WEBVTT - “Dad, I Can’t Talk About It.” 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:09.120 Welcome to a special two part episode of Service, Stories 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:11.920 of Hunger and War, a production from I Heart Radio 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:15.200 and Me your host, food writer and veteran family member 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:19.280 Jaquelin Reposo. As Churchill said, never has so much been 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:21.800 owned by so many to so few, And so I 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:25.560 decided in I wanted to I directed to take the 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:28.200 g I bill. I was gonna go to college, and 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:31.440 I was going to set the world on fire. This 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:34.960 season on Service, we've been following World War Two veterans 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:38.680 as they traverse land and sea, finding sustenance and feeding 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:42.159 others along the way. Thanksgiving that was our kp the 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:46.520 size and says, let's through something special cigarette, No little 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:50.839 kids like that cigarette. With fewer than four hundred thousand 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:54.520 veterans of this era left, making space for these conversations 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:57.880 is more important now than ever. I was going to 0:00:58.000 --> 0:01:01.680 go to one school. That's D Day Army veteran John Bistrica, 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:05.400 and the history teacher he didn't want to hear about it. 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.760 That hurt me pretty bad. Every single one of us 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:12.040 owes a huge debt of gratitude to these greatest generation veterans. 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:14.720 So let's slow down and explore a little of the 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:17.319 history behind why some of them have or have not 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:21.039 talked about their service until recently. And then we'll hear 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:25.640 from younger veterans and volunteers, creating communities that keep conversations rolling. 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:32.600 Everybody fanning up. Now the boys go on the way? 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:35.280 Can you hear the music? The ban here? It come 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:40.640 here that Tom come. This is a ninety five clip 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:45.880 from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation show Welcome Home, letther com 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:53.960 Bug of the marvelous things the now light Well, we've 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:57.480 dubbed World War two the last good War. There were 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:02.320 clear good guys, the Allies, and bad guys, the Axis triumphant. 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:05.720 We haven't had a world war since. Returning veterans like 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:09.200 New York Yankees Catcher, Yogi, Bearra, actor Jimmy Stewart and 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:12.639 director Mel Brooks contributed to a cheery post war Tinseltown. 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:16.000 The newly minted g I Bill helped millions embrace their 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:20.079 future at colleges and in starter homes, and the economy flourished. 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.639 Soon followed a record number of marriages and the notorious 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:30.520 baby boom. But then there were the lesser spoken of realities. 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:33.840 It will seem odd when, at some given hour the 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.600 shooting stops and everything changes again. It will be odd 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:39.919 to drive down an unknown road without that little not 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:42.800 of fear in your stomach. Odd not to listen with 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:45.560 animal like alertness for the meaning of every distant sound. 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:48.760 Odd to have your spirit released from the perpetual weight 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:52.359 that has compounded of fear and death and dirt and anguish. 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:54.480 We have won this war. That's Bob Hope, reading a 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:58.400 letter from beloved war journalist Ernie Pyle, known for capturing 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:02.240 frontline humanity in an almost folk style, before he was 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:05.440 killed by Japanese machine gun fire less than five months 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:09.640 before World War Two ended. This last Good War was 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:13.280 also the deadliest in human history, causing seven times more 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:16.160 casualties than US troops would later meet in the horrors 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:19.680 of Vietnam. These veterans came home to start new businesses 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.920 and raise a prosperous generation, but they also had to 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:25.680 digest and make sense of what they had faced while deployed. 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:29.200 Our Air Corps veteran Harold bud Long returned to Upstate 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:32.440 New York with memories of breaking down concentration camp gates. 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:35.840 We had k rashes with when we started breaking open 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:39.640 and say don't We'll kill them. It's ay ate too 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:44.000 much at once, give him a little bit time. Coast 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:47.080 Guard veteran Frank Davida remember so many details of Omaha 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:49.920 Beach on D Day from there. Having overfed the troops 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:56.200 that morning about two o'clock, we started feeding them eggs, sources, pancakes, 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:59.280 ice cream, everything that you could think of. It was 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.640 the worst thing we out them. We overfend them. To 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:06.320 his last thoughts before sleeping that night, I sat down 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:10.640 on the cold deck and I said to myself, what 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:13.800 that would just happen to you you? And why am I alive? 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:20.040 Interviewing Frank and his quiet New Jersey home, it seems 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:22.360 like he must have told these stories over and over 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:26.080 during the years to keep them so vibrant. At I 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:30.120 asked him point blank if he had for seventy years, 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:33.440 I couldn't talk about while I'm telling you, I couldn't 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:35.719 talk about it. At that time, I didn't want to 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:38.800 bring the war home to my family. I suffered to it. 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:42.000 Why should they have to suffer to it. My dad, 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:44.320 he was in the army first of all. He would 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:47.840 ask me questions. I said that I can't talk about it. 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:53.760 My grandfather, Pat de Ambrosio, rarely talked about his time 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:57.440 serving in the war either. I surmised his silence was 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:00.719 mostly out of gratitude and a hum bow guilt for 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:05.920 his not having seen combat. Repeating this question to other veterans, 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.560 we start to understand why one would feel so indebted 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:13.880 to such fellows. Killing a human being is not a 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:18.400 natural thing. The human body. You don't consider it like 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:22.200 an animal or the object. But we had to think 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:27.720 that way. Laws and Ichirosaki survived months of heavy combat 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:30.039 as one of the Armies four hundred and forty second 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:34.359 Regimental Combat Team, the niss A Japanese American troops, infamous 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:38.719 both for their honorable service records and catastrophic casualty count. 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:43.160 Some men broke down in the heat of battle, bodies 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:45.960 flying all over it. You have to put it out 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:48.440 of your mind, because if you think about it, your 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:56.080 mind can't handle that. In prior wars, huge regiments of 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:59.680 men would fight together in short bursts of small arms skirmishes. 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:04.240 There was camaraderie, and then there was rest. World War 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.440 two veterans faced a new kind of warfare with the 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:11.320 introduction of better planes and huge field weapons. Smaller units 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:14.159 could now be dispersed four weeks at a time, they'd 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:17.040 fight the enemy, cut off from support systems like food 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:20.360 and medical attention, and sometimes not be given even forty 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:23.360 eight hours to rest before being thrust back into battle. 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.240 As such, where it had been presumed that mental breakdowns 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:31.680 during combat were caused by unrelated mental weakness, hospitals soon 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:35.839 filled with those suffering from battle fatigue. It wasn't until 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:39.040 nineteen eighty thirty five years after the end of this 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:42.239 war and after these veterans had quieted so to support 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:46.200 their children through Vietnam, that battle fatigue was renamed with 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:52.120 a diagnostic term. We recognized today that's what PTSD is 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:59.280 all about. When we were discharged in nine military tolas 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:03.640 irrisive alien, Now take off your uniform and just get 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:08.520 out of here. There was no mention of your mental status, 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:13.360 particularly else being in the infantry where everyone was filled 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:18.400 with PTSD. We're now societally aware of the dangers of 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:23.000 PTSD not being taken seriously by medical professionals or communities. 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:26.840 But post war newspapers were just as likely to joke 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:29.600 about what they called warner roses as they were to 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:34.040 report on the lives of disabled veterans. Controversial syndicated columnist 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.080 Henry McLamore once justed, if I am late for dinner, 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:41.080 I can blame it on battle fatigue. This casual dismissal 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:43.840 is one of the reasons why our most affected veterans 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:47.920 often stay quiet. You could talk to a thousand veterans 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:50.200 were in combat and they'll tell you I never talked 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:54.280 about the war. Did you talk about your experiences with 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:59.840 your family? No, of course not. I just tried to 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:06.960 lock out everything. The things that happened in combat just unspeakable, unthinkable, 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:11.080 and unprintable. And I was saying, you shouldn't be maintaining 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:15.000 to anybody else. PTSD rates for World War Two combat 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:18.600 veterans have proved comparable to those who returned from Vietnam, 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:21.160 Yet treatment has come far too late in the game 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:23.800 for many. What did most of those veterans do in 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:28.840 the meantime? The only cure that we could manufacture ourselves 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:33.280 was to drink alcohol. And you drank until you passed out. 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:38.360 At least you had some relief while you're unconscious. Slower 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:41.920 in development than a successful g I bill for the 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.880 development of rehabilitation centers for those suffering from battle fatigue 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:53.000 or alcoholism in alcoholics. Anonymous had two thousand members. By 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:55.760 one report shows that number had jumped to seven hundred 0:08:55.800 --> 0:09:01.120 and fifty thousand. Today, one point two million members meet nationwide. 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:06.400 Community and conversation have proved invaluable tools for long term healing. 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:11.200 Getting the conversation started is often the challenge for Frank. 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:14.200 The anniversary of D Day and our renewed attention to 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:16.920 these veterans led to an invitation to speak on a 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:20.880 national stage. It took me seventy years, and only because 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:25.160 the thumb broke he opened. Is it helping you to 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:29.079 talk about it? Though? Now it does a monkey on 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:32.400 my shoulder. The monk is off the shoulder once I 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:35.120 started talking. Then I want them to talk about the 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:37.200 war because I want them to bring some of these 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:42.600 kids into what I went through. When we come back, 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.880 we'll hear how a unique community war memorial brought veterans 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:50.600 and their families together, shifting the conversation entirely. You're listening 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:53.800 to service stories of hunger and war from my heart radio. 0:09:54.240 --> 0:10:21.079 Stay with us. Yeah, you're listening to service stories of 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:24.400 hunger and war from my Heart radio. I'm JaQuel and Opposo. 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:28.560 If it's hard for us to start conversations with our veterans. 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:31.240 It's a bit surreal to listen as they laugh through 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:35.160 some of the most intense moments. In his episode, Harold 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:37.960 bud Long flies us from d Day through Central Europe 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.760 with his buddy Dewey by his side. Here he is 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:45.319 again reflecting on just how wild that ride was. Kind 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:47.280 of you get your sense of humor about all of 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:52.079 this because he's told the crazy stories. But a year 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:54.440 or two after Julia come home and got married, go 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:57.440 up there fishing for a week. And the first night 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:00.160 we get up there, we sat there and talking off 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:03.920 stuff that happened to us at that time was scary. 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:06.679 Remember the time we heard a racket telling the hanger 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:09.160 and said yeah, and she went down and kicked the 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:11.760 door and it was about a hundred Germans in there. 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:16.800 But yeah, already through the give up. We take them 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:19.160 back to the major. He said, what are we gonna 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:24.680 do with him? As we heard loss in detail. Most 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:27.720 veterans based challenges upon returning to civilian life that the 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:33.160 overwhelmed v A can't always address with intimate and individualized approaches. 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:37.320 Countless local organizations work to bring veterans out into their 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:41.200 communities to sit with Bud for his episode. We drove 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:44.880 far upstate to Livingston County, New York, a rural community 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:47.719 almost at our border with Canada, where the creation of 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:53.720 a unique veterans monument is doing just that. We don't 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:56.280 usually gain this kind of traction. I think we've had 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:59.760 nearly two hundred people come together just for hot dogs 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:04.160 and soda around this program. This is Jason Skinner, army 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:07.160 veteran of the Iraq War and director of Veteran Services 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:10.560 for Livingston County. Jason invited us to interview Bud on 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:13.079 a day when they were working on their memorial. It's 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:17.199 a collaboration between the county and the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership, 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:20.199 Career and Tech Center headed up by metal trades instructor 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:24.120 Ollie Olsen. Jason Skinner asked me about doing something he 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:27.000 had shown me an illustration in London. There's some poppies 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.679 coming down off the castle wall and it's very impressive. 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:33.160 On my desk, I had a small American flag, so 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:36.880 that was the driving force for creating the poppies, but 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.839 to have it in the shape of the American flag, 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:42.559 so the red stripes will be the poppies. And then 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:48.160 the white stripes will be the concrete. The National American 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:51.000 Legion adopted the poppy as the symbol of remembrance for 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:55.200 fallen soldiers in ninety inspired by Canadian World War One 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:59.600 Lieutenant Colonel surgeon John McCrae's poem in flanders Field and 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:04.559 flanders Field, the poppies blow between the crosses row on row, 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:09.360 McRae wrote. Each metal Livingston County poppy is two ft wide, 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:13.120 painted red and fused, atop a green iron stem of 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:16.240 varying height, connected to the ground by bearings so that 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:19.800 they'll sway when the wind blows. When completed this spring, 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:24.760 the flag will cover one eight five ft white concrete 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:28.400 flag stripes between them make handicapped accessible rows perfect for 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:33.719 wandering and quiet contemplation. It's a monument designed to inspire awe, 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:37.320 but the process has been just as important as the product. 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:41.120 And when I first presented the idea, I said, I'll 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:44.400 do this project, but with this stipulation. I want veterans 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:47.360 coming into the school being shown how to use the 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:50.160 equipment and create their own poppies. I could have done 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:53.600 under poppies, but it's not about me. That significant should 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:57.600 be them being recognized for their service. And so this 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:03.559 does that every coppy is designed, traced, cut, molded, welded, 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:06.719 and painted by the individual. A dog tag on each 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:10.520 identifies their name, dates of service, and any other information 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:14.920 deemed particularly significant. Then a unique totem welded into the 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:18.520 center or on a pedal adds a personal touch. Only 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:21.240 made one for his father, a veteran of the Canadian 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:24.840 Air Force, so his poppy is a maple leaf. There's 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:28.720 all sorts of really unique centers in them stars. One 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:31.359 his uncle was a pilot and he put an airplane. 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:33.760 There's one with a VFW and one with an American 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:36.840 Legion emblem. I've built five copies, one for a friend 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.400 and restauran all family members, three of which word World 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:42.960 War Two veterans. That's Rory Benkleman, teacher's aide at the 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:46.200 Mount Morris Bosi Center in the Metal Trades program. He's 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:49.320 assisting only with the monument. I'm also a veteran of 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.200 the United States Air Force and New York Air National Guard. 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:55.680 We're slowly losing family members, were slowly losing our World 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.600 War Two vets and Vietnam vets. I'm proud to say 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:01.640 I'm a veteran and so create with the organizations as 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:05.640 one of them. They emphasize self generating veteran involvement has 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:09.200 been the incidental key to their monument success. There were 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:11.560 veterans that were coming from other counties. I'm here to 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:14.720 make a poppy by getting hooked up with their PPE gear, 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:16.560 and as soon as we've gotten in the shop, other 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:19.600 veterans that had been coming regularly they could see that 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:21.680 there was a deer in the headlights. They just go, 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:23.680 let me help you. This is where we start and 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:26.040 then we go from one step to the next. Veterans 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:29.120 helping other veterans to create this monument. And I wasn't 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:31.720 doing it. The finish is going to look great, but 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:34.800 really that was the most impressive part of this whole project. 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:38.080 Creating a poppy gets the veteran or family member in 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:41.720 the door, but the greater service is their inviting veterans 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:44.920 into a space where people want to listen. There were 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:47.680 some nights that were had over forty veterans, which was 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:51.360 almost too much because we're limited with the equipment and space. 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.440 But they all work together and they shared equipment, they 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.920 shared their time, they shared their stories. Then they came back. 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:02.280 Psychologists are recognizing the power of narrative storytelling to help 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.600 veterans acclimate back into civilian life and to heal from 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:09.720 combat conflict. Over months and years of military brigade training, 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:12.480 the veteran's brain has become wired to move through the 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:15.680 world in a specific way, to follow orders and to 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:20.360 make order of high stress scenarios. The therapeutic narrative approach 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:23.920 helps to reverse that wiring by sharing a story allowed 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:27.600 we first take control of the story, choosing to narrate 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:31.200 with horror or as but does with humor. We can 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:35.000 paint ourselves as the victim or the hero. That's been 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:38.440 kind of all generations, and there's always a story behind 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:41.120 each one of these copies. The vets get to tell 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:44.680 their story to other veterans. That's been a very unique 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:47.560 and healing experience for some of these guys. It kind 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:50.720 of brings them together and makes them more resilient as 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:54.800 a bunch of veterans together with time, intention, and insight 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.920 from new perspectives, the veteran can choose to mold that 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:01.120 narrative until a story no longer has any power over 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:06.200 them over their physical reaction to past experiences or current triggers. 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:10.000 You can't talk to you strangers or family about that. 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:14.480 They wouldn't understand. This seemingly unbreachable gap is often felt 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:17.760 by veterans loved ones as well. We want to help 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:22.480 but don't know how. Rather than forcing conversation, creating a 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:26.240 poppy becomes a gateway for a shared experience, a space 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:28.439 for the veteran to talk and the loved one to 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:33.199 simply offer compassion. Another young man that years old, his 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:35.399 daughter came and said, I want to make a poppy 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:37.600 for my dad. But this is a little frail. So 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:40.760 she's created this poppy, and springtime had come around here, 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:42.440 and she goes, do you mind if one day I 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:44.800 just drive him back here to show him the poppy. 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:47.240 So overhead doors are open to the shop, and I 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:49.720 see this car pull up. She steps out, opens the 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.119 door for a day A tall man six four maybe 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:55.119 six five. So his daughter says, Dad, I made this 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:58.920 poppy for you, and he starts crying. A good friend 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:01.560 of his supporter was here in the shop working on 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:04.119 his poppy. They were lifelong friends. They grew up in 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:06.320 the same town, they were in the same service. And 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:08.520 he looks up, goes over and gives him a big hug. 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:10.919 He says, it's okay. I did the same thing because 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:13.040 his daughter was started one and because I can do that. 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:16.199 It was a father and daughter making this poppy. Some 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:19.560 of the stories were like that. What started as a 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:22.560 goal of one hundred poppies blossomed to two hundred and 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:25.399 fifty by the time we left them in September. But 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:30.119 is their oldest veteran at their youngest participant is four. 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:34.320 Without wanting to detail specifics, they related how one younger 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:38.080 veteran had remained so reclusive since returning home. Loved ones 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:41.159 had been worried about him. The project has gotten him 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:45.760 returning to the group over and over again. Such accessible 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:48.880 spaces invite veterans to come together and share their service 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:52.920 stories and the lives they're newly carving. They bring coffee 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:56.760 and donuts or this being farm country, the varying kinds 0:18:56.760 --> 0:18:59.920 of garlic they're currently growing. We left with several heads, 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:04.040 our pockets, maple syrup, and local restaurant referrals mapped out. 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:08.480 Unless such spaces are created, the sacrifices that still burden 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:11.080 many of them will remain trapped where they've remained for 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:14.680 our World War two veterans in the past, largely speaking 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:19.199 at the bar or a a meetings. I'm a Iraq 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:22.600 war and my period in time and service has been 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:26.359 very well respected. People thank me for my service, and 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:29.000 it always felt kind of weird until you look at 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:30.880 it in the perspective of the job I hold now. 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:34.320 I get to pay tribute to those people that served 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:38.800 in Vietnam and various earlier conflicts that weren't either recognized 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:41.639 or were not appreciated for their service. And it's because 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:44.520 of their service and how our country feels about my 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:47.240 service now and what they had to go through to 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:51.159 ensure that no other generation of veteran would be that disrespected. 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:56.040 In their memorial, the Livingston County team reminds all of 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:58.480 us that we have a choice, a choice to serve 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:01.520 our country, to serve each other, and to serve the 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:07.359 best version of our future selves. When they walk into 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:09.719 this now it's not a field of poppies, but it is, 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:12.280 and they're standing there not just to see this, but 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:15.000 to realize I love that went into the project. The 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:18.600 veterans are loved. Ones of veterans created this monument as 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:21.159 a service of our country that they chose to do it. 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:23.920 Every one of these poppies has a story, and that's 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:28.119 what I would like people to know. The commemoration of 0:20:28.119 --> 0:20:30.760 our veterans in recent times has been great, but it 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:32.720 has been long overdue for a long period of time. 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:36.560 I believe the recognition because everybody has their freedoms because 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:42.760 of what everybody else has given in the past. And 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:45.280 the second part of this episode, we'll hear how on 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:48.719 our flight Columbus opened the conversation for our Navy veteran 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:52.520 William Walker, and then about a veteran food pantry bringing 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:56.679 veterans across generations to the table. Until then, you can 0:20:56.800 --> 0:20:59.639 learn more about this episode on our Instagram and Facebook 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:03.280 are at Service podcast and at Service podcast dot org, 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:05.520 where you can also send a message to any of 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:08.480 the veterans you're hearing from this season. Don't forget to 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:11.879 subscribe to Service on your favorite podcasting platform, and thanks 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:14.879 for dropping a review while you're there. Service as a 0:21:14.920 --> 0:21:17.919 production of I Heart Radio. This episode was produced and 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:21.440 edited by me Jacqueline Oroposo. Mr Boddicker was the associate 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:24.960 producer for this episode. Kobe McDonald and Andrew Stessler engineered 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:28.119 our interviews with lawson Elizabeth Emery with William and Junie 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:32.119 Ramckin with John. Our supervising producer is Gabrielle Collins, Our 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:36.640 executive producer Christopher Hassiotis. Thank you for listening, and thank 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:39.159 you to those serving and those who have served.