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Speaker 1: The Michael Berry Show.

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Speaker 2: I received the following email, Czar, I'm a long time

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Speaker 2: listener to the podcast, but I've never reached out to

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Speaker 2: you before.

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Speaker 1: I'm doing so now. On behalf of Anita Dixon, I

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Speaker 1: served in the United States Army with her son, Evan Parker,

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Speaker 1: who was killed while we were deployed to Iraq in

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Speaker 1: two thousand and five. The officer who received him in

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Speaker 1: Germany from Iraq and kept him alive until his family

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Speaker 1: could get there to say their goodbyes is writing a

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Speaker 1: book with Anita called Honest Honor. It's not just about Evan.

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Speaker 1: They wanted to be a platform for all who served

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Speaker 1: in Iraq and Afghanistan to tell their stories. Anita has

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Speaker 1: been very active with other gold Star parents, having experienced

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Speaker 1: her loss before much of the groundwork was laid to

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Speaker 1: care for the families of the fallen, and determined to

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Speaker 1: make it better for the gold Star parents that would

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Speaker 1: inevitably come after her. She was even featured in a

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Speaker 1: Super Bowl commercial a couple of years ago. No guarantees

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Speaker 1: the story will make the book, but they've set up

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Speaker 1: a website for service members to tell their stories, experiences,

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Speaker 1: good and bad, tributes to fallen Brothers and more. It

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Speaker 1: is at Honest Honor dot com. I'd be so grateful

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Speaker 1: if you could get the word out to your vast

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Speaker 1: veteran audience to assist with this project and honor my

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Speaker 1: friend Evan Parker who passed Anita, would be a great

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Speaker 1: guest on your show, and I would be happy to

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Speaker 1: set that up. His name is Joel and he did

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Speaker 1: Anita Dixon Welcome.

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Speaker 3: Thank you.

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Speaker 1: Yes, First, tell me what got you, what unfortunately brought

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Speaker 1: you to the point where you needed to do this project.

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Speaker 3: Well, I think it has been on my heart and

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Speaker 3: retired Lieutenant Colonel Ken Grundy's heart for the last thirteen years,

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Speaker 3: and he just recently retired, and I think it was

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Speaker 3: just time that he just told his story. And he

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Speaker 3: wanted many of the other service members and veterans that

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Speaker 3: had had should I say, history of their military servants

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Speaker 3: service to be able to share as well. And you know,

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Speaker 3: and he let me know right off the bat. He says,

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Speaker 3: you know, this just isn't about what I did for Evan.

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Speaker 3: And he says, I don't want it to be, and

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Speaker 3: I hope you understand that, but he says, I also

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Speaker 3: wanted to be about so many of the other service

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Speaker 3: members telling their story and letting us understand their service

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Speaker 3: to our country and preserve history. That is maybe getting lost.

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Speaker 3: People don't know, people don't understand.

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Speaker 1: Who was Evan? Tell me about him.

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Speaker 3: Evan was my second son. He was born in nineteen eighty.

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Speaker 3: He was born May first, so he was my may basket.

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Speaker 3: And from very early age, I mean, this boy was

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Speaker 3: a scrapper. I mean he would get into all sorts

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Speaker 3: of trouble. He would never back down. He was as

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Speaker 3: strong as a freight train, and he just and everything

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Speaker 3: he did he just gave it his all. And you know,

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Speaker 3: we grew up in a farm, a very rural farm

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Speaker 3: in Kansas, and he was very active in sports. And

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Speaker 3: he graduated and went on to college on a scholarship.

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Speaker 3: And all of a sudden, one night he called and

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Speaker 3: he said it was at eleven o'clock at night, and

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Speaker 3: he said, Mom, are you setting down? And I said, Evan,

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Speaker 3: it's eleven o'clock at night, I'm laying down. What's wrong?

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Speaker 3: And he says, well, I have to tell you something.

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Speaker 3: I said, oh, honey, what did you do now? And

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Speaker 3: he says, I joined the army And there it just

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Speaker 3: went from there. He was proud, he was honored to

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Speaker 3: do what he did and got sent over to Schofield Barracks, Honolulu, Hawaii.

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Speaker 3: And he put that down on his first choice out

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Speaker 3: of Fortville, Oklahoma and Fort Riley in Kansas. And you know,

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Speaker 3: he was like who gets their first choice? You know,

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Speaker 3: I'm going to Hawaii. And then he was there for

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Speaker 3: the next you know, two and a half three years,

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Speaker 3: and then and then he he got out and he

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Speaker 3: was in the Army Reserve and he had a seven

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Speaker 3: year window that he had signed up for and they

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Speaker 3: called him back and he deployed out to Iraq with

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Speaker 3: the the first for eighty seventh Field Artillery Team and

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Speaker 3: went to Iraq. He was at LSA Anaconda, Iraq, and

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Speaker 3: what happened he went over there. He got over there

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Speaker 3: and in in January of two thousand and five, and

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Speaker 3: you know, very active and he s field artillery. He

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Speaker 3: was a fire support specialist and he did have a

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Speaker 3: pretty devastating head concussion in May and they called me,

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Speaker 3: they let me know, They said everything was okay, he'd

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Speaker 3: be calling me and he did and they put him

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Speaker 3: on desk duty for a while and he got his

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Speaker 3: first purple heart. And he came home in July for

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Speaker 3: his seventeen day R and R, and he was different,

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Speaker 3: very very different, and you know, basically said, you know,

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Speaker 3: I don't want to talk about it. I don't want

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Speaker 3: to see anything on the news or on the TV.

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Speaker 3: He says, I just I just want to relax and

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Speaker 3: have fun and eat all the food I can eat.

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Speaker 3: And I said okay. And then it got ready for

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Speaker 3: him to go back, and he said, no, I don't

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Speaker 3: want you to come to the airport. And I said okay.

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Speaker 3: He says, if you come to the airport, I'm not

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Speaker 3: going to get on that airplane. And I got to

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Speaker 3: go back. I said okay. So he went back, and

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Speaker 3: the week before the injury date, he called every day,

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Speaker 3: and which was very unusual. And normally we send him

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Speaker 3: phone cards because that was back when either stood in

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Speaker 3: line or you had to go and one base would

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Speaker 3: call another base, and so we gave him phone cards.

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Speaker 3: And so he called every day and called a lot

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Speaker 3: of the family members every day and just talked to him. Well.

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Speaker 3: On Saturday morning he called again and I was fixing

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Speaker 3: breakfast and he goes, hey, Mom, and I said Evan,

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Speaker 3: I said, you've called every single day. I said, is

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Speaker 3: everything okay? He said, yeah, everything's fine. He says, I'm

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Speaker 3: going out on night patrol. But he says, I just

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Speaker 3: wanted to call and tell you I love you. I said, well, honey,

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Speaker 3: I really love you too. I said, are you sure

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Speaker 3: everything's okay? He goes, yes, everything's okay. I just wanted

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Speaker 3: to tell you I love you. And he says, got

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Speaker 3: to go, And I said okay. Well, the next morning

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Speaker 3: I was getting ready to go to church this one moment.

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Speaker 1: Can you hold with us?

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Speaker 3: All right?

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Speaker 1: The website is Honest Honor dot com. Honest Honor dot com.

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Speaker 3: That m h.

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Speaker 4: Boy, you're gonna know it all.

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Speaker 3: You'll think your.

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Speaker 5: Ten feet tall run like your bullet proofs the total

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Speaker 5: of car too.

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Speaker 3: Boy, you're gonna hate this time.

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Speaker 5: I wish you could burn it down, that firing, your

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Speaker 5: RISS twenty counties wide. But ball, you're gonna little seventy

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Speaker 5: the ball.

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Speaker 4: You lose some stupid things.

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Speaker 5: You gonna drive the kids and drove, punch and grab

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Speaker 5: way too fast. You're gonna drive the ball, get the

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Speaker 5: wall and pray.

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Speaker 6: Some parts of that glass.

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Speaker 4: I know you will, because you're a part of me.

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Speaker 7: The part of you.

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Speaker 5: Who will always be your boy. You gonna be so stubborn.

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Speaker 4: You get that from your mother.

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Speaker 5: I already see it now.

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Speaker 4: You weren't built for backing down ball.

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Speaker 5: There'll be a small town night and you fall for

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Speaker 5: her sky blue eyes.

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Speaker 1: When she's in.

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Speaker 6: Your hands, you'll think you're a.

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Speaker 1: Man and done a ball, Anita, She'll make you lose,

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Speaker 1: you do, sir, Anita, boy, I forgot to pot.

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Speaker 3: You back up?

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Speaker 2: Can you pick up where you left off?

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Speaker 1: So, so Evan was calling and you said something was wrong.

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Speaker 3: And go ahead from there, and you know, he just

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Speaker 3: kept repeating that. You know that he just wanted to

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Speaker 3: call to tell me that he loved me, and said

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Speaker 3: he was going out on night patrol and he would

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Speaker 3: he would have the next three days, and so he'd

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Speaker 3: call again, but he says, I got to go, and

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Speaker 3: I said okay. So then the next morning I was

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Speaker 3: getting ready for church and I got a phone call

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Speaker 3: and they asked me if I was who I was,

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Speaker 3: and I said yes, sir, and they said, well, we're

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Speaker 3: calling from command and we just want to let you

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Speaker 3: know there was an attack last night and your son,

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Speaker 3: Evan took a They called him Sergeant Parker took a

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Speaker 3: i ed piece of shrapnel to the head and they said,

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Speaker 3: it doesn't look good, but we are transporting him into

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Speaker 3: surgery right now in Ballade and if he makes it out,

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Speaker 3: we will let you know and we will be sending

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Speaker 3: him to launch Stool Army Medical facility in Germany. I said, okay,

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Speaker 3: They said, we will let you know as soon as

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Speaker 3: we know something. And you know, I didn't know anything

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Speaker 3: about the military. I mean, Evan was very over all

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Speaker 3: the years, he was very quiet about his military service.

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Speaker 3: So there was a lot that I just didn't know,

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Speaker 3: didn't know how all of these things really went, how

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Speaker 3: they did things. So I waited, I you know, called

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Speaker 3: the rest of my family members and I waited, and

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Speaker 3: then in the middle of the afternoon I got a

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Speaker 3: phone call and they said, well, he made it out

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Speaker 3: of surgery and we are life watching him with his

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Speaker 3: friend that was with him that lost both of these legs.

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Speaker 3: Were life watching both of them to launch DUOL and

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Speaker 3: when the neurosurgeon receives him over there, then they'll give

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Speaker 3: you a call back. And they said, we would like

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Speaker 3: for you to prepare yourself and two other family members.

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Speaker 3: We're gonna if we can, we want to bring you

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Speaker 3: to Germany. I said, okay, and so we waited, and

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Speaker 3: then I got a phone call that night at about

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Speaker 3: midnight and they said, we received him and we're just

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Speaker 3: gonna tell you right now he's bring dead and there's

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Speaker 3: no hope for survival and what we would like to

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Speaker 3: keep him alit and and we're bringing you to Germany.

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Speaker 3: Please be to the nearest airport, which was Wichita, Kansas

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Speaker 3: by eight o'clock in the morning. I said, okay, and

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Speaker 3: so we prepared. We got ourselves rounded up and I

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Speaker 3: told him, I said, none of us have none of

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Speaker 3: us have passports. And they said, we'll take care of

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Speaker 3: that in Chicago when you land in Chicago, and they did,

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Speaker 3: and uh. Then we got on a flight Lastanza to Germany.

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Speaker 3: We were met in Frankfurt. We were taken to lawn

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Speaker 3: Stool and we were able to be with him for

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Speaker 3: twenty four hours before we had to remove in from

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Speaker 3: life support. And the nurse Major Grundy that got the

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Speaker 3: phone call at lawn Stool a matter of act, was

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Speaker 3: coming in. He said, you know, something just told me

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Speaker 3: that I need to go down to the tarmac. I

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Speaker 3: need to pick up these soldiers coming in and he says,

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Speaker 3: so I just went. He says, I told him I

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Speaker 3: was going, and so we went down there, and he says,

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Speaker 3: immediately was just driven to Evan. He was the worst

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Speaker 3: one of the two. And so he said, you know,

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Speaker 3: I took care of him, and literally for three days,

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Speaker 3: Major Grundy didn't even sleep. I mean, his his major

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Speaker 3: thing was to keep Evan alive, keep Evan going until

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Speaker 3: we got there. And he said, I was so afraid

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Speaker 3: that something would happen because they had him on all

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Speaker 3: sorts of monitors, they all drips, everything, His organs were failing,

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Speaker 3: he was running the temp and so he kept he

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Speaker 3: kept him going until we got there. And then when

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Speaker 3: he know, he did pass, but his command, several of

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Speaker 3: his command came up from Iraq to be with him,

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Speaker 3: and he got his second purple heart as we removed

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Speaker 3: him from life support and let him go, and you know,

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Speaker 3: they gave us time, you know, to be with him,

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Speaker 3: and and so then they said, well we will get

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Speaker 3: you ready, and we will send you back home, and

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Speaker 3: we'll send Evan, you know, to Dover, and so you know,

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Speaker 3: we'll get all that. And I just kind of looked

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Speaker 3: at him and I said, what we're You're sending us

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Speaker 3: home separately? And they go, well, yeah, and I said no.

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Speaker 3: I said, I'm not leaving Germany without my son. I

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Speaker 3: said We're going home together. And they go, well, you know, ma'am,

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Speaker 3: that's not kind of how things are done. And I said, well,

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Speaker 3: I'm not leaving here without my son. And so they

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Speaker 3: got in preparation and tried to see if they could

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Speaker 3: make it happen, and they finally decided that well, and

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Speaker 3: the problem was that we as civilians couldn't go on

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Speaker 3: a military flight, and it was very difficult to have

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Speaker 3: a soldier's body on a commercial flight. So, you know,

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Speaker 3: I put kinks in their plan, but I wasn't willing

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Speaker 3: at that point to back down. And they made it happen.

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Speaker 3: And then Major Grundy come up to us and he says,

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Speaker 3: I would like to be his escort. Of course, we

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Speaker 3: didn't know anything about what that meant, and so they

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Speaker 3: he explained it to us and he says, I'm I've

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Speaker 3: never I've never been an escort. I'm not even prepared.

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Speaker 3: But he said, would you ask for me? I said, sure,

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Speaker 3: got a problem, and so we we said told command

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Speaker 3: and they go, well, you know, Major Grundy, that's not

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Speaker 3: his that's not his job. And I'm like, well, we

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Speaker 3: wanted to be his job. He's been with him for

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Speaker 3: the last three days. We want him as an escort.

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Speaker 3: So they prepared him and to do that. And then

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Speaker 3: three days later we all went home together and Major

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Speaker 3: Grundy never left Evan's side. You know, from from the

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Speaker 3: moment that we got him off the airplane to the

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Speaker 3: moment they laid him in the ground, he never left

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Speaker 3: his side, stood at attention, and if the funeral home

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Speaker 3: was opened.

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Speaker 1: We made a hold on this moment. Jobway.

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Speaker 4: All I ever wanted to do is fly, leave this

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Speaker 4: world and live in the sky. I let see one

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Speaker 4: thirty out of Fort Worth Town.

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Speaker 5: I go up.

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Speaker 4: Some days I don't wanna come down. Well, fly that plane,

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Speaker 4: call the Angel Flight. Come on, brother, you're with me

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Speaker 4: to night between Heaven and Earth. You're never alone on

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Speaker 4: the Angel Flight. Come on, brother, I'm taking you. I

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Speaker 4: love my family and I love this lane, but tonight

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Speaker 4: this flights for another. We do what we do because

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Speaker 4: we heard the call. Shron gave a little, but he

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Speaker 4: gave it all.

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Speaker 6: I fly that plane.

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Speaker 4: Call the angel flight and come on, brother, you're with

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Speaker 4: me to name brother, you would be tonight between heaven

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Speaker 4: and her. You never alone on the you fly. Come on, brother,

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Speaker 4: I'm taking you home. Come on, brother, I am tagging you.

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Speaker 1: Chris Mallen writes from Monticello, Minnesota, TZAR. I'm listening to

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Speaker 1: this mom Anita talked about her son Evan. It is heartbreaking,

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Speaker 1: but it is something that I needed to hear today.

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Speaker 1: She is a moving person and a special mother. I

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Speaker 1: was a paratrooper as such, I never thought what my

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Speaker 1: potential loss would do to my mom. She is an

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Speaker 1: amazing woman that raised an amazing son for America. This

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Speaker 1: Miss Dixon, with the constant meat of the petty news.

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Speaker 1: This reminds me of how lucky I am, how blessed

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Speaker 1: I have been. I need to remember moms like Anita

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Speaker 1: more often. The website is Honest Honored dot Com. Anita, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: please proceed. I'm just gonna turn off my microphone.

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Speaker 3: So Major Grundy brought Van home and he never left

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Speaker 3: his side. We we come home on Leastanza into Atlanta,

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Speaker 3: and Atlanta on into Kansas City and there was transportation,

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Speaker 3: you know, across the you know the tarmac and they

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Speaker 3: asked people to you know, remain in their seats on

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Speaker 3: the flight, and that happened, and we got so much honor,

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Speaker 3: let me say, and so did Major Grundy. But he

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Speaker 3: stayed with him and he stayed in a by his

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Speaker 3: side until he lowered him into the ground. And that's

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Speaker 3: when Major Grundy come to me and said, you know,

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Speaker 3: it's time to go home. And he was from Rhode

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Speaker 3: Island still lives there. So that's been my experience of

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Speaker 3: losing Evan and how it all happened. And back then

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Speaker 3: in O five, there wasn't any ad you know, there

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Speaker 3: wasn't any help for us family members, and we just

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Speaker 3: kind of all kind of struggled along ourselves. And then

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Speaker 3: in two thousand and eight they adopted what was called

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Speaker 3: Survivor Outreach uses to reach out to the family members

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Speaker 3: that have lost And I remember another mother and I

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Speaker 3: from Leavenworth that lost her son David. In two thousand

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Speaker 3: and six. We were in Washington, d C. And we

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Speaker 3: were for Memorial Day and we were on the lawn

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Speaker 3: for the concert and we were visiting with the General

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Speaker 3: that was starting to adopt this Survivor Outreach program. And

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Speaker 3: you know, he asked for me and Diana to you know,

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Speaker 3: take our wisdom and our knowledge and what we had

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Speaker 3: went had went through the last two or three years

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Speaker 3: and take it back to Kansas and try to help

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Speaker 3: and try to help start it. Well, it wasn't but

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Speaker 3: a couple of months later that we got a phone

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Speaker 3: call from the base command at a Fort Riley Army

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Speaker 3: and we were there and we helped set up and

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Speaker 3: adopt and promote the program for Survivor Outreach Services in

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Speaker 3: the state of Kansas, kind of giving them our wisdom

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Speaker 3: and knowledge what was needed and necessary for families and

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Speaker 3: anywhere from finances to support to just the program in general,

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Speaker 3: how how they can reach out to people. So that

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Speaker 3: kind of started what I've done over the years, the

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Speaker 3: places I've been, the things that I've done, the strength

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Speaker 3: I think that I've received from just the veterans and

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Speaker 3: the service members, and I'm telling you right now, I

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Speaker 3: couldn't have done it without them. They produced, they promoted,

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Speaker 3: they held me up, they directed, they you know, they

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Speaker 3: were there for me through what they had went through

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Speaker 3: in their military service and a lot of the Vietnam debts.

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Speaker 3: You know, I had wonderful opportunities to be a part

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Speaker 3: of the Patriot Guard, their American Legion writers, the VSW writers,

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Speaker 3: and you know, those were a lot of your Vietnam

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Speaker 3: debts that I think finally I was able to start

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Speaker 3: to heal and able to give back for us. And

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Speaker 3: I think there's many of us that will tell you

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Speaker 3: that we couldn't have made it in Dinnis room as we.

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Speaker 1: Are without them, Anita, hold on, I want to talk

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Speaker 1: about the program and how people can be apart, how

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Speaker 1: other families can be a part of this one moment.

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Speaker 6: All very Michael, shadows are falling and I'm running out

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Speaker 6: of bread.

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Speaker 7: Keep me in your hard for a while.

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Speaker 6: If I believe you, it doesn't mean I love.

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Speaker 7: You any less. Keep me in your heart for a while.

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Speaker 7: When you get up in the morning and you see its.

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Speaker 1: A podcasts September seventh, two.

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Speaker 2: Thousand, every year, hard for a while.

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Speaker 1: He was born on this day in nineteen forty seven.

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Speaker 1: He's been seventy two years old, Anita, how did you

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Speaker 1: get involved with Honest Honor dot com?

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Speaker 3: Well, like I said, retired Lieutenant Colonel Ken Grundy was

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Speaker 3: Evans escort. He was Evans nurse. Like I said, he

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Speaker 3: This has been a dream for him to want to

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Speaker 3: do and I think now that he's retired, he's got

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Speaker 3: an opportunity to spend time on it and do it.

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Speaker 3: So it's our efforts to reach out to the service members,

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Speaker 3: the veterans, family members, to tell us your stories, preserve

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Speaker 3: the history that you have in your hearts, preserve it

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Speaker 3: to us. There's there's events that are being missed, there's

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Speaker 3: events that are not being told. There's things that are

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Speaker 3: not being said, and it's important.

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Speaker 1: Why is that important?

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Speaker 3: It's important because it preserves our history. It tells people

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Speaker 3: who you are and what you went through and able

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Speaker 3: to give us more honor and respect and for you

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Speaker 3: for your events, for our history. And we can go

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Speaker 3: out and we can go forth and we can use

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Speaker 3: that to spread, to teach, to educate. So much is

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Speaker 3: being lost, so much is not being told. Young kids

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Speaker 3: don't know, and they need to They need to know

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Speaker 3: what they went through. They need to know those stories.

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Speaker 3: What do you do for a loon? What do I

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Speaker 3: do for them? For a living? I'm retired? What did

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Speaker 3: you I was? I was a restore therapist that worked

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Speaker 3: in critical care and trauma for years. I retired back

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Speaker 3: and fit in fifteen. My husband, we've second marriage, We've

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Speaker 3: been married for eleven years, and he's retired Master Sergeant

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Speaker 3: Air Force, So I kind of got back into the

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Speaker 3: military service. I was single, a single mom when I

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Speaker 3: lost dev and I had been for about nine years,

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Speaker 3: and then I married a military.

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Speaker 1: So I don't think there was a dry eye in

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Speaker 1: the audience or our studio when you told that story.

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Speaker 1: But you have a steely resolve while talking. Would that

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Speaker 1: have been the case fourteen years ago or did that

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Speaker 1: come with time?

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Speaker 3: That came with time? You know, fourteen years ago, I

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Speaker 3: was just trying to keep my head above water. I

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Speaker 3: was just trying to, I guess, maybe survive and move on.

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Speaker 3: And I just started, like I said, you know, so

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Speaker 3: many people held me up, so many people strengthened me

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Speaker 3: and pushed me, kindly pushed me into a direction. And

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Speaker 3: I guess it was just my way of continual healing.

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Speaker 3: It's my way of honoring Evan. And I told Evan

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Speaker 3: when we let him go off of live support, when

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Speaker 3: we you know, pulled the tube, I told him, I said,

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Speaker 3: you will always be remembered, you will never be forgotten,

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Speaker 3: and your name will constantly be spoken, and I have

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Speaker 3: kept that promise to him, and I continue to keep

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Speaker 3: that promise to the last breath that I breathe.

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Speaker 1: If your life to Michael Berry Show and Podcast, please

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00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:58,720
Speaker 1: tell one friend, and if you're so inclined, write a

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00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:03,880
Speaker 1: nice review of our podcast. Comments, suggestions, questions, and interest

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00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:07,880
Speaker 1: in being a corporate sponsor and partner can be communicated

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00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:12,360
Speaker 1: directly to the show at our email address, Michael at

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00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:17,000
Speaker 1: Michael Berryshow dot com, or simply by clicking on our website,

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00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:21,880
Speaker 1: Michael Berryshow dot com. The Michael Berry Show and Podcast

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00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:27,320
Speaker 1: is produced by Ramon Roeblis, The King of Ding. Executive

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00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:36,200
Speaker 1: producer is Chad Knakanishi. Jim Mudd is the creative director.

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00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:42,600
Speaker 1: Voices Jingles, Tomfoolery, and Shenanigans are provided by Chance McLain.

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00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:47,880
Speaker 1: Director of Research is Sandy Peterson. Emily Bull is our

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00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:55,360
Speaker 1: assistant listener and superfan. Contributions are appreciated and often incorporated

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00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:59,120
Speaker 1: into our production. Where possible, we give credit, where not,

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00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:02,840
Speaker 1: we take call the credit for ourselves. God bless the

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00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:08,560
Speaker 1: memory of Rush Limbaugh. Long live Elvis, be a simple

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00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:14,440
Speaker 1: man like Leonard Skinnard told you, And God bless America. Finally,

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00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:18,920
Speaker 1: if you know a veteran suffering from PTSD, call Camp

421
00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:24,840
Speaker 1: Hope at eight seven seven seven one seven PTSD and

422
00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:28,760
Speaker 1: a combat veteran will answer the phone to provide free

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00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:29,240
Speaker 1: counseling