December 9, 2025 • 30 mins
It’s hard to believe, but three or four generations have passed since World War II. This weekend marks the 84th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941. Manny had the chance to speak with David Kilton, who leads Interpretation, Education, and Visitor Services at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial. AND, there’s another conversation happening in homes across the country: should parents let their kids play certain sports, given growing concerns about brain injuries? Manny explored this issue with Bruce Parkman, author of Youth Contact Sports and Broken Brains: Understanding the Hidden Risks of Mental Illness from Early Exposure to Concussive Trauma.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a public affairs special focusing on
the biggest issues in facting you this week.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Here's many munios and welcome to another edition of Iheartradios Communities.
As you heard, I am Manny Muno's and I would
love a follow from you on Instagram at iod Manny
as my handle at iodma Ny. Three or four generations
(00:29):
have passed since World War Two, and this weekend marks
the eighty fourth anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor
December seventh, nineteen forty one, that event drew the United
States into the war. Let's find out more about that
day that will live in infamy with David Kiltney, his interpretation,
education and visitor services lead at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial. David,
(00:53):
I appreciate good time, Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I'm honored to do so and appreciate this time for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I'm guessing with so many of these yearly commemorations every year,
there are less and less survivors who are still with us.
Do we know how many of those who were at
Pearl Harbor eighty four years ago are still here today?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Though you're exactly right that less and less join us
every year. My first year working here was for the
eightieth anniversary in twenty twenty one. We had we were
still kind of in a little bit of the COVID
kind of restrictions, so we actually had a lot of
(01:36):
things connecting with that, really trying to protect these individuals
that raged in age from ninety seven to one hundred
and three at that time, and during that we had
about eighty World War Two survivors and just about one
(01:59):
Pearl Harbor survivors were directly connected to that. We have
declined every year since then. We are hoping to have
maybe one or two this year actual Pearl Harbor survivors
and World War Two survivors. I heard we might have
twelve this year. So and if you add three years
(02:22):
to all those ages, you've got one hundred to one
hundred and six. Are a drange Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah, when you think about it, a long time has
passed as somebody who's had the honor to visit the
memorial there on Pearl Harbor. You working there on a
daily basis, do you feel what that place represents as
much as somebody who would just be visiting for the
first time.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Yes, And every day people thank me for the opportunity
that they have to visit, and I always mentioned how
it's an honor to be able to protect and share
the stories and honor the memory of those that we
do here every day now there are different situations where
(03:11):
the kind of the the emotions and the feelings of
what we do will stand out. One of my first
experiences where I just really had it hit shortly after
my first commemoration, which was super powerful, was when within
a week's time I had delegation from the Japanese consulate
(03:34):
come out and do a special prayer, ceremony and floral
tribute there on the memorial, and within that same week.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Who I had a huge delegation of upper.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Echelon German military commanders and officers come out and do
the same thing. And so having the opportunity to protect
and honor the memory of those that we lost, and
seeing those where our greatest enemies are at that time
now be two of our greatest allies and come out
and show their respects was just a powerful experience. And
(04:08):
we get to have things like that happened so many
times with different individuals and just connections with family members
and even sometimes still those that lived those experiences that
are just so powerful and just help us to remember
why we do what we do every day.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
That's fascinating. How is that generally received by the family
members of the victims or even by the survivors. To
have the delegation there from Japan and from Germany.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
It really, I think helps, which was is one of
our missions as the National Park Service to bring the
story of peace and reconciliation, knowing that the trauma and
the tragedy of that loss can still be so raw
and still brings emotions, but knowing that what would we want,
(05:01):
and hopefully this is what I reflect on, is what
would those that lost their lives hope for, is that
we would never have to be there again, and that
we could look past the horror and trauma that day
and the years that followed and had proceeded, and hope
and hope for peace and reconciliation in the lives of
(05:22):
all those that were affected, and that we don't have
to have additional memorials and and loss like that ever again.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, And I imagine it's an example of how the
tone and the focus of December seventh commemoration ceremonies have
changed over the decades, especially as the number of living
survivors is dwindled.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Now, yes, yes, for sure, and having stories like when
we had those that were on the ships and were
so greatly impacted that day and even carried that hatred
and bias for decades after because of the loss and
the tragedy of of losing friends and brothers and and
(06:07):
family members and having so much where they would carry that,
but eventually be able to come to a place where
they could heal and even embrace and come to love
and respect those that were on the other side and
falling orders like them too. And see, you know that
(06:27):
was the reality is they're a lot more like me
than I thought.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I would imagine. December seventh, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, is
probably the only day of the year, other than history
books or or Hollywood movies, where you get a chance
to balance not only the morning the remembrance, the commemoration
of the event, but also education and helping visitors understand
(06:53):
the history and the context of what took place there
on that site.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah, and it's and it's an opportunity we do have
every day, but December seventh really is a place where
I turn here thoughts turn here, and so we get
a lot more interest and and and I'd.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Say global.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Kind of connection, whether they can be here or not.
That's one of the reasons we do live broadcast our
events so people can when they're thinking about it, when
they're looking to try to reconnect and engage more with
the history, they have that opportunity.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
But it's as.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Time passes, the connection with it will also pass, and
so we're getting more and more opportunities to really help
people understand, well, what happened, what were the events that
carried out leading up to this during that event, and
how it still has has ties to our lives today.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
A few more minutes here with David Kilton. He is
the interpretation, education and visitor services lead at the Pearl
Harbor National Memorial. What is it twenty four hundred Americans killed,
eleven hundred and seventy eight I believe injured in the attack.
Probably isn't a fair question to ask you, but I'll
(08:14):
ask you nonetheless. Do you have like like a ninety second,
a two minute cliff Notes version of Pearl Harbor of
the attack?
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Yeah, so this really really quickly.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
What led to this attack happening started years before even
going all the way back to World War One. Japan
and the United States were allies during World War One,
but as things came out after the war, there was
kind of the haves and the have not, and Japan
didn't get as many of the benefits and kind of
(08:53):
diplomatically and even within warfare, one of the great fears
after World War One was that another war had happened,
So there were a lot of sanctions put on different
countries on how large their militaries could be and things
like that, and Japan was not put at the same
level as the United States. So Japan started to build
(09:14):
their empire trying to.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Get to the same level of.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Who their allies were and other kind of more powerful
nations throughout the world, but the restrictions hindered that, and
eventually when Japan kind of said the Empire of Japan said,
you know what, we're going to actually take things into
our own hand, and whether you say we can or can't,
they became very aggressive, and their war with China that
(09:42):
started in nineteen thirty seven and really took off at
that time was really what solidified a huge breakdown between
the relations of what would be the allies and Japan
and the United States really started to enforce those including
eventually putting se actions on and embargoes on trade with Japan,
(10:07):
moving the Pacific Fleet to Hawaii, and then even aiding China,
who they were at war with. This would kind of
initiate Japan eventually starting the plan and then making the
attack that would happen on the morning of December seventh,
(10:28):
nineteen forty one. Prior to the actual bombings and strafing
runs that would happen from the planes that were attacking
the island of Oahu and Pearl Harbor, there was even
an early naval engagement that would happen just at the
mouth of Pearl Harbor with one of the midget submarines
(10:51):
that the Imperior of Japan sent and destroyer, where the
destroyer actually did successfully sink and destroy the submarine. But
as work went out, it wasn't in time to get
planes into the air.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
And allow for the full protection.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
And defense of the island and the different bases, So
starting at seven point fifty five, the attack would actually
ensue with both fighters, bombers and torpedo bombers especially designed
to come into Pearl Harbor.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
The air bases would be the first.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Target so that the Empire of Japan could establish air superiority,
and then they would get Pearl Harbor to try to
severely damage the Pacific fleet, specifically the biggest ships, the
capital ships, which would have been the battleships. Fortunately for
the United States, there were no aircraft terrors in port
(11:51):
that morning, and then twenty one ships were heavily damaged
or sunk. Eighteen of those would eventually be salvage, put
back into war readiness and take part in World War
two afterwards, which is a major part of the story
that a lot of people don't recognize is the salvage operations.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
But there was also.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
One hundred and eighty planes on the different airfields around
the island of OAHUU that were destroyed. And this is
where you get the numbers that you brought forward. Twenty
three hundred killed with another just over a thousand that
were lost, I mean not lost, that were wounded. This
would really bring the United States to the point that
(12:37):
they would declare war and the start of the combat
factor of the war for the United States.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Well, that is fascinating. Is there one thing that the
visitors ask you, One big misconception that you find a
lot of people have about the attack.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
I would say one of the things that is a
learning point mentioned it just a minute.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
The salvage.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Shocking dropping such a huge part, like there was actually
new innovations that were created in that time. Within months
to years, they put all these ships back. And I
say years, but it wasn't a lot of years. It
was within the war wartimes, so and the war for
(13:24):
the United States was from December of nineteen forty one
to as we go to August of nineteen forty five.
So in that time it was put all these huge
ships that had been so heavily damaged, including some that
had even lost.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
Half of the ship because of the.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Magazine exploding, and they were all put back into war
readiness in such a short time. And one of the
things that's really interesting that a lot of people don't
realize or remember before they come here, is that Hawaii
wasn't even a US.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
State December seventh, nineteen forty one, eighty four years ago
this weekend, David Kilton, Interpretation Education and Visitor Services lead
at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial. David, thank you so
much for the time, the education and the information was wonderful.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Be well, thank you, Thank you so much. You have
a great day. Hello.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Just a reminder, if you have any questions or comments,
you could follow me on Instagram at iod manny as
my handle at iodma ny. It's a conversation a decision
parents around the country have increasingly been forced to have
allowing their kids to play certain sports because of concerns
(14:44):
about brain injury. Let's discuss it as we bring in
Bruce Parkman. His book is titled Youth Contact Sports and
Broken Brains. Understanding the hidden risks of mental illness from
early exposure to concussive Bruce, I appreciate the time. Thanks
for joining us.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Hey Mannie, thank you so much for the opportunity to
be on your show. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Sir, let me start off with this because the reason
you first became interested in advocating for this issue isn't
because you were a twenty one year military veteran. Tell
me why this became so important to you.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Well, there was actually two issues. The first part was
our son took his life in twenty twenty suffering from
undiagnosed mental illness that, through the grace of God, we
were able to determine stem from the damage to his
brain that was validated by the Boston University CT Center
from ten years of playing football, rugby, hockey, soccer, all
(15:48):
those sports. And then I myself, we'll just stop there,
but I myself was diagnosed with brain damage from extensive
blast exposure. And I was a military All Army rugby
player well, and I had my own mental health problems
that were diagnosed after my son died that I had
had to work on to kind of keep myself together.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Your son, Mac, you founded the Mac Parkman Foundation to
raise awareness of these issues. You mentioned that he played
a series of sports and obviously suffered repetitive head of
injury brain injury in these sports. Did you, as he
became a teenager and continued in sports, begin to see
(16:29):
those effects or was it not until he took his
life that you realize how bad.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
It had gotten. We didn't see really anything because we
didn't know what to look for. Unlike many athletes that
act out they get in trouble, or they're impulsive, or
they're diagnosed with mental illness, our son kept everything very
close hold, and like many children in this country do,
till the end. They don't want to talk about it.
(16:54):
They don't know. How do you tell your parents that
you're struggling with schizophrenic thoughts or made your mood disorders.
Our son just decided to hold on to this until
he could no longer stand it.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
How did you realize that that this is what it was,
that it came from those repetitive had traumas.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Yes, sir, so when our son was the autopsy came back,
we had no idea why our son took his life.
And the coroner, unfortunately fortunately was one of the few
corners in this country that is educated on the issues
of of contact sports and what's known as CTE or
(17:35):
chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is the football disease. He asked
me a simple question of did our son play contact sports?
Because I asked him, why is my son not here?
He was loved, he was blessed, He had a beautiful life,
a life that I never had as an abused, you know,
child of growing up in poverty. I did my best
(17:56):
to you know, provide for my family. Why is he
not tax sports? I said, well, heck yeah, he's an
American kid. He played football, rugby all that. He said, well,
I tried to do a CTE damn and I asked
if that was and he explained to me it because
I didn't know at the time, he said, but I
don't have the tools. And that led me on this,
you know, mission to find out what CTE was, which
(18:18):
led to the Boston University CTE Center where the NFL
players are, and we were fortunate enough to be able
to make a donation of our son's body, which they
then evaluated. And of course he didn't have CTE. He
was too young, he was seventeen. So then by that
time I had done all the research on the under
(18:39):
I started understanding that, look, these mental illnesses are caused
by a damage to the brain. And it's been known
for forty years that schizophrenia made major mood disorders, psychiatric
conditions are caused by demielin nation dismilination damage to the
prefrontal court that's also caused by contact sports. Is there
a correlation? So we paid Boston University, who has never
(19:02):
looked at this issue. They only look for CTE. They
only look for the TAO and the indicators that a
brain has had repetitive ad impact, but they never look
for damage to the brain. So we went back and
funded a study that was released in twenty twenty three.
You can look it up and I'll send you a
copy that showed that they finally went and looked at
all under thirty brains at the Boston University Brain Bank.
(19:25):
These are all NFL players, they're college football players, they're
soccer players, they're wrestlers, they're rugby players, and what they
found out was appalling. Out of that one hundred and
sixty two brain sample, all of them under thirty, forty
percent of them had CTE, which seems to be very bad.
But when you dig into the study, one hundred percent
of those brains, including our sons, had significant structural damage
(19:49):
done to the brain, and eighty percent of those brains,
eighty percent of those those young men and women died
from suicide or drug overdose. The problem is not CTE.
The problem is not concussions. The problem is that we're
allowing our children to play these sports while their brains
are developing, and we're so sports crazy that we allow
(20:10):
them to play all year round, and the resulting damage
to their brain is actually the largest preventable cause of
mental illness in our child population in this country. At
this time.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Mac was never diagnosed with with with a concussion or
anything along those lines.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
He had three concussions and three different seasons. Both times
he went through this, you know, the typical go see
the doctor. You know, he doesn't play sports for two
weeks he was cleared. But the issue is is that
these concussions, we can't see into the brain. We don't
know how bad concussion really is. But if the child doesn't,
(20:48):
you know, display symptoms or you know, they they they're
able to fake it good enough they get to go
out and play. Because our children's identities are tied up
in these sports. Sure so, but the issue is once
they start playing again. Every time they make a tackle, it,
every time they hit a ball, every time they check
in hockey, every time their brain moves, and the brain
(21:09):
is not meant.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
To be moved.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
All the time the brain shifts, it's suspended and fluid,
and there's nothing out there. The Q collars, the pads
on the helmet, nothing can stop the brain from moving
inside the skull. So every time we watch our children
head of soccer ball, we're watching them hurt their brain.
And so these thousands of hits, so you imagine how many.
(21:32):
You know, times a football player makes a tackle, and
soccer players head balls, and wrestling players hit the match,
and now we lit the custom sports like my son
wrestling captain, football, blindside player, and then a snowboarder. Then
the brain cannot keep up with the continuous damage and
neuroinflammation sets in that starts to damage the brain even more,
(21:54):
and the outcome is mental illness because the brain is
damaged in key areas and that's how it manifests itself,
because mental illness is the sign of a damaged brain,
and in this case it's physiological damage, not trauma from
childhood or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Right, And helmets, guardian caps, things like that don't protect
the brain from not moving. A couple more minutes here
with Bruce Parkman. He is the author of Youth Contact
Sports and Broken Brains, Understanding the hidden risks of mental
illness from early exposure to concussive trauma. His son Mac
took his own life. There are organizations out there that
(22:32):
recommend delaying full contact sports, specially tackle football and things
like that, until the age of fourteen. Why that age, specifically,
because the brain doesn't even finish developing until the mid twenties,
So it seems like such an early age.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
It is, sir, I mean, we advocate, well, you know,
never but eighteen, you know, you're an adult. You can
do what you want. The scientific reason for at least
waiting till fourteen is that the most important part of
our child's brain is the prefrontal cortex. It sits right
behind the forehead. That part of the brain is called
the CEO of the brain. It handles all the executive functioning.
(23:12):
Everything that you do as an adult, interacting, socially, planning,
abstract thinking, conceptual planning, and thinking are all done by
that part of that brain. That part of the brain
is the last part of the brain to develop, and
it doesn't start developing until fourteen. So up until that
(23:32):
point it's the only part of the brain that's not mylinated,
which is the protective installation that surrounds the axon. So
if that part of the brain has been getting hit
over and over and over again from the age of six,
from the age of eight, by the time it's fourteen
years old, these children have already had years, in thousands,
tens of thousands of hit to that part of the brain.
(23:53):
That part of the brain is now damaged, and it's
going to develop in a damaged manner, and so can
we wait till fourteen? The other part that we're asking
people to think about is that we practice every day
like we're playing games. Football teams tackle all week long,
Soccer players head balls all week long, hockey players check
(24:15):
and hockey with well ninety nine percent of our children
are not going to be making money as athletes when
they get older. All that trauma, all that exposure is
unnecessary brain damage. If we took the contact out of practice.
The NFL does not contact during the season, They do
not do contact drills during the season. Why can't we be.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Like the NFL?
Speaker 1 (24:38):
And if we took that contact out of practice, we
could eliminate up to eighty percent of the exposure children's
brains are taken, but we have. It's all about total
aggregate exposure. The less exposure that our children's brains have,
the better that they're going to be, and the and
the and their ability to develop properly is enhanced by
(25:03):
a substantial margin.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
You you were a sports dad, Obviously you were in sports yourself,
You competed. How how do you convince coaches national you know,
high school sports associations not to practice when you know
for each and every one of them, and every one
of those athletes, the goal is to win every week.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
It's a tough conversation. I talked to coaches. These coaches
do love their kids, and a lot of these coaches
are completely unaware of this phenomena. And there are there
are Division three college teams. We had a player on
our podcast that have won national championships that never tackled
in practice. You know, tackling it does not take a
(25:47):
lot of skill. Tackling is not a skill. Okay, running
into another human being, I've done it thousands of times
as a semi pro is not a skill, right, So
why do we have to practice it? Skills are much
more important when you talk about drills, Knowing the game,
practicing the play way. That's why the NFL focuses on
the NFL doesn't practice contact hit during practice. Why can't
(26:10):
we do that with a child's developing brain. I mean,
it's it's just, uh, you know that you're looking at
it from that perspective and saying, look, it's not about
wins and losses. It's about children's futures and which were
important the fact that they had a winning season in
high school but went on to stuffer you know, broken
marriages and broken businesses and damage that you know, you know,
(26:33):
followed them their whole life, or the fact that they
were active and they were out there playing sports and
they had a great time win or lose, but we
protected their brains and the futures that God planned for
our kids.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
In our final minute, minute and a half here, what
advice would you have for parents, uh, after everything you've experienced,
in all the research obviously you've done, who are considering
allowing their kids to play tackle football or wrestling, or
hockey or anything else.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
What I would say to them is, in the Boston
University see to eat brain bank. Right now, there are
no baseball players. There are no basketball players, swimmers, golfers,
tennis players. You can name your sport. And so if
you really want to play contact sports number one, you
are now informed and you are supposed to be doing
(27:23):
the best thing for your child. If you decide to
roll the dice, play brain save sports till fourteen flag football,
touch rugby, no chech hockey, no head soccer, and at
the age of fourteen, find a football coach that doesn't
think he's Bill Belichick and wants to run these kids
into the ground because that coach really should not be
(27:44):
a coach, and and and and then you know, and
then and then focus on one sport. If you really
got to do this, play football, and then don't send
them to travel teams and play for the school. Play
one season, and then whatever they do for the rest
of the year. Tittley winks, you know, you know, play baseball.
(28:04):
It doesn't matter. Keep them off, keep their brains safe.
If you really want to roll the dice. But my
advice to you as parents is that it's not worth it,
because I'm going to tell all of you right now.
Your child is not playing in the NFL or the NHL,
and it's not going to be on an Olympic team.
The odds of them doing that are so unbelievable that
(28:26):
why would you even roll the dice. Dice Your child
has a better chance of being a doctor, an architect,
and engineer an astronaut than they do of being a
successful professional sports player. Protect their brains, protect their futures,
because you do not want to be in my shoes,
is Bruce Parkman.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
The book is titled Youth contact sports and broken Brains.
Understanding the hidden risks of mental illness from early exposure
to concussive trauma. Bruce, thank you so much for sharing
your time, for sharing your experience, and for the book.
Best of luck. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
And Manny, just let your audience know that book is free.
It's a free download on our website at the Macparkman Foundation.
I really appreciate your time and thank you for letting
us spread our message.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
What is what is the website.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
At www dot MP for Mac Parkman F A C
T fact dot org, m m p F A c
T dot org.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
M p F A C T dot O r G.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Bruce.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
I appreciate the time.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Thank you so much, Thank you, sir, God blessed as always.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
I'd love a follow on Instagram and I follow back
at io d Manny is my handle at io D
M A N N Y. And that'll do it for
another edition of Iheartradios Communities. I'm Manny Wuno's Until next time,
Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a public affairs special focusing on
the biggest issues in facting you this week.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Here's many munios and welcome to another edition of Iheartradios Communities.
As you heard, I am Manny Muno's and I would
love a follow from you on Instagram at iod Manny
as my handle at iodma Ny. Three or four generations
(00:29):
have passed since World War Two, and this weekend marks
the eighty fourth anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor
December seventh, nineteen forty one, that event drew the United
States into the war. Let's find out more about that
day that will live in infamy with David Kiltney, his interpretation,
education and visitor services lead at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial. David,
(00:53):
I appreciate good time, Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I'm honored to do so and appreciate this time for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I'm guessing with so many of these yearly commemorations every year,
there are less and less survivors who are still with us.
Do we know how many of those who were at
Pearl Harbor eighty four years ago are still here today?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Though you're exactly right that less and less join us
every year. My first year working here was for the
eightieth anniversary in twenty twenty one. We had we were
still kind of in a little bit of the COVID
kind of restrictions, so we actually had a lot of
(01:36):
things connecting with that, really trying to protect these individuals
that raged in age from ninety seven to one hundred
and three at that time, and during that we had
about eighty World War Two survivors and just about one
(01:59):
Pearl Harbor survivors were directly connected to that. We have
declined every year since then. We are hoping to have
maybe one or two this year actual Pearl Harbor survivors
and World War Two survivors. I heard we might have
twelve this year. So and if you add three years
(02:22):
to all those ages, you've got one hundred to one
hundred and six. Are a drange Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah, when you think about it, a long time has
passed as somebody who's had the honor to visit the
memorial there on Pearl Harbor. You working there on a
daily basis, do you feel what that place represents as
much as somebody who would just be visiting for the
first time.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Yes, And every day people thank me for the opportunity
that they have to visit, and I always mentioned how
it's an honor to be able to protect and share
the stories and honor the memory of those that we
do here every day now there are different situations where
(03:11):
the kind of the the emotions and the feelings of
what we do will stand out. One of my first
experiences where I just really had it hit shortly after
my first commemoration, which was super powerful, was when within
a week's time I had delegation from the Japanese consulate
(03:34):
come out and do a special prayer, ceremony and floral
tribute there on the memorial, and within that same week.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Who I had a huge delegation of upper.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Echelon German military commanders and officers come out and do
the same thing. And so having the opportunity to protect
and honor the memory of those that we lost, and
seeing those where our greatest enemies are at that time
now be two of our greatest allies and come out
and show their respects was just a powerful experience. And
(04:08):
we get to have things like that happened so many
times with different individuals and just connections with family members
and even sometimes still those that lived those experiences that
are just so powerful and just help us to remember
why we do what we do every day.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
That's fascinating. How is that generally received by the family
members of the victims or even by the survivors. To
have the delegation there from Japan and from Germany.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
It really, I think helps, which was is one of
our missions as the National Park Service to bring the
story of peace and reconciliation, knowing that the trauma and
the tragedy of that loss can still be so raw
and still brings emotions, but knowing that what would we want,
(05:01):
and hopefully this is what I reflect on, is what
would those that lost their lives hope for, is that
we would never have to be there again, and that
we could look past the horror and trauma that day
and the years that followed and had proceeded, and hope
and hope for peace and reconciliation in the lives of
(05:22):
all those that were affected, and that we don't have
to have additional memorials and and loss like that ever again.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, And I imagine it's an example of how the
tone and the focus of December seventh commemoration ceremonies have
changed over the decades, especially as the number of living
survivors is dwindled.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Now, yes, yes, for sure, and having stories like when
we had those that were on the ships and were
so greatly impacted that day and even carried that hatred
and bias for decades after because of the loss and
the tragedy of of losing friends and brothers and and
(06:07):
family members and having so much where they would carry that,
but eventually be able to come to a place where
they could heal and even embrace and come to love
and respect those that were on the other side and
falling orders like them too. And see, you know that
(06:27):
was the reality is they're a lot more like me
than I thought.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I would imagine. December seventh, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, is
probably the only day of the year, other than history
books or or Hollywood movies, where you get a chance
to balance not only the morning the remembrance, the commemoration
of the event, but also education and helping visitors understand
(06:53):
the history and the context of what took place there
on that site.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah, and it's and it's an opportunity we do have
every day, but December seventh really is a place where
I turn here thoughts turn here, and so we get
a lot more interest and and and I'd.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Say global.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Kind of connection, whether they can be here or not.
That's one of the reasons we do live broadcast our
events so people can when they're thinking about it, when
they're looking to try to reconnect and engage more with
the history, they have that opportunity.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
But it's as.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Time passes, the connection with it will also pass, and
so we're getting more and more opportunities to really help
people understand, well, what happened, what were the events that
carried out leading up to this during that event, and
how it still has has ties to our lives today.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
A few more minutes here with David Kilton. He is
the interpretation, education and visitor services lead at the Pearl
Harbor National Memorial. What is it twenty four hundred Americans killed,
eleven hundred and seventy eight I believe injured in the attack.
Probably isn't a fair question to ask you, but I'll
(08:14):
ask you nonetheless. Do you have like like a ninety second,
a two minute cliff Notes version of Pearl Harbor of
the attack?
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Yeah, so this really really quickly.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
What led to this attack happening started years before even
going all the way back to World War One. Japan
and the United States were allies during World War One,
but as things came out after the war, there was
kind of the haves and the have not, and Japan
didn't get as many of the benefits and kind of
(08:53):
diplomatically and even within warfare, one of the great fears
after World War One was that another war had happened,
So there were a lot of sanctions put on different
countries on how large their militaries could be and things
like that, and Japan was not put at the same
level as the United States. So Japan started to build
(09:14):
their empire trying to.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Get to the same level of.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Who their allies were and other kind of more powerful
nations throughout the world, but the restrictions hindered that, and
eventually when Japan kind of said the Empire of Japan said,
you know what, we're going to actually take things into
our own hand, and whether you say we can or can't,
they became very aggressive, and their war with China that
(09:42):
started in nineteen thirty seven and really took off at
that time was really what solidified a huge breakdown between
the relations of what would be the allies and Japan
and the United States really started to enforce those including
eventually putting se actions on and embargoes on trade with Japan,
(10:07):
moving the Pacific Fleet to Hawaii, and then even aiding China,
who they were at war with. This would kind of
initiate Japan eventually starting the plan and then making the
attack that would happen on the morning of December seventh,
(10:28):
nineteen forty one. Prior to the actual bombings and strafing
runs that would happen from the planes that were attacking
the island of Oahu and Pearl Harbor, there was even
an early naval engagement that would happen just at the
mouth of Pearl Harbor with one of the midget submarines
(10:51):
that the Imperior of Japan sent and destroyer, where the
destroyer actually did successfully sink and destroy the submarine. But
as work went out, it wasn't in time to get
planes into the air.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
And allow for the full protection.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
And defense of the island and the different bases, So
starting at seven point fifty five, the attack would actually
ensue with both fighters, bombers and torpedo bombers especially designed
to come into Pearl Harbor.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
The air bases would be the first.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Target so that the Empire of Japan could establish air superiority,
and then they would get Pearl Harbor to try to
severely damage the Pacific fleet, specifically the biggest ships, the
capital ships, which would have been the battleships. Fortunately for
the United States, there were no aircraft terrors in port
(11:51):
that morning, and then twenty one ships were heavily damaged
or sunk. Eighteen of those would eventually be salvage, put
back into war readiness and take part in World War
two afterwards, which is a major part of the story
that a lot of people don't recognize is the salvage operations.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
But there was also.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
One hundred and eighty planes on the different airfields around
the island of OAHUU that were destroyed. And this is
where you get the numbers that you brought forward. Twenty
three hundred killed with another just over a thousand that
were lost, I mean not lost, that were wounded. This
would really bring the United States to the point that
(12:37):
they would declare war and the start of the combat
factor of the war for the United States.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Well, that is fascinating. Is there one thing that the
visitors ask you, One big misconception that you find a
lot of people have about the attack.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
I would say one of the things that is a
learning point mentioned it just a minute.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
The salvage.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Shocking dropping such a huge part, like there was actually
new innovations that were created in that time. Within months
to years, they put all these ships back. And I
say years, but it wasn't a lot of years. It
was within the war wartimes, so and the war for
(13:24):
the United States was from December of nineteen forty one
to as we go to August of nineteen forty five.
So in that time it was put all these huge
ships that had been so heavily damaged, including some that
had even lost.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
Half of the ship because of the.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Magazine exploding, and they were all put back into war
readiness in such a short time. And one of the
things that's really interesting that a lot of people don't
realize or remember before they come here, is that Hawaii
wasn't even a US.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
State December seventh, nineteen forty one, eighty four years ago
this weekend, David Kilton, Interpretation Education and Visitor Services lead
at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial. David, thank you so
much for the time, the education and the information was wonderful.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Be well, thank you, Thank you so much. You have
a great day. Hello.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Just a reminder, if you have any questions or comments,
you could follow me on Instagram at iod manny as
my handle at iodma ny. It's a conversation a decision
parents around the country have increasingly been forced to have
allowing their kids to play certain sports because of concerns
(14:44):
about brain injury. Let's discuss it as we bring in
Bruce Parkman. His book is titled Youth Contact Sports and
Broken Brains. Understanding the hidden risks of mental illness from
early exposure to concussive Bruce, I appreciate the time. Thanks
for joining us.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Hey Mannie, thank you so much for the opportunity to
be on your show. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Sir, let me start off with this because the reason
you first became interested in advocating for this issue isn't
because you were a twenty one year military veteran. Tell
me why this became so important to you.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Well, there was actually two issues. The first part was
our son took his life in twenty twenty suffering from
undiagnosed mental illness that, through the grace of God, we
were able to determine stem from the damage to his
brain that was validated by the Boston University CT Center
from ten years of playing football, rugby, hockey, soccer, all
(15:48):
those sports. And then I myself, we'll just stop there,
but I myself was diagnosed with brain damage from extensive
blast exposure. And I was a military All Army rugby
player well, and I had my own mental health problems
that were diagnosed after my son died that I had
had to work on to kind of keep myself together.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Your son, Mac, you founded the Mac Parkman Foundation to
raise awareness of these issues. You mentioned that he played
a series of sports and obviously suffered repetitive head of
injury brain injury in these sports. Did you, as he
became a teenager and continued in sports, begin to see
(16:29):
those effects or was it not until he took his
life that you realize how bad.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
It had gotten. We didn't see really anything because we
didn't know what to look for. Unlike many athletes that
act out they get in trouble, or they're impulsive, or
they're diagnosed with mental illness, our son kept everything very
close hold, and like many children in this country do,
till the end. They don't want to talk about it.
(16:54):
They don't know. How do you tell your parents that
you're struggling with schizophrenic thoughts or made your mood disorders.
Our son just decided to hold on to this until
he could no longer stand it.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
How did you realize that that this is what it was,
that it came from those repetitive had traumas.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Yes, sir, so when our son was the autopsy came back,
we had no idea why our son took his life.
And the coroner, unfortunately fortunately was one of the few
corners in this country that is educated on the issues
of of contact sports and what's known as CTE or
(17:35):
chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is the football disease. He asked
me a simple question of did our son play contact sports?
Because I asked him, why is my son not here?
He was loved, he was blessed, He had a beautiful life,
a life that I never had as an abused, you know,
child of growing up in poverty. I did my best
(17:56):
to you know, provide for my family. Why is he
not tax sports? I said, well, heck yeah, he's an
American kid. He played football, rugby all that. He said, well,
I tried to do a CTE damn and I asked
if that was and he explained to me it because
I didn't know at the time, he said, but I
don't have the tools. And that led me on this,
you know, mission to find out what CTE was, which
(18:18):
led to the Boston University CTE Center where the NFL
players are, and we were fortunate enough to be able
to make a donation of our son's body, which they
then evaluated. And of course he didn't have CTE. He
was too young, he was seventeen. So then by that
time I had done all the research on the under
(18:39):
I started understanding that, look, these mental illnesses are caused
by a damage to the brain. And it's been known
for forty years that schizophrenia made major mood disorders, psychiatric
conditions are caused by demielin nation dismilination damage to the
prefrontal court that's also caused by contact sports. Is there
a correlation? So we paid Boston University, who has never
(19:02):
looked at this issue. They only look for CTE. They
only look for the TAO and the indicators that a
brain has had repetitive ad impact, but they never look
for damage to the brain. So we went back and
funded a study that was released in twenty twenty three.
You can look it up and I'll send you a
copy that showed that they finally went and looked at
all under thirty brains at the Boston University Brain Bank.
(19:25):
These are all NFL players, they're college football players, they're
soccer players, they're wrestlers, they're rugby players, and what they
found out was appalling. Out of that one hundred and
sixty two brain sample, all of them under thirty, forty
percent of them had CTE, which seems to be very bad.
But when you dig into the study, one hundred percent
of those brains, including our sons, had significant structural damage
(19:49):
done to the brain, and eighty percent of those brains,
eighty percent of those those young men and women died
from suicide or drug overdose. The problem is not CTE.
The problem is not concussions. The problem is that we're
allowing our children to play these sports while their brains
are developing, and we're so sports crazy that we allow
(20:10):
them to play all year round, and the resulting damage
to their brain is actually the largest preventable cause of
mental illness in our child population in this country. At
this time.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Mac was never diagnosed with with with a concussion or
anything along those lines.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
He had three concussions and three different seasons. Both times
he went through this, you know, the typical go see
the doctor. You know, he doesn't play sports for two
weeks he was cleared. But the issue is is that
these concussions, we can't see into the brain. We don't
know how bad concussion really is. But if the child doesn't,
(20:48):
you know, display symptoms or you know, they they they're
able to fake it good enough they get to go
out and play. Because our children's identities are tied up
in these sports. Sure so, but the issue is once
they start playing again. Every time they make a tackle, it,
every time they hit a ball, every time they check
in hockey, every time their brain moves, and the brain
(21:09):
is not meant.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
To be moved.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
All the time the brain shifts, it's suspended and fluid,
and there's nothing out there. The Q collars, the pads
on the helmet, nothing can stop the brain from moving
inside the skull. So every time we watch our children
head of soccer ball, we're watching them hurt their brain.
And so these thousands of hits, so you imagine how many.
(21:32):
You know, times a football player makes a tackle, and
soccer players head balls, and wrestling players hit the match,
and now we lit the custom sports like my son
wrestling captain, football, blindside player, and then a snowboarder. Then
the brain cannot keep up with the continuous damage and
neuroinflammation sets in that starts to damage the brain even more,
(21:54):
and the outcome is mental illness because the brain is
damaged in key areas and that's how it manifests itself,
because mental illness is the sign of a damaged brain,
and in this case it's physiological damage, not trauma from
childhood or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Right, And helmets, guardian caps, things like that don't protect
the brain from not moving. A couple more minutes here
with Bruce Parkman. He is the author of Youth Contact
Sports and Broken Brains, Understanding the hidden risks of mental
illness from early exposure to concussive trauma. His son Mac
took his own life. There are organizations out there that
(22:32):
recommend delaying full contact sports, specially tackle football and things
like that, until the age of fourteen. Why that age, specifically,
because the brain doesn't even finish developing until the mid twenties,
So it seems like such an early age.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
It is, sir, I mean, we advocate, well, you know,
never but eighteen, you know, you're an adult. You can
do what you want. The scientific reason for at least
waiting till fourteen is that the most important part of
our child's brain is the prefrontal cortex. It sits right
behind the forehead. That part of the brain is called
the CEO of the brain. It handles all the executive functioning.
(23:12):
Everything that you do as an adult, interacting, socially, planning,
abstract thinking, conceptual planning, and thinking are all done by
that part of that brain. That part of the brain
is the last part of the brain to develop, and
it doesn't start developing until fourteen. So up until that
(23:32):
point it's the only part of the brain that's not mylinated,
which is the protective installation that surrounds the axon. So
if that part of the brain has been getting hit
over and over and over again from the age of six,
from the age of eight, by the time it's fourteen
years old, these children have already had years, in thousands,
tens of thousands of hit to that part of the brain.
(23:53):
That part of the brain is now damaged, and it's
going to develop in a damaged manner, and so can
we wait till fourteen? The other part that we're asking
people to think about is that we practice every day
like we're playing games. Football teams tackle all week long,
Soccer players head balls all week long, hockey players check
(24:15):
and hockey with well ninety nine percent of our children
are not going to be making money as athletes when
they get older. All that trauma, all that exposure is
unnecessary brain damage. If we took the contact out of practice.
The NFL does not contact during the season, They do
not do contact drills during the season. Why can't we be.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Like the NFL?
Speaker 1 (24:38):
And if we took that contact out of practice, we
could eliminate up to eighty percent of the exposure children's
brains are taken, but we have. It's all about total
aggregate exposure. The less exposure that our children's brains have,
the better that they're going to be, and the and
the and their ability to develop properly is enhanced by
(25:03):
a substantial margin.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
You you were a sports dad, Obviously you were in sports yourself,
You competed. How how do you convince coaches national you know,
high school sports associations not to practice when you know
for each and every one of them, and every one
of those athletes, the goal is to win every week.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
It's a tough conversation. I talked to coaches. These coaches
do love their kids, and a lot of these coaches
are completely unaware of this phenomena. And there are there
are Division three college teams. We had a player on
our podcast that have won national championships that never tackled
in practice. You know, tackling it does not take a
(25:47):
lot of skill. Tackling is not a skill. Okay, running
into another human being, I've done it thousands of times
as a semi pro is not a skill, right, So
why do we have to practice it? Skills are much
more important when you talk about drills, Knowing the game,
practicing the play way. That's why the NFL focuses on
the NFL doesn't practice contact hit during practice. Why can't
(26:10):
we do that with a child's developing brain. I mean,
it's it's just, uh, you know that you're looking at
it from that perspective and saying, look, it's not about
wins and losses. It's about children's futures and which were
important the fact that they had a winning season in
high school but went on to stuffer you know, broken
marriages and broken businesses and damage that you know, you know,
(26:33):
followed them their whole life, or the fact that they
were active and they were out there playing sports and
they had a great time win or lose, but we
protected their brains and the futures that God planned for
our kids.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
In our final minute, minute and a half here, what
advice would you have for parents, uh, after everything you've experienced,
in all the research obviously you've done, who are considering
allowing their kids to play tackle football or wrestling, or
hockey or anything else.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
What I would say to them is, in the Boston
University see to eat brain bank. Right now, there are
no baseball players. There are no basketball players, swimmers, golfers,
tennis players. You can name your sport. And so if
you really want to play contact sports number one, you
are now informed and you are supposed to be doing
(27:23):
the best thing for your child. If you decide to
roll the dice, play brain save sports till fourteen flag football,
touch rugby, no chech hockey, no head soccer, and at
the age of fourteen, find a football coach that doesn't
think he's Bill Belichick and wants to run these kids
into the ground because that coach really should not be
(27:44):
a coach, and and and and then you know, and
then and then focus on one sport. If you really
got to do this, play football, and then don't send
them to travel teams and play for the school. Play
one season, and then whatever they do for the rest
of the year. Tittley winks, you know, you know, play baseball.
(28:04):
It doesn't matter. Keep them off, keep their brains safe.
If you really want to roll the dice. But my
advice to you as parents is that it's not worth it,
because I'm going to tell all of you right now.
Your child is not playing in the NFL or the NHL,
and it's not going to be on an Olympic team.
The odds of them doing that are so unbelievable that
(28:26):
why would you even roll the dice. Dice Your child
has a better chance of being a doctor, an architect,
and engineer an astronaut than they do of being a
successful professional sports player. Protect their brains, protect their futures,
because you do not want to be in my shoes,
is Bruce Parkman.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
The book is titled Youth contact sports and broken Brains.
Understanding the hidden risks of mental illness from early exposure
to concussive trauma. Bruce, thank you so much for sharing
your time, for sharing your experience, and for the book.
Best of luck. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
And Manny, just let your audience know that book is free.
It's a free download on our website at the Macparkman Foundation.
I really appreciate your time and thank you for letting
us spread our message.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
What is what is the website.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
At www dot MP for Mac Parkman F A C
T fact dot org, m m p F A c
T dot org.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
M p F A C T dot O r G.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Bruce.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
I appreciate the time.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Thank you so much, Thank you, sir, God blessed as always.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
I'd love a follow on Instagram and I follow back
at io d Manny is my handle at io D
M A N N Y. And that'll do it for
another edition of Iheartradios Communities. I'm Manny Wuno's Until next time,
Host
Manny Munoz
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