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Speaker 1: What I have a question. I'm looking from medical perspective. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I just had soup and kind of a bull o Bays,

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Speaker 1: you do not have what's a bull base?

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Speaker 2: Why did you say I was trying to impress you

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Speaker 2: so good?

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Speaker 1: Anyway, the point is, after I have a bowl of soup,

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Speaker 1: it really sloshes around in my stomach, like I really hear.

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Speaker 3: I've done that. I've always heard your stomach, They're going

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Speaker 3: for years.

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Speaker 1: How would you have heard my stomach?

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Speaker 4: Because everything about you is noisy, your finger lickings, noisy,

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Speaker 4: your stomach.

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Speaker 1: In some cultures, you know, it's considered a compliment.

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Speaker 2: I'm not doing this no.

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Speaker 1: From Gimblet Media. I'm Jonathan Goldstein and this is Heavyweight

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Speaker 1: Today's episode Sergeant John Capon. Right after the break.

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Speaker 5: When I told some people at work that I would

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Speaker 5: be talking with someone on a podcast, they all immediately said, oh,

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Speaker 5: for murder.

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Speaker 6: It's about murder.

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Speaker 1: Melanie has never murdered anyone, and at the risk of

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Speaker 1: sounding like an old softy, neither of I. But the

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Speaker 1: story you're about to hear does involve a murder of sorts.

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Speaker 1: Thirty years ago, Melanie snuffed out the life of a

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Speaker 1: family heirloom. But as they say on the Murder podcasts,

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Speaker 1: more on that later. The story all begins in rural Minnesota,

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Speaker 1: on the bean farm where Melanie grew up. All her

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Speaker 1: friends lived miles away, so for company, all she had

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Speaker 1: were a couple Measley TV stations.

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Speaker 5: Channels that we can could get through our bonnied Ear antenna.

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Speaker 5: Like there'd be days where like my dad's up on

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Speaker 5: the roof, like, okay, tell me when you can see

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Speaker 5: the picture.

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Speaker 1: And on February seventeenth, nineteen ninety three, Melanie really needed

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Speaker 1: to see that picture, because that was the night ABC

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Speaker 1: was airing the television event of the century, a special

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Speaker 1: starring Melanie's favorite.

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Speaker 6: Artist, Billy ray Cyrus.

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Speaker 1: Billy ray Cyrus.

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Speaker 5: So cool, he could dance, great mullet, tight pants.

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Speaker 1: Oily biceps, Miley's dad, hip, soul patch, denim clad. The

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Speaker 1: special was.

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Speaker 6: Called Dreams Come True.

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Speaker 1: For Melanie, the name couldn't have been more appropriate. She

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Speaker 1: loved Billy ray Cyrus so much that she'd spend hours

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Speaker 1: plunking out a key breaky Heart on the family piano.

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Speaker 1: The only problem Melanie was nine years old and the

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Speaker 1: special came on after her time.

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Speaker 5: So my plan was to record the concert on a

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Speaker 5: VHS tape so I could watch it later.

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Speaker 1: Melanie's parents kept all the VHS tapes in a dining

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Speaker 1: room drawer, so she pulled one out from way in.

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Speaker 6: The back, slided it in, and pressed record.

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Speaker 1: Melanie's memory of what happened next is fuzzy. It might

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Speaker 1: have been the next morning, as she got ready to

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Speaker 1: watch the special in her PJS, that her mom asked, Hey,

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Speaker 1: by the way, what videotape did you record that on?

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Speaker 1: That would have been the moment Melanie learned the horrible truth.

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Speaker 5: The tape that I had grabbed to record an hour

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Speaker 5: of Billy Ray Cyrus over was an interview that my

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Speaker 5: father had done from Vietnam while injured and hospitalized.

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Speaker 6: And the interview was with Walter Cronkite.

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Speaker 1: On this videotape.

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Speaker 5: Yes, that had now been recorded over by Billy Ray Cyrus.

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Speaker 1: Of course, as a nine year old, Melanie could only

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Speaker 1: understand so much about what she'd done. She never watched

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Speaker 1: the tape of her father's interview. She didn't know who

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Speaker 1: Walter Cronkite was or anything at all about the Vietnam War.

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Speaker 5: But you know, I was able to comprehend that this

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Speaker 5: was something we weren't going to get back. I have

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Speaker 5: an older sister, she's six years older, and I think

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Speaker 5: she probably helped me realize that by rubbing it in.

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Speaker 1: Why did you put this on?

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Speaker 4: Here? Do you know what was on this?

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Speaker 1: This is Melanie's older sister, Sam, who was old enough

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Speaker 1: to understand the significance of the tape and to remember

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Speaker 1: her father's reaction when he found out it had been erased.

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Speaker 4: Oh, it was like World War seventeen because there was

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Speaker 4: none of the interview left, like there wasn't like, oh,

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Speaker 4: here's where the beginning of the interview is. And then

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Speaker 4: it cuts to Billy ray Cyrus. This was just straight

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Speaker 4: up Billy Ray Cyrus on stage singing.

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Speaker 1: Can I ask, if you're a Billy ray Cyrus fan,

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Speaker 1: did you feel like, well, this isn't all bad. I

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Speaker 1: mean we lost a family heirloom.

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Speaker 4: No, no, not be something where I would have said that,

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Speaker 4: I would have considered that an equivalent swap.

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Speaker 1: Look was it?

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Speaker 4: Like, well, at least we've got Achy Breaky on VHS.

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Speaker 1: Now that Melanie's an adult, she feels terrible about her

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Speaker 1: mistake and wants to make things right. She wants to

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Speaker 1: unerase the video and return it to her father, But

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Speaker 1: after combing the CBS website emailing the network, her mom

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Speaker 1: even mailed them a physical letter. Melanie's had no luck

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Speaker 1: with finding a copy. She's not even sure the interview

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Speaker 1: still exists. So much from that era doesn't. Until the

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Speaker 1: late nineteen seventies, networks with white TV shows once they'd aired.

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Speaker 1: As a result, most Macy's Day parades are gone. Not

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Speaker 1: to mention, the first episode of The Ed Sullivan Show,

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Speaker 1: a surprise appearance from John Lennon on a nineteen seventy

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Speaker 1: four Monday night football, only exists because it was recorded

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Speaker 1: onto home video by a fan, a fan it would

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Speaker 1: seem without a Billy Ray Cyris super fan for a daughter.

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Speaker 1: What makes Melanie's guilt all the worse is that the

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Speaker 1: video was the one thing she could have turned to

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Speaker 1: to understand that time in her father's life.

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Speaker 5: Because growing up Vietnam was just kind of a subject

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Speaker 5: that we knew not to bring up.

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Speaker 1: Everything from her dad's time in the army felt off limits.

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Speaker 1: He kept his uniform deep in the closet, his purple

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Speaker 1: heart in the back of a drawer. On the rare

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Speaker 1: occasion their father did bring up Vietnam. It wasn't to

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Speaker 1: share memories.

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Speaker 5: There's times where my sister and I are just running

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Speaker 5: around and you know, him commenting to us, pick up

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Speaker 5: your feet. You wouldn't last five minutes in Vietnam. You

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Speaker 5: guys would all be blown up.

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Speaker 1: Pick up your feet. God damn it.

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Speaker 4: You wouldn't have lasted four days, and.

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Speaker 1: Now you would have been shot.

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Speaker 4: So basically, all I knew about Vietnam was that I

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Speaker 4: would not survived.

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Speaker 5: I knew it was someplace where you needed to be quiet,

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Speaker 5: and that he had gotten hurt there.

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Speaker 1: John had been caught in an explosion of shrapnel in Vietnam,

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Speaker 1: but his daughters only knew this because of the pieces

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Speaker 1: of metal that would occasionally fall from his body.

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Speaker 4: I remember him sitting at our kitchen table, and every

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Speaker 4: now and then there would be this little piece of

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Speaker 4: metal that would get worked out of an arm or

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Speaker 4: a leg. He's like, well, that's shrapnel at shrapnel working

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Speaker 4: its way out. And of course they would be very small.

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Speaker 4: They weren't shiny, kind of like a very dark, dark gray,

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Speaker 4: not black.

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Speaker 1: I remember that, although Sam and Melanie are now adults,

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Speaker 1: their understanding of their father's time in Vietnam is as

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Speaker 1: piecemeal as when they were kids, and they're still too

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Speaker 1: intimidated to broach the subject. So, as families tend to

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Speaker 1: with big conversations, they kick the topic of Vietnam down

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Speaker 1: the road to deal with someday. But given her dad's

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Speaker 1: age and temperament, Melanie worries there might not be a

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Speaker 1: some day.

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Speaker 5: He recently was hospitalized with heart failure.

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Speaker 1: Oh no, I'm sorry.

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Speaker 5: He's okay, but you know, some imminent health issues and

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Speaker 5: he's getting older, Like we don't have forever. It would

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Speaker 5: be it would be nice to know him. And I

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Speaker 5: feel like maybe this is something, you know, I kind

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Speaker 5: of effed up as a kid, and maybe I can

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Speaker 5: undo it.

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Speaker 1: Getting the video back is something Melanie wants to do

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Speaker 1: for her father, but she also wants to do it

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Speaker 1: for herself. The tape feels like her strongest hope, possibly

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Speaker 1: her last hope for understanding her dad. If she had

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Speaker 1: the video, she could hear about her father's experiences at

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Speaker 1: the moment he lived them, which is why she's come

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Speaker 1: to me, her fellow Minnesotan. Let's see what we can do.

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Speaker 6: Oh, you're so nice.

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Speaker 1: The nicest thing that you could tell the Minnesotan is

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Speaker 1: that they're nice.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, but I actually mean it.

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Speaker 1: Well, I can't really know, but it's nice to be

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Speaker 1: nice to the nice and no matter what state you're from,

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Speaker 1: I think we can all agree it's always nice to

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Speaker 1: hear from our trusted sponsors. Get ready to raise the

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Speaker 1: roof with savings. During the conversation with Melanie, I'd asked if,

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Speaker 1: after learning she'd erase the tape, she could bring herself

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Speaker 1: through her shame, through her mortification to actually watch the

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Speaker 1: Billie Ray Cyrus special.

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Speaker 6: Heck, yes, I did, you did? Yes? Oh yes.

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Speaker 5: The intro to this special, he has his back to

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Speaker 5: the camera. He's wearing a cutoff T shirt, skin tight jeans,

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Speaker 5: and it's just him like bopping back and forth with

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Speaker 5: his mullet swaying.

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Speaker 6: And that went on for like a minute.

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Speaker 1: And a half before you even see his face.

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Speaker 6: Oh yeah, yeah, it's just the back of him.

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Speaker 7: Man. That is confidence.

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Speaker 5: I don't know if they were like wanting to showcase

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Speaker 5: his body or just the mullet.

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Speaker 1: Was it like in an arena?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and there's you know, ladies bawling and.

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Speaker 1: Wow like Beatlemania, billy mania. My mission is clear. I'll

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Speaker 1: need to begin my research by watching the Billy ray

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Speaker 1: Cyrus special for myself. Well, maybe not need to, but

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Speaker 1: watching an hour of Billy ray Cyrus seems easier than

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Speaker 1: search for a fifty year old news clip. In the special,

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Speaker 1: Billy stands on stage as the audience shouts for him

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Speaker 1: to take off his shirt, but Billy is demure, keeping

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Speaker 1: it classy.

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Speaker 8: How is my mom gonna feel when she wakes up

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Speaker 8: to read the flat Woods Kentucky Times Tomar and finds

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Speaker 8: out that her baby boy came all the way to

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Speaker 8: Reno and gotten naked on his first ABC special.

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Speaker 1: Yet sadly, Billy succumbs to peer pressure.

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Speaker 6: I lived my life on my fans, and if that

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Speaker 6: lets you run out too.

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Speaker 1: Just when it feels like things cannot possibly grow anymore,

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Speaker 1: sexually unhinged, Billy reaches behind his back and in one

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Speaker 1: fluid motion, unleashes the rear end of his lush mullet.

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Speaker 1: It wafts free in the arena vents like the main

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Speaker 1: on a majestic stallion.

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Speaker 8: Sing it to me one time Reno and is his tongue?

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Speaker 9: Where am I going on?

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Speaker 3: Ria?

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Speaker 5: I'm not get home.

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Speaker 1: I want to emphasize this is what supplanted John Capon's legacy.

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Speaker 3: This is where I was born raised.

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Speaker 8: This is McDow Elementary School.

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Speaker 1: The special is also filled with autobiographical interstitials. Billy visits

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Speaker 1: his old elementary school, where the kids receive him as

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Speaker 1: a hero. He stops by his hometown church, and then

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Speaker 1: he races up the walkway of a small, unassuming house.

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Speaker 1: It's one of those moments you'd see on American Masters

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Speaker 1: where some American Master journeys back to his childhood home.

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Speaker 8: This is Cindy, my ex wife, Sandy, how you doing.

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Speaker 1: It's fine, But the house is in fact not Billy's

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Speaker 1: childhood home. It's his ex wife, Cindy's home.

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Speaker 8: This is the lighty that had the courtesy to set

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Speaker 8: my stuff out in the yard about four point thirty

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Speaker 8: in the morning into drisling right.

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Speaker 1: Cindy, he explains, is the inspiration for the song where

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Speaker 1: am I gonna live when I get home?

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Speaker 8: And she was laying on this couch when I said, uh,

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Speaker 8: where am I gonna live when I get home? My

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Speaker 8: old lady stowed out everything home.

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Speaker 3: She meant what she said when she wished.

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Speaker 8: I was dead.

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Speaker 1: All the while Cindy stares into the camera teeth clenched

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Speaker 1: in a smile. The special ends with one last number,

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Speaker 1: one highly ironic number. It's a song called Some Gave All.

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Speaker 8: This is a song I wrote about a Vietnam veteran

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Speaker 8: I met back in Huntington, West Virginia, in the spring

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Speaker 8: of not ten eighty nine.

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Speaker 1: As it turns out, Billy Resyris is well known for

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Speaker 1: his work on behalf of veterans, and so as one

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Speaker 1: West Virginian vet is being elevated in song, another Minnesotan

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Speaker 1: vet is being brought low by song, his service to

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Speaker 1: his country erased by don't to my heart?

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Speaker 6: Oh Hi, Hi, how are you good?

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Speaker 3: How are you?

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Speaker 6: I'm good?

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Speaker 1: Best thing I found the clip of your father get.

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Speaker 6: Out of Town.

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Speaker 5: That's crazy, that's amazing, that's wonderful.

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Speaker 6: Sounds like a lot of digging.

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Speaker 1: I want to say yes, but I can't. One night,

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Speaker 1: over dinner with friends, I brought up the difficulty of

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Speaker 1: trying to find a news clip that's over fifty years old. Oh,

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00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:42,840
Speaker 1: said Matt, my journalism professor friend. You just have to

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Speaker 1: search the Vendorbilt TV news archive. He pulled out his phone.

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Speaker 1: He had the app right there. And when you search

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Speaker 1: Melanie's father's name, Sergeant John Capon. The clip comes right up.

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Speaker 5: Well, you can't make it sound like it was super easy,

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Speaker 5: otherwise I'm going to feel like an even worster.

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Speaker 1: No, no, no, it was very hard. Oh my god,

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Speaker 1: the reams of microfiches that we had to go through.

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Speaker 1: Now that we have the interview, Melanie and I strategize

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Speaker 1: about the best way to return it to her father,

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Speaker 1: when to do it, and where to do it, which

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Speaker 1: is somewhat complicated.

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Speaker 5: So fun fact, my parents are still married, but they

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Speaker 5: live in separate houses that are half a mile apart

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Speaker 5: with a lake in between them.

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Speaker 1: Do you think he would open his home to us?

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Speaker 6: No, you say that without hesitation, No, he won't.

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Speaker 3: No.

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Speaker 1: All entertaining, Melanie says, is done at her mom's place,

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Speaker 1: never at her dad's.

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Speaker 5: I haven't even been in there for probably fifteen twenty years.

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Speaker 6: His house, Yeah, where I grew up. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: What about your sister? Has she been in there more recently?

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Speaker 6: No?

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Speaker 1: And what about your mom?

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Speaker 3: Uh?

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Speaker 5: I think my mom like maybe broke there, wants to

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Speaker 5: try to get something.

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Speaker 1: And she had to break in there.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, he's like growing up, we couldn't have an answering

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Speaker 5: machine because he didn't want people listening to his.

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Speaker 1: Messages, seeing is how private Melanie's dat is. I wonder

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Speaker 1: how he'll feel about the recovered interview being accompanied by

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Speaker 1: a stranger with a microphone. But I hope for the best.

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Speaker 1: So if things went really well at your mother's, what

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Speaker 1: do you think the likelihood is that we would go

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Speaker 1: over there for cake and coffee afterwards?

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Speaker 6: Two percent?

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Speaker 1: I like those odds because two percent is how I

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Speaker 1: like my milk when it's clouding my coffee. Then I'm

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Speaker 1: drinking alongside the cake I'm being served in someone's house

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Speaker 1: that no one's been inside in twenty years. The interview

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Speaker 1: only exists as a digital file, so I decided to

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Speaker 1: have a transferred to VHS. Presenting John with a tape,

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Speaker 1: I'll have a certain poetic symmetry, So I start calling

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Speaker 1: video transfer services, the first of which informs me they

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Speaker 1: don't put things on VHS tapes, and in fact, quote

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Speaker 1: do exactly the opposite. Eventually, though, I find a place

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Speaker 1: willing to flout the Darwinian chain of media evolution for

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Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty dollars. It feels like a bargain,

300
00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:28,240
Speaker 1: and so videotape in hand I set off to see

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Speaker 1: the Capons. I'm on my way to Melanie's mom's house

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00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:51,399
Speaker 1: to lure her dad over. Melanie told him she'd written

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Speaker 1: into a radio show that was featuring children of Vietnam vets.

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Speaker 1: The host is coming over to do a story about

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Speaker 1: me and Sam. She told them, maybe you can show

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00:17:59,920 --> 00:18:03,040
Speaker 1: up to answer a few questions, and once he does,

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00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:06,520
Speaker 1: that'll be when I spring into action, surprising him with

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00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:12,720
Speaker 1: the tape. Oh, that was it. The house is on

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00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:15,880
Speaker 1: a dirt road, nothing but farmland and sky for as

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Speaker 1: far as the eye can see. The Capons live in

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Speaker 1: a town called Elbow Lake in rural Minnesota. It's a

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00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:26,080
Speaker 1: kind of place where everyone knows everyone, going back generations.

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Speaker 5: Hi.

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Speaker 1: I greet Melanie outside her mom's house. There's a dog

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Speaker 1: running around and a big American flag waving in the wind.

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Speaker 1: For COVID reasons, we all settle down in the garage

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Speaker 1: where the airflow is better.

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Speaker 3: Hello.

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Speaker 1: Melanie's mom, Diane, and her sister Sam are already seated inside.

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Speaker 1: Sam's four year old runs up to say Hi, Hi, Hello, Hello,

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Speaker 1: nice to meet you. And there's Melanie's dad, Sergeant John Capon.

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Speaker 1: He's large and imposing. I introduced myself and ask if

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Speaker 1: I can hook him up with a mic. I clipped

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Speaker 1: the microphone onto John's lapel. John, can you tell me

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Speaker 1: what you had for breakfast?

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00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:18,280
Speaker 2: I had a piece of toast and some pretzels and

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Speaker 2: a hard boiled egg and two domus.

328
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Speaker 1: Yeah, the videotape is in my backpack. I consider how

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00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:32,240
Speaker 1: the best surprise John present the tape with a flourish,

330
00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:36,600
Speaker 1: without a flourish, perhaps with a hearty handshake. Would it

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00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:39,879
Speaker 1: be offensive to hand it over with a salute? But

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00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:44,000
Speaker 1: before I can do any of these things, John surprises me.

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00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:49,560
Speaker 2: Needs to be more of this, What more younger people

334
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Speaker 2: finding out what the hell went on?

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Speaker 1: How many years were you in Vietnam?

336
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Speaker 2: I was only there for about eight and a half

337
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Speaker 2: nine months.

338
00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:03,080
Speaker 1: And just like that, John is talking.

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00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:05,840
Speaker 2: No, I'll tell you what. When he got off the airplane,

340
00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:08,560
Speaker 2: they opened up the plane, the air conditioned plane door,

341
00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:10,879
Speaker 2: and it was one hundred and twenty gays, just like

342
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,200
Speaker 2: somebody threw a hot pail of water in your face.

343
00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:16,800
Speaker 1: Maybe having a stranger present somebody doesn't have to worry

344
00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:21,760
Speaker 1: about burdening is actually helpful. Or maybe John just needed

345
00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:23,240
Speaker 1: someone to pose the question.

346
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Speaker 2: And I'll never forget this. They took us stone.

347
00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:31,439
Speaker 1: Like, And so the Sunday conversation becomes a Today conversation.

348
00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:41,359
Speaker 1: For the next couple hours, John shares stories that his

349
00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:44,919
Speaker 1: daughters have never heard, stories that even Diane, his wife

350
00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:48,520
Speaker 1: of many decades, never heard. It turns out that a

351
00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:51,720
Speaker 1: lot of what John did in Vietnam was called long

352
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Speaker 1: range reconnaissance patrol, which meant acting as a scout, tiptoeing

353
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Speaker 1: through enemy territory. John was often the one who stayed

354
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Speaker 1: out in front, the most exposed of all the men.

355
00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:06,760
Speaker 2: Anything that don't look right isn't right. If you've seen

356
00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:10,399
Speaker 2: a leaf that was turned a little color where the

357
00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:14,200
Speaker 2: bottom of the leaf was up, there's something there was there?

358
00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:15,800
Speaker 7: Really, are you just exaggerating?

359
00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:19,400
Speaker 2: Well? Is that exaggerating? Because there'd be a trip wire there?

360
00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:23,359
Speaker 2: And the other thing is if you were walking along

361
00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:26,280
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden the birds didn't start singing anymore,

362
00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:30,680
Speaker 2: why because there's somebody else there.

363
00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:34,520
Speaker 1: You had to be careful about smoking too, John says,

364
00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:38,720
Speaker 1: or showering because the Vietcong might smell you. You had

365
00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:41,760
Speaker 1: to be on alert twenty four to seven. And of

366
00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:44,720
Speaker 1: course you had to pick up your feet and walk

367
00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:51,520
Speaker 1: real quietly. John shares the everyday things, like the food

368
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,680
Speaker 1: he ate, sometimes bananas, which he said were the best

369
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:58,480
Speaker 1: he'd ever tasted, plucked right from the trees. John looks

370
00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:00,960
Speaker 1: from Melanie to Sam, telling them about the guys he

371
00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:03,800
Speaker 1: served with and the nights they spent playing cards and

372
00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:08,159
Speaker 1: talking about their childhoods. He also shares the horrific things,

373
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Speaker 1: of which there were many.

374
00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:13,840
Speaker 2: Always used to tell us war as hell than it is.

375
00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:16,800
Speaker 2: But there's one time we had come along and there

376
00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:18,880
Speaker 2: was a school teacher with their head cut off, sitting

377
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:23,399
Speaker 2: on a post. She was like a twenty five year

378
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:27,040
Speaker 2: old woman. So that's the worse to humanity as far

379
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Speaker 2: as I'm concerned.

380
00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:33,360
Speaker 1: Eventually, John winds his way to the day he was wounded.

381
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:36,160
Speaker 1: He'd been sent to check out an area by the river,

382
00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:38,879
Speaker 1: and there was a moment, he says, when he noticed

383
00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:41,919
Speaker 1: something feeling off no more than a leaf, turned it

384
00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:45,679
Speaker 1: a strange way, and suddenly his men were caught in

385
00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:48,840
Speaker 1: a hail of gunfire. John was shot in the leg.

386
00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:52,840
Speaker 1: A helicopter came to evacuate him, but as John limbed

387
00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:56,160
Speaker 1: towards it, he stepped onto a booby trap. That's when

388
00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:59,119
Speaker 1: the shrapnel embedded all over his body and even in

389
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:01,720
Speaker 1: his eyes, rendering him unable to see.

390
00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:05,080
Speaker 2: And I woke up on my birthday, so that would

391
00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,359
Speaker 2: have been three days later. I remember this one nurse

392
00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:15,480
Speaker 2: telling me happy birthday. Yeah, okay, yeah. And then anyway,

393
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:18,919
Speaker 2: she said, well, you've got some very important there's people

394
00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:20,719
Speaker 2: here from CBS television.

395
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:25,080
Speaker 1: She said that what John and his family have not

396
00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:29,040
Speaker 1: discussed the news clip in easily thirty years. Hearing John

397
00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:31,959
Speaker 1: bring it up now on his own, I'm struck by

398
00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:34,359
Speaker 1: how baked into the story of a service it is,

399
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,600
Speaker 1: John says. So that he'd look presentable for television, the

400
00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:41,520
Speaker 1: nurse spent a lot of time washing his hair. He'd

401
00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:43,920
Speaker 1: be in bed with his eyes and face bandaged over,

402
00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:47,359
Speaker 1: but at least his hair would look nice. And on

403
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:51,240
Speaker 1: December thirtieth, nineteen seventy one, the nation tuned in to

404
00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:52,960
Speaker 1: see John on TV.

405
00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:56,440
Speaker 2: Felt kind of privileged. You know how many people are

406
00:23:56,440 --> 00:24:00,080
Speaker 2: on Walter Cronkite News, You know, not very many.

407
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:04,359
Speaker 1: And John intended to commemorate that privilege by preserving it

408
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:08,240
Speaker 1: in the form of a videotape cassette, but alas.

409
00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:10,919
Speaker 2: Got wiped off of the achy breaky heart.

410
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,159
Speaker 1: It seems that Justine baked into the story of his

411
00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:20,040
Speaker 1: military service, as the TV news clip is so too

412
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,280
Speaker 1: is it's erasure and what it was erased by?

413
00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:28,000
Speaker 2: I hate Billy because he raised my table.

414
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:32,800
Speaker 6: I actually hi the tape. Let sleep Billy out of it.

415
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:41,560
Speaker 5: When's the last time you watched it? Right before the

416
00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:45,800
Speaker 5: achy Breaky insid, Yeah, where did you get it?

417
00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:48,480
Speaker 7: The guy who was my.

418
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,880
Speaker 2: Officer, he knew what was going on with this filming

419
00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:55,640
Speaker 2: and stuff, so he had his dad recorded and that's

420
00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:56,960
Speaker 2: how I got it.

421
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:02,000
Speaker 1: And then Melanie tells John the news.

422
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:03,679
Speaker 6: Well, Jonathan got it.

423
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:06,000
Speaker 3: He did.

424
00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:10,120
Speaker 5: That's the whole reason we contacted him was to get

425
00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:10,520
Speaker 5: this for you.

426
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:16,639
Speaker 1: Really, more than during any of the stories he told,

427
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:19,800
Speaker 1: even the one about his being wounded, hearing about the

428
00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:23,320
Speaker 1: news clips recovery makes John grow more emotional than I've

429
00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:24,280
Speaker 1: seen him all day.

430
00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:30,800
Speaker 7: Do you want to take a look at it?

431
00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:31,719
Speaker 3: Yeah?

432
00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:33,640
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, okay.

433
00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:35,080
Speaker 2: Sadana CD.

434
00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:41,199
Speaker 1: Well as I offer John an impromptu lecture on the

435
00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:45,919
Speaker 1: importance of poetic symmetry. Melanie sets up the VCR Lucky

436
00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:49,480
Speaker 1: for us, her mom still uses one. Then we pop

437
00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:55,960
Speaker 1: the tape in and hit play. As it turns out.

438
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,560
Speaker 1: There are a few things Melanie got wrong about the clip.

439
00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:02,719
Speaker 1: For one, Walter Cronkite was out that day, the anchor

440
00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:06,360
Speaker 1: replacing him as a man named Charles Collingwood. The segment

441
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:09,280
Speaker 1: opens with him seated at his desk beside a graphic

442
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:10,879
Speaker 1: about Vietnam War injuries.

443
00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:14,200
Speaker 8: Some of the best evidence that American involvement in South

444
00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:17,720
Speaker 8: Vietnam is drawing to a close may be found.

445
00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:20,639
Speaker 2: In the military hospitals and medical evacuation units.

446
00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:20,960
Speaker 3: There.

447
00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:24,359
Speaker 1: As the tape plays, John shuts his eyes and leans back.

448
00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:27,399
Speaker 1: Sam says, this is something she'd seen her dad do

449
00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:30,760
Speaker 1: at his father's funeral. It's hard to tell what John

450
00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:35,320
Speaker 1: is thinking. Bob Simon, the anchor, turns the segment over

451
00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:38,760
Speaker 1: to the reporter, Bob Simon, and this is the second

452
00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:43,000
Speaker 1: thing Melanie had wrong. John was not merely interviewed. He

453
00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:46,760
Speaker 1: was the subject of a documentary news report. Simon and

454
00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:49,439
Speaker 1: his film crew began following John right after he was

455
00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:52,720
Speaker 1: injured out in the field. Simon shouts to be heard

456
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:56,800
Speaker 1: over a helicopter. It's the helicopter that's headed to evacuate John.

457
00:26:57,160 --> 00:26:59,720
Speaker 3: We're going to pick up an American. He's been hit

458
00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:00,560
Speaker 3: by shrapnel.

459
00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:04,439
Speaker 1: And then we see him, twenty three year old Sergeant

460
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 1: John Capon. He's lying on a stretcher, completely still, looking

461
00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:09,760
Speaker 1: like he could be dead.

462
00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:13,119
Speaker 9: Sergeant John Capon is rushed aboard the chopper.

463
00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:15,840
Speaker 1: Melanie and Sam stare at the TV screen as the

464
00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,600
Speaker 1: camera cuts to a close up of John's face, which

465
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:22,119
Speaker 1: is completely bloodied. Breathing is normal, says a man in

466
00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:28,320
Speaker 1: aviator glasses of John's wounds. He says, it's just superficial.

467
00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,679
Speaker 1: Seeing his young self. John lets out a pained sound,

468
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:33,760
Speaker 1: but is riddled with shrapnel.

469
00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:36,560
Speaker 3: His wounds look worse than they really are.

470
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:39,720
Speaker 1: John is taken to a surgical unit in Long Bin.

471
00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,280
Speaker 1: There we see him operated on by a frenzy of

472
00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:47,440
Speaker 1: people in medical masks, his insides on full display across

473
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:48,920
Speaker 1: the living rooms of America.

474
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:52,960
Speaker 9: Four surgeons work on Sergeant Caupon for more than an hour.

475
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:57,679
Speaker 9: They remove dozens of metal fragments. Fortunately, the wounds are

476
00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:01,240
Speaker 9: all superficially, aside from an injury to his left eye,

477
00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:03,160
Speaker 9: which may cause problems.

478
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:09,080
Speaker 1: The potential problem Simon's referencing or blindness. So much shrapnel

479
00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:12,040
Speaker 1: had entered John's eyes that at this point he still

480
00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:15,280
Speaker 1: was without his sight. The last thing he'd heard before

481
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,080
Speaker 1: going under was the surgeon saying, I don't know if

482
00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:20,600
Speaker 1: this guy's going to see again, and I don't know

483
00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:23,560
Speaker 1: about this leg. We might have to cut that off.

484
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:27,520
Speaker 1: Melanie later tells me that the whole report made her mad,

485
00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:30,480
Speaker 1: the way they kept underplaying everything her dad went through,

486
00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:34,600
Speaker 1: calling it superficial when all through her childhood she watched

487
00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:44,840
Speaker 1: him pick shrapnel from his body. After the surgery, John

488
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:48,640
Speaker 1: lies shirtless, teeth smashed in bullet hole in his left leg,

489
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:53,240
Speaker 1: and eyes bandaged over. Simon posed his questions at his bedside.

490
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:57,600
Speaker 3: Hey, you feeling okay? Okay? Nowhere?

491
00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:01,240
Speaker 2: Oh tt and a leftne and my hands kind of

492
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:03,960
Speaker 2: sorry yet what about your face?

493
00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:06,200
Speaker 3: Ah, not too.

494
00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:10,600
Speaker 1: Bad not to worry about. It's like John's echoing back

495
00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:14,560
Speaker 1: the tone of the report. He's being stoic, protecting his parents,

496
00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:16,880
Speaker 1: who he knows are back home in Elbow Lake watching,

497
00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:20,880
Speaker 1: but he probably also understands that nobody really wants to

498
00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:23,880
Speaker 1: know how he's doing. By this point in the war,

499
00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:27,160
Speaker 1: America didn't see the likes of Sergeant John Capon as

500
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:30,720
Speaker 1: a hero so much as a living reminder of an unwinnable,

501
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:33,760
Speaker 1: unpopular war that they wished would go away.

502
00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:35,880
Speaker 3: What does the doctor tell you about your eye?

503
00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:40,640
Speaker 2: Ah says that it should be okay.

504
00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:43,440
Speaker 3: How do you feel about it? You're worried? Oh?

505
00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:46,480
Speaker 7: No, scene worse.

506
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:52,080
Speaker 1: Melanie later points out one the bitter irony of her father,

507
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:55,960
Speaker 1: saying he's seen worse when at the moment he's literally

508
00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:00,000
Speaker 1: unable to see anything, and two that like any kid,

509
00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:03,479
Speaker 1: the wounded soldier on the hospital caught can't really grasp

510
00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:07,080
Speaker 1: what's to come. Even though her father would regain his

511
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:09,960
Speaker 1: vision when he returned home, he would become prone to

512
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:15,080
Speaker 1: angry outbursts, outbursts she remembers vividly throughout her childhood. He'd

513
00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,360
Speaker 1: also begin drinking a lot, trying to blot out his memories.

514
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:23,520
Speaker 1: Hearing fireworks, John would think AK forty seven and instinctively

515
00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:26,560
Speaker 1: hit the floor, and to this day he still dreams

516
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:30,320
Speaker 1: of the Army buddies he lost. Melanie always thought of

517
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:33,200
Speaker 1: the video as the sole record of her father's story,

518
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:37,239
Speaker 1: a story she'd erased, But seeing the report all these

519
00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:40,840
Speaker 1: years later, it seems like John's story was erased long

520
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:53,680
Speaker 1: before Melanie got to it. A troop of USO entertainers

521
00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:57,960
Speaker 1: tromp through the hospital entertaining. A glamorous woman approaches John

522
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:02,520
Speaker 1: blonde hair. If I'm bleeding in Vietnam, right, I'm going to.

523
00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:04,760
Speaker 3: Stay here your mind wonder.

524
00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:13,560
Speaker 1: That's beautiful, and then it's over.

525
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:16,840
Speaker 3: Bob Simon, CBS News Long bin.

526
00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:20,800
Speaker 1: All told the entire news report lasts no more than

527
00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:21,480
Speaker 1: six minutes.

528
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:23,680
Speaker 5: I can't see you.

529
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:28,280
Speaker 1: As John stares at the screen, a nineteen seventies perfume

530
00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:32,240
Speaker 1: ad plays It's jingle, repeating over and over again. I

531
00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:43,760
Speaker 1: can't seem to forget you.

532
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:50,200
Speaker 5: Say so, you haven't seen that for how many years?

533
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:52,160
Speaker 3: Oh?

534
00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:53,000
Speaker 2: Thirty?

535
00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:56,560
Speaker 5: The cadence of your voice is the same, but your

536
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:58,160
Speaker 5: voice sounds so much different.

537
00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:01,600
Speaker 7: Recognize your father and that.

538
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:05,400
Speaker 6: Guy, No, not at all. I mean it looks like

539
00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:07,760
Speaker 6: a young, blown up kid.

540
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:14,160
Speaker 2: That's where it was, so we were everybody was young.

541
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:18,840
Speaker 2: The average person that fought in Vietnam was nineteen years old.

542
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:28,640
Speaker 1: When John returned home to life in a peacetime town,

543
00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:32,120
Speaker 1: he wasn't welcomed as a hero. In fact, he was

544
00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:34,880
Speaker 1: advised by the army not to wear his uniform so

545
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:38,400
Speaker 1: as not to advertise his service in Vietnam. As it

546
00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:42,480
Speaker 1: was in Elbow Lake, John was shunned. He remembers attending

547
00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:45,040
Speaker 1: the local basketball game and how he ended up sitting

548
00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:48,240
Speaker 1: in the bleachers alone. All the other spectators had moved

549
00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:51,840
Speaker 1: away from him. Just like the country at large, the

550
00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:54,720
Speaker 1: town wanted to distance itself from the likes of John.

551
00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:58,240
Speaker 1: John describes one afternoon when he stopped in at the

552
00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:02,080
Speaker 1: local American Legion Hall for he figured it'd be the

553
00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:04,480
Speaker 1: one place in town where he could comfortably enjoy a

554
00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:08,160
Speaker 1: drink among peers. There were a few older vets hanging

555
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:08,840
Speaker 1: out inside.

556
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:12,960
Speaker 2: They were in there drinking with their wives, some pictures

557
00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 2: of beer sitting on the table. And well, there's one

558
00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:20,800
Speaker 2: guy come walking up to me, and he said, are

559
00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:28,080
Speaker 2: you one of them losers? And I said, excuse me, yeah,

560
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:30,880
Speaker 2: you one of them Vietnam veterans that you gave us

561
00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:35,960
Speaker 2: a bad reputation. And I said, I'm a Vietnam veteran.

562
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,160
Speaker 2: I'm in here to have finished my beer, and I

563
00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:41,640
Speaker 2: want to leave. You leave right now. I said, I'm

564
00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:43,719
Speaker 2: going to drink my beer first. I paid for it.

565
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:44,520
Speaker 2: I'm going to do that.

566
00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:45,959
Speaker 8: Well.

567
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:50,360
Speaker 2: Let He grabbed me by the arm, and I grabbed

568
00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:55,040
Speaker 2: him by the and just shoved him. He fell over

569
00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:57,760
Speaker 2: backwards onto that table all full of beer and it

570
00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:02,040
Speaker 2: went flying all over the place. The bartender come out

571
00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:04,280
Speaker 2: with a night stick and he was going to club

572
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:06,400
Speaker 2: be over the head, and I grabbed him by the

573
00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:09,840
Speaker 2: wrist and I twisted it. Two of them, I found

574
00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:12,840
Speaker 2: out later. Two of them were World War Two veterans

575
00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:16,719
Speaker 2: who had never been in combat, and there was another one.

576
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:19,360
Speaker 2: I was a Korean veteran who had never left the

577
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:27,680
Speaker 2: United States.

578
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:32,399
Speaker 1: John says he only had one friend who also saw

579
00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:35,799
Speaker 1: combat in Vietnam. Many were for f and didn't have

580
00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:38,880
Speaker 1: to serve, So while his classmates were getting on with

581
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:42,920
Speaker 1: their lives, John was left struggling to cope. And yet

582
00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:45,960
Speaker 1: his experience also showed him the expanse of the world.

583
00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:49,239
Speaker 2: I was in a restaurant here about a year ago,

584
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:52,800
Speaker 2: and there was people in there talking about Black lives

585
00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:54,840
Speaker 2: matter and all that there, and then in order to

586
00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:58,040
Speaker 2: shoot him, all and all that there. And I said,

587
00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:03,319
Speaker 2: how many black people do you know? Nobody knew any

588
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:06,720
Speaker 2: He said, how many have been on the ground county

589
00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,080
Speaker 2: for more than two months out of your life? None

590
00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:13,239
Speaker 2: of them? And nine people. And I'd have probably been

591
00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:15,560
Speaker 2: sitting there right with him. I wouldn't have had those

592
00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:20,160
Speaker 2: life experiences without being in the military. That to me,

593
00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:23,920
Speaker 2: that to me is worth a lot.

594
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:28,400
Speaker 1: For better and for worse. The moment John left for Vietnam,

595
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:39,360
Speaker 1: his life diverged from everyone he'd grown up with. Melanie's nephew,

596
00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:41,759
Speaker 1: John Z has been coming in and out of the

597
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:43,720
Speaker 1: garage while we've been talking.

598
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,279
Speaker 5: John Z, do you know that grandpa was in the army?

599
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:53,480
Speaker 1: Should Maybe John never fully felt like the country, CBS News,

600
00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:56,040
Speaker 1: or even Elbow Lake really wanted to know what he

601
00:35:56,080 --> 00:36:00,120
Speaker 1: saw and how he felt. But hopefully after today j

602
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:10,560
Speaker 1: family does. Although John has opened his Achi breaky heart,

603
00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:12,919
Speaker 1: it doesn't look like he's about to open his achy

604
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:17,319
Speaker 1: breaky home or offer me any achy breaky cake. So

605
00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:20,600
Speaker 1: we all adjourn to the living room where the family piano.

606
00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:22,800
Speaker 10: Sits, and don't worry, there will be plenty of miskeys,

607
00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:30,880
Speaker 10: just like there are in life.

608
00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:35,520
Speaker 1: Knowing what an advocate Billy ray Cyrus is for veterans,

609
00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:37,800
Speaker 1: I'd asked if he could show up to Elbow Lake

610
00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:41,000
Speaker 1: and serenade John, girl.

611
00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:45,160
Speaker 5: You can burn my clothesmend I am gone.

612
00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:48,480
Speaker 1: And while Billy's people initially said that that sounded like

613
00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:52,799
Speaker 1: a great opportunity for Billy, it fell through as did

614
00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:56,040
Speaker 1: my more modest request for Billy to sing over speakerphone,

615
00:36:56,640 --> 00:36:59,400
Speaker 1: and my even more modest request that he leave a

616
00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:03,160
Speaker 1: voice mess at John John's phone. And so in the

617
00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:05,640
Speaker 1: end I asked Melanie if she could dig out her

618
00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:07,839
Speaker 1: old Billy Ray Cyrus sheet music.

619
00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:13,160
Speaker 5: Or you can tell my lips to tell my brother Cliff.

620
00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:16,120
Speaker 1: As Melanie sings and Sam plays the out of tune

621
00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:19,920
Speaker 1: piano and John checks his phone, possibly while wishing he

622
00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:23,560
Speaker 1: was wearing a pair of noise canceling earphones, I stand

623
00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:31,240
Speaker 1: back and save her the poetic symmetry.

624
00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:35,040
Speaker 8: To tell my heart, my aby, breaky heart. He might.

625
00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:48,720
Speaker 6: Tell my heart, my heart. Just don't think you don't understands.

626
00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:42,440
Speaker 8: Now that the fern entures returning to its goodwill home,

627
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:50,040
Speaker 8: now that the last month's rant is scheming with.

628
00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:54,839
Speaker 5: The damaged possible take this moment to dissolve.

629
00:38:56,880 --> 00:38:59,279
Speaker 3: If we mess him, if we talk.

630
00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:08,120
Speaker 5: Of Felder from the Dames at Accident Lee Bos.

631
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,840
Speaker 1: This episode of Heavyweight was produced by senior producer Khalila

632
00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:20,040
Speaker 1: Holt and me Jonathan Goldstein, along with Moheeney mcgauker. Our

633
00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:24,400
Speaker 1: supervising producer is Stevie Lane. Production help from Domiano Marquetti

634
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:28,560
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Emily Condon, Matt Carlson, Peter Mullen, Sanya

635
00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:32,839
Speaker 1: de Sani, Mitch Hansen, Jonah Delso, and Jackie Cohen. News

636
00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:36,680
Speaker 1: footage courtesy of Veritone and CBS News Archives, and concert

637
00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:40,359
Speaker 1: footage courtesy of the Billy Ray Cyrus Team. Bobby Lord

638
00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:44,360
Speaker 1: mixed the episode with original music by Christine Fellows, John K. Sampson,

639
00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:47,400
Speaker 1: and Bobby Lord. Additional music credits can be found on

640
00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:51,479
Speaker 1: our website Gimbletmedia dot com slash Heavyweight. Our theme song

641
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:54,640
Speaker 1: is by The Weaker Thands courtesy of Epitaph Records. Follow

642
00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:57,759
Speaker 1: us on Twitter at Heavyweight or email us at Heavyweight

643
00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:02,120
Speaker 1: at gimletmedia dot com. Back with a new episode next week.

644
00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:21,760
Speaker 7: Wow, I think.

645
00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:22,719
Speaker 5: That's as good as we're gonna get.

646
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:24,440
Speaker 1: You recognize some of it