1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,580 All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio. 2 00:00:15,580 --> 00:00:23,000 And now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry. 3 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:24,000 Welcome to Veterans Radio. 4 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:29,480 My name is Dale Throneberry, CW2-type helicopter pilot in the United States Army in 1969. 5 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:31,800 Welcome to today's program. 6 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:39,480 We're going to be going back in time again, back to June 23rd, 2007, when my partner, 7 00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:43,480 Gary Lilly and I had the opportunity to interview a gentleman named Gary Toyne. 8 00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:47,600 And Gary talked about his book, The Quiet Hero. 9 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:49,400 And it's a great story. 10 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:52,200 And then we talk a little bit about where have our heroes all gone? 11 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:53,840 Where have they kind of disappeared? 12 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,160 We don't hear that much about them anymore. 13 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,760 And I think you'll find this interview really enlightening. 14 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:03,680 It's kind of timely too when you think about it, because we really don't hear that much 15 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:06,040 about military heroes any longer. 16 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:11,400 We don't even really know how to define military heroes, or heroes in general. 17 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:14,800 So I want you to sit back and really enjoy this interview. 18 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:17,440 It's great hearing Gary's voice again. 19 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:21,600 For those of you that follow Veterans Radio, Gary was one of our founders. 20 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,080 And unfortunately, we lost him. 21 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:28,120 Well before we get into the program, I want to thank our sponsors because we can't do 22 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:32,760 Veterans Radio without their support and without your help even. 23 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:35,000 So I want to thank our loyal sponsors. 24 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:39,360 Let's see that'd be Legal Help for Veterans specializing in Veterans Disability Claims. 25 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:44,920 Give Legal Help for Veterans a call at 800-69-3-4800. 26 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:49,680 Or you can go to their website, legalhelpforveterans.com. 27 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:54,120 The National Veterans Business Development Council, better known as NVBDC, is the nation's 28 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:58,960 leading third party authority for the certification of a veteran-owned business. 29 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:08,680 For more information, go to their website, NVBDC.org, or give them a call at 888-237-8433. 30 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:12,240 The Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 31 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:16,720 For more information, go to va.gov.com. 32 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:21,280 We also want to thank our local veterans organizations for their longtime support, and they include 33 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:26,320 the Irwin Prescor and American Legion Post-46, and the Charles S. Kettles Vietnam Veterans 34 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:30,480 of America Chapter 310, both of Ann Arbor, Michigan. 35 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:34,920 And as I mentioned, you, we can always use your support. 36 00:02:34,920 --> 00:02:40,360 So you can just go to veteransradio.org, click on the donate button, and we would appreciate 37 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:45,000 every nickel, dime, and dollar that you could spare. 38 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,680 This is our 20th year for those of you that are just listening in for the first time, 39 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:52,600 and all you want to do if you want to find about any of our programs, just go back to 40 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:58,720 our website, veteransradio.org, and just click on our archives, and you're going to see 20 41 00:02:58,720 --> 00:02:59,720 years worth of programming. 42 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:02,680 I think you'll really enjoy some of those stories we have. 43 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:06,680 It's been kind of a really interesting adventure for me to go back and look at the topics that 44 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:08,680 we have covered over the last 20 years. 45 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:10,440 Really pretty interesting. 46 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:13,560 So anyway, we won't waste any more time. 47 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:18,280 Let's get right into this interview with Gary Lilly and Gary Toyne. 48 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:19,280 Here we go. 49 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:25,440 Anyway, today's program first aired on June 23rd of 2007, and it's really a two-parter. 50 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:29,560 First we will be talking with author Gary Toyne, as I mentioned about his book, The Quiet 51 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:31,760 Hero. 52 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:37,280 And it's a great untold story of George Whalen at the Battle of Forima Jima. 53 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:39,800 Then Gary will be talking to Gary Lilly, that is. 54 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:44,160 He'll be talking with Gary Toyne in the second half of our program on the topic of where 55 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:46,560 have our heroes gone? 56 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:48,360 Kind of an interesting question, don't you think? 57 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:49,360 Well, think about it. 58 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:51,440 Who are today's heroes? 59 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,160 What is a hero, or how do you define heroism? 60 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:56,240 I don't know. 61 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:57,960 So maybe you could help us out with that. 62 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:01,880 Anyway, so let's get to the first part of Gary's interview with author Gary Toyne from 63 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:04,480 June 23rd, 2007. 64 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:07,880 Good morning, America. 65 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:09,520 I'm your host Gary Lilly. 66 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:15,600 Here with you on Veterans Radio and my co-host Dale Throneberry. 67 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:16,600 Good morning. 68 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:17,600 Good morning. 69 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:20,360 Former helicopter pilot, and over there on the board Ken Rogie. 70 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:21,480 Ken Rogie waves hello. 71 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:25,960 I'm sorry, I hit the wrong button. 72 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:29,400 Today's show is going to be a really good one, Dale. 73 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:37,160 Really an untold story of a hero on Iwo Jima, Medal of Honor recipient, even his wife didn't 74 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,360 know about it for years after they were married. 75 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:41,360 Just never spoke of it. 76 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:42,360 The quiet hero. 77 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:46,760 I think it's a really fascinating story, and what we're going to be talking about later 78 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:50,080 on in the program is what makes a hero. 79 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:54,200 What has happened to the American hero that we all grew up with many, many years ago, 80 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:58,800 and how are we going to get this generation to understand the importance? 81 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:01,400 Our heroes alive and well in America. 82 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:03,400 They're alive. 83 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,680 I know that, but they're not getting a lot of good press right now. 84 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:11,880 We're going to find out from our guest Gary W. Toin more about that subject. 85 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:18,040 With us is Gary W. Toin, who is the author of The Quiet Hero, the untold Medal of Honor 86 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:20,560 story of George E. Whalen. 87 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:26,600 George E. Whalen was a Navy corpsman slash pharmacist mate in the Battle of Iwo Jima, 88 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:30,160 awarded the Medal of Honor to Navy Crosses. 89 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,760 Mr. Toin, welcome to Veterans Radio. 90 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:34,760 Thank you for having me. 91 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:39,360 I see that you are a professor of radio and media. 92 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,920 I guess we're going to get our final grade after this interview. 93 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:45,360 Yeah, the tests are easy though. 94 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:46,360 Good. 95 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:48,760 We'll let you carry it. 96 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:54,000 Tell us about this corpsman, George Whalen. 97 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:55,000 What did he do? 98 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:56,000 Well, he's an amazing guy. 99 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:04,480 Obviously, I have a bit of a propensity towards him and a little bias admittedly, but I make 100 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:12,840 it the claim and I'm always wanting to underscore this for the fact that I respect all Medal 101 00:06:12,840 --> 00:06:18,080 of Honor recipients, especially because they are true American heroes. 102 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:22,960 We can get into defining the word hero, but I think if there ever was a hero, it's a Medal 103 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:23,960 of Honor recipient. 104 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:33,160 But George is an interesting person simply because he can represent so many veterans. 105 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:40,000 In particular, I think if you ask any Medal of Honor recipient, they'll say, I'm not 106 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:41,000 a hero. 107 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,000 That's universal, they'll all say that. 108 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:47,920 But they'll say, this medal I wear around my neck is really as a proxy for every other 109 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:48,920 veteran. 110 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:57,080 Well, George is unique in that when he first joined military service as a civilian, he 111 00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:03,320 was actually working as in the capacity of an enlisted man working as a crew chief at 112 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:08,840 Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah, actually supervising five other people and just fixing 113 00:07:08,840 --> 00:07:15,520 planes and they were actually preparing them to send off to Russia for the Second World 114 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:22,000 War in Russia and getting the Russian troops geared up. 115 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:25,160 Worked on planes and then all of a sudden he says, you know, I'm tired of this and he 116 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:31,400 went and wanted to join the military and join the Air Force. 117 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:33,080 The other Air Corps at the time, they wouldn't let him. 118 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:34,440 They says, we're all filled up. 119 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:36,480 But if you want to work on planes, go join the Navy. 120 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:37,480 They've got planes. 121 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:38,480 He says, okay. 122 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:40,960 Went and volunteered for the draft, became a corpsman. 123 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:49,680 I wasn't too happy about that, but didn't want to empty bedpans and so he ended up 124 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:52,880 volunteering for combat duty with the Marine Corps. 125 00:07:52,880 --> 00:08:00,360 And after Iwo Jima and the Medal of Honor and so forth, he came back and actually just 126 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:05,040 kind of hid a little bit, but he wanted to find a way to hide from all the acclaims. 127 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:07,720 So he joined the Army and served a distinguished career at the Army. 128 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:12,680 So he actually served all four branches of the military and after he retired, he actually 129 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:15,160 spent 14 years with the Veterans Administration. 130 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:16,480 He's still alive, isn't he? 131 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:17,480 He's still alive. 132 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:18,480 Alive and kicking. 133 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:19,480 Yeah. 134 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:24,200 And you did the interviews yourself, pretty amazing gentlemen. 135 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:29,080 I mean, from the standpoint of the humbleness and assuming he's a quiet person. 136 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:30,080 Very much so. 137 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:35,480 You know, I had chosen actually another title for the book, but the family said, you know, 138 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:41,480 if you really want a real title for my dad, let's say the quiet hero because he is. 139 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:46,880 He just has, what's amazing, I'll give you a little background on the story. 140 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:50,800 He received the Medal of Honor, we can talk about a little bit how we, how we received 141 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:57,400 it, but what's amazing is that he came home from shaking hands with President Truman and 142 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:02,240 after he was in a rehab hospital for several months and finally came home. 143 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:04,600 You know, everybody wanted him for parades and things like that. 144 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:05,760 He says, enough of this. 145 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:07,600 He threw the medal in a closet. 146 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:08,960 Didn't even know where it was. 147 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:13,200 He actually just kind of threw it in there and he just hid. 148 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:18,920 He just kind of went, you know, anonymous. 149 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:20,280 He was having a lot of nightmares. 150 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:24,480 I understand reading in the book and one can understand why. 151 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:30,080 And let's talk about that, the things that he did that brought on those nightmares. 152 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:34,200 Tell us about the landing on Iwo Jima. 153 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:40,840 Well he was born and raised in Utah and you can imagine a lot of Mormons out there and 154 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:47,840 he was not one of them and never was really raised a religious person and didn't, just 155 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:50,520 didn't have that belief. 156 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:53,840 They were about a day out of landing on Iwo Jima and he says that was the first time he 157 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:54,840 ever prayed. 158 00:09:54,840 --> 00:10:00,880 And he says, God, if you're up there, I need help because I don't know if I can do my job. 159 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:04,360 That was his biggest fear is that he wouldn't be able to do his job. 160 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:05,360 He was, uh... 161 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:07,200 A common fear of combat, people. 162 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:12,320 He wasn't afraid of dying and I sincerely, I've talked with him many times and actually 163 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:14,280 his comrades many times. 164 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:15,440 Dying was not the biggest fear. 165 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:20,560 The biggest fear was letting down your buddy and doing something stupid where you didn't 166 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:23,920 do enough so that somebody gets hurt or killed. 167 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:27,520 And so he said a little prayer and he says after that I was really pretty much calm and 168 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:34,440 then he was part of the Fifth Marine Division, 26th, 226th. 169 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:41,800 And he was part of the, I think they landed about 10 a.m., 10, 30, part of the, I think 170 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:43,600 the third or fourth wave. 171 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:49,760 The battle was already raging and based on the radio reports coming back, everyone thought 172 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:52,280 that we were just cleaning clack up there. 173 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:53,280 Yep. 174 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:55,200 And the first wave was pretty much quiet. 175 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:56,560 They were wondering where is everybody. 176 00:10:56,560 --> 00:11:02,080 I think if you've seen the movie Flags of our Fathers, you kind of get that sense that 177 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:03,280 everything was kind of on hold. 178 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:09,560 But General Tadamichi Kurobayashi was a brilliant man, probably one of the most brilliant tacticians 179 00:11:09,560 --> 00:11:16,080 I think of the war and just simply waited for many of them to get on land and so they 180 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:19,240 really had no retreat and then all hell broke loose. 181 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:24,120 And that's when George arrived, basically when all hell was breaking loose. 182 00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:29,080 We're more or less pinned down on the beach and we're at not for some brave NCOs and some 183 00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:33,760 others force them up on land and into a better position where they protect themselves and 184 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:35,400 just moved ahead. 185 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:42,280 I've talked to people that have been awarded the Silver Star and the Army Cross, Navy Cross, 186 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:45,800 whatever they are, the Stingless Service Medal. 187 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:49,880 The one between the Silver Star and the Medal of Honor, I really never talked to a Medal 188 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:52,680 of Honor recipient about what he did. 189 00:11:52,680 --> 00:11:57,480 But everybody that I've ever talked to, there's been a couple of times when I've listened 190 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:02,560 to the stories where my hair stood on end on my arms and the nape of my neck. 191 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:06,400 But what these guys have always said is, you know, look, somebody just happened to see 192 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:08,760 me do what I did. 193 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:11,400 Everybody was doing the same thing. 194 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:14,840 There are the stories of bravery you're sounding out there. 195 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:18,360 It's just that somebody has to get singled out, it seems like. 196 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:21,760 And the people that saw him do it have to be alive. 197 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:22,760 You're absolutely right. 198 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:26,680 You've done your research well and that is so true. 199 00:12:26,680 --> 00:12:32,400 I can't tell you how many Medal of Honor recipients that never were simply because nobody was 200 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:39,720 there to see it and acts of bravery similar in magnitude and in valor, but just didn't 201 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:41,320 meet the criteria. 202 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:51,200 George's unit actually was a Fox company, Second Battalion, 26th Marines, actually had 203 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:52,760 two Medal of Honor recipients. 204 00:12:52,760 --> 00:13:00,240 So of a group of 250 men, they had two Medal of Honor recipients and a third that probably 205 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:04,320 should have received it, but the paperwork was messed up for some reason and probably 206 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:05,320 others. 207 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:06,320 Which happened quite a bit. 208 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:11,160 They also had four Navy crosses and four Silver Stars and probably countless Bronze 209 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:12,160 Stars. 210 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:16,200 And 100% Purple Hearts, is that right? 211 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:17,200 Actually, yes. 212 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:18,800 100% Purple Hearts. 213 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:25,640 They actually had over 100% casually rate what you consider their replacements that were 214 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:26,640 in there. 215 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:27,640 It was amazing. 216 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:34,360 You know, amazingly, anybody could walk away from that, but I think out of their entire 217 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:39,360 company of the original that landed on the island, only five walked off without injury 218 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:41,920 and one of them was their CO Frank Caldwell. 219 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:48,720 We're talking to author Gary Toyn, who was also a professor of radio and media. 220 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:52,760 And we're going to be talking later about the heroes of today. 221 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:53,760 Where are they? 222 00:13:53,760 --> 00:14:00,200 But right now we're talking about Gary, not Gary, we're talking about George Whalen, 223 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:03,920 who received the Medal of Honor. 224 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:08,080 Tell us about some of the things that he did that caused him to be awarded. 225 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:12,720 The first day or two, they really, they were receiving a lot of fire, but not really on 226 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:13,720 the attack. 227 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:14,720 Is that true of his company? 228 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:19,480 Pretty much they were held in reserve, but didn't mean that, you know, that was kind 229 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:23,120 of a joke among many of them, reserve meant what? 230 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:27,400 You know, they were still taking significant fire and many injuries, even if they were 231 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:28,400 in reserve. 232 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:34,280 Well, the bigger rounds were hitting in the rear while the machine guns and mortars were 233 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:37,080 working over the front lines. 234 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:42,160 You know, and exactly, but the other point to remember is that, you know, Iwo Jima was 235 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:50,040 just a mass of caves and tunnels and interconnecting, you know, tunnels between various points. 236 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:54,640 And once the unit had figured that they had secured an area, well, behold, there would 237 00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:58,760 be, you know, a Japanese would crawl underneath the line and shoot from behind. 238 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:00,840 Fifteen miles of tunnels you wrote. 239 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:01,840 Exactly. 240 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:06,480 And it was, you know, they're just, there's really, it was such a difficult challenge and 241 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:13,600 they were truly unprepared for it, but as far as what George did, what really happened, 242 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:17,080 it was kind of a series of events. 243 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:25,120 You know, on one occasion he was seeing a fellow platoon had taken a direct hit with 244 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:30,800 mortar fire and so there's about 14 Marines, there's actually 14 Marines that are lying 245 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:36,360 out in this open field, a little bit of gunfire overhead, but mostly an open field. 246 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:42,760 And George, one of the men in that platoon was his best friend, Eddie Mungaris, and he 247 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:46,600 knew that with the calls for corpsmen that weren't being answered that obviously his 248 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:48,400 best friend must be hurt. 249 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:55,280 So he leaves his unit, he goes over and one by one grabs a wounded Marine, treats him, 250 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:57,120 drags him into a shell hole. 251 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:02,560 He does this again and again and he runs out to another one who has an amputated leg, puts 252 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:05,400 a turnigun on it, gives him a shot of morphing, drags him back. 253 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:10,240 In the span of about a half hour, 40 minutes, he does this 14 times. 254 00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:14,920 One of these men happens to be his best friend, Eddie Mungaris, who has a chest wound and 255 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:19,000 frankly he looks at it, he had a choice to make and this is kind of the character of 256 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:22,560 the man, he had a choice to make. 257 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:27,120 His best friend, does he try to save him, does he spend more time trying to save him or does 258 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:32,080 he do what he has to do and get him back and treat others and that's what he did. 259 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:37,680 He did his best for his friend, treated him as best he could, got him back, got him evacuated 260 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,780 but went back out and got more and saved more men. 261 00:16:40,780 --> 00:16:42,040 That was just one act. 262 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:48,040 Other acts include carrying men twice his size to safety, just going out in front of 263 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:50,920 the line of fire. 264 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:53,840 Just amazing acts that you look at. 265 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:58,440 You interviewed some of the people from his company and he didn't realize it but they 266 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:03,640 were watching him in awe and inspired by what he was doing out there in that field but an 267 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:12,240 acre size, an acre is 203 feet by 203 feet, I mean real estate. 268 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:16,340 That small of an area of 14 Marines and the entire time mortar rounds were coming down 269 00:17:16,340 --> 00:17:20,400 on it, sometimes hitting, so heavy sometimes hitting two at a time, is that correct? 270 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:21,400 That's right. 271 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:25,160 He was out there on his own with those wounded Marines. 272 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:32,560 And actually it's amazing he didn't get hit and everyone knew that was watching him were 273 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:39,120 certain that they were targeting him but they couldn't get him for whatever reason. 274 00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:47,160 And his mind was only on the Marines and he was certainly aware of the incoming fire but 275 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:51,160 his mind was solely on those wounded Marines. 276 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:56,120 Really elsewhere in fact he only realized that once he had dragged that last man back 277 00:17:56,120 --> 00:18:01,640 he jumped into a shell hole and then it dawned on him, what did I just do? 278 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:02,640 What? 279 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:05,280 And he just put his hands over his face and just shook. 280 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:07,040 He says he shook for about five minutes. 281 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:12,480 He just could not believe what he did and in some respects kind of kicking himself for 282 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:16,080 putting himself in that position but it was just an automatic thing. 283 00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:17,600 He did what he thought was right. 284 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:21,280 A lot of times you do something dumb and you think what was I thinking? 285 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:24,040 Well acts like that you do without thinking. 286 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:27,360 You do with training and you do with what's inside your guts. 287 00:18:27,360 --> 00:18:30,360 Isn't that what they say about training, right? 288 00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:31,360 Right. 289 00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:36,120 I've heard of time and again from the combat vets when instincts and training take over 290 00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:40,880 and they find themselves doing things they were trained to do and kind of while they're 291 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:44,720 fighting a battle they're thinking in the back of their mind and amazement of what they're 292 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:48,480 doing and not thinking about it. 293 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:49,480 Just happening. 294 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:55,560 Now that was not the only thing that he did that he also was awarded two Navy crosses. 295 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:56,960 Was it two Navy crosses? 296 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:01,440 Two Navy crosses that were ended up, they converted the two Navy crosses into the Medal of Honor. 297 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:04,680 Okay, tell us about some of the other things that he did. 298 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:14,520 Well the other thing that was pretty amazing is the fact that he was out one by one kind 299 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:15,520 of treating people. 300 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:18,800 He was injured on several occasions. 301 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:28,320 On one occasion he took a hand grenade to the face and with a soft volcanic sand ended 302 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:33,200 up, you know, most of the blast went beyond it but he still cut a significant amount of 303 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:39,880 shell fractures in his fragments in his eye and his face had swollen up and he bandaged 304 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:46,880 himself and he went down to get some more supplies and the CO more or less ordered him 305 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:49,440 to go back to an aid station to be evacuated. 306 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:51,840 He grabbed the supplies and just ran away. 307 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:54,800 Right, he refused the order to go to the rear and get treated. 308 00:19:54,800 --> 00:20:02,040 He resupplied and went back up to the front and at one point he found himself near a pit, 309 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:07,560 a tunnel with a Japanese soldier jumping up and throwing a grenade every now and then 310 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:11,480 and he was, well he had a 45 but he knew that wouldn't do the trick. 311 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:13,280 Tell us what happened then. 312 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:19,920 Well he was trying to get up to treat a wounded Marine but he couldn't because of this, the 313 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:26,280 Japanese soldier was coming out of this little spider trap or tunnel and throwing a grenade 314 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:30,240 and retreating back into the tunnel and so he snuck around it. 315 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:33,920 He's still trying to get to this Marine and he can't so he snuck around and actually looked 316 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:40,320 down about 15 feet into this little hole and he conceded him coming out. 317 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:44,160 He said he was close enough to use his 45 but he didn't know if he'd hit it or not 318 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:48,280 so he didn't have any hand grenades so he called down to another so he threw me up 319 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:56,720 some grenades and they threw him up a grenade and he takes the pin out but it won't budge. 320 00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:01,080 It's been bent down for safety and so he, in the middle of this battle with gunfire and 321 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:07,200 everything, he takes his K-bar out, straightens the pin out, pulls the pin and waits a few 322 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:12,640 seconds and then just drops it and as soon as he drops it the Japanese popped out and 323 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:17,280 was eliminated and then George was able to crawl back up and treat that what it means 324 00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:22,680 to actually save that guy because of that incident. 325 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:23,680 So again another... 326 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:28,160 The columnist had to roll over on his back to do that with the machine gun bullets flying 327 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:29,160 over his head. 328 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:34,480 We're talking to Gary W. Toyn, author of The Quiet Hero, the untold Medal of Honor story 329 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:36,040 of George Whalen. 330 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:39,440 We've got about 50 seconds left before we go to a break. 331 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:47,440 Gary, tell us what are your conclusion, your thoughts with George Whalen? 332 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:55,320 Well, I think everybody should just know the stories of our American heroes, whether it's 333 00:21:55,320 --> 00:22:02,000 George Whalen or anyone of the 111 that are remaining. 334 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,000 Actually it's 110. 335 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:09,320 These are the average age of these Medal of Honor recipients is 73 and we're going to 336 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:10,680 be losing them soon. 337 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:18,120 So I would suggest get your hands on these stories, find out about them because we won't 338 00:22:18,120 --> 00:22:19,440 have them for long. 339 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:24,240 You're listening to Veterans Radio and we're coming up to a break now. 340 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:27,320 We'll talk about American heroes and we'll be right back. 341 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:33,600 Okay, we're back here on Veterans Radio here at WAAM, Talk Radio 1600. 342 00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:37,840 That's Gary Lilly and he was talking to the author of The Quiet Hero. 343 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:41,840 And so if you want to get a copy of this book, which I think you might want to, you can go 344 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:45,920 onto our website, click on the cover and it'll take you right to Amazon and you can get this 345 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:47,840 book. 346 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:52,120 When we come back after the news break at the bottom of the hour, we're going to be talking 347 00:22:52,120 --> 00:22:59,640 still with Gary Lilly and Gary Toyn about where are American heroes today and maybe we can 348 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:02,880 figure out a way that we can get more recognition for our heroes. 349 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:06,200 I'm not sure how much time have I got there. 350 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,320 How much time have I got? 351 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:10,320 I'm sorry. 352 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:11,320 Two minutes? 353 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:12,320 Okay. 354 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:13,320 All right. 355 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:14,320 So let me talk about what we're doing. 356 00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:18,440 You heard both Gary's talking about Medal of Honor recipients and so what, as you know 357 00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:23,280 here on Veterans Radio, we're really excited about having a local Medal of Honor recipient 358 00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:30,360 in Charlie Kettles and we're going to be talking with Chuck and another Medal of Honor recipient 359 00:23:30,360 --> 00:23:34,040 from Michigan in two weeks here on Veterans Radio Live. 360 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:38,120 So I'm hoping to get in a couple of other Medal of Honor recipients on the air to talk 361 00:23:38,120 --> 00:23:42,560 about their experiences and what it is like and just let the American public know who 362 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:44,080 these people are. 363 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:49,360 Not just all the World War II Medal of Honor recipients because as Gary pointed out, they 364 00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:51,720 are passing away at a rapid pace. 365 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:57,960 In fact, I think there's only 71 Medal of Honor recipients still alive today. 366 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:02,360 But we've got a project that we're working on and we're going to be promoting Medal 367 00:24:02,360 --> 00:24:05,240 of Honor recipients all across the country. 368 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,280 So if you have a neighbor who happened to be one, let us know where they are. 369 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:11,600 We're going to be trying to track them all down and do a little story about each one 370 00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:14,440 of them, the Medal of Honor recipients. 371 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:19,760 As you know here on Veterans Radio, we do a little Medal of Honor segment every week 372 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:24,120 that we can and it's just a kind of a rereading of their citation. 373 00:24:24,120 --> 00:24:32,600 And as you read those, you just cannot believe that these people actually were able to put 374 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:38,320 their own fears and everything aside and be able to save their fellow human beings. 375 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:41,880 Next to the news, as I said, we're going to be coming back with a Medal of Honor segment 376 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:48,120 and then I'll reintroduce the second half of our program for today. 377 00:24:48,120 --> 00:24:51,240 And that's what we're going to be talking about, what is it that makes a hero and how 378 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:53,120 do we get to that point. 379 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:57,160 So we're going to be taking a break in a moment because I can see that the music is going 380 00:24:57,160 --> 00:24:59,200 to be coming up here shortly. 381 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:05,520 And you're listening to Veterans Radio, so listen to the news, come on back and the interview 382 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:06,520 will continue. 383 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:07,520 Thanks very much. 384 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:08,520 Let's get into Veterans Radio. 385 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:12,400 Okay, we're back here on Veterans Radio and we're going to be talking and continuing 386 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:17,920 our conversation with a self-proclaimed hero expert and author Gary Toyn as you, if you 387 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:22,040 were listening to part one of our program, he's the author of a book entitled The Quiet 388 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:28,040 Hero which is about the Medal of Honor story of George Wallen at Emojima. 389 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:32,480 It's a fascinating story, so I encourage you to grab that book if you can. 390 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:38,520 And we're going to come back and talking with Gary Toyn along with Gary Lillian myself. 391 00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:41,600 And we're going to be looking at some questions upon her and maybe you might want to think 392 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:46,460 about these as well is, you know, does the media reject America's war heroes? 393 00:25:46,460 --> 00:25:49,840 Do we hear as much about them as we should or what we did at one point? 394 00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:53,280 Why don't our school children know enough about America's war heroes? 395 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,520 And why aren't we hearing more about the heroes in Iraq and Afghanistan? 396 00:25:56,520 --> 00:26:01,080 Now this program was recorded in 2007 and I think that some of that has changed since 397 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:02,080 then. 398 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:06,280 So we're going to go back and find out with the interview exactly what was going on. 399 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,960 So I'm going to turn the interview back over to Gary Lillian and Gary Toyn. 400 00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:11,520 And we're back on Veterans Radio. 401 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:16,880 We're speaking to Gary W. Toyn who is the author of The Quiet Hero, the Untold Medal 402 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:19,680 of Honor story of George E. Wallen. 403 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:22,640 I guess I was pronouncing it incorrectly in the first half. 404 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:26,000 Now Gary, where have all the heroes gone in America? 405 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:29,160 Well that's a good question. 406 00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:36,200 You know, part of the research that I'm doing on another book is about heroism and I happened 407 00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:40,760 to set up my Google Alerts so that I could kind of track what was happening with heroism 408 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:43,040 in this country. 409 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:46,280 And you know, I'm amazed. 410 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:50,680 There's I think an act of heroism at least one or two happening every day. 411 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:56,560 And this is real person putting themselves at risk to save someone else. 412 00:26:56,560 --> 00:26:58,000 And that's an amazing thing to me. 413 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:00,880 I never really realized it. 414 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:06,640 I think part of the problem comes in the use of the word. 415 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:16,240 I think we have a video game called Guitar Hero which I don't know if a Guitar Hero 416 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:18,360 and George Wallen are much on the same plane. 417 00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:19,360 Not a play unless they use it. 418 00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:24,040 I think it gives you some idea about the overuse of the word. 419 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:25,040 Right. 420 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:28,920 You're going to say not unless they use it to attack a terrorist. 421 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:29,920 Yeah. 422 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:30,920 You're right. 423 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:34,400 It's the dumbing down or the it's not overuse. 424 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:37,280 It's beyond that on the word hero. 425 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:40,960 What about metal boner recipients in Iraq, Afghanistan? 426 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:42,600 Have we had any? 427 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:44,720 We have, you know, and it's interesting. 428 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:45,920 It's a troubling thing. 429 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:54,200 And I think you touched on it a little bit about the inability or if it's unwillingness, 430 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:59,000 I'm not willing to charge them that of unwillingness but quite yet. 431 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:00,160 But it's getting pretty close. 432 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:07,080 I don't understand why the Pentagon is so hesitant to award the Medal of Honor. 433 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:12,560 We've got Jason Dunham, for example, who did earn the Medal of Honor. 434 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:15,280 But frankly, that's about it. 435 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:17,960 There's another one. 436 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:21,320 The name escapes me off the top of my head. 437 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:26,760 But it just doesn't seem for an engagement where we've been involved for, you know, 438 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:31,120 as long as we have, where our Medal of Honor recipients, they're out there. 439 00:28:31,120 --> 00:28:33,080 They're doing heroic things. 440 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:39,120 But there seems to be some political decision involved in this. 441 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:43,560 And you know, you may know, have a little better feel for it than I do, but it just 442 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:45,360 doesn't quite seem fair. 443 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,960 I was just told the other recipient's name was Smith. 444 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,160 I don't know the background on him. 445 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:59,240 But there's the media doing enough to publicize or to, you know, put out what our people are 446 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:00,640 doing on the good side. 447 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:03,640 We hear about every charge that's ever made about them. 448 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,320 What about the good, the heroic things? 449 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:07,320 Are we hearing enough about them? 450 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:09,160 You know, that's an interesting, interesting story. 451 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:18,560 You know, I'm often hesitant to make criticisms about media bias. 452 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:26,280 But in this particular case, it was just such a glaring circumstance that I had to write 453 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:27,280 them a letter. 454 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:33,120 But there was a case in Jason Jenom's case, for example, where the New York Times did 455 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:34,680 not mention it. 456 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:36,920 Did not mention that he received the Medal of Honor. 457 00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:38,320 He actually went to the White House. 458 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:41,240 Does the New York Times have a White House correspondent? 459 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:42,240 I believe they do. 460 00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:43,680 Do they have a Washington, D.C. staff? 461 00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:46,040 I believe they do. 462 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:51,480 They did not say one word about Jason Jenom receiving the Medal of Honor. 463 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:57,720 Follow that up about two months later and near the front page of the New York Times is 464 00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:06,880 a story about a Cuban officer who was killed trying to protect an airline or a flight going 465 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,760 to somewhere in Cuba. 466 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:13,720 And the guy hijacked the plane and wanted to go to the United States, and he was killed 467 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:14,720 in the process. 468 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:19,480 And there's this big write-up about this Cuban officer receiving their equivalent of 469 00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:21,080 the Medal of Honor. 470 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:29,640 It was just a stunning picture to me about what is going on in this country and why our 471 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:33,520 veterans are getting such short shrift from the media. 472 00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:42,360 They simply, I don't think it's a matter of not wanting to or not caring about it. 473 00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:43,560 I think they hate them. 474 00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:45,800 I think that's what it's risen to. 475 00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:49,440 It's just a level of hatred for the military, as Bill Clinton said. 476 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:55,240 He loathed the military, but I just can't see any other reason as to why they would 477 00:30:55,240 --> 00:31:01,600 ignore something so monumental as the posthumous awarding of the Medal of Honor. 478 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:08,280 I've said many, many, many times that this nation honors everybody else's heroes except 479 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:12,000 its own, or everybody else's warriors except its own. 480 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:17,920 Do you think that it's deep-seated in our education industry that we have people that 481 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:25,840 are teaching too much against the goodness of the United States? 482 00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:28,640 I have to temper some of my views because... 483 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:29,640 You don't have to on this show. 484 00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:38,520 I haven't been in the schools and I don't know for sure, but I have four kids and where 485 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:40,880 I live, they just simply didn't get it. 486 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:42,240 They don't hear these stories. 487 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:50,320 They don't hear the stories of the Jason Dunham's or the George Wallam's or anything like that. 488 00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:57,400 There is this systemic problem about admitting that their country is powerful. 489 00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:02,640 I think that part of the problem is there's some self-hatred of the U.S. that we're so 490 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:12,240 prepared for. 491 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:18,520 It's just politically correct to trash the United States. 492 00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:21,840 They trash the veterans that protect it, they give them the freedoms that allow them to 493 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:24,520 speak so freely as they do. 494 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:26,400 It's rather ironic. 495 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:29,120 I was visiting friends in Chicago. 496 00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:32,880 It was about two years ago. 497 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:38,520 The people of retired gentlemen, University of Michigan graduate, retired attorney, brought 498 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:44,040 up the point, we don't have heroes in Iraq and Afghanistan, not like in World War II. 499 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:45,480 I said, you do. 500 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:46,480 We do have them. 501 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:50,960 We've got some unbelievably brave people, but you just don't read about them in the 502 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:51,960 media. 503 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:55,240 He said, oh, I refuse to believe that. 504 00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:57,000 But you do agree with that. 505 00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:58,000 I absolutely do. 506 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,280 I'll give you an example. 507 00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:07,560 George Wallin and I went to Washington last October and part of the thing that what George 508 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:15,000 wanted to do was simply give copy of his books to returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan 509 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:17,160 and made the arrangements. 510 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:21,640 They treated George wonderfully, as you can imagine. 511 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:27,840 We would walk into a room of an amputee on every occasion. 512 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:34,040 These young men had lost limbs mostly to an IED, but they see George Wallin with the 513 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:35,840 Medal of Honor come in. 514 00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:38,680 One particular man had forgotten that his legs were blown off and tried to stand up 515 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:41,640 to salute George. 516 00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:50,360 These men here and actually women had put themselves in such grave danger yet to a man, every person 517 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:53,520 that we spoke to, they said, I want to get back. 518 00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:55,160 I believe in the mission. 519 00:33:55,160 --> 00:34:00,240 The mission is going to be successful regardless of what you hear. 520 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:02,080 We were walking in rooms at random. 521 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:05,760 We weren't trying to be at anyone. 522 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:11,040 These young men, I think we talk about the greatest generation. 523 00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:16,880 Believe me, I have such great admiration for our World War II vets, but I'll tell you, 524 00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:23,320 these young men are no less heroic and no less dedicated to their mission than those 525 00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:25,040 of World War II. 526 00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:29,480 I am just, we walked out of there, we were hoping to go in and inspire these young men 527 00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:31,640 and just say thank you. 528 00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:37,280 We walked out of there so uplifted and so optimistic thinking, man, we've got some great young 529 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:39,840 men out there, our country's in great hands. 530 00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:41,480 Gary, this is Dale Throneberry. 531 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:43,480 I just had a question for you. 532 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:49,760 Do you think that that has to do with the lack of involvement by the majority of our population? 533 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:53,760 During World War II, we had all the war bond drives and they would bring out the Medal 534 00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:58,200 of Honor recipients and the Emojima Flag Waivers and all these other things to raise the funds 535 00:34:58,200 --> 00:34:59,200 to do that. 536 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,520 Pretty much everybody in the country was involved with what's going on in Iraq right 537 00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:03,520 now, unfortunately. 538 00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:08,640 We've got less than 1% of the population that's doing all the fighting for us. 539 00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:13,640 I think you raised an excellent point. 540 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:21,840 It's been said that a religion can't really achieve much unless it requires some sacrifice 541 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:24,920 of its members or people. 542 00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,240 In fact, that's really the case. 543 00:35:27,240 --> 00:35:30,240 You really can't get people involved in your cause. 544 00:35:30,240 --> 00:35:34,720 You can't get people involved in this cause unless they're asked to do something or sacrifice 545 00:35:34,720 --> 00:35:35,720 for it. 546 00:35:35,720 --> 00:35:38,920 It's just too easy. 547 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:42,840 We simply have been, we've just got it too good. 548 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:44,720 I can't agree with you more, Dale. 549 00:35:44,720 --> 00:35:47,080 It just makes absolute perfect sense. 550 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:50,960 When you talk about people in World War II having to give up sugar and butter and tires 551 00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:56,960 and shoes, my grandmother went without shoes for five years because she wasn't able to 552 00:35:56,960 --> 00:36:00,480 get them because of the rationing. 553 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:06,600 You can't help but be involved in the cause when you're having to make sacrifices. 554 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:13,760 We're talking to Gary Toyn, author of The Quiet Hero, the untold Medal of Honor story 555 00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:16,600 of George Whalen. 556 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:22,320 Where your vision quest seems to be to bring about the awareness of heroes, we've got 557 00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:23,840 a minute left. 558 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:27,280 Tell us about some other heroes that you've run across and then we'll come back to it 559 00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:30,360 after the break. 560 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:34,840 My point is simply trying to get as many people involved. 561 00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:44,680 Like I said, the Jason Dunlums, there are so many instances where heroic acts have been 562 00:36:44,680 --> 00:36:50,400 dutifully and duly noted but simply have lacked recognition. 563 00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:55,840 Part of what I'm working on is a book called American Heroism, Untold Stories of Heroism 564 00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:57,560 You've Never Heard. 565 00:36:57,560 --> 00:37:03,280 That's part of my efforts here in trying to get people involved and trying to recognize 566 00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:04,280 heroism. 567 00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:10,240 It happens a lot, but frankly, the type of heroism we're talking about, military heroism, is 568 00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:13,200 really still quite rare. 569 00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:19,040 When we come back from the break, we're going to ask our listeners to tell us stories that 570 00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:21,720 they have about heroes and buy email. 571 00:37:21,720 --> 00:37:25,160 And we're talking to Gary Toyn. 572 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:26,160 We'll be right back. 573 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:30,160 The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in combat, given a member of the Armed 574 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:31,960 Forces of the United States. 575 00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:36,800 There have been over 3,400 recipients of the nation's highest award. 576 00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:38,200 This is one of them. 577 00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:45,200 Sergeant First Class Paul Smith gave his life to protect his troops. 578 00:37:45,200 --> 00:38:11,440 If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans' Appeals, contact legal help for 579 00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:13,440 veterans at 1-800-693-4800. 580 00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:19,720 Soon, Iraqi soldiers, numbering perhaps 100, opened fire on Smith's position. 581 00:38:19,720 --> 00:38:22,320 Smith was accompanied by 16 men. 582 00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:26,400 Smith called for a Bradley, a tank-like vehicle with a rapid-fire cannon. 583 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:29,280 It arrived and opened up on the Iraqis. 584 00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:33,760 The enemy could not advance so long as the Bradley was in position, but then, in a move 585 00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:37,760 that baffled and angered Smith's men, the Bradley laughed. 586 00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:42,080 Smith's men, some of whom were wounded, were suddenly vulnerable. 587 00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:45,520 Smith could have justifiably ordered his men to withdraw. 588 00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:49,480 Smith rejected that option, thinking that abandoning the courtyard would jeopardize 589 00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:53,760 about 100 GIs outside, including medics at an aid station. 590 00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:58,440 He manned a.50 caliber machine gun atop an abandoned armored personnel carrier and fought 591 00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:02,400 off the Iraqis, going through several boxes of ammunition. 592 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:05,840 As the battle wound down, Smith was hit in the head. 593 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:08,760 He died before he could be evacuated from the scene. 594 00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:12,320 The Medal of Honor series is a production of Veterans Radio. 595 00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:48,800 A message from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 596 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:51,480 And we're back on Veterans with author Gary W. Toyne. 597 00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:58,300 Gary, I assume you're interested in learning more about heroes that have not come to the 598 00:39:58,300 --> 00:39:59,300 light. 599 00:39:59,300 --> 00:40:02,500 How could people contact you to say, hey, here's something you ought to write about, or 600 00:40:02,500 --> 00:40:03,900 some person you ought to write about? 601 00:40:03,900 --> 00:40:04,900 I appreciate that. 602 00:40:04,900 --> 00:40:07,480 Let me just clarify a point that I was saying before. 603 00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:10,840 i think the fact that we have uh... military heroism 604 00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:15,320 happen all the time fact that is recognized as rare that was my point 605 00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:20,000 uh... you know do you think in contact me at my publisher that the email address 606 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:22,200 is info i nfo 607 00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:25,920 at american legacy media dot com 608 00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:30,420 uh... or they can go to the website the quiet hero dot com 609 00:40:30,420 --> 00:40:33,720 and uh... submit information submit uh... 610 00:40:33,720 --> 00:40:38,800 uh... uh... information there about their hero i'm i'm looking for people 611 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:40,720 uh... kind of it uh... 612 00:40:40,720 --> 00:40:45,200 you know an easy criteria it's it's quite straightforward somebody who has 613 00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:47,960 but they're like a danger for uh... 614 00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:50,880 uh... to save someone else's life 615 00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:54,360 uh... and after that point this is kind of sticky part 616 00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:59,480 has not really thought recognition or has tried to use their heroism 617 00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:01,360 for some personal gain 618 00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:06,240 uh... often we find that that happens uh... not often but uh... 619 00:41:06,240 --> 00:41:09,040 that's really what we're looking for people that are other are more or 620 00:41:09,040 --> 00:41:10,560 less quiet heroes 621 00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:14,000 after a eleven we heard a lot about the uh... firemen 622 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:17,800 that going up into the towers and how many of them died and the policemen over 623 00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:18,760 in new york 624 00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:22,800 uh... and uh... we don't know that type type of heroes and what i want to do is 625 00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:25,520 i want to speak with them so 626 00:41:25,520 --> 00:41:28,440 i i i'm not really looking for posthumous 627 00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:31,920 people have passed away i'm really i want to speak with them because uh... 628 00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:34,520 i want to find out how they dealt with it i want to 629 00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:36,520 all i want to talk to them about 630 00:41:36,520 --> 00:41:40,160 uh... what they went through and what they've gone through and and what to 631 00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:41,520 kind of yet 632 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:44,760 that's come up since then so that's really what i'm looking for but if you 633 00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:47,280 give any of your listeners have got any 634 00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:51,080 military or non-military doesn't matter i want to hear about it 635 00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:52,120 uh... 636 00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:56,960 it there's there's quite a bit of it out there but you know there's 637 00:41:56,960 --> 00:41:59,320 and the good stories are there's 638 00:41:59,320 --> 00:42:02,700 there's people that just to simply in in your community or 639 00:42:02,700 --> 00:42:06,640 or somewhere that it just not been told and and we i want to hear about it 640 00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:10,480 uh... this is this is dale again i'm mike my comment i guess would be is that 641 00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:14,360 with a many of the iraq returning iraq afghanistan veterans is it's almost too 642 00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:16,200 soon for them to 643 00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:17,440 uh... open up 644 00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:20,360 it's it seems like we were in doing our program and talking to the world war two 645 00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:22,740 and up to the vietnam veterans taken them 646 00:42:22,740 --> 00:42:26,880 thirty sixty years before they're willing to tell their stories 647 00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:30,960 and with the iraqi people sometimes it is just a little bit too soon for them 648 00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:34,920 that's a real good point but you know what i have found though 649 00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:37,920 is that people who have seen it in other people 650 00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:39,800 they're willing to come forward 651 00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:41,840 uh... probably obviously much more 652 00:42:41,840 --> 00:42:45,420 uh... uh... less hesitant than than the people actually involved in the 653 00:42:45,420 --> 00:42:46,560 heroism but 654 00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:47,720 but uh... 655 00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:51,640 i'm hoping i agree with you one percent that you know there's certain 656 00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:54,680 amount of time in healing has to take place through time 657 00:42:54,680 --> 00:42:56,760 uh... i'm hoping though that uh... that 658 00:42:56,760 --> 00:42:58,600 some some people will 659 00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:00,440 will understand that 660 00:43:00,440 --> 00:43:04,400 you know we need to tell the story the stories need to be out there people need 661 00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:05,640 to know 662 00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:07,160 the character 663 00:43:07,160 --> 00:43:09,040 of our military people 664 00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:12,440 we've we've always you know we've always said that these are ordinary people who 665 00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:14,360 do extraordinary things 666 00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:17,560 and uh... that that that to me is what a hero is 667 00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:20,480 somebody who steps forward and doesn't even think about 668 00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:24,160 the consequences for themselves because it's ingrained in their character matter 669 00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:27,160 character you're absolutely right it 670 00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:30,920 you you talk you touched on something that i was going to bring up 671 00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:35,200 i have found in trying to get vietnam veterans to teach uh... talk to school 672 00:43:35,200 --> 00:43:36,400 kids 673 00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:41,840 you have to persuade them to do it so if somebody out there knows of a hero 674 00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:46,440 they ought to contact you and tell you about it so that you can make the contact 675 00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:50,720 yourself or join in with trying to get the person to uh... talk about what they 676 00:43:50,720 --> 00:43:51,400 did 677 00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:52,360 yes 678 00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:55,480 and what i'm trying to do is just simply trying 679 00:43:55,480 --> 00:43:56,800 a lot of these 680 00:43:56,800 --> 00:43:59,120 you know you know women are frankly not 681 00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:01,040 not ready to talk like you said but 682 00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:02,840 i want to know who they are 683 00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:06,520 uh... my project not going to happen in in you know six months i want to know 684 00:44:06,520 --> 00:44:07,720 who they are 685 00:44:07,720 --> 00:44:13,200 and frankly this is a long-term project that over time will probably evolve 686 00:44:13,200 --> 00:44:18,920 so let me know who they are now uh... it it's important to get these get get 687 00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:23,240 to know these people and get them on record so that we can track them and 688 00:44:23,240 --> 00:44:26,160 and frankly they said it's a matter of character we want to see how they deal 689 00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:28,080 with it how they deal with uh... 690 00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:31,440 not only the heroism but obviously the memories that that are haunting them 691 00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:33,000 that it's it's 692 00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:37,840 it being here with so multifaceted you know i don't personally understand but i 693 00:44:37,840 --> 00:44:40,040 kind of sympathize with george 694 00:44:40,040 --> 00:44:41,360 when you're dealing with 695 00:44:41,360 --> 00:44:45,880 with having to deal with nightmare senior best friend blown apart 696 00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:46,920 being uh... 697 00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:48,720 all of these horrific things 698 00:44:48,720 --> 00:44:52,440 and then on top of that being called a hero for doing something that you think 699 00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:54,160 is just your job 700 00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:55,640 and the uh... 701 00:44:55,640 --> 00:44:58,000 that you get they get defensive about it 702 00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:02,640 what uh... one of the things that i have seen uh... experienced not for myself 703 00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:06,720 but the people that got to the talk about it is it's healing for them it's 704 00:45:06,720 --> 00:45:08,360 so therapeutic 705 00:45:08,360 --> 00:45:12,880 and and they come to realize afterwards that it is 706 00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:13,920 they'll uh... 707 00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:16,880 we have a doctor in our vietnam veterans of america 708 00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:17,840 chapter 709 00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:19,640 uh... worked on uh... 710 00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:21,520 over in the uh... vietnam 711 00:45:21,520 --> 00:45:24,160 some one time was a six and a half day 712 00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:27,760 stretch of operating on terribly wounded troops 713 00:45:27,760 --> 00:45:29,880 and he talked about it at pioneer high school 714 00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:32,120 uh... here in an arbor for the first time 715 00:45:32,120 --> 00:45:35,400 and said it would really bothered him afterwards 716 00:45:35,400 --> 00:45:38,520 he'll do it again because of it it was good 717 00:45:38,520 --> 00:45:40,520 well i think that if you were 718 00:45:40,520 --> 00:45:43,360 if we're not telling our stories somebody else is going to tell him for 719 00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:45,240 us and i'm gonna mess them up 720 00:45:45,240 --> 00:45:47,160 and it's so we got it 721 00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:49,800 you know we got to get him down someplace but you know you you're a 722 00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:52,840 excellent point uh... george wallin for example 723 00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:55,000 uh... with interviewed by james bradley 724 00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:59,200 and so george is gone more work six years not telling a story to anyone for 725 00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:01,520 much the same reasons we discussed 726 00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:05,480 james bradley comes out the interview george for his book flag for father 727 00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:10,160 and he tells him about his dad who is you know john bradley who died and uh... 728 00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:12,560 didn't tell anyone and you know how john 729 00:46:12,560 --> 00:46:16,160 founded out in a trunk when he's going to his father's things after he died 730 00:46:16,160 --> 00:46:20,440 it was that interview that was really the catalyst for george to say you know 731 00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:21,240 what 732 00:46:21,240 --> 00:46:25,000 i better tell my story and i better tell him the way i'd 733 00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:28,840 no it's to be true so it doesn't get blown out of proportion 734 00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:31,880 you know it's interesting how those types of interviews of those types of 735 00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:35,600 events are cathartic for many of these young men 736 00:46:35,600 --> 00:46:38,520 you know they've never talked about or they've talked about it in such you 737 00:46:38,520 --> 00:46:42,000 know bits and pieces they've never really put it together it is cathartic it 738 00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:44,040 is therapeutic it has 739 00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:47,600 uh... great healing powers and being able to talk about it and say you know 740 00:46:47,600 --> 00:46:49,880 what i survived and i'm okay 741 00:46:49,880 --> 00:46:52,400 you know the uh... interesting thing i've 742 00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:55,480 observed about vietnam veterans is 743 00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:57,440 anytime you ask him about it 744 00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:02,120 it always starts off with i was only those three words i was only 745 00:47:02,120 --> 00:47:02,960 and so 746 00:47:02,960 --> 00:47:05,560 one of the reasons i think that people 747 00:47:05,560 --> 00:47:10,000 don't talk about their heroism is because they think i was only i saw 748 00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:15,120 guys do things that were much more heroic than what i did 749 00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:18,040 well and i think there's obviously 750 00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:20,240 in addition to that some 751 00:47:20,240 --> 00:47:22,400 uh... some real 752 00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:25,400 character things going on here saying you know i don't want to bring attention 753 00:47:25,400 --> 00:47:27,480 to myself i don't want to 754 00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:31,040 you know if i say this you know what is my buddy gonna think when he did the 755 00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:31,960 same thing 756 00:47:31,960 --> 00:47:36,280 i understand that and you know i don't want to put anybody in a position to 757 00:47:36,280 --> 00:47:37,200 say 758 00:47:37,200 --> 00:47:41,080 look you know i'm here to make you a you know to put you in a book to make you 759 00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:43,840 all famous everything that's not my point 760 00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:48,160 uh... i think there's a uh... a bigger a bigger picture here i want people to 761 00:47:48,160 --> 00:47:50,120 come forward to say look 762 00:47:50,120 --> 00:47:51,240 uh... here 763 00:47:51,240 --> 00:47:53,840 here's uh... the type of character of 764 00:47:53,840 --> 00:47:55,760 people that i served with 765 00:47:55,760 --> 00:47:56,920 and 766 00:47:56,920 --> 00:47:57,680 you know what 767 00:47:57,680 --> 00:48:01,280 there's a there's a lot of it is a lot more of it that's being portrayed 768 00:48:01,280 --> 00:48:03,560 and uh... 769 00:48:03,560 --> 00:48:07,960 it just needs to be told it need our you know our our heritage needs 770 00:48:07,960 --> 00:48:09,960 to preserve these stories 771 00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:11,400 uh... you know 772 00:48:11,400 --> 00:48:12,880 you know that working for us to 773 00:48:12,880 --> 00:48:18,040 to be involved in in leaving a legacy like this for for children grandchildren 774 00:48:18,040 --> 00:48:21,720 as you said earlier you don't need to tell your story it will come out in the 775 00:48:21,720 --> 00:48:22,680 telling 776 00:48:22,680 --> 00:48:26,080 when you're telling about other people that you served with 777 00:48:26,080 --> 00:48:29,080 that's right the things that you this is to honor others 778 00:48:29,080 --> 00:48:33,280 it's not just not to draw attention is that to brag there's no bragging in here 779 00:48:33,280 --> 00:48:35,120 uh... these people don't brag 780 00:48:35,120 --> 00:48:39,640 it's the honor the people that they served with recognize them 781 00:48:39,640 --> 00:48:42,520 uh... we're list we're talking author gary w toying 782 00:48:42,520 --> 00:48:43,880 on veterans radio 783 00:48:43,880 --> 00:48:48,120 you're working on large uh... uh... long-term project you said gary 784 00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:52,320 it's your vision quest to find the uh... heroes what is the end 785 00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:55,080 uh... product going to be 786 00:48:55,080 --> 00:49:00,000 well actually there's several it's kind of a multi book process uh... 787 00:49:00,000 --> 00:49:04,160 i'm working with uh... but in the mother in the dog stoner uh... pebble 788 00:49:04,160 --> 00:49:05,680 colorado who's uh... 789 00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:10,120 kind of the middle of honor expert uh... we were actually trying to compile a 790 00:49:10,120 --> 00:49:14,240 book of all the metal of honor recipient dfc at the service cross 791 00:49:14,240 --> 00:49:15,680 service middle 792 00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:18,040 uh... recipients and uh... 793 00:49:18,040 --> 00:49:21,800 and silver star recipients which is a huge process but over the long haul we're 794 00:49:21,800 --> 00:49:24,520 trying to create an encyclopedia 795 00:49:24,520 --> 00:49:27,080 of american military heroism 796 00:49:27,080 --> 00:49:31,440 uh... it's never before been done before but certainly it's a lot of work 797 00:49:31,440 --> 00:49:33,680 so it's a long-term process but 798 00:49:33,680 --> 00:49:37,560 uh... where uh... in that process a companion book is 799 00:49:37,560 --> 00:49:40,320 there these unsung heroes are people that don't really 800 00:49:40,320 --> 00:49:44,640 didn't receive a lot of recognition or maybe did you know whatever happens but 801 00:49:44,640 --> 00:49:48,920 we're that's that's kind of that whole process we're trying to document 802 00:49:48,920 --> 00:49:53,440 american military heroism and also along with that 803 00:49:53,440 --> 00:49:57,600 uh... you know regular civilian heroism as well so it's a huge project that's 804 00:49:57,600 --> 00:49:59,160 going to take many years to 805 00:49:59,160 --> 00:50:02,880 to work on a complete and that's why i need veterans to kind of step forward 806 00:50:02,880 --> 00:50:04,840 they look this is my buddy 807 00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:06,320 this is what he did or 808 00:50:06,320 --> 00:50:10,000 i know this guy who are you know whatever 809 00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:13,680 i think that's really important we have talked with dug in the past on on veterans 810 00:50:13,680 --> 00:50:16,200 radio and we've been talking about this we've also 811 00:50:16,200 --> 00:50:17,280 uh... we will 812 00:50:17,280 --> 00:50:20,800 uh... put your information up on our website of course and we're encouraged 813 00:50:20,800 --> 00:50:22,640 people that to contact you 814 00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:26,160 and also to participate in the veterans history project 815 00:50:26,160 --> 00:50:29,040 which is being run through the library of congress trying to record all of these 816 00:50:29,040 --> 00:50:31,360 stories and you don't have to be a hero 817 00:50:31,360 --> 00:50:32,880 to record your story 818 00:50:32,880 --> 00:50:35,960 uh... it's really important that all of you out there get these opportunities 819 00:50:35,960 --> 00:50:37,960 to get these stories down because 820 00:50:37,960 --> 00:50:41,120 you know your great-grandkids are going to be fascinated to find out what great 821 00:50:41,120 --> 00:50:44,480 grandpa great-grandma did when they were in their twenties 822 00:50:44,480 --> 00:50:45,940 absolutely 823 00:50:45,940 --> 00:50:50,400 uh... i've got a i've got a web link that all sent to you i haven't got a handy 824 00:50:50,400 --> 00:50:53,120 because i'm in washington in my office in utah 825 00:50:53,120 --> 00:50:56,520 but uh... all email you a link so that you can put it on your website where they 826 00:50:56,520 --> 00:50:59,640 just click on it and they could submit the story through uh... just a little 827 00:50:59,640 --> 00:51:01,800 web web form 828 00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:03,360 so uh... which would 829 00:51:03,360 --> 00:51:05,960 you know they can do it anonymously or they can send me an email whatever they 830 00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:06,880 want to do 831 00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:11,240 okay we're looking forward to that and talking to gary w toying author and 832 00:51:11,240 --> 00:51:12,520 historian 833 00:51:12,520 --> 00:51:16,280 uh... author of the quiet hero of the untold medal of honor story of george 834 00:51:16,280 --> 00:51:19,040 wellan we've also been talking about 835 00:51:19,040 --> 00:51:21,360 uh... the american hero 836 00:51:21,360 --> 00:51:22,280 where are they 837 00:51:22,280 --> 00:51:23,840 they're out there we know that 838 00:51:23,840 --> 00:51:27,320 they're just not being publicized and gary wants to hear the stories of the 839 00:51:27,320 --> 00:51:28,920 american hero 840 00:51:28,920 --> 00:51:35,920 and they could take a silly email me at info at american legacy media dot com 841 00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:38,640 thank you very much and thank you for being with us gary 842 00:51:38,640 --> 00:51:40,080 thank you gentlemen appreciate it 843 00:51:40,080 --> 00:51:44,360 hope you enjoyed today's program was originally aired back in june of two 844 00:51:44,360 --> 00:51:48,160 thousand and seven really great to hear gary lily's voice and a really 845 00:51:48,160 --> 00:51:51,600 interesting conversation with gary toying and i want to 846 00:51:51,600 --> 00:51:55,000 just update things for gary toying uh... the 847 00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:58,360 think the email that that we gave during the program is uh... no longer 848 00:51:58,360 --> 00:51:59,320 operable 849 00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:03,840 so if you want to find out more about gary toying go to his website that's gary 850 00:52:03,840 --> 00:52:06,600 toying to y and dot com 851 00:52:06,600 --> 00:52:09,920 he's still writing he's still out there is still a great interview and i'm 852 00:52:09,920 --> 00:52:12,080 hoping to have him on again next year 853 00:52:12,080 --> 00:52:14,280 to talk more about 854 00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:18,920 heroes you know when he was mentioning that he is working with uh... doug sterner 855 00:52:18,920 --> 00:52:20,080 uh... was 856 00:52:20,080 --> 00:52:23,080 written on hundreds and hundreds of book trying to 857 00:52:23,080 --> 00:52:27,320 trying to gather all the information that he can about 858 00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:30,840 you know metal of honor recipient silver stars everything along those lines and 859 00:52:30,840 --> 00:52:31,680 so we're going to 860 00:52:31,680 --> 00:52:33,280 have dug back on later on 861 00:52:33,280 --> 00:52:35,040 this year as well 862 00:52:35,040 --> 00:52:39,640 uh... at the end of each program recently i've been playing uh... you know 863 00:52:39,640 --> 00:52:43,960 different versions of god bless america or america the beautiful and today we're 864 00:52:43,960 --> 00:52:48,320 going to be going out on uh... a version from the grand old opera in this kind of 865 00:52:48,320 --> 00:52:52,240 combination of both of those songs i think that both of these are very very 866 00:52:52,240 --> 00:52:53,440 important 867 00:52:53,440 --> 00:52:55,040 to uh... 868 00:52:55,040 --> 00:52:58,400 you know the american psyche it you know what everything that's going on in the 869 00:52:58,400 --> 00:52:59,440 world today 870 00:52:59,440 --> 00:53:04,160 i just want to remind our audience what a great country that we do live in 871 00:53:04,160 --> 00:53:07,680 you know and we will get past all of this turmoil and everything else that is 872 00:53:07,680 --> 00:53:08,720 going on 873 00:53:08,720 --> 00:53:12,400 once we seem to get our senses uh... you know back in order again 874 00:53:12,400 --> 00:53:16,040 but i did i do i just want to remind everybody what a great place this is to 875 00:53:16,040 --> 00:53:17,960 be to be 876 00:53:17,960 --> 00:53:21,400 you know we want to be that beacon on the hill is is you know regan said the 877 00:53:21,400 --> 00:53:23,560 rest of them 878 00:53:23,560 --> 00:53:25,320 i want to pay attention to this song 879 00:53:25,320 --> 00:53:28,160 pay attention to the words that really important 880 00:53:28,160 --> 00:53:32,360 so until the next year i guess it will be until next year this is dale throneberry 881 00:53:32,360 --> 00:53:36,240 from all of us here at veterans radio which you know a happy new year 882 00:53:36,240 --> 00:53:37,360 and until then 883 00:53:37,360 --> 00:53:44,360 you are dismissed 884 00:54:07,440 --> 00:54:11,520 come 885 00:54:11,520 --> 00:54:13,640 uh... 886 00:54:13,640 --> 00:54:18,800 uh... 887 00:54:18,800 --> 00:54:27,040 is 888 00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:34,040 My home sweet home 889 00:54:34,040 --> 00:54:39,040 God bless America 890 00:54:39,040 --> 00:54:48,040 My home sweet home 891 00:54:48,040 --> 00:54:55,040 Oh beautiful, oh spacious sky 892 00:54:55,040 --> 00:55:01,040 Forever ways of lead 893 00:55:01,040 --> 00:55:07,040 Oh purple mountain's mass 894 00:55:07,040 --> 00:55:13,040 Above our fruity flame 895 00:55:13,040 --> 00:55:19,040 America, America 896 00:55:19,040 --> 00:55:25,040 God shed His grace on me 897 00:55:25,040 --> 00:55:31,040 And crowned I could with brother 898 00:55:31,040 --> 00:55:37,040 From sea to shining sea 899 00:55:37,040 --> 00:55:44,040 And crowned I could with brother 900 00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:56,040 From sea to shining sea 901 00:55:56,040 --> 00:56:02,040 From the mountains to the prairies 902 00:56:02,040 --> 00:56:09,040 To the oceans white with color 903 00:56:09,040 --> 00:56:15,040 Oh God bless America 904 00:56:15,040 --> 00:56:22,040 My home sweet home 905 00:56:22,040 --> 00:56:27,040 God bless America 906 00:56:27,040 --> 00:56:48,040 My home sweet home 907 00:56:57,040 --> 00:57:21,040 My home sweet home