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Speaker 1: Hi, This is newt Twenty twenty is going to be

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Speaker 1: one of the most extraordinary election years of our lifetime.

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Speaker 1: I want to invite you to join my Inner Circle

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Speaker 1: as we discuss each twist and turn in the presidential race.

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Speaker 1: flash briefings, online events, and members only audio reports from

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Speaker 1: a one or two year membership, you'll get ten percent

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Speaker 1: my live events. Join My Inner Circle today at Newtcenter

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Speaker 1: Circle dot com slash podcast use the Code podcast at checkout.

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Speaker 1: Sign up today at Newtcenter Circle dot com slash podcast

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Speaker 1: and use the Code podcast hurry This Offtway Spires February fourteenth.

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Speaker 1: On this episode of Newtsworld for Memorial Day, I am

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Speaker 1: devoting an episode of the podcast to those who served, fought,

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Speaker 1: and died for our country. The Congressional Medal of Honor

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Speaker 1: is the highest US military decoration awarded by Congress to

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Speaker 1: a member of the Armed Forces for gallantry and bravery

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Speaker 1: in combat. On this episode, we will explore this history

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Speaker 1: of the Medal of Honor and learn about some of

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Speaker 1: the recipients. My guests are Laura Joudy, archivist and collections

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Speaker 1: manager at Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Marcus Latruelle, retired

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Speaker 1: US Navy Seal and founder of the Lone Survivor Foundation,

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Speaker 1: and herschel Woody Williams, the last living Medal of Honor

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Speaker 1: recipient from World War Two. I'm curious working as the

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Speaker 1: archivist and collections manager at the Congressional Medal of Honor Society,

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Speaker 1: what do you think is the biggest thing you've learned. Well,

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Speaker 1: the biggest thing I've learned about the recipients themselves is

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Speaker 1: how individual they all are. Everybody asks me, what is

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Speaker 1: it that makes them do what they do, and the

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Speaker 1: answer is there's no answer. Each one of them is different,

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Speaker 1: They're each an individual. Is just amazing to me, the

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Speaker 1: variety in personalities and who they are, And to me,

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Speaker 1: that's really inspirational because it really tells you that everybody

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Speaker 1: has it in them to meet the need when it

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Speaker 1: comes about. That's the biggest thing I've learned is that

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Speaker 1: everybody has what has the ability, and you just have

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Speaker 1: to recognize that you have it within you to do

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Speaker 1: great things. And that's really what I've learned in this job.

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Speaker 1: Did you find in talking with Medal of Honor recipients

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Speaker 1: that sometimes they were surprised themselves? Oh? Yes, and a

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Speaker 1: lot of them are surprised even at the accolades they've

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Speaker 1: received for doing what they've done. I mean that is

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Speaker 1: very consistent with all of them. They all say, I

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Speaker 1: was just doing what needed to be done. These are

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Speaker 1: my brothers. If I was protecting them, I was doing

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Speaker 1: what was expected of me. I didn't expect to receive

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Speaker 1: a medal or to shake the hand of the president.

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Speaker 1: How did we end up with a Congressional Medal of Honor? Well,

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Speaker 1: we're going back to the Civil War and at the time,

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Speaker 1: the Union had no way to recognize gallantry. They had

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Speaker 1: a certificate of merit, which was a piece of paper

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Speaker 1: and a flight raising pay and that's nothing to scoff at.

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Speaker 1: But they felt they needed something a little bit more,

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Speaker 1: and so it started with the Navy Medal of Honor,

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Speaker 1: and a senator from Iowa introduced a bill to create

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Speaker 1: the Navy Medal of Honor. And the idea was to

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Speaker 1: not only reward those sailors who performed gallantry, but also

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Speaker 1: almost as an inspirational tool to others in the service.

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Speaker 1: So that's kind of the impetus for it, for the

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Speaker 1: creation of the Medal of Honor, and it was all

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Speaker 1: about providing and increasing the efficiency of the Navy. And

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Speaker 1: then the army kind of jumped on board with that

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Speaker 1: and introduced theirs as well, and that was a senator

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Speaker 1: from Massachusetts introduced that bill. So that's how we ended

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Speaker 1: up with the Medal of Honor. So it was the

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Speaker 1: only medal available in the history of the country. George

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Speaker 1: Washington did introduce a sort of proto Purple Heart award

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Speaker 1: during the Revolutionary War, but the Medal of Honor is

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Speaker 1: really the first award that the armed services ever had

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Speaker 1: that was a physical medal for the United States. And

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Speaker 1: when the Civil War ended, it's our bloodiest war, our

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Speaker 1: most difficult war. How many medals were given to Civil

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Speaker 1: War soldiers. There were about nine hundred that were presented

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Speaker 1: during the Civil War, and then as the years went

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Speaker 1: by they presented a few more. So in the eighteen nineties,

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Speaker 1: really you see a bunch more Civil War awards being

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Speaker 1: handed out because somebody remembered their buddy did something heroic,

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Speaker 1: so they put in their buddy to receive the medal.

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Speaker 1: And so over time it's eventually become one five hundred

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Speaker 1: twenty three. So that's over forty of all Medals of

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Speaker 1: Honor ever presented have been for Civil War actions. And

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Speaker 1: that's again you have to remember, it was the only

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Speaker 1: medal available to recognize heroism. Later on there were so

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Speaker 1: nine hundred Congressional Medals of Honor they were rescinded. How

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Speaker 1: could that be? Well, what happened is some of it

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Speaker 1: was part of these eighteen nineties, Like I was just

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Speaker 1: telling you where they went back and they started giving

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Speaker 1: them for guys in the Civil War, and they kind

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Speaker 1: of tightened up the standards for the Medal of Honor

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Speaker 1: through the year, starting at about eighteen ninety in going forward.

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Speaker 1: So by the time about nineteen sixteen came around, they

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Speaker 1: had really tightened up and sort of changed a few

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Speaker 1: of the requirements for the Medal of Honor. So Congress

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Speaker 1: came back and said, well, let's do a review and

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Speaker 1: make sure everybody meets the standards for the Medal of Honor.

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Speaker 1: And so they formed a review board of five generals

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Speaker 1: and they went through every Medal of honor, citation, and

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Speaker 1: every Medal of honor award that had been done to

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Speaker 1: that point, and what they decided was those nine hundred

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Speaker 1: and eleven awards didn't meet the standards. And the largest

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Speaker 1: group that was rescinded was for the twenty seventh Maine

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Speaker 1: and they were a group of soldiers who in in

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Speaker 1: June eighteen sixty three, when the Confederates were growing close

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Speaker 1: to Washington, d C. The twenty seventh Maine was stationed

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Speaker 1: there and their terms of enlistment were up, and the

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Speaker 1: concern was that Washington DC needed these soldiers to protect

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Speaker 1: the city. So those soldiers were told, hey, if you

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Speaker 1: stay and protect the city even though your enlistments are up,

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Speaker 1: you'll get a Medal of Honor. So some of those

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Speaker 1: soldiers stayed and some of them went home, and nobody

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Speaker 1: really kept track of who stayed and who didn't. Well,

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Speaker 1: the entire regiment ended up with the Medal of Honor.

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Speaker 1: So the largest group that was rescentded was that group

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Speaker 1: because nobody was sure who stayed who didn't, and it

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Speaker 1: was determined that that wasn't really an act of gallantry,

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Speaker 1: so they didn't meet the standard for the Medal of Honor.

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Speaker 1: So that just as a for example, that's a group

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Speaker 1: that was rescinded. Part of the thing that's fashionamed without

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Speaker 1: the Congressional medal is that there are very serious criteria.

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Speaker 1: Could you walk through the criteria to be considered for

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Speaker 1: a Congressional Medal of Honor? Sure, you need two eye

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Speaker 1: witnesses to the act. They're usually sworn affidavits. Now in

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Speaker 1: the modern age, they are using technology to sort of

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Speaker 1: reinforce the eyewitness statements. So you've got infrared technology, you've

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Speaker 1: got satellites, you've got a helmet cams, vest cams, there's

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Speaker 1: all sorts of technological things they're using to kind of

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Speaker 1: bolster the eyewitness statements. The packets are huge, hundreds of pages.

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Speaker 1: They map, they document the situation. It's a life and

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Speaker 1: death situation. It's when you're under fire facing the enemy.

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Speaker 1: There are times even where they can't award it because

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Speaker 1: there are no eyewitness statements. The fog of battle, you

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Speaker 1: just can't always see what's going on, or nobody survives

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Speaker 1: to know what was done, but something heroic was done,

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Speaker 1: so you can't award a medal if you don't know

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Speaker 1: what happened. Unfortunately, the bottom line is you have to

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Speaker 1: have the two eyewitness statements, and it has to be

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Speaker 1: an act that if it wasn't done, the individual wouldn't

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Speaker 1: be the subject of censure. So the idea it has

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Speaker 1: to be something voluntary. That's what pretty much that statement means.

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Speaker 1: And the recommendation has to be made within three years,

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Speaker 1: and the medal has to be awarded within five and

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Speaker 1: that's just to make sure that things don't get confused

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Speaker 1: or so things are done in a timely manner. And

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Speaker 1: lately you've seen probably on the news quite a few

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Speaker 1: things that have been done outside of that time and

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Speaker 1: those individuals. Congress has had actually passed law waiving that

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Speaker 1: timeline so those individuals could be presented with the medal

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Speaker 1: and recognized. How many total Congressional Meal of Honor recipients

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Speaker 1: have there been so far there have been three thousand,

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Speaker 1: five hundred and four, but there have been nineteen double recipients,

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Speaker 1: so the number of medals is different from the number

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Speaker 1: of recipients. So there have been three thousand, five hundred

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Speaker 1: and twenty three medals presented. The nineteen who are double

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Speaker 1: recipients must be amazing. Yes, their stories are pretty awesome.

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Speaker 1: Their names I think most people have heard of, especially

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Speaker 1: if you're a student of military history. Dan Daily, Thomas Custer,

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Speaker 1: Smedley Butler, A few names to throw out. Well in

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Speaker 1: that sense, what are your favorite stories? There are so

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Speaker 1: many of them. I've always liked Henry Irwin's story. He

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Speaker 1: was a radio man in World War Two in a

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Speaker 1: bombing aircraft and they had phosphorus smoke bombs on board,

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Speaker 1: and part of his job was to drop them. He

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Speaker 1: was in double detail, and one of them went off

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Speaker 1: in the launch shoot and it was smoking up the

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Speaker 1: entire inside of the plane, and the pilot couldn't see,

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Speaker 1: and he actually grabbed this thing. And now this is

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Speaker 1: a white phosphorus bomb. It's thousands and thousands of degrees,

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Speaker 1: and he held it to his body and took it

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Speaker 1: to the shoot and physically dropped it down out of

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Speaker 1: the shoot, So he saved the entire aircraft. He was

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Speaker 1: just burned over his whole body and he survived this.

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Speaker 1: Heaven to his how but he survived it. And his

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Speaker 1: act was so extraordinary. And there's pictures of him lying

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Speaker 1: on a gurney and they rushed his Metal of Honor

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Speaker 1: through the system, and they presented it to him because

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Speaker 1: they were afraid he was going to die and they

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Speaker 1: wanted him to receive it while he was still alive.

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Speaker 1: So I've always been impressed with his story just because

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Speaker 1: of how inspirational he immediately was to everyone. There is

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Speaker 1: a submarine captain and he was on the deck when

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Speaker 1: his ship was under fire and he told them to

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Speaker 1: dive because the ship needed to get away. He saved

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Speaker 1: everybody on his sub and sacrificed his life because they

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Speaker 1: needed to get the hatch closed and he couldn't get

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Speaker 1: there in time. So the sub's going down and he's

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Speaker 1: standing on deck, and just the thought that was going

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Speaker 1: through his head. I mean, you put yourself in these

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Speaker 1: men's shoes, and just the idea of what's going on

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Speaker 1: with them. I mean, in those last few moments of

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Speaker 1: his life, he knows he saved all those guys. It's

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Speaker 1: just amazing to me. Tell me for a second about

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Speaker 1: Smedley Butler. He received his Medal of Honor and two

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Speaker 1: separate instances, and he ended up writing a book called

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Speaker 1: War Is a Racket, and he ended up testifying in

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Speaker 1: front of Congress about how there's these opportunities for profiteering war.

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Speaker 1: He believed in his country. He was very much a patriot,

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Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, but he definitely took his experiences

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Speaker 1: from war and talked about how there's this other aspect

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Speaker 1: of war that maybe civilians weren't aware of. He was

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Speaker 1: a hero in another way as well. So he was

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Speaker 1: on the battlefield, he was a hero. There's also a

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Speaker 1: hero in the way that he's kind of showing how

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Speaker 1: there's this opportunity for profiteering from the less scrup elius

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Speaker 1: parts of society as well. So he really is a

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Speaker 1: man who stood by his principle. It was fearless, both

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Speaker 1: on the battlefield and in civilian life. How many Congressional

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Speaker 1: Metal Honor Wonders are there today who are still alive.

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Speaker 1: There's seventy one that's out of what thirty five hundred. Amazing,

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Speaker 1: and so are they all They're all related through the society. Yes,

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Speaker 1: we are the headquarters for all of them. They can

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Speaker 1: reach out to us whenever they need to. People send mail,

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Speaker 1: they send invitations for them to speak. Some of these

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Speaker 1: guys are on the road two hundred or more days

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Speaker 1: a year. They speak to schools, They speak to veterans groups,

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Speaker 1: active troops. Some of them still go to some of

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Speaker 1: the war zones meet with the troops who are on

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Speaker 1: active duty. They're busy, busy. Man. If you had to

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Speaker 1: summarize and you're just just talking to an average, every

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Speaker 1: day American, what isn't you most wish they understood about

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Speaker 1: the Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. At the end of

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Speaker 1: the day, they are just like them, and that's the

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Speaker 1: inspiration of them. Everybody has it in them to meet

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Speaker 1: that need of when that moment of glory calls. We

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Speaker 1: all have it within us to pull forth and do

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Speaker 1: what needs to be done. It doesn't matter who you are,

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Speaker 1: where you came from, or what your background is. These

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Speaker 1: guys they run the gamut of all of that, and

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Speaker 1: it's just the fact that they had it within them

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Speaker 1: at the moment they were needed. And so do you,

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Speaker 1: and so does everyone else. That's a great message. Listen,

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Speaker 1: Thank you very very much. When we come back, I'll

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Speaker 1: be joined by Marcus Latruelle, retired US Navy seal and

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Speaker 1: founder of the Loan Survivor Foundation. You know, my dad

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Speaker 1: served in the Army and retired to Attendant colonel after

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Speaker 1: twenty seven years in the infantry, and so I have

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Speaker 1: a deep feeling for military families and for people who

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Speaker 1: arrisk their lives for the country. What led you to

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Speaker 1: sign up? Why did you end up serving? The customary

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Speaker 1: for all of the men in my family to serve

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Speaker 1: My father was in Vietnam, My grandfathers were in Korea,

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Speaker 1: World War two, World War One. I had a grandfather's

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Speaker 1: a rough want to fund the civil war. Every engagement

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Speaker 1: that's happened in this country, I've had a relative in

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Speaker 1: it before. Actually we were before a country and just

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Speaker 1: kind of a it's an understood thing, but it's kind

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Speaker 1: of a I'm American made, texted edition Special Forces package,

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Speaker 1: is what I like to say. And it's just one

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Speaker 1: of those deals that something comes up, we gotta go.

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Speaker 1: My father would always say, before you exploit this country

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Speaker 1: to serve her in some form of fashion. You had

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Speaker 1: a particularly close relationship with your team and engaged in

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Speaker 1: a very famous and very difficult mission. It must have

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Speaker 1: been a very painful, extraordinary thing. But could we started

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Speaker 1: this talk about the three guys that you were serving

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Speaker 1: with at that point and the team you were together on.

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Speaker 1: I think people are really interested in getting the sort

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Speaker 1: of personal feeling of how you saw them and how

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Speaker 1: you related to them and what they meant to you.

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Speaker 1: We'll start with the highest ranking guys. Out of respect

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Speaker 1: that my best friend, Mike Murphy. He was a Long

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Speaker 1: Island boy. I mean, he was straight out of New York.

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Speaker 1: The first day we met, I remember I walked in.

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Speaker 1: I had a couple of platoons. I was kind of

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Speaker 1: been there longer than him, but he ranked me, and

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Speaker 1: he walked in and said something to me, and I

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Speaker 1: kind of said, hey, would you get to the point

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Speaker 1: because the Yankee accent of yours is cutting through me

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Speaker 1: like a knife. And then he turned around and made

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Speaker 1: some slight comment just straight back to me about my

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Speaker 1: Southern accent. And every since then I was like, man,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna get along famously. The thing about our community

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Speaker 1: is what rank means is if we get in trouble,

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Speaker 1: we get back to the rear, the highest rank guy's

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Speaker 1: gonna take the blame for it, and then it rolls downhill.

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Speaker 1: Other than that, we're a family because of the way

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Speaker 1: we have to trade and the things that you guys

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Speaker 1: allow us to do. You're very familiar sir, with what

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Speaker 1: our community is and what it exactly is we're designed for.

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Speaker 1: That's why it was only a handful of us. And

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Speaker 1: because of that, we become family. I mean, you can

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Speaker 1: be born with somebody to share blood with them, or

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Speaker 1: you could spill blood and shed blood with somebody to

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Speaker 1: become family. And the training and everything that we have

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Speaker 1: to go through together builds that bond, and then when

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Speaker 1: you throw us into combat, it solidifies it. There isn't

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Speaker 1: that personal feeling. One of the real keys to why

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Speaker 1: people fighting how they fight that they're that's the guys

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Speaker 1: next to them. It's the people that they relate to,

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Speaker 1: that they eat with and drink with and talk with

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Speaker 1: that really gives them the courage and binds them together

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Speaker 1: to do the things they have to do. Absolutely, I

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Speaker 1: have people ask me like, what did the Navy still

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Speaker 1: look like? And we look like everybody. Imagine taking one

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Speaker 1: guy from every walk of life in this country and

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Speaker 1: throwing it into one unit and the one team. We

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Speaker 1: eat together, drink together, we seat together, we suffer together.

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Speaker 1: And because of that, we kind of have an understanding

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Speaker 1: of what this world like. Because of the dynamic and

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Speaker 1: the difference between all of us I mean, you're talking

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Speaker 1: about the most alpham men on the planet running around

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Speaker 1: in one spot. We all come from different backgrounds, different races,

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Speaker 1: and we all bring that to the one collective. That's

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Speaker 1: how we know that it would work. Like you can

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Speaker 1: get along with anybody because of what we do, plain

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Speaker 1: and simple that none of that means anything to us

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Speaker 1: is each other. I was never the strongest, the fastest

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Speaker 1: of the smartest guy out there. Man, I just got

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Speaker 1: to hang around him. In your case, you're kind of

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Speaker 1: unusual because, as I understand it, when you were fourteen,

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Speaker 1: Billy Shelton began training you, and really you had one

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Speaker 1: of the earliest, deepest personal commitments to doing this. And

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Speaker 1: what was that like? I mean, how do you end

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Speaker 1: up at fourteen putting yourself through all this? So I

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Speaker 1: have an identical twin brother, and he's only seven minutes

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Speaker 1: older than me, but he's the outpa of the two

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Speaker 1: of us, so I kind of followed his lead. He's

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Speaker 1: my hero. It was his idea to be Navy Seals.

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Speaker 1: Because we were twins, we didn't grow like everybody else.

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Speaker 1: We were real little all right. I mean, people look

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Speaker 1: at me now. When I graduated high school, I was

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Speaker 1: around five six, one hundred and fifty to four pounds

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Speaker 1: and I'm six five, two hundred and eighty pounds. I

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Speaker 1: grew another inch and a half when I was twenty

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Speaker 1: three and when I was forty. It was his idea

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Speaker 1: and I just kind of followed him blindly. The only

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Speaker 1: difference was I had to go first, and if I

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Speaker 1: made it through there with no damage, it was a

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Speaker 1: good idea. Right if I got hurt, He's like, I

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Speaker 1: already think this, so and we're absolutely insepparable. We're mirror twins.

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Speaker 1: He's the last side on the right, and we follow

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Speaker 1: each other. And it was when he came up with

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Speaker 1: this idea to be Navy seals. Once we started training

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Speaker 1: for it, we couldn't stop. What was Shelton's role in

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Speaker 1: this whole thing? Okay? So he had a training program

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Speaker 1: that he developed himself. We come from a small town.

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Speaker 1: Everybody knew who he was. I mean, in my in

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Speaker 1: the crew that I went through with, there's three Navy

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Speaker 1: Seals and two Green Berets. So he hasn't He absolutely

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Speaker 1: knows what he's doing. And you just show up over there.

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Speaker 1: You don't pay money, you don't sign any waivers, or

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Speaker 1: anything like that. You just show up and you put out.

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Speaker 1: You know, if you put out in this program, he'll

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Speaker 1: get you in that mindset, mental and physical to make

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Speaker 1: it into any of our programs that we had to

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Speaker 1: suffer in the American Arsenal. I mean, he got it down.

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Speaker 1: And plus being from a small town, if you try

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Speaker 1: to go through his program and then you quit, he'd

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Speaker 1: make fun of us for the rest of our life.

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Speaker 1: He'd had to move you couldn't even live in the town.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that made you better prepared to then

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Speaker 1: go into the Seal Team program him? Sure. I'll never

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Speaker 1: forget that first day when I saw when I walked

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Speaker 1: in there, I was like, hey 's actually at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, we were in the showers and

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Speaker 1: I looked at this guy. We were beat the desk

359
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Speaker 1: and I was like, it's every day like this. He's like, no,

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Speaker 1: this is just day one. It gets worse every day

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Speaker 1: after this, And I was like, Okay, it's gonna be hard.

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Speaker 1: I mean that whole persona that I have never quit.

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Speaker 1: I say that a lot. That's because there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of times I'm like, man, I'm about even good. I

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Speaker 1: did to quit right now because this is about to

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Speaker 1: get dangerous, and I'm liable to get hurt. It always

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00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:31,399
Speaker 1: was dangerous, and I always did get hurt. But I

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Speaker 1: never quit. And because of that, I mean, I have

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Speaker 1: the greatest day of my life every day, I truly do.

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Speaker 1: I'm blessed in every capacity, and I've gotten to walk

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Speaker 1: with giants and fight in combat. I never looked at

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Speaker 1: that as a bad thing at all. I was honored

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Speaker 1: to be there. Period. So you take all of that

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Speaker 1: skill and all the training and you end up with

375
00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:59,480
Speaker 1: your three teammates on an extraordinarily difficult and dangerous and

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Speaker 1: high risk mission. Can you talk, just for companies about

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Speaker 1: the three team mates and what they were like and

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Speaker 1: then how they fit together. Well, that's what I started with. Mikey,

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Speaker 1: Like I said, he was that long Island boy. He

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Speaker 1: was our officer in charge. And the next guy was

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Speaker 1: Matt Axinson. He went through seal training with my brother.

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Speaker 1: They were acting swim buddies. That means they were partners.

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Speaker 1: Through seal training they were, and sniper school they were inseparable.

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Speaker 1: They were as close as as Mikey and I were.

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Speaker 1: And the other gentleman was Danny Deep. He's a Colorado

386
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Speaker 1: boy from Lyttleton. We weren't on the same steal team together,

387
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Speaker 1: but our pipelines are so similar that we were in

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Speaker 1: a lot of the same training classes together. So I

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00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:41,040
Speaker 1: had known him my whole career. So when we got

390
00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:44,920
Speaker 1: paired up in Afghanistan, we automatically assimilate. That's because most time,

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Speaker 1: each guy knows each guy's job, and we're set up

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Speaker 1: that way for a reason. So if you kill one

393
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Speaker 1: of us, the next guy's step up and do his job,

394
00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:52,679
Speaker 1: and the guy behind him, well step up and do

395
00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:54,000
Speaker 1: his until you have to kill every single one of

396
00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:56,200
Speaker 1: us before or we stopped. I mean, we don't ever

397
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Speaker 1: train for defeat. We trained to go in we have

398
00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:02,359
Speaker 1: it and we had an extract arry tertiary and then death.

399
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:06,000
Speaker 1: But we had been together, Mikey and Ax and I

400
00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:09,400
Speaker 1: had been together, like I said, our whole career. Danny

401
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:12,040
Speaker 1: and I got separated by coast for a little bit

402
00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:15,160
Speaker 1: and we got paired back up when we got to Afghanistan.

403
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Speaker 1: That was my third deployment, I think, and I think

404
00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,239
Speaker 1: it was Danny the second, and I'm not same with

405
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Speaker 1: Ax and Mikey. How long was the team together, the

406
00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:28,399
Speaker 1: four of you, So we were probably together platooned up

407
00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,720
Speaker 1: for almost two years, the year and a half, almost

408
00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:35,080
Speaker 1: two years before we went to Afghanistan. Part of that,

409
00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:36,800
Speaker 1: each one of us were in a platoon before that,

410
00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:38,159
Speaker 1: and each one of those were a year and a

411
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Speaker 1: half long of training. Our primary job was reconnaissance, which

412
00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,080
Speaker 1: means we're together all the time, more than any of

413
00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:46,600
Speaker 1: the door kickers, the snipers, or anything like that. They

414
00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:50,520
Speaker 1: launched us out before any bombs or drops, or before

415
00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:52,879
Speaker 1: any kind of American assault goes down. You have to

416
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:55,800
Speaker 1: have eyes on target. Well, that was us, and in

417
00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:59,359
Speaker 1: order to do that, all we would do we'll spend

418
00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:01,800
Speaker 1: our lives together in the field. We knew each other

419
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,720
Speaker 1: better than our wives and our family did. And in

420
00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:08,840
Speaker 1: that process you drew one particular mission that puts you

421
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Speaker 1: right out at the edge of the support capabilities. When

422
00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:15,240
Speaker 1: Red Wing came down the fight, just on that one

423
00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:17,520
Speaker 1: we were we were we were at border Town, which

424
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:22,680
Speaker 1: means we're the furthest operating base out there is where

425
00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:25,240
Speaker 1: we launched from. And then we go we kind of

426
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Speaker 1: go recreate the line, if you will. And in order

427
00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:30,840
Speaker 1: to do that, it's a small man unit and it's

428
00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:35,239
Speaker 1: a small unite. Tactics for everybody. Always. I've heard people say,

429
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:36,960
Speaker 1: what do you go out there with twenty thirty people?

430
00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:38,119
Speaker 1: I was like, because you know how easy it is

431
00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:41,000
Speaker 1: to see twenty and thirty people. Anybody knows anything about

432
00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:43,159
Speaker 1: snicking around and getting stuff done. You don't do a

433
00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:46,760
Speaker 1: big signature, so it's small unit tactics. And because of that,

434
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:49,600
Speaker 1: we had to be together and train together all the time,

435
00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:52,320
Speaker 1: underwater and on top of it. So, when you have

436
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:56,359
Speaker 1: that kind of closeness, So I'm gonna ask a question,

437
00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:58,399
Speaker 1: I hope it's not too personal, but when you have

438
00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,080
Speaker 1: that kind of closeness and you lose a friend that

439
00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:05,119
Speaker 1: you've been living with, how do you switch gears and

440
00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:08,359
Speaker 1: keep moving? I think what you're asking is how did

441
00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:10,879
Speaker 1: I handle when it when all of them went away automatically.

442
00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:13,680
Speaker 1: I never thought about them being dead. I still don't.

443
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:16,080
Speaker 1: And the reason I get up and tell there's this story.

444
00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:18,080
Speaker 1: You know, I talk about them when I go on

445
00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:20,120
Speaker 1: stage and I do my thing is if I tell

446
00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:22,199
Speaker 1: you this story and you know their names and you

447
00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:24,280
Speaker 1: turn around and tell somebody else, then they never really die.

448
00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:26,600
Speaker 1: I mean we're still talking about them, and I always

449
00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:29,440
Speaker 1: do and I always will, so they're really with you

450
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:33,480
Speaker 1: in spirit. They're with you right now, you bet even

451
00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,439
Speaker 1: I've known each other for a while now, and you're familiar.

452
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:38,600
Speaker 1: I get my button jam's more times than I can count,

453
00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:39,840
Speaker 1: you know, And most of the time I think it's

454
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:41,760
Speaker 1: them just bringing me back in there just to remind

455
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:43,840
Speaker 1: me how lucky I am to be alive. And I

456
00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:50,639
Speaker 1: never forget it. I remind myself five times every minute

457
00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:54,600
Speaker 1: just to thank God that you that I got to

458
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:56,359
Speaker 1: have this life. I mean, I truly don't have the

459
00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,840
Speaker 1: vocabulary to express how wonderful this country is, how wonderful

460
00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:02,280
Speaker 1: our people are, and everything that you guys have done

461
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:04,800
Speaker 1: for me and shown me and bless me with, I

462
00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:08,359
Speaker 1: truly don't and and it's because of them. Twenty of

463
00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:11,400
Speaker 1: us went out there and y'all had to come get me. Right.

464
00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:13,119
Speaker 1: It's not like it's like I've made it out of

465
00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:15,879
Speaker 1: there and I'm out here bragging by man. No, I mean,

466
00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:17,600
Speaker 1: y'all had to come fetch me. I was in hell,

467
00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:21,040
Speaker 1: and I'll never forget that. I'll never forget that you

468
00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:23,680
Speaker 1: guys came in and did that for me. And that's

469
00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:25,639
Speaker 1: why I carry myself the way I do. So I

470
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,399
Speaker 1: think sure that I not only live my life to

471
00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:30,880
Speaker 1: the fullest accent, I try to make sure everybody else

472
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:34,160
Speaker 1: around me. Does you like them so much and they're

473
00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:37,240
Speaker 1: so integral to your life, there must have been some

474
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:41,280
Speaker 1: funny occasion. I hear in your voice that there's also

475
00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:45,280
Speaker 1: a lot of laughter in this relationship. And you, guys, actually,

476
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,200
Speaker 1: in between the moments of deep stress, you actually had

477
00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:51,439
Speaker 1: some fun together, yessirs. A lot of times people ask me,

478
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:53,440
Speaker 1: what how does one guy make it through seal training

479
00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:56,760
Speaker 1: and another guy doesn't? If you ask every seal, we'll

480
00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:59,080
Speaker 1: all tell you. We all have our own answer. I guess,

481
00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:03,000
Speaker 1: my aunt, it's humor. Your humor has to be able

482
00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:05,800
Speaker 1: to roll with whatever situation that you're in. If you

483
00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:08,280
Speaker 1: look at it like there are no good and bad times,

484
00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:12,520
Speaker 1: there's just the times and the longer you're alive. And

485
00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:14,480
Speaker 1: it comes with experience, and it also comes with the

486
00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:16,720
Speaker 1: people you share it with. Right, if they have the

487
00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:20,919
Speaker 1: ability to adapt into every moment with not only humor,

488
00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:25,080
Speaker 1: but humbleness. Right, what happens? Is it just something that

489
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:28,640
Speaker 1: would normally be funny somewhere else happens in a terrifying moment.

490
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:32,000
Speaker 1: People look at it differently. We don't because we don't

491
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:33,520
Speaker 1: look at it as the good and the bad times.

492
00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:37,359
Speaker 1: It's either we're training or we're operating. That's it, right,

493
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:42,120
Speaker 1: it's either on or off, and our humor goes through

494
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:44,960
Speaker 1: the whole gambit of that on both sides. Right in

495
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:48,600
Speaker 1: the middle of all of that chaos is our life. Right.

496
00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:51,160
Speaker 1: If you can't laugh about it, no one else will

497
00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:53,320
Speaker 1: be able to underneath us, because our job is to

498
00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:56,000
Speaker 1: take the most pain and chaos that this country can handle.

499
00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:58,520
Speaker 1: That's why we're out there, that's why we signed it

500
00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:00,840
Speaker 1: up for the take risk, to die necessary. That's the

501
00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:03,920
Speaker 1: sexiest thing we got and when you take that away

502
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:05,800
Speaker 1: from us, you take what we are away from us.

503
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:08,520
Speaker 1: And that's why we don't do well in other situations

504
00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:10,800
Speaker 1: when there's not when it's kind of normal because you

505
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:14,920
Speaker 1: guys have reset are normal, and that's why when guys

506
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:17,879
Speaker 1: get out, when y'all separate us, it's hard. There's a

507
00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:20,440
Speaker 1: there's a difference between when we get in you when

508
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:23,359
Speaker 1: we're not doing something that means something's not getting done okay,

509
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:26,560
Speaker 1: and when you get out it's actually okay to rest,

510
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:29,040
Speaker 1: it's okay to take a nap. I never knew that

511
00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:33,920
Speaker 1: you had four remarkable people. You're on a very very

512
00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,159
Speaker 1: difficult assignment, and one of the things we're trying to

513
00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:40,359
Speaker 1: do for Memorial Day is to share with people the

514
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:45,439
Speaker 1: remarkable sacrifice and the remarkable commitment of people who have

515
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:50,359
Speaker 1: gotten the Congressional Medal of Honor, and Lieutenant Michael Murphy

516
00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:53,280
Speaker 1: or Murphy as you would call him, achieve that really

517
00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:56,640
Speaker 1: remarkable status. And these are people for whom the country

518
00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:02,119
Speaker 1: really owe so much because their courage is remarkable. What

519
00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:04,720
Speaker 1: was your sense of that, I mean, did you see

520
00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:07,520
Speaker 1: the fight as being that I was right there when

521
00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:10,600
Speaker 1: that happened that moment he I was right underneath him.

522
00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:13,159
Speaker 1: I watched him die. I mean I heard it. I

523
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:15,119
Speaker 1: watched it and heard it. That was actually one of

524
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:17,840
Speaker 1: my breaking points was having to hear him die. You

525
00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:20,400
Speaker 1: need to understand most people when they read those citations,

526
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:21,960
Speaker 1: they you know, you can read it and you see

527
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:24,600
Speaker 1: the TV me, but ultimately you need when you're reading

528
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:26,960
Speaker 1: that out loud, put yourself in the situations. So just

529
00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:29,720
Speaker 1: throw yourself into that moment to where all that chaos

530
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:32,200
Speaker 1: is going down and and all of a sudden you

531
00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:34,680
Speaker 1: just decide to say, you know, what the hell it does?

532
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:39,120
Speaker 1: I mean most people won't give up their safety or

533
00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:41,400
Speaker 1: their life. That was hell, and I mean it coming

534
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:44,200
Speaker 1: in from all sides to where it was so bad

535
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:48,680
Speaker 1: that that this falling down that mountain was so bad

536
00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:50,800
Speaker 1: that sometimes if you were somewhere where you weren't falling,

537
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:53,880
Speaker 1: you wouldn't leave your position until you got shot. And

538
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:57,240
Speaker 1: I mean for them to keep going the way we did,

539
00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:00,240
Speaker 1: because in this last position, we were done. It was over.

540
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 1: We were all stuck into this wedge. There's only three

541
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:09,720
Speaker 1: of us left. He had to completely expose himself at

542
00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:12,400
Speaker 1: The movie doesn't do it justice because you can only

543
00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:14,120
Speaker 1: look through it through a camera lens. You need to

544
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:16,600
Speaker 1: understand that you're talking about something that's hundreds of yards

545
00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:21,120
Speaker 1: in diameter. In order to get to this position was nuts.

546
00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:23,840
Speaker 1: A matter of fact, we didn't have this long ass

547
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:25,959
Speaker 1: meeting that they kind of put in the film. I mean,

548
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:27,400
Speaker 1: this guy one of the build where he's just like, hey,

549
00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:29,840
Speaker 1: this is happening, kind of go. And he took that.

550
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:31,800
Speaker 1: Not only that, he kept taking it because he kept

551
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:36,720
Speaker 1: getting shot and to keep crawling back up to a position. Man.

552
00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:40,560
Speaker 1: But I mean, what do you say about that? It's

553
00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:42,240
Speaker 1: kind of like when when our guys who get the

554
00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:44,840
Speaker 1: malavanter for for the grenade, for for jumping on a grenade.

555
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:47,400
Speaker 1: Imagine to someone rolling in a grenade when you're staying

556
00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:49,880
Speaker 1: dinner at your kitchen, and what do you think most

557
00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:52,520
Speaker 1: people will do? They go the opposite direction. In our community,

558
00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:53,960
Speaker 1: it's like a free for all who can get to

559
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,800
Speaker 1: it first. When that rolls in, you literally have a

560
00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:00,720
Speaker 1: few seconds to realize, not only I can get out

561
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,080
Speaker 1: of here, but if I don't, I'm gonna die. Because

562
00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:06,040
Speaker 1: of your commitment, I think one of the most impressive

563
00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:09,240
Speaker 1: things was that you then went and visited each family.

564
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:12,240
Speaker 1: They're my family. Once you go through that pipeline, you're

565
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,880
Speaker 1: programmed in that it's one big family. I thought that

566
00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:18,520
Speaker 1: each one of their mothers needed to hear how it

567
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,240
Speaker 1: went down from me, from the guy who was I

568
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:24,840
Speaker 1: was actually there, not to anybody who wasn't there, which

569
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:27,040
Speaker 1: I mean, I was the only one to make it

570
00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:28,560
Speaker 1: out of there. Y'all had to come here me. I

571
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:29,880
Speaker 1: only want to allow to make it out of there.

572
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:33,080
Speaker 1: I told them what happened, and that's what that book

573
00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:36,280
Speaker 1: is at the debris. Anybody else saying what happened out

574
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:40,280
Speaker 1: there's lying to you. They weren't there. So you then

575
00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:44,000
Speaker 1: went on though, having gotten close to the families of

576
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:46,880
Speaker 1: the people that you served with and that you loved

577
00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:48,920
Speaker 1: and that you knew so well, you then wanted to

578
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:51,719
Speaker 1: do something I think that was really interesting and an

579
00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:55,400
Speaker 1: important example of patriotism, and that was create the Lone

580
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:58,920
Speaker 1: Survivor Foundation. Well, what was your thinking and deciding to

581
00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:02,560
Speaker 1: do that. I came from nothing, and every time I

582
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:05,960
Speaker 1: got hurt, y'all put me back together. And every time

583
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:09,160
Speaker 1: after every one of my surgeries or anything that I

584
00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:11,560
Speaker 1: had to go through to make me better, Once it

585
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 1: made me better, I went back and built it so

586
00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:16,560
Speaker 1: people coming after me could go through it. Because if

587
00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:18,800
Speaker 1: I could go through it, to anybody can't every one

588
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:20,680
Speaker 1: of the foundations that I've started. I mean even back

589
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:23,280
Speaker 1: to my high school, my college. The biggest mistake that

590
00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:25,200
Speaker 1: somebody made was when they gave me money. Because I

591
00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:28,240
Speaker 1: will live, I try to get it back. I'll go back.

592
00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:31,000
Speaker 1: Anything that helps me, has done something for me to

593
00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:33,840
Speaker 1: make me better, I've went back and built it or

594
00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:36,920
Speaker 1: created a pipeline to somebody after me can go through it.

595
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:39,240
Speaker 1: From the uniform, that's what we're supposed to do for

596
00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:41,200
Speaker 1: each other. This is a family. I mean, I don't

597
00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:43,840
Speaker 1: I don't know why people keep forgetting that. That's the

598
00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:47,120
Speaker 1: one thing in the uniform that makes you appreciate its Man,

599
00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:49,440
Speaker 1: we bleed for each other here. You know, it doesn't

600
00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:52,360
Speaker 1: matter if you're in the same city or anything like that. Man,

601
00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,400
Speaker 1: we all bleed together on that line. And what do

602
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:57,880
Speaker 1: you focus on with the Lone Survivor Foundation? One of

603
00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:01,480
Speaker 1: the particular things you're trying to accomplish a lot of

604
00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:04,840
Speaker 1: people focus on the vent anybody who's suffering and any

605
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:07,040
Speaker 1: kind of capacity in their life. If you want to

606
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:08,440
Speaker 1: get rid of that, if you want to get over that,

607
00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:11,440
Speaker 1: you need to remove yourself from that element completely. And

608
00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:15,080
Speaker 1: that's where were creative. So we basically follow the same

609
00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:17,120
Speaker 1: pattern and having to meet when I get hurt. When

610
00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:18,560
Speaker 1: I got out of the the hospital, They're like, what can

611
00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:19,920
Speaker 1: we do? I was like, send me back to Texas,

612
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:22,960
Speaker 1: to my family and give me back my mom. They'll

613
00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:25,280
Speaker 1: they'll heal me up. And I sent me back to

614
00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:27,520
Speaker 1: the ranch around the horses and where I couldn't just

615
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,320
Speaker 1: sit around and I couldn't just focus on what had

616
00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:33,160
Speaker 1: happened to me. I had to focus on everything around

617
00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:35,280
Speaker 1: me and everybody around me was telling me they were

618
00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:37,360
Speaker 1: proud of me, and they glad I made it. We

619
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:40,280
Speaker 1: have emotions and we go through every level. And when

620
00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:42,040
Speaker 1: I was hurt and having all the surgeries, I mean,

621
00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:44,080
Speaker 1: that's my lowest point, that's in my mind was at

622
00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:46,479
Speaker 1: the lowest point because my body was injured. They couldn't

623
00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:49,120
Speaker 1: entertain my mind. It couldn't get me out of that funk.

624
00:32:49,560 --> 00:32:52,840
Speaker 1: So I had to literally learn to calm down and heal.

625
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:55,320
Speaker 1: That comes with life too, with experience. I mean the

626
00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:57,920
Speaker 1: first forty years of this is supposed to be training anyway. Really,

627
00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:01,040
Speaker 1: once I started to get better, I got back on line.

628
00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:03,080
Speaker 1: I went back to Iraq in oh six no seven,

629
00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:06,239
Speaker 1: I got hurt again and they sent me well, they

630
00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:07,520
Speaker 1: got well, I got I got out of the militia,

631
00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:09,640
Speaker 1: I got retired. After that, the lungs of our foundation

632
00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:12,680
Speaker 1: was started exactly off of the pipeline that I had

633
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:14,760
Speaker 1: to go through from the time that you guys pulled

634
00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:18,560
Speaker 1: me off that mountain. And then every foundation after that

635
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,320
Speaker 1: and every kind of endowment or whatever is me healing

636
00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:25,000
Speaker 1: up and the people who helped me heal up, well,

637
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:27,680
Speaker 1: I create that with them. Because you've lived at yourself,

638
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:31,600
Speaker 1: you know what people are going through. How does the

639
00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:35,200
Speaker 1: Foundation's Progressive Retreat program work in what is it you

640
00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:37,959
Speaker 1: are trying to accomplish and what is it that somebody

641
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:41,800
Speaker 1: who comes to your foundation could look forward to. Ultimately,

642
00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:43,600
Speaker 1: you're gonna we're gonna take you away from your life

643
00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:46,080
Speaker 1: and we're gonna put you in one that doesn't concentrate

644
00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:49,480
Speaker 1: on you. That's the biggest problem with problems is that

645
00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:52,600
Speaker 1: you're concentrating on yourself. If you look at every situation,

646
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:54,720
Speaker 1: is that somebody else's problem. You're just there to deal

647
00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:58,600
Speaker 1: with it. Then it becomes free. And when you remove

648
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:01,120
Speaker 1: yourself from everything that had hurt you or beat you down,

649
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:03,160
Speaker 1: that's how you heal. It's kind of tough to actually

650
00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:05,480
Speaker 1: heal up the body and the mind. All you're doing

651
00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:08,359
Speaker 1: is focusing on what beat you up, right when they

652
00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:10,799
Speaker 1: have an issue on the inside, whatever's going on with

653
00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:12,319
Speaker 1: you at home, or what everything else. That's just as

654
00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:15,880
Speaker 1: important is you're focusing on all your other skill sets,

655
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:18,520
Speaker 1: because if you're not completely one percent wire tight and

656
00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:21,959
Speaker 1: everything's on track, then everything else will suffer when someone's

657
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:25,600
Speaker 1: keeping something problem, especially your buddies. So there's no way

658
00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:28,040
Speaker 1: we get to do that and because of that, we're

659
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:31,520
Speaker 1: really free to kind of focus on only what's in

660
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:35,200
Speaker 1: front of us and each other, and you just realize that, man,

661
00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:40,200
Speaker 1: everybody is absolutely unique in their own way, but when

662
00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:43,680
Speaker 1: we get together, we're unstoppable. And the proof is is

663
00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:47,200
Speaker 1: what we're capable of. At a personal level, you're now married,

664
00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:49,640
Speaker 1: you have a child. What is all this meant for you?

665
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:52,719
Speaker 1: And it's I think it's very poignant that your son

666
00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:57,480
Speaker 1: is named as after Matthew Axelson. Every day you're reminded

667
00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:00,400
Speaker 1: of acts as you had some guardian angel, because he

668
00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:02,680
Speaker 1: was mine. All those guys were trust me. I got

669
00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:07,880
Speaker 1: everything around me named the same from all nineteen of

670
00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:10,840
Speaker 1: those guys, not just the three. I mean, I know

671
00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:12,920
Speaker 1: a lot of the guys focused on what happened on

672
00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:14,319
Speaker 1: the mountain, but the guys who came in to get

673
00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:16,400
Speaker 1: us were just as extraordinary and as special to me.

674
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:20,360
Speaker 1: And that's why I said nineteen promises. But being married,

675
00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:23,440
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. My brother and I had an agreement,

676
00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:25,440
Speaker 1: no wife, no kids. From zero to forty. It was

677
00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:28,440
Speaker 1: just kind of a training. You're learning everything about yourself

678
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:31,040
Speaker 1: before you kind of go in the man, we'd make

679
00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:32,960
Speaker 1: so many transitions and you know, at forty you kind

680
00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:34,960
Speaker 1: of got a little bit figured out. I put half

681
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:37,279
Speaker 1: my paycheck away, my entire life, so when I hit forty,

682
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:38,680
Speaker 1: it was kind of getting a treasure chest. I was

683
00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:41,359
Speaker 1: gonna go back to school, or if I met my wife,

684
00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:42,600
Speaker 1: I was gonna get married. It was gonna go on

685
00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:44,759
Speaker 1: her finger. And that's what she's wearing. She's wearing my

686
00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:48,600
Speaker 1: entire life paycheck on her finger. And we started over together,

687
00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:52,279
Speaker 1: and I mean, it's the best time. I love being

688
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:55,239
Speaker 1: married so much. She's a unicorn. She's the coolest. And

689
00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:57,799
Speaker 1: with the kids, that's the best part about it too.

690
00:35:57,840 --> 00:35:59,440
Speaker 1: You know, the kids is just the next version of us.

691
00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:01,279
Speaker 1: My dad would always say, He's like, look, I'm not

692
00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:03,759
Speaker 1: your friend, I'm your father. And I didn't understand what

693
00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:06,080
Speaker 1: that meant, but I say it now. Freason being is

694
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:08,120
Speaker 1: because I do stupid things with my friends. I've had

695
00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:11,720
Speaker 1: the same friends since kindergarten and we do dumb stuff

696
00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:15,160
Speaker 1: together still to this day. So kind of the perspective

697
00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:17,239
Speaker 1: I have now from zero to forty, you have an

698
00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:20,120
Speaker 1: opinion forty to sixties perspective. After that wisdom drops in.

699
00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:22,840
Speaker 1: I think you're a remarkable person. I think you have

700
00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:26,640
Speaker 1: a remarkable story. I love the attitude you bring to this,

701
00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:29,360
Speaker 1: the energy you bring to it. As folks listen to

702
00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:33,040
Speaker 1: this podcast, what can they do if they want to

703
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:36,480
Speaker 1: help the Loan Survivor Foundation? How can they reach you

704
00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:39,600
Speaker 1: on social media? Internet? We having all that it's Loan

705
00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:42,719
Speaker 1: Survivor Foundation dot org and it seemed never quit. I

706
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:45,160
Speaker 1: am very grateful for the time you spend with us.

707
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:48,319
Speaker 1: Thanks for let me do it. God blessed. Next, I'll

708
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:51,719
Speaker 1: speak to the oldest living recipient of the Congressional Medal

709
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:56,279
Speaker 1: of Honor, herschel Woody Williams, the last Congressional Medal of

710
00:36:56,280 --> 00:37:21,520
Speaker 1: Honor survivor from World War Two. I think it'll be

711
00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:25,480
Speaker 1: really helpful for people to get a better sense of

712
00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:29,319
Speaker 1: your life and your experience of what the Congressional Medal

713
00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:31,440
Speaker 1: of Honor is all about. And I think on a

714
00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:35,360
Speaker 1: Memorial Day weekend it's a particularly appropriate time for people

715
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:38,720
Speaker 1: to remind themselves of what it takes us to be free.

716
00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:41,800
Speaker 1: So let me go back and start right at the beginning.

717
00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:45,640
Speaker 1: Why did you join the Marines? Well, I really joined

718
00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:50,239
Speaker 1: the Marines to protect my country Because we lived out

719
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:53,360
Speaker 1: in the country. We had no radio at the time,

720
00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:57,719
Speaker 1: and no newspaper. The word of mouth was that there

721
00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:01,319
Speaker 1: were a group of people that was trying to take

722
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:04,799
Speaker 1: our country away from us and our freedom. So I

723
00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:08,239
Speaker 1: joined the Marine Corps really to protect those things, not

724
00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:10,600
Speaker 1: to fight a war. I didn't know anything about war,

725
00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:13,680
Speaker 1: never dreaming that I would be going to the South

726
00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:19,320
Speaker 1: Pacific and have to get involved in combat. That certainly

727
00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:23,600
Speaker 1: was not part of my desire at that time. So

728
00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:27,760
Speaker 1: you just felt like it was your duty as a patroon. Yes, indeed,

729
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:31,480
Speaker 1: my freedom and my country was important to me, and

730
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:34,719
Speaker 1: I certainly didn't want to lose that. And there were

731
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:39,319
Speaker 1: a lot of wee country boys who didn't know any

732
00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:42,920
Speaker 1: more than that that went into the military for that

733
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:46,799
Speaker 1: particular purpose. As I said, we didn't know. We'd never

734
00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:49,480
Speaker 1: been involved in war. None of my family had ever

735
00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:52,680
Speaker 1: been in war, so we knew nothing about it. And

736
00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:57,200
Speaker 1: the only thing I did know, or we were told, is,

737
00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:00,000
Speaker 1: you know, we could lose our country, we could lose

738
00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:02,960
Speaker 1: our freedom if these people were to take it over,

739
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:06,200
Speaker 1: and I certainly didn't want that to happen. So I

740
00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:09,120
Speaker 1: joined the Marine Corps to protected Well, if you don't

741
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:11,600
Speaker 1: mind my asking, my dad served twenty seven years in

742
00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:14,480
Speaker 1: the infantry in the Army, and I'm just curious Abo

743
00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:17,000
Speaker 1: why you picked the Corps, which of course is a

744
00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:19,600
Speaker 1: wonderful institution, but I just have to ask that as

745
00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:25,200
Speaker 1: an army brand. During the peacetime depression years, we had

746
00:39:25,239 --> 00:39:30,120
Speaker 1: a couple of fellows from our country community who, in

747
00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:33,719
Speaker 1: order to make a living, joined the Marine Corps. And

748
00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:36,440
Speaker 1: at that time they only had one enlistment period. You

749
00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:40,680
Speaker 1: had to go for six years, and the Marine Corps

750
00:39:40,719 --> 00:39:44,080
Speaker 1: also had a high requirement. You had to be so

751
00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:48,720
Speaker 1: tall foot eight or you couldn't get into the Marine Corps.

752
00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:51,480
Speaker 1: But they went into the Marine Corps actually to make

753
00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:54,760
Speaker 1: a living. They would come home on a thirty day

754
00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:59,279
Speaker 1: furlough one time a year. That's the only time they

755
00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:02,719
Speaker 1: ever got home. And when they came back to the community,

756
00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:05,680
Speaker 1: they were required by the Marine Corps to wear their

757
00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:10,040
Speaker 1: dress blue uniform, and it was so much more attractive

758
00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:14,080
Speaker 1: than that ugly army uniform, like old wool uniform that

759
00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:18,479
Speaker 1: they had, And girls would kind of look the VAM

760
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:22,360
Speaker 1: rather than anybody else when they were in the community.

761
00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:25,200
Speaker 1: So I guess those two things inforced me. I wanted

762
00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:28,040
Speaker 1: to look like a marine, and maybe I skipped me

763
00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:31,279
Speaker 1: a good looking girl that way, that's great. Did it work?

764
00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:33,839
Speaker 1: Did you get a good looking girl? Well not at

765
00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:36,760
Speaker 1: that time. I finally did get me a good looking

766
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:40,280
Speaker 1: girl and we were married for sixty three years. So yeah,

767
00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:43,960
Speaker 1: you were like nineteen almost twenty when you signed up,

768
00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:47,640
Speaker 1: so you were really making a big decision. You volunteered

769
00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:52,719
Speaker 1: to be a demolition sergeant, which was a pretty dangerous

770
00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:57,319
Speaker 1: and pretty impressive position with flamethrowers and explosions and things.

771
00:40:57,560 --> 00:41:00,920
Speaker 1: Did you volunteer did the core volunteer you? Well, the

772
00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:05,560
Speaker 1: Core volunteered me. I was basically a rifleman. I was

773
00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:11,120
Speaker 1: on the island of Wadle Canal when the flamethroor came out.

774
00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:14,520
Speaker 1: I was hoping. We called back in those days, a

775
00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:19,799
Speaker 1: BA arm and a Browning automatic rifle person, and that

776
00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:22,319
Speaker 1: was my job. But when the flamethrower came out, they

777
00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:26,239
Speaker 1: had to establish another unit to handle the flamethroor and

778
00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:30,279
Speaker 1: teach us how to use it and at the same

779
00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:33,320
Speaker 1: time teaches how to do demolition, because if you couldn't

780
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:35,799
Speaker 1: burn it up, then you had to learn how to

781
00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:40,880
Speaker 1: blow it up. So we did both, and they trained

782
00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:43,799
Speaker 1: me in that way and put us in a special unit,

783
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:48,240
Speaker 1: so that when we got into combat, if the platoon

784
00:41:48,320 --> 00:41:54,840
Speaker 1: leader or the company commander needed a cave sealed with explosives,

785
00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:58,160
Speaker 1: we could do that for him. Or if they needed

786
00:41:58,160 --> 00:42:01,920
Speaker 1: a flamethrower to put flame in a cave or in

787
00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:05,680
Speaker 1: a pillbox, we could do that. So that's how we

788
00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:07,960
Speaker 1: got to be in. It was one of those you

789
00:42:08,239 --> 00:42:14,360
Speaker 1: have volunteered, so okay, So having volunteered wasn't, as I remember,

790
00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:19,239
Speaker 1: it wasn't carrying a flame floor dangerous? Well, yes it was,

791
00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:22,480
Speaker 1: because you're carrying seventy pounds of weight on your back.

792
00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:26,040
Speaker 1: You've got four and a half gallons of fuel, flammable

793
00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:29,319
Speaker 1: fuel on your back, with an air tank that's got

794
00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:33,799
Speaker 1: about seventeen hundred PSI in it. So yes, it was

795
00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:38,239
Speaker 1: dangerous and you couldn't very well walk upright with them.

796
00:42:38,320 --> 00:42:41,800
Speaker 1: When you were in combat. You were on your belly

797
00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:44,560
Speaker 1: crawling more than you were up walking because you made

798
00:42:44,600 --> 00:42:47,719
Speaker 1: such a big target. And I've been told, and there

799
00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:51,000
Speaker 1: is no statistics for this, I don't think that the

800
00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:55,120
Speaker 1: average life span of a flame floor once they got

801
00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:59,360
Speaker 1: into combat was five minutes. How I survived. I have

802
00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:01,560
Speaker 1: to give God credit for that, because I don't know

803
00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:04,759
Speaker 1: so you took place in two very different kind of

804
00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:09,160
Speaker 1: battles at Guam and Wagima. But how would you compare

805
00:43:09,200 --> 00:43:13,600
Speaker 1: those two just as fights altogether differently because Guam was

806
00:43:13,680 --> 00:43:18,359
Speaker 1: almost all jungle, and going through the jungle, we even

807
00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:22,120
Speaker 1: had to have in areas machetes to cut our ways

808
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:27,399
Speaker 1: through the jungle to advance. And on Iwajima, they had

809
00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:30,640
Speaker 1: bombed that thing for day after day after day, and

810
00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:34,480
Speaker 1: there was nothing standing in the way of scrubbery or

811
00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:39,360
Speaker 1: trees or bushes or anything like that. And the commanding

812
00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:42,880
Speaker 1: general of Iwajima, according to the record, and I'm just

813
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:48,279
Speaker 1: quoting record, he had constructed various sized pill boxes and

814
00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:51,760
Speaker 1: there were about two hundred of them on the island,

815
00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:55,680
Speaker 1: and that was going to be his principal way of

816
00:43:55,719 --> 00:43:59,879
Speaker 1: defense was to put his troops he had about twenty

817
00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:04,240
Speaker 1: two thousand of them on Awajima. Put his troops either

818
00:44:04,320 --> 00:44:09,920
Speaker 1: in caves and ed miles and miles of tunnel hollowed

819
00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:13,239
Speaker 1: out in that island, or in a box where they

820
00:44:13,239 --> 00:44:17,040
Speaker 1: were protected and we were in the opening in the

821
00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:21,719
Speaker 1: open area. So that was his defense to keep us

822
00:44:21,719 --> 00:44:23,960
Speaker 1: from being able to take the island. So you went

823
00:44:24,080 --> 00:44:28,680
Speaker 1: in as one of the most difficult and bloodiest fights

824
00:44:28,680 --> 00:44:31,920
Speaker 1: in the Second World War for the Americans. You go

825
00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:35,799
Speaker 1: in as one of the key elements in taking out

826
00:44:35,840 --> 00:44:38,480
Speaker 1: these pillboxes. That's the whole point of the flamethrower at

827
00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:41,920
Speaker 1: that point, isn't it. That's right. Yeah, what we tried

828
00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:45,399
Speaker 1: to do once we got flame in the pillbox, got

829
00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:48,840
Speaker 1: close enough to get the flame in, if we were

830
00:44:48,880 --> 00:44:52,480
Speaker 1: still weren't sure whether that would exterminate all the people

831
00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:55,520
Speaker 1: in there, so we would then try to put a

832
00:44:55,560 --> 00:44:59,840
Speaker 1: demolition charge in the pill box to make sure that.

833
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:02,600
Speaker 1: I think if the flamethrower didn't get them done, the

834
00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:06,680
Speaker 1: explosion would you were both using the flamethrower and then

835
00:45:06,719 --> 00:45:11,000
Speaker 1: you were setting off the detonations. Yeah. We had lost

836
00:45:11,040 --> 00:45:16,720
Speaker 1: so many marines in attempting to advance on the island

837
00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:19,680
Speaker 1: that we just didn't have enough marines to go around.

838
00:45:20,160 --> 00:45:22,839
Speaker 1: So sometimes you had to do two jobs, whether you

839
00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:25,239
Speaker 1: want to do it or not. And I didn't have

840
00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:29,239
Speaker 1: it after period of time. I had four marines assisting

841
00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:32,800
Speaker 1: me in the beginning, but two of them were killed.

842
00:45:33,440 --> 00:45:36,480
Speaker 1: I had very little help. So got to do what

843
00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:40,040
Speaker 1: you got to do, if I understand it. In the

844
00:45:40,280 --> 00:45:43,920
Speaker 1: citation for the Congressional Medal of Honor. You personally were

845
00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:48,320
Speaker 1: involved in taking out seven pillboxes? Isn't that kind of amazing?

846
00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:51,840
Speaker 1: Some of them were small and some of them were larger.

847
00:45:52,239 --> 00:45:56,719
Speaker 1: Pillboxers A flamethrower if you were too and we did

848
00:45:56,800 --> 00:46:00,840
Speaker 1: this in training and practice of course, to open it

849
00:46:00,960 --> 00:46:05,000
Speaker 1: up and fire it without living up on it. It

850
00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:08,640
Speaker 1: would last seventy two seconds. Did you have to change

851
00:46:08,840 --> 00:46:13,400
Speaker 1: or recharge when you're taking out seven different pillboxes? You

852
00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:16,640
Speaker 1: can't do that with just one flamethrower load of fuel?

853
00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:20,600
Speaker 1: Can you? Oh? I used up six flamethrowers. We were

854
00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:24,920
Speaker 1: trained that you use only what you have to and

855
00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:27,840
Speaker 1: we would fire them, usually in a three to five

856
00:46:28,640 --> 00:46:33,920
Speaker 1: second or maybe thirty second burst, and it would create

857
00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:37,279
Speaker 1: a huge ball of fire that you could really roll

858
00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:40,719
Speaker 1: on the ground and roll it into a cave or

859
00:46:41,200 --> 00:46:46,319
Speaker 1: roll it into a pillbox, and we did that. Then

860
00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:48,839
Speaker 1: we would continue advanced to where we could get close

861
00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:52,040
Speaker 1: enough to make sure that we could get the flame

862
00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:55,080
Speaker 1: in the one or the other, whichever we were doing.

863
00:46:55,480 --> 00:47:00,880
Speaker 1: You lost two riflemen during this process. Do you remember

864
00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:03,319
Speaker 1: them or were they new to you? No? I don't

865
00:47:04,160 --> 00:47:06,640
Speaker 1: some o them I do. There's a couple of three

866
00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:09,279
Speaker 1: of them that have never left my mind, but some

867
00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:12,440
Speaker 1: of them I do not. And I have tried to

868
00:47:12,440 --> 00:47:17,239
Speaker 1: find professional people, psychologists or somebody that could explain to

869
00:47:17,239 --> 00:47:20,399
Speaker 1: me why I can't remember that. How did I get

870
00:47:20,440 --> 00:47:26,480
Speaker 1: my extra flamethors. I'm reasonably sure none of the Marines

871
00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:29,480
Speaker 1: back there said, hey, he's out of flamethrowers, I'll go

872
00:47:29,560 --> 00:47:32,279
Speaker 1: take him one. I don't think that ever happened, but

873
00:47:32,520 --> 00:47:35,520
Speaker 1: I still don't know how I got them, and it's

874
00:47:35,560 --> 00:47:38,839
Speaker 1: bothered me in my life of why can't I remember that?

875
00:47:39,800 --> 00:47:45,400
Speaker 1: Because it was certainly critical to achieving the job. It's remarkable.

876
00:47:45,680 --> 00:47:48,320
Speaker 1: So you were singled out as one of the people

877
00:47:48,360 --> 00:47:51,480
Speaker 1: who really helped us win one of the most bitter

878
00:47:51,520 --> 00:47:54,719
Speaker 1: fights of the entire Second War, and you got to

879
00:47:54,760 --> 00:47:59,560
Speaker 1: see President Truman. For a boy from West Virginia, what

880
00:47:59,680 --> 00:48:01,160
Speaker 1: was that like to go to the White House and

881
00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:03,960
Speaker 1: see the President. Well, you have never seen a more

882
00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:08,880
Speaker 1: scared boy in your life. Because I was so frightened

883
00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:12,640
Speaker 1: when I walked up to him to have him present

884
00:48:12,719 --> 00:48:16,120
Speaker 1: the Medal of Honor to me. My body was shaking

885
00:48:16,239 --> 00:48:22,799
Speaker 1: so violently that I just couldn't be still. And I

886
00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:25,319
Speaker 1: guess that's adrenaline. I don't know what it was, but

887
00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:29,520
Speaker 1: it certainly was not a comfortable moment. Much of what

888
00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:33,640
Speaker 1: he said that day, I don't remember either. One thing.

889
00:48:33,719 --> 00:48:36,520
Speaker 1: I do remember him saying, and he said this in

890
00:48:36,640 --> 00:48:40,279
Speaker 1: different ways. There were thirteen of us that day who

891
00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:43,839
Speaker 1: received the Medal of honor already been approved before the

892
00:48:43,880 --> 00:48:47,120
Speaker 1: war was over, but they were not going to call

893
00:48:47,239 --> 00:48:49,799
Speaker 1: us back just to present a medal of honor to us.

894
00:48:50,719 --> 00:48:53,560
Speaker 1: So when the war ended, then they called those had

895
00:48:53,600 --> 00:48:58,320
Speaker 1: already been approved by the Congress and signed by the President.

896
00:48:58,760 --> 00:49:02,200
Speaker 1: They brought us all back from the South Pacific and

897
00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:05,000
Speaker 1: presented them all at the same time. And there were

898
00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:10,280
Speaker 1: six Navy corman, seven Marines, or thirteen of us presented

899
00:49:10,320 --> 00:49:14,799
Speaker 1: the medal alphabetically. So I'm next to last out of

900
00:49:14,840 --> 00:49:17,440
Speaker 1: the I was number twelve, and at that time I

901
00:49:17,480 --> 00:49:20,319
Speaker 1: had built up a seven nerves you wouldn't believe, and

902
00:49:21,160 --> 00:49:26,239
Speaker 1: I was really fighting, scared, anxious, whatever you want to

903
00:49:26,239 --> 00:49:30,080
Speaker 1: call it. But I do remember him saying to me,

904
00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:34,640
Speaker 1: as he said to the other recipients in different ways,

905
00:49:35,640 --> 00:49:37,640
Speaker 1: but he said to me, I'd rather have this medal

906
00:49:37,680 --> 00:49:40,960
Speaker 1: than to be president. I remember that you were more

907
00:49:41,040 --> 00:49:45,040
Speaker 1: nervous seeing President Truman than you were taking out pillboxes.

908
00:49:45,200 --> 00:49:49,160
Speaker 1: You are absolutely right, because at least I was very

909
00:49:49,239 --> 00:49:51,680
Speaker 1: conscious of what was going on when I was receiving

910
00:49:51,760 --> 00:49:54,799
Speaker 1: the medal, and when I was in combat, all you

911
00:49:54,880 --> 00:49:58,680
Speaker 1: think about is getting the job done and keeping yourself alive.

912
00:49:58,880 --> 00:50:02,040
Speaker 1: So those were the two principal things that you work

913
00:50:02,120 --> 00:50:05,800
Speaker 1: on at that point in time. So, if I'm counting correctly,

914
00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:10,120
Speaker 1: you're now ninety five years old, that is correct, sir, Yes,

915
00:50:10,480 --> 00:50:14,040
Speaker 1: I mean ninety six in October, and you created the

916
00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:19,000
Speaker 1: herschel Woody Williams Congressional Medal of Honor Education Foundation. What's

917
00:50:19,040 --> 00:50:21,480
Speaker 1: the purpose of that? Purpose of it is is to

918
00:50:21,520 --> 00:50:27,600
Speaker 1: recognize the families, the relatives of those who have sacrificed

919
00:50:27,760 --> 00:50:31,600
Speaker 1: their lives in the armed forces of our country. We

920
00:50:31,680 --> 00:50:35,640
Speaker 1: have done a pretty good job recognizing gold star mothers.

921
00:50:36,520 --> 00:50:41,840
Speaker 1: And we all know that our mothers were basically mostly

922
00:50:42,719 --> 00:50:45,520
Speaker 1: closer to us, or we were closer to them than

923
00:50:45,560 --> 00:50:49,279
Speaker 1: we were even Dad. But in all those years that

924
00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:53,520
Speaker 1: we talked about gold star mothers and some communities erected

925
00:50:53,600 --> 00:50:59,160
Speaker 1: memorials and tributes to gold star mothers, nobody ever mentioned

926
00:50:59,480 --> 00:51:05,280
Speaker 1: gold star Dad or any member of the family, the widow,

927
00:51:05,400 --> 00:51:10,680
Speaker 1: the children, the grandparents, cousins, the aunts, the uncles. Nobody

928
00:51:10,760 --> 00:51:14,360
Speaker 1: ever talked about them. But when you lose a loved

929
00:51:14,360 --> 00:51:18,080
Speaker 1: one as a member of your family, regardless of how

930
00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:21,520
Speaker 1: host you may be, you're still related, and there's a

931
00:51:21,560 --> 00:51:25,200
Speaker 1: certain amount of grief takes place. But we've never done

932
00:51:25,239 --> 00:51:28,960
Speaker 1: anything in this country to honor the families of those

933
00:51:29,040 --> 00:51:33,279
Speaker 1: who sacrificed our lives. So we took on the project

934
00:51:33,520 --> 00:51:39,640
Speaker 1: of having communities where these people live to a cold

935
00:51:39,640 --> 00:51:46,000
Speaker 1: Star Family Memorial monument that pays tribute to those families,

936
00:51:46,719 --> 00:51:49,640
Speaker 1: and we did the first one in West Virginia on

937
00:51:49,800 --> 00:51:55,960
Speaker 1: October second, twenty thirteen. We did it selfishly, or West

938
00:51:56,080 --> 00:52:01,640
Speaker 1: Virginia Families, because we have a memorial on our capitol grounds.

939
00:52:01,640 --> 00:52:05,680
Speaker 1: It has eleven thousand, four hundred and twenty four names

940
00:52:05,760 --> 00:52:11,799
Speaker 1: inscribed on it of West Virginians who have sacrificed their

941
00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:15,480
Speaker 1: lives in the armed forces, and we had never done

942
00:52:15,520 --> 00:52:20,920
Speaker 1: anything to pay tribute to those families. So I decided.

943
00:52:21,280 --> 00:52:24,360
Speaker 1: I came up with the idea and presented it to

944
00:52:24,400 --> 00:52:27,400
Speaker 1: a group of people, and they said, well, yes, that

945
00:52:27,680 --> 00:52:29,400
Speaker 1: we need to do that. We should have done it

946
00:52:29,480 --> 00:52:34,120
Speaker 1: a long time ago. I designed the memorial and we

947
00:52:34,200 --> 00:52:36,520
Speaker 1: built the first one. The second one was done at

948
00:52:36,600 --> 00:52:40,920
Speaker 1: Valley Forge. Now we have forty seven of them somewhere

949
00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:46,400
Speaker 1: in the country, from Guam to California and New York

950
00:52:46,480 --> 00:52:51,080
Speaker 1: to Florida and Texas and Oliver paying tribute to those

951
00:52:51,120 --> 00:52:55,120
Speaker 1: families in those communities and West Virginia. I'm very proud

952
00:52:55,160 --> 00:52:59,480
Speaker 1: to say we already have five in various communities of

953
00:52:59,480 --> 00:53:03,560
Speaker 1: our state. We've got two more in the process, and

954
00:53:03,719 --> 00:53:07,959
Speaker 1: in October, the second coming up this year, we will

955
00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:11,399
Speaker 1: dedicate one that is twice the size of any other

956
00:53:11,440 --> 00:53:15,880
Speaker 1: in the country on our capital grounds to pay tribute

957
00:53:15,880 --> 00:53:21,120
Speaker 1: to all families, every family in the state that lost

958
00:53:21,160 --> 00:53:25,040
Speaker 1: a loved one for our freedom and for America. That's

959
00:53:25,040 --> 00:53:27,560
Speaker 1: really great, And people who'd like to help with this

960
00:53:27,680 --> 00:53:31,839
Speaker 1: project can go to the herschel Woody Williams Congressional Medal

961
00:53:31,880 --> 00:53:36,480
Speaker 1: of Honor Education Foundation can support you. Yes, indeed, and

962
00:53:36,520 --> 00:53:39,080
Speaker 1: we'd love to have that cause we have no means

963
00:53:39,120 --> 00:53:43,360
Speaker 1: of actual support. We go to these communities and I

964
00:53:43,480 --> 00:53:46,799
Speaker 1: do a lot of speaking engagements, and they do give

965
00:53:46,880 --> 00:53:49,960
Speaker 1: us honorariums occasionally, and I devote all of that to

966
00:53:50,040 --> 00:53:54,840
Speaker 1: the foundation because that needs to be done. And even today,

967
00:53:55,120 --> 00:53:59,400
Speaker 1: mister speaker in the capital of our great United States

968
00:53:59,400 --> 00:54:03,840
Speaker 1: of America. We do not have one single thing of

969
00:54:03,920 --> 00:54:07,879
Speaker 1: all the monuments or memorials, We do not have one

970
00:54:07,960 --> 00:54:12,320
Speaker 1: thing in this capital of this country that pays tribute

971
00:54:12,360 --> 00:54:15,920
Speaker 1: and honor to the families who have sacrificed more than

972
00:54:15,960 --> 00:54:19,520
Speaker 1: any of us. Nothing. For me, that is just a

973
00:54:19,560 --> 00:54:22,640
Speaker 1: total shame. Does that ought to be the center point

974
00:54:22,760 --> 00:54:28,560
Speaker 1: where our country would recognize all of these families over

975
00:54:28,640 --> 00:54:32,880
Speaker 1: the history of our country that have given one of

976
00:54:32,920 --> 00:54:36,760
Speaker 1: their own, part of themselves so we could be free.

977
00:54:37,360 --> 00:54:41,120
Speaker 1: Great listen, thank you so much for sharing your life

978
00:54:41,120 --> 00:54:51,840
Speaker 1: with us. Thank you, sir. Thank you to my guest

979
00:54:52,040 --> 00:54:56,960
Speaker 1: Laura Joudie, Marcus Latrelle, and herschel Woody Williams. You can

980
00:54:57,000 --> 00:55:00,160
Speaker 1: read more about the Congressional Medal of Honor, the history,

981
00:55:00,160 --> 00:55:03,240
Speaker 1: and a full list of recipients on our show page

982
00:55:03,520 --> 00:55:08,560
Speaker 1: at newtsworld dot com. Newtsworld is produced by Westwood One.

983
00:55:08,800 --> 00:55:13,360
Speaker 1: The executive producer is Debbie Myers. Our producer is Garnsey Slow.

984
00:55:13,800 --> 00:55:18,960
Speaker 1: Our editor is Robert Borowski. Our researchers are Rachel Peterson

985
00:55:19,080 --> 00:55:22,200
Speaker 1: and Hunter Estes. The artwork for the show was created

986
00:55:22,200 --> 00:55:25,800
Speaker 1: by Steve Penley. The music was composed by Joey Salvia.

987
00:55:26,360 --> 00:55:29,520
Speaker 1: Special thanks to the team at Gingwich, Sweet sixty and

988
00:55:29,680 --> 00:55:34,160
Speaker 1: Westwood Ones, Tim Sabian and Robert Mathers. Please email me

989
00:55:34,239 --> 00:55:37,920
Speaker 1: with your comments at newt at newtsworld dot com. If

990
00:55:37,960 --> 00:55:40,640
Speaker 1: you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I hope you'll go to Apple

991
00:55:40,680 --> 00:55:44,319
Speaker 1: Podcast and both rate us with five stars and give

992
00:55:44,400 --> 00:55:47,120
Speaker 1: us a review so others can learn what it's all about.

993
00:55:49,880 --> 00:55:54,680
Speaker 1: On the next episode of Newtsworld, Less Poignant Hour, I

994
00:55:54,880 --> 00:56:02,400
Speaker 1: ask guild to join with me in prayer. Almighty our sons,

995
00:56:03,440 --> 00:56:07,600
Speaker 1: pride of our nation. This day have set upon a

996
00:56:07,760 --> 00:56:14,000
Speaker 1: mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our republic, our religion,

997
00:56:14,880 --> 00:56:20,440
Speaker 1: and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

998
00:56:20,800 --> 00:56:28,480
Speaker 1: I'm New king Ridge. This is news World, the Westwood

999
00:56:28,480 --> 00:56:29,640
Speaker 1: One podcast network.