Bill Wiliams Patriotic Productions Honor Flights and Patriotic Parade

Bill joined me in studio recently to talk about the 4th Annual Patriotic Parade in Downtown Omaha May 25th, 2024 and we talked about the Honor Flights as well. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hi, it's Lucy Chapman. Welcometo another podcast, and I've got a
great one for you. Today.We're going to talk patriotic moments. We're
going to talk the parade that's goingon for Memorial Day, and we're going
to talk with Bill Williams, thevice president of Patriotic President because oh I
put your president in your twice.I have to write this stuff down.

(00:21):
Bill, you are vice president ofPatriotic Productions, correct, Perotic Production.
Welcome, Thank you so much.Thank you, Lucy. It's a pleasure
being here. Thank you. NowI talked about we're going to talk patriotic
and we're going to talk about theparade. But I want to start with
you. I want to start withyou started this Patriotic Productions. This is

(00:42):
the fourth parade, but you've startedthis production before the first parade. Tell
me why it was started. Yvonneand I about a dozen years ago,
and most folks know us as theorganizers of the honor Flights. We took
thirty five hundred Nebraska veterans on thirteenflights, took eleven years, and took

(01:04):
three and a half million dollars tomake that happen. It was about eleven
hundred per guy and women too.Sidebar on that when we first started,
we'd read this article about on ourflight and thought, well, why not
Nebraska. So it was a struggleuntil Valentine's Day of eight got a call

(01:26):
from Kara Whitney. Well, KaraWhitney is married to Dan Whitney. Most
people know him as Larry the cableGuy, and so Kara said, what's
it going to cost to send thefirst planeload of World War two vets to
d C. I said, well, just the plane is seventy thousand dollars.
Kara said done. Well, thatgot a lot of publicity because it

(01:49):
was Larry the Cable Guy, andso ultimately it ended up with thirty five
hundred veterans. And people always askus well, what were the what were
your favorite flights? Well, it'skind of hard to say. The most
therapeutic were Vietnam. So our firstVietnam flight was D Day, June sixth
of two thousand and sixteen. Itwas three planes, five hundred and ten

(02:15):
all combat vets, the largest groupof Vietnam vets from one state there,
visit the Wall in DC, outto DC through the day, came back
five thousand people at the airport.So we followed that one up May one
of seventeen four planes, six hundredand fifty three guys, and there were
seven thousand people at the airport.Well, just one quick example, we

(02:38):
had a guy come a couple threefour months after his flight to our house.
He said, I want to tellyou something. He says, I've
had nightmares for thirty five years,sleeping two three hours a night, he
said, ever since we got back, and all those people at the airport
and the signs and the band playing, and the flags flying, and my

(02:59):
family there to greet me. Hesaid, I now sleep eight hours a
night. I wake up refreshed.I'm a new man. So that just
tells you the therapeutic value of itall. So that's what people really know,
is the four is that, Andthen we're also the creators of remembering
are fallen. So we have twonational memorials traveling the country, pictures of

(03:22):
fifty five hundred of the fallen inthe war on Terra since nine to eleven.
It's the only memorial like it inthe country. We have two forty
foot trailers that travel and they setup this display all over the country.
Everywhere from New York City to theRose Bowl in January. So that's a

(03:42):
big part of our mission, isthat these men and women who paid the
ultimate Iraq Afghanistan will not be forgotten. Let me ask you something before you
move on from that. With theatmosphere of this country today, you've got
people all over the spectrum of politicalthought. How do you personally see when
you're out and you're at these eventsand the traveling memorial, how do you

(04:09):
see the response? Do you seeit like the people waiting at the parade
for those honor flights? Oh?Yeah, because there's millions of people who
love their country, right. Imean people talk about California's being as all
these far lefties and this and that. Well there's a lot of conservative folks

(04:29):
in these blue states. It's justthat because of the size of the cities,
you know, people think that everybodyis the same, but it's not.
I bet you get a lot ofthank you because you give people the
opportunity to be able to display thatpatriotism without feeling like somebody is going to
be judging them, even though Iknow most people will do it anyway,

(04:50):
but there are some that they justfeel like they can't, so to have
your memorial there or the parade,Yeah, it gives them an out out,
I tell you some I just rememberedthis. Our little we have eleven
grandchildren, eleven and under, andone of them turned five year stage.
So we're in the outback over onby Crossroads on the backside on cast you

(05:15):
know that one. So we havesix of us in there and a baby.
And the manager comes over and hesays, there's a veteran here in
the restaurant that recognized you, andhe bond. He just picked up your
check. We've never had that happen. So we're looking around, you know,

(05:35):
I mean, isn't that And thenthe manager says, by the way,
we're gonna pay for your dessert.So this little five year old was
over the moon on this deal,you know. But mine was free.
She got a piece of she gota piece of German chocolate, a big
as her head. I love that. I love that, and that does

(05:56):
explain her. It does kind ofgive us a picture of the way that
you are accepted, the way peopleview you and what you're doing. And
it is so important. Even asI said, so, most people are
not afraid to show their patriotism.What you do is so important for those
who feel like they can't all ofthe time. Yeah, because now you
know, people say your parade iskind of political, and I said,

(06:18):
well, you know, I don'treally care about that anymore because the flag
is now political exactly. So whatare you going to do? Let's talk
about the parade that's coming up onSaturday, May twenty fifth in the Old
Market. Yep, it is thefourth one fourth one. Tell me a
little bit about what's going on thisyear. Well, first of all,

(06:39):
our mission is honoring gold Star familiesand veterans, promoting patriotism, reminding people
the importance of Decoration Day, whichis now called Memorial Day. And people
say, well, why did youstart it? Well, most of us
have noticed these last few years.To the national media, narrative is about

(07:02):
what a horrible, hateful, racistcountry America is. Well, the vast
majority of us live in Realville,as Rush used to say, And in
Realville, we all know how luckywe are to be Americans, that by
and large we treat people the waywe want to be treated. We're the
most generous, diverse country in theworld. It's just that our children and

(07:25):
grandchildren get the messies that it's terrible. So that first year was freezing downtown,
but we had Lee Greenwood sing thenational anthem and God Bless the USA
and about five thousand people. AndI remember people saying, I looked around
and I'm holding a flag and there'ssomebody next to me, and well you
feel the same way that you loveyour country too, that you know how

(07:46):
lucky you are and all this,and so then it went to Army's Fife
and Drum Corps was the second year, a third year. Last year was
the Marine Corps band out of NewOrleans. And this year we have back
the one that a lot of peoplelike is the fort Riley Mounted Color Guard
and they're back for the fourth time. And World Herald put the crowd last

(08:09):
year around ten thousand, so wehope to get a good crowd. We
It starts down at tenth in Jackson, which is the street right south of
Embassy, Yes, and it windsits way through the Old Market up to
Hollywood Candy at twelfth and then itgoes north to Howard, the main street,

(08:30):
and then it goes east back totenth down by the Embassy, goes
north of block to Harney and ultimatelyin back. Yeah, well, I
tell people, Lucy, it's kindof funny because you know, the the
upside of having the parade is it'sin the Old Market. The downside of
having the parade is it's in theOld Market because it's just it's so tight

(08:54):
and people want to come down andit's hard to find a place to park
and et cetera. Well, nowthey've got some pretty large parking garagees,
So don't let that scare you.Come down anyway. This will be the
fourth time I'm down there for thisparade, and I can vouch this is
a fantastic parade. It's a lotof fun, a lot of people that
come down for it. And speakingof the parade itself, tell me a

(09:16):
little bit about some of the Idon't you call them floats or just people
that are in. Tell me alittle bit. Well, we came up
with last year and we think wehave the right formula for it because we're
trying to be make it educational.So we've divided it into wars decades,
so we have these long, beautifulbanners and its birth of a nation,

(09:39):
Civil War, Western Expansion, WorldWar One, World War two, Korean
War, life in America in thefifties, Vietnam War, life in America
in the sixties and seventies, andthen War on Terror, and then we
also have one that's American ingenuity.We have about thirty of these little handheld

(10:01):
signs of American inventions, everything fromthe cotton gin to the coffee pot,
of the competing on me, allkinds of different American lately. Yeah.
Yeah, so that's the whole ideawe're trying to. We try to get
kids downtown. Now. It's verydifficult because on any given Saturday morning and

(10:26):
good weather, they're thousands kicking soccerballs or swinging at t ball and I
get it. But I encourage parentsand particularly grandparents to get in the game
and say, you know this,this would be a good time to hang
up your soccer shoes, come downtown, hold a flag and realize how lucky
you are, because the messages theyget is that it's terrible. Well,

(10:50):
it's quite the country, and wejust want others. We want young people
to realize how lucky you are andsee some American history in front of them.
Because we have costumed kids everything fromBetsy Ross to John Glenn, Ike
mlk All kinds of different historical figures, all these little costumes, and then

(11:11):
obviously behind the particular banner is theappropriate horses. A lot of horses,
because when our four boys were little, we always took them to River City
around them. Oh yes, andwe liked it because there was all the
horses and they loved that part,and a lot of balloons and such.
But that's what we tried to emulatewith as many horses as we can get.
We have the Jensen Shires out ofBlair. That first year we had

(11:33):
the Budweiser Clydesdale's and that was prettyneat. They were busy this year.
Yeah, that's a tough get.I mean I hounded them. I called
them eighteen times. They finally gavein on the first year. But Jensen
Shires horses are actually bigger than Clydesdale's. Okay. So now you've got all
these different Then you have military vehiclesand jeeps and different veterans riding in different

(11:56):
vehicles, and then you get classiccars. We have the Pawnee Association this
year, and those cars will breakoff into whatever particular decade they are,
and you get the idea that surewe wanted to be fun and something for
everyone. Yeah, something for everybody. You've got some very very special people
that will be there. Well,the neat thing is we're working with the

(12:18):
un L Rodeo team, so they'rebringing up three trailers full of horses,
so on horseback will be our parade. Marshall, Governor Pillen, and Congressman
Bacon will be on a horse.I don't know when the last time he
was on a horse. Senator KathleenCalf it's next to her and Carol Frost.

(12:41):
Well, Carol Frost, mother ofScott Frost, but she participated in
the nineteen sixty eight Summer Olympics asa discus thrower. And we had Ride
Agains last August twenty seventh, soldout twelve one hundred people. It was
just a beautiful, great event,and we had Carol Frost speak before her

(13:07):
talking about Title nine and it wasan education because young people don't realize that
when Carol said, all I wasever allowed to do when I was in
high school was being the glee club. So I'm sitting in the glee club
watching athletes, and I that's whatI wanted to do. I mean,
it's heartbreaking, you know, Andso anyway, so we've got her on

(13:30):
horseback. I said, Carol,when's the last time you were on a
horse? She says, bare back? Sixty five years ago. Oh my
goodness, and she says, Ilove a challenge. Well, the rodeo
guys will be all surrounding them,right, so she gets yeah, it's
good. Yeah, she'll get asaddle. So I think that's going to
be kind of a neat deal.And then she'll be available afterwards, along

(13:52):
with some super novas, et cetera, because our sub theme this time is
celebrating female athletes and so that that'swhy the supernovas will be there is that's
why they're there. And that'll allbe post parade where you will be over
at twelfth in Jackson, which isHollywood Candy. That street will be closed
off and we've got a quartet that'llbe singing and Hyabes giving out free hot

(14:13):
dogs and Dairy Queen's going to giveaway five hundred Deli bars. Okay,
so we've we've got some food goingon there too, which is always good
for a parade, and we've gotlike as you mentioned, I'll be there
and we've got the prize wheel youcould win tickets to see the new Garfield
movie, and of course Garfield willbe there, so come out and see

(14:35):
that, stop and see us.We'll be right out in front of Hollywood
Candy Bill. I wanted to askyou real quick because every parade that I've
been in, every time the goldStar families come walk through, this might
sound weird, but I don't knowif I should cheer or if I should
be quiet? How do we howdid they want us to be? Because

(14:58):
we do them and we do celebratethem and thank them for their sacrifice,
but it is a somber thing.I think that's the appropriate response because we
we know gold Star families all overthe country because of our national memorials,
and that's that's the responsiblity. Peoplewant to show their support because everybody looks

(15:20):
at it and say that could bea loved one of mine. And so
yeah, I think that happens allthe time as people clap, and I
just think they want their loved oneto be to be recognized and for them
to walk along behind the gold Starbanners. That's our lead, our lead
entry. We also have a halfsized version of the Tomb of the Unknown

(15:43):
that we had created a few yearsago. It's up in Chicago right now.
And we also have a twenty twofoot tall purple heart inflatable and that
that leads the parade. So yeah, we want we we want people hopefully
to come down to looks like theweather will be fine according to the forecast,
and so we hope that'll be thebe the situation. Well, I'm

(16:07):
glad I asked that question because asthey were coming by, I think we're
not supporting you because we're just standinghere looking at you. Yeah, but
I thought that I could. That'sthat's the way you use it. People
clap form. Okay, all right, So now we have the official how
to thank them, not just it'snot just about how do I act,
It's about how, you know,we really do feel. We really do

(16:29):
feel that they are to be honoredand their sacrifice is just amazing. And
I'm glad that they're going to bethere, and I'm glad you're giving them
the opportunity to be a part ofthis. Absolutely. What else? What
else? What do we got?We've got the Patriotic Party that's on Saturday.
It's going to start. Tell meagain, it's going to start at
starts at ten o'clock. And wehave an air tenth and Jackson to start

(16:52):
just remember the tents. Yeah,and then we have an air force flyover.
I don't know what that now.I don't think it's the Angels,
but it'll be something no air Forcewould be. What a thunderburse unders?
I think so? Yeah, allright, so, and lots of stuff
to do for the kids, bringthe kids down everything. Of course,
the parade is free. Lots oflots of flags will be handed out.

(17:15):
You can hold us terrific. Youcan hold a little flag from the Exchange
Club. Those guys all walk upand down and and then we have we
have some friends of ours that thatare dressed as uh George and Martha,
and we have an Abe Lincoln andvarious things. That's one of these days
I'm gonna have to leave the kgO R booth and become part of this
parade. I think you are tobroadcast live as you as you go along.

(17:38):
No, I want to dress uphistorical character. That would be fun.
But we but they'll and there'll alsobe some food down after there.
I I love working with them.You have to say wild last, so
come down and see us. Bill. Can people find out more about your
organization. They can go to ourwebsite which is Patriotic Productions plural Patriotic Productions

(18:03):
dot org if they want to makea donation show support for what we try
to do. As I mentioned,you know, we brought in Riley Gaines
last August and uh wonderful event.We lost some sponsors because we booked Riley
Gaines, which is baffling to mebecause what's what is Riley Gaines about that

(18:27):
her her her feeling is that femaleathletics should be for females. And so
the fact that we lost you know, squeamy sponsors headed for the high grass
because we booked highly Riley Gaines.I don't care. It didn't matter.
So we had other people come tous and say I'll support you. So

(18:49):
excellent. Yeah, it's great,So Patriotic Productions dot com, Patriot Productions
dot Org. Some detail on there, and like I said, finds us
way through the Old Market and takeabout an hour. Then well then we'll
do the event by Hollywood Candy andyou can go on with you to day
and if you're listening to this podcastlater that is May twenty fifth, twenty

(19:12):
twenty four, that this parade isbecause you know, people might be listening
to this in twenty thirty. Idon't know. May twenty fifth, twenty
twenty four, ten o'clock Old MarketBill, Thanks so much for being with
me today on this podcast. Funto be with you, Lucy, Thanks
so much,