Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us now author George Lutts, a new book out
chronicles a father's sacred journey to honor America's fallen heroes. George,
welcome in, Thanks for being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Well, good morning, jac Thank you. It's an honor to
be with you. Thank you for the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Well, it's an honor to have you. And I'm certainly
pro military. My father in law served in retired Army
before he passed, was a solid patriot in American and
just all around rock in our family. And you know,
anytime I can do anything or discuss anything going on
with gold star you know, fathers like yourself and former
veterans and service people bring it on, I want to
(00:36):
talk about it. So tell me about you being a
gold star father.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Sure. You know, wow, twenty years this year JT is
when my son Tony lost his life. You know, we
got that knock at the door, you know, with those
two very solemn uniformed officers bringing those five very you know,
somber words we regret to inform you. And you know,
(01:03):
my son was serving in the Army. He was in
he had been deployed to Fallujah his first deployment, and
in December of twenty ninth of five. You know, we
got that knock on the door. I mean, he was
a great kid. He was married, had two children, and
you know, had a lot going for him in his life.
(01:23):
And he decided he was going to serve, you know,
after nine to eleven, as so many you know, stepped
up and enlisted and thought he would make a difference.
And I believe now through all of you know, even
now what I'm doing, he's truly making a huge difference.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
You know, my father in law had to make those
long walks up sidewalks to front doors before and he
said that was that. I said, you know, because I
talked to him about serving. He never saw war on
the front lines. He was the logistics and retired CW four,
but he was certainly involved with the men and women
(02:02):
that were front lines in this fashion. And I said,
what's the worst thing ever saw? It was military police
for a while, and he said, the worst and hardest
thing I ever went through serving this country was informing
families that they lost their loved one. And there's nothing
worse than losing a child. But what you've done with
(02:22):
this and being the founder of honor and remember, which
is an organization a nonprofit to you know, primarily, you know,
recognize every US service member out there who died in
the line of duty. You've carried on your son's legacy,
and I.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Believe, well JG. One of the things that I did
in order to, I guess, move my healing forward is
I started to go out and meet other families and
you know, feel that same pain and let them know
that I was going through it, you know, those before
my son and those after my son. And the one
(02:55):
thing that I heard over and over from these families,
and I've now met thousands of families. I don't know
if I you know, got probably met more families than
most anybody. But the one thing that I kept hearing
over and over that these families wanted was that their
loved ones not be forgotten. I mean, that's the cry
of their hearts. And so many are doing so many
(03:16):
things to reach out, you know, individually, to make sure
that their loved one's name isn't forgotten. And I thought, well,
let's do something bigger. Let's go out and make sure
that every family, no matter what generation, no matter if
they're introverts or extroverts, you know, no matter where they fit,
you know, in the social hierarchy, is that we create
(03:39):
something that makes sure every single one is remembered. And
that's how the Honor and Remember flag was created as
a as a national symbol for all of us to
be able to send a message to all of them.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
The Honor and Remember flag. I mean, this flag flies
in a lot of places around our country and is
presented to a lot of people. How did you come
up with?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Well, again, I decided that we needed this kind of big,
big idea, this big gift. And I thought, well, it
needed to be a flag, right because something up on
a pole, you know, is waving look at me here
I am you know what am I? You know kind
of a message. And so I thought, well, then what
(04:20):
would that flag look like if it's going to be
a flag? And so I pulled together military symbolism, you know,
symbolism that we would all understand that would be combined
to put together that when you saw this, you know,
this icon, this emblem, you would go, oh yeah, I
get it right. It's got a folded flag, it's got
eternal flames, it has blue stars and goal stars that
(04:42):
are military related, you know, and has the words you know,
honor and remember we'll always honor their service and remember
them individually by name. And so you know that became
the idea. I wanted to make this flag one of
the most recognizable symbols in America because you know, apathy
reigns everywhere, and I thought if I could get this
(05:04):
out there, and it's now, as you mentioned, it's now
officially legislated in twenty nine US states, So over half
the country has already made this one of their official symbols.
Alabama is not one of them.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
By the way, Wow, are you working on that? Can
I do anything to help you there?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Well? If you know any legislators who wouldn't mind putting
in these legislation.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Absolutely well, I've run across the couples over the last
twenty years. Yeah, I will be glad to do that.
In fact, I'd like to stay in touch with you, Georgie,
and I'll call you after the show and we'll map
out a plan and let's see where get that going.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
That would be wonderful. That would be wonderful. So I
tell the complete story right this journeys, it's been going
on eighteen years now, of traveling to all fifty states,
of moving to Capitol Hill and banging on doors of Congress,
running across America. And there's so many things in the
last eighteen years we've done to kind of raise this awareness.
(06:02):
And I put that all in a book. You know,
it's a lot more detailed than you know a few
minutes on a telephone call.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Well, i'll tell you what I'm going to share with
our senators, and I will talk to some local congress
people and I'll talk back with you about this. And
I think we ought to get the President to fly
this on his new flagpole at the White House.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Absolutely, yeah, we do have a bill in Congress. JT.
Good Hr thirteen sixty three.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
All right, Well, go to the tragedy too. Tribute dot
org is the website tragedy a tragedy rather tragedy to
tribute dot org. George, Lot's great work you're doing. In
my condolences on your son who served our country.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Well and thank you for your family service. You know
it takes it takes a few to make a difference.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Well, you're a great man. Thank you, George, and we'll
have you back and I'll be in touch for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Thank you, all right, God bless JT. Thank you
Joining us now author George Lutts, a new book out
chronicles a father's sacred journey to honor America's fallen heroes. George,
welcome in, Thanks for being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Well, good morning, jac Thank you. It's an honor to
be with you. Thank you for the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Well, it's an honor to have you. And I'm certainly
pro military. My father in law served in retired Army
before he passed, was a solid patriot in American and
just all around rock in our family. And you know,
anytime I can do anything or discuss anything going on
with gold star you know, fathers like yourself and former
veterans and service people bring it on, I want to
(00:36):
talk about it. So tell me about you being a
gold star father.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Sure. You know, wow, twenty years this year JT is
when my son Tony lost his life. You know, we
got that knock at the door, you know, with those
two very solemn uniformed officers bringing those five very you know,
somber words we regret to inform you. And you know,
(01:03):
my son was serving in the Army. He was in
he had been deployed to Fallujah his first deployment, and
in December of twenty ninth of five. You know, we
got that knock on the door. I mean, he was
a great kid. He was married, had two children, and
you know, had a lot going for him in his life.
(01:23):
And he decided he was going to serve, you know,
after nine to eleven, as so many you know, stepped
up and enlisted and thought he would make a difference.
And I believe now through all of you know, even
now what I'm doing, he's truly making a huge difference.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
You know, my father in law had to make those
long walks up sidewalks to front doors before and he
said that was that. I said, you know, because I
talked to him about serving. He never saw war on
the front lines. He was the logistics and retired CW four,
but he was certainly involved with the men and women
(02:02):
that were front lines in this fashion. And I said,
what's the worst thing ever saw? It was military police
for a while, and he said, the worst and hardest
thing I ever went through serving this country was informing
families that they lost their loved one. And there's nothing
worse than losing a child. But what you've done with
(02:22):
this and being the founder of honor and remember, which
is an organization a nonprofit to you know, primarily, you know,
recognize every US service member out there who died in
the line of duty. You've carried on your son's legacy,
and I.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Believe, well JG. One of the things that I did
in order to, I guess, move my healing forward is
I started to go out and meet other families and
you know, feel that same pain and let them know
that I was going through it, you know, those before
my son and those after my son. And the one
(02:55):
thing that I heard over and over from these families,
and I've now met thousands of families. I don't know
if I you know, got probably met more families than
most anybody. But the one thing that I kept hearing
over and over that these families wanted was that their
loved ones not be forgotten. I mean, that's the cry
of their hearts. And so many are doing so many
(03:16):
things to reach out, you know, individually, to make sure
that their loved one's name isn't forgotten. And I thought, well,
let's do something bigger. Let's go out and make sure
that every family, no matter what generation, no matter if
they're introverts or extroverts, you know, no matter where they fit,
you know, in the social hierarchy, is that we create
(03:39):
something that makes sure every single one is remembered. And
that's how the Honor and Remember flag was created as
a as a national symbol for all of us to
be able to send a message to all of them.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
The Honor and Remember flag. I mean, this flag flies
in a lot of places around our country and is
presented to a lot of people. How did you come
up with?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Well, again, I decided that we needed this kind of big,
big idea, this big gift. And I thought, well, it
needed to be a flag, right because something up on
a pole, you know, is waving look at me here
I am you know what am I? You know kind
of a message. And so I thought, well, then what
(04:20):
would that flag look like if it's going to be
a flag? And so I pulled together military symbolism, you know,
symbolism that we would all understand that would be combined
to put together that when you saw this, you know,
this icon, this emblem, you would go, oh yeah, I
get it right. It's got a folded flag, it's got
eternal flames, it has blue stars and goal stars that
(04:42):
are military related, you know, and has the words you know,
honor and remember we'll always honor their service and remember
them individually by name. And so you know that became
the idea. I wanted to make this flag one of
the most recognizable symbols in America because you know, apathy
reigns everywhere, and I thought if I could get this
(05:04):
out there, and it's now, as you mentioned, it's now
officially legislated in twenty nine US states, So over half
the country has already made this one of their official symbols.
Alabama is not one of them.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
By the way, Wow, are you working on that? Can
I do anything to help you there?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Well? If you know any legislators who wouldn't mind putting
in these legislation.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Absolutely well, I've run across the couples over the last
twenty years. Yeah, I will be glad to do that.
In fact, I'd like to stay in touch with you, Georgie,
and I'll call you after the show and we'll map
out a plan and let's see where get that going.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
That would be wonderful. That would be wonderful. So I
tell the complete story right this journeys, it's been going
on eighteen years now, of traveling to all fifty states,
of moving to Capitol Hill and banging on doors of Congress,
running across America. And there's so many things in the
last eighteen years we've done to kind of raise this awareness.
(06:02):
And I put that all in a book. You know,
it's a lot more detailed than you know a few
minutes on a telephone call.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Well, i'll tell you what I'm going to share with
our senators, and I will talk to some local congress
people and I'll talk back with you about this. And
I think we ought to get the President to fly
this on his new flagpole at the White House.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Absolutely, yeah, we do have a bill in Congress. JT.
Good Hr thirteen sixty three.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
All right, Well, go to the tragedy too. Tribute dot
org is the website tragedy a tragedy rather tragedy to
tribute dot org. George, Lot's great work you're doing. In
my condolences on your son who served our country.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Well and thank you for your family service. You know
it takes it takes a few to make a difference.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Well, you're a great man. Thank you, George, and we'll
have you back and I'll be in touch for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Thank you, all right, God bless JT. Thank you
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