, and hopefully you feel appreciated.

(56:18):
Gina has sent another follow up note and said her
father was an aircraft mechanic and served on carriers, but
when he wasn't deployed, he worked at Miramar, the top
gun school. He retired shortly after that twenty six year veteran.
That is a career right there. And then Brian sent

(56:40):
me a note here and said ensured what he put
on his Facebook today and said, remembering my dad Karl
Berman Berman on this day. Sorry if I'm messing that up.
He served during World War two and five campaigns in
the European theater of War, including at the Battle of
the Bulge. He landed in Normandy a few days after
the initial D Day invasion. His division moved across Europe

(57:01):
into Germany, serving as part of a medical battalion. He
would have been part of liberating one of Hitler's concentration camps.
What a life, Brian also said, not mention as he
took photos and wrote letters home about all the stories
he would have to tell when returning home. But all
that stopped after liberating the concentration camp in Germany. He
was a great father, but never talked to anyone about

(57:23):
that time. And I couldn't imagine. I went to the
Holocaust Museum, which is in Washington, DC. That changes you.
It'll change you if you have not done that and
you not been there, and I've not gone to Europe
and seen the concentration camps. I did go to the

(57:45):
Netherlands earlier this year and an francs from Amsterdam. There
were many people, as I mean, they basically fell. They
didn't even put up a fight. The Netherlands Holland at
the time. They did not put up a fight to
Nazi Germany. There's just no way they would have been
able to in that, So they basically just handed themselves over.
And they have these gold plates outside a lot of

(58:07):
the old homes in places like Amsterdam and a lot
of these cities. These gold plates are like in the ground,
like you know, kind of like you're walking on a
brick sidewalk or something, and then all of a sudden
you just see this little gold plated thing in front
of this residence and it has the name of a

(58:27):
person who would have been taken by the Nazis, a
Jewish person who would have been taken by the Nazis
detained by them. And as you're just walking down the street,
you see some of those and you just couldn't it
just it rocks you. It really does that this stuff
actually happened on planet Earth, and really not that long ago,

(58:49):
all things considered. We can never forget stuff like that,
and we cannot forget the service that our people in
the military have given us. It's really quite it's quite
something