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Speaker 1: Hello, friends, Welcome to Story Behind podcast. This is the

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Speaker 1: show for people who love hearing a good story and

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Speaker 1: who believe the world could use more positivity. We're the

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Speaker 1: team behind God Updates and God Too, and we hope

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Speaker 1: these weekly short stories will brighten your day.

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Speaker 2: Eighty one years later to World War Two veterans meet

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Speaker 2: and discover they survive the same pow camp, written Behelrigiman,

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Speaker 2: Red Budgy Provost. Eighty one years later to World War

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Speaker 2: two veterans meet and discover they survived the same pow camp.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes God waits until the winter of our lives to

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Speaker 2: give us a friendship our hearts no we needed. That's

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Speaker 2: how it happened for one hundred and two year old

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Speaker 2: Less Shrink and one hundred and one year old Casey Bukowski,

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Speaker 2: two World War Two veterans whose stories ran side by

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Speaker 2: side more than eighty years ago, Yet their friendship didn't

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Speaker 2: begin until this fall. BLUs had long assumed that everyone

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Speaker 2: who survived alongside him had already passed. I corresponded with

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Speaker 2: so many of the po ws I was with, and

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Speaker 2: every one of them is gone for a good number

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Speaker 2: of years now, he said quietly. But God loves to

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Speaker 2: surprise us. Two friends, Mike Johnson and Jared Cummings began

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Speaker 2: comparing details and realized that Less and Casey had lived

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Speaker 2: nearly identical wartime experiences. Both were staff sergeants on b

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Speaker 2: seventeen bombers. Both were shot down on the exact same day,

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Speaker 2: February twenty second, nineteen forty four. Casey still remembers that

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Speaker 2: day vividly. I lost my eye at that time and

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Speaker 2: had a chaparal wound, and I was knocked out. He shared.

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Speaker 2: Less landed in Denmark. It was captured. Casey phone in

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Speaker 2: Germany was captured eventully without knowing it. They were moved

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Speaker 2: through the same prison camps. We were practically shaking hands,

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Speaker 2: and yet we didn't know each other. Casey said, they

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Speaker 2: dared brutal conditions, starvation, disease and bitter cold. Thus remembered

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Speaker 2: it plainly. We all have very severe dysentery, pleas lice

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Speaker 2: and bedbugs, and of course the cold. Casey added that

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Speaker 2: German guards told them it was the worst winner in

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Speaker 2: many years, the coldest winner. Those months included the infantous

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Speaker 2: eighty six day death March, where many fellow soldiers never survived,

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Speaker 2: but by God's mercies both men did. Their liberation came quietly.

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Speaker 2: Less was freed by the British, Casey by American troops. Finally,

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Speaker 2: for us, the war was over and we're able to

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Speaker 2: think of going home, Casey said. And then eighty one

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Speaker 2: years later they met in person at an Air Force

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Speaker 2: museum in Minnesota, on the occasion of Bless's birthday. Casey

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Speaker 2: flew in from New York to surprise him. Each brought

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Speaker 2: our own memories back to each other. Casey said, we

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Speaker 2: were together, but we didn't even know it. Now these

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Speaker 2: two heroes are planning a trip back to Poland to

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Speaker 2: visit the camps where they once suffered, this time not

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Speaker 2: as prisoners, but as living proof that God perseveres, restores,

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Speaker 2: and reunites. Their story reminds us that God does not

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Speaker 2: forget the roads we walked, not even the coldest ones.

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Speaker 2: He has a way of letting threads finally meet right

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Speaker 2: when the heart is ready Psalm one hundred and twenty

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Speaker 2: eight one. The Lord will watch over a year coming

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Speaker 2: and going, both now and forevermore. Three Virginia first graders

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Speaker 2: save their teacher after she started choking on her food.

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Speaker 2: Written by Heather Rigglemann read by Jolly Provost. Three Virginia

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Speaker 2: first graders save their teacher after she started choking on

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Speaker 2: a piece of food. Buckle up, because you will be

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Speaker 2: stunned by these amazing little heroes. Sometimes heroes are just

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Speaker 2: six or seven years old, sitting cross legged on carpet squares,

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Speaker 2: holding creons and sounding out spelling words. At lakep Elementary

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Speaker 2: School in Colonial Heights, these three boys remind everyone that

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Speaker 2: courage doesn't wait for adult. Last month, twenty three year

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Speaker 2: old teacher Madison Swift was eating while working with a

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Speaker 2: student when something went terribly wrong. I suddenly started choking

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Speaker 2: all my food, she said, her face flush red, and

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Speaker 2: her students immediately realized something was right. All of a sudden,

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Speaker 2: her face and I started going red, recalled six year

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Speaker 2: old Bryson Dass. That was enough for his classmates to

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Speaker 2: jump into action. Six year old Derek Concero's Franco pressed

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Speaker 2: the mergency call button on the classroom wall, then yelled

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Speaker 2: for help so someone would hear. Bryson ran into the

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Speaker 2: hallway to find another teacher. I knew that she was choking,

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Speaker 2: and I knew I needed to get her another TEA shirt,

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Speaker 2: Bryson explained. While the others sought help, seven year old

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Speaker 2: Colton Hirsch stayed by his teacher's side. He leaned her

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Speaker 2: forward and began giving her back blows, not because he

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Speaker 2: had medical training, but because his heart knew she needed him.

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Speaker 2: The student next to me bent over and started doing

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Speaker 2: back blows to my back, to where I dislodged the food.

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Speaker 2: Madison said, grateful beyond words. Day one hundred percent saved

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Speaker 2: my life. At the end of the week, she rewarded

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Speaker 2: each of them from her treasure box, though every adult

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Speaker 2: around them knew the real treasure was far bigger. Lake

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Speaker 2: View Elementary honored them on social media, sharing the picture

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Speaker 2: with the caption thank you to our late new heroes.

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Speaker 2: Madison commented, my little life saver. When Jesus talked about greatness,

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Speaker 2: he pointed to children, not because they are small, but

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Speaker 2: because their hearts are ready and open. These boys didn't

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Speaker 2: stop to wonder what an adult might do. They simply

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Speaker 2: did what compassion told them to do. One pressed the button,

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Speaker 2: one ran for help, once beside someone who couldn't breathe,

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Speaker 2: and together they saved the life. Here's don't always wear

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Speaker 2: uniforms or badges. Sometimes they are small to sit a

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Speaker 2: classroom tables with dangle feet, small enough to fit a

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Speaker 2: whole world of courage inside of first grade art. Culton, Derek,

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Speaker 2: and Bryson reminded us that heroism is a measure by size, age,

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Speaker 2: or strength. It shows up in kindness, quick thinking, and

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Speaker 2: choosing to help when someone needs you. Heroes truly come

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Speaker 2: in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes the very smallest

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Speaker 2: among us carry the biggest bravery of all Psalm ninety

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Speaker 2: one eleven. He will command his angels concerning you to

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Speaker 2: guard you in all of your ways.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to story Behind podcast.

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Speaker 1: We're really glad you joined us for this week's story.

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Speaker 1: To see photos and videos that may have been referenced

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Speaker 1: in this episode, check out the links and the show notes,

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Speaker 1: and if you enjoyed what you heard today, subscribe to

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Speaker 1: our podcast and please tell a friend about us. We'd

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Speaker 1: Story Behind is a Salem Web Network production.