1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,000 All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio. 2 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:22,160 And now your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry. 3 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:23,720 And welcome to Veterans Radio. 4 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:29,760 My name is Dale Throneberry, CW2 Type Helicopter Pilot, Vietnam 1969. 5 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:31,560 And welcome you to our program today. 6 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:34,120 It's a really great one, I think. 7 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:37,600 We've got an author on it, Robert B. O'Conner. 8 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:43,560 His book is entitled Jeep Show, and it's about entertainers who went to the front lines during 9 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:47,280 World War II in Europe and did these vaudeville type of acts. 10 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:52,520 And three guys in a Jeep and a driver would go up to the front lines and do their shows 11 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:57,840 and then run like hell to get away from all the artillery and stuff. 12 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:03,760 And it's a cool story, and I'm anxious to talk to Bob about his book in just a couple 13 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:04,760 of minutes. 14 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:10,000 Later on in the program, we're going to be running our monthly segment from the NVBDC, 15 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,000 the National Veterans Business Development Council. 16 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:17,080 And this one is my partner, Jim Faustone, talks with Annette Stevenson. 17 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:18,880 And she's an Army veteran. 18 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:25,680 And she is the owner of Stevenson Consulting Corporation and a board member of the NVBDC. 19 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:32,280 So we always do our, at least once a month, we do a spotlight of the members of NVBDC. 20 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,360 And then I've got another guy I'm going to talk to toward the end of the program who 21 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:38,800 is listening in right now, and he's a Marine. 22 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:43,000 I was going to say former Marine, but I know Marines are never former Marines. 23 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:49,080 They're always Marines and never goes out of their blood, which is understandable. 24 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:53,800 And that's Brian Bay, a United States Marine, who was a member of the Vietnam Veterans of 25 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:56,800 America, Chapter 310 that I'm a member of. 26 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,520 And we were talking the other night and I said, Hey, come on down, let's talk a little 27 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:01,840 bit on the program. 28 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:06,200 So he's listening in right now and I'll bring him on later on. 29 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:11,040 But before we get into our interview with Bob O'Connor, I got to thank our sponsors 30 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:13,720 because can't do this program without them. 31 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:18,680 So number one is legal help for veterans specializing in veterans disability claims. 32 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:27,600 Legal help a call at 800-693-4800 or go to their website, legalhelpforveterans.com. 33 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:32,640 The National Veterans Business Development Council, better known as NVBDC is the nation's 34 00:02:32,640 --> 00:02:37,120 leading third party authority for certification of veteran-owned businesses. 35 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:44,640 For more information, go to their website, NVBDC.org or give them a call at 888-237-8433. 36 00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:48,680 NVBDC is really important for anybody out there listening. 37 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:52,520 That is a veteran-owned business, I mean, a really veteran-owned business. 38 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:57,600 And you want to do business with the federal government or many corporations and they want 39 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,360 to know if you're a certified veteran-owned business. 40 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:03,800 These are the guys to go to and they will get you certified. 41 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:09,400 And all kinds of seminars and informational information that they can help you out with. 42 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:13,280 That's NVBDC.org. 43 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:17,320 Purel Clean is known as the paramedics of property damage. 44 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:22,920 They provide water damage, remediation, flood water removal, fire and smoke damage, remediation, 45 00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:25,240 mold removal, all kinds of things. 46 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:29,520 The reason we're talking to the folks from Purel Clean is because they are one of the 47 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:35,440 nation's leading restoration franchise networks and it's made up of entrepreneurs just like 48 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:40,680 you and veterans get 25% off their franchise fee. 49 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:47,440 So for more information about them, go to purelclean.com. 50 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:51,360 Charles S. Kettles, VA Medical Center here in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 51 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:53,400 For more information, go to va.gov. 52 00:03:53,400 --> 00:04:00,800 And the Vietnam Veterans of America, the national organization, never again will one generation 53 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:02,880 of veterans abandon another. 54 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:04,920 For more information, go to their website. 55 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:07,120 That's vva.org. 56 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:12,720 And finally, our two local veterans service organizations, the Irwin Prescor and American 57 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:18,840 Legion Post 46 and the Charles S. Kettles, Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 310, both 58 00:04:18,840 --> 00:04:20,240 of Ann Arbor, Michigan. 59 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:26,800 Hey, if you'd like to support Veterans Radio, please go to our website, veteransradio.org. 60 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:28,560 Click on the donate button. 61 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:29,560 Thank you in advance. 62 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:31,800 Now, let's get into our program. 63 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:32,800 Okey-dokey. 64 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:33,800 Here we go. 65 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:41,560 All right, so I was sent this email by a, I guess it's a promotion company or your publisher, 66 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:43,480 I'm not sure what it is. 67 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:44,960 And the book was entitled Jeep Show. 68 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:46,640 And I thought, well, that's kind of interesting. 69 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:48,880 What the heck is a Jeep Show? 70 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:52,760 And so she was kind enough to send me a PDF copy of the book. 71 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:56,000 And I started reading it and I couldn't put it down. 72 00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:00,000 So I went back to Susan and I said, hey, we got to get him on the program. 73 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:01,760 And she kindly did that. 74 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:05,360 So welcome to Veterans Radio, Robert B. O'Connor. 75 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:07,800 I'm going to be calling him Bob from now on. 76 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:09,960 He is the author of Jeep Show. 77 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:12,320 So Bob, welcome to Veterans Radio. 78 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:13,600 Thank you so much. 79 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:16,720 It's a real pleasure to talk to you and to your audience. 80 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:21,160 Well, it's, it's, it's a real privilege, I think, to talk to you because this is, I thought 81 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:23,440 this was really a kind of a cool idea. 82 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:28,000 So to tell our audience, what exactly was it deep Jeep Show? 83 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:38,680 The Army in World War II went to great lengths to try to make sure that the troops did not 84 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:48,280 get bored and perhaps do things that the Army wouldn't approve of. 85 00:05:48,280 --> 00:05:56,240 Combat soldiers, the soldiers on the front lines, though never saw the big USO shows 86 00:05:56,240 --> 00:06:03,680 and never got many of the things that were done easier to do in the rear echelon. 87 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:15,600 Jeep shows were organized in late 43, early 1944 to get entertainment to these frontline 88 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:18,160 combat infantrymen. 89 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:23,800 And the way it worked is there were enlisted entertainers. 90 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:32,120 It was MOS442 enlisted entertainers that were in what I call in the book, the morale 91 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:33,720 corps. 92 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:38,240 It was actually called special services during the war. 93 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:44,960 These three of these enlisted entertainers would get in a Jeep with a driver and they 94 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:50,560 would drive just behind the front lines where the frontline combat troops may have been 95 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:54,800 brought back for a hot meal, maybe a shower. 96 00:06:54,800 --> 00:07:03,840 As you know, because the United States did not have as many infantry divisions as some 97 00:07:03,840 --> 00:07:09,600 of the other, for example, the Russians or the Germans, infantry divisions were never 98 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:13,080 rotated out of combat. 99 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:19,120 Unlike pilots who might do a certain number of combat missions and then be rotated back 100 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:27,400 to the states, when you were in an infantry division, the only way out was to be badly 101 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:30,160 wounded or captured or killed. 102 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:37,400 So the combat soldiers and keeping the morale of the combat soldiers up was a focus of the 103 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:42,840 Army and this was one of the more successful things they did. 104 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:54,280 I should add and all soldiers in the audience know this, but nothing beats mail from home. 105 00:07:54,280 --> 00:08:02,600 But the next best thing is to get some entertainers to physically be present up at the front, 106 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:04,600 to physically be present. 107 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:07,280 And so that is how Jeep shows came about. 108 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:14,360 They were actually the idea of a famous director named Joshua Logan. 109 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:19,000 Among many other shows, Joshua Logan wrote and directed South Pacific. 110 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:28,200 He was a superstar Broadway director and he was in special services and put together this 111 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:33,360 idea of sending Jeep shows to the combat soldiers at the front. 112 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:37,360 It sounds so cool. 113 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:39,880 I love the concept of it. 114 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:44,160 What is your background and what caused you to write this story? 115 00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:46,800 My background, I became a writer. 116 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:50,840 I went through a tough patch in my late 40s. 117 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:52,960 Maybe everybody does. 118 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:58,480 And at the time it seemed to me that the best way for me to stay sane was to express my thoughts 119 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:00,040 through writing. 120 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:09,000 And I've always been fascinated with the concept of morale and how we do or don't do the things 121 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:13,320 that need to be done when they need to be done, the tough things. 122 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:19,240 So I actually wrote a nonfiction book on that subject. 123 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:28,360 And then when that was done, turned my attention to World War II, my father, as with many Americans 124 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:34,880 of my age, my father served in the armed forces in World War II. 125 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:37,880 So I was interested in that. 126 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:44,720 And then I had a few years ago, I learned about a real person, Jim Hetzer, who had been 127 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:50,920 an enlisted entertainer in World War II and had been in Mickey Rooney's Jeep Show Squad. 128 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:55,560 This is the Mickey Rooney of National Velvet fame and Andy Hardy fame. 129 00:09:55,560 --> 00:09:56,560 Exactly. 130 00:09:56,560 --> 00:10:04,200 Mickey Rooney was Hollywood's number one box office star in 1939 and 1940. 131 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:09,960 Mickey Rooney's and he was considered by his peers to be, along with Charlie Chaplin, 132 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:15,160 the most talented actor of his time, an absolute genius. 133 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:21,240 And as you know, where there are great strengths, there are corresponding weaknesses. 134 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,080 He had a few. 135 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:25,200 He had a few. 136 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:33,720 And his boss at MGM thought as it got into late 1943 that it would be good for Mickey 137 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:41,080 Rooney to join the army and serve because almost everybody was. 138 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:47,240 So this real person, Jim Hetzer, actually worked with Mickey Rooney. 139 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:53,000 Jim was a dance instructor before the war and had tried his hand at show business in 140 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:56,120 New York, but had not made a success of it. 141 00:10:56,120 --> 00:11:03,160 I actually located his daughter, a very charming person, and learned that his family had published 142 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:10,920 a book of the letters he wrote home from, from his time in the army, both Camp Siebert, 143 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:13,400 where they did their training, which no longer exists. 144 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:16,760 And then the European theater of operations. 145 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:21,880 So I had a huge amount of what we call in the trade, primary sources. 146 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:24,240 Yeah, I would guess. 147 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:25,240 Yeah, yeah. 148 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:27,640 And could follow his adventures there. 149 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:35,320 I, Dale, I enjoyed the research a great deal, probably too much because one of the, one 150 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:40,640 of the things that that you learn when you write a book is three quarters of what you 151 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:42,880 write is going to end up in the waste basket. 152 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:47,920 And it's a terrible waste of time to, you know, do huge amounts of research. 153 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:51,840 And then, you know, you're not going to be able to use it, but that's okay. 154 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:54,800 I enjoyed the research very much. 155 00:11:54,800 --> 00:12:00,360 And it does kind of give a depth, even if I, there was nowhere near room to put in all 156 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:02,480 the facts that I had learned. 157 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:07,720 It does give it some depth behind what I did put in. 158 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:12,040 So that's the, that's what inspired me. 159 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:15,440 And as you were saying, it's such an interesting topic. 160 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:21,560 And I have found that World War II buffs, and there are many World War II buffs of all 161 00:12:21,560 --> 00:12:24,440 ages and genders. 162 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:30,000 I have not run into one of them yet that it was aware that there were enlisted entertainers. 163 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:33,840 I was, I was really interested in that. 164 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:36,720 And I think, you know, you just struck a nerve. 165 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:41,560 I was thinking, when you were talking about, you know, these amateur historians, I think 166 00:12:41,560 --> 00:12:47,320 it comes down to a lot of us would really like to know what life was like when our parents 167 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:50,840 were in World War II or just prior to World War II. 168 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:51,840 What was going on? 169 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:54,440 Cause they never talked that much about it. 170 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:55,440 Exactly. 171 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:56,440 That is exactly. 172 00:12:56,440 --> 00:12:57,440 Especially their, you know, their own experiences. 173 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:03,520 I mean, my dad was in the Pacific, in the Coast Guard, guarding Iwo Jima and Okinawa and 174 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:04,880 stuff. 175 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:11,280 And never said a word until we did a program here on Veterans Radio about the Coast Guard 176 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:15,520 and some really old guy called in and says, Oh, I knew your dad. 177 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:16,520 Oh, wow. 178 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:22,480 You know, so that's how I found out where he had been and so on and so forth. 179 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:31,720 But this was so interesting to me because not only does Jim Hetzer slash Tanzer, you're 180 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:35,720 talking about the late 1930s at the end of the depression. 181 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:38,480 So he's been in the CCC. 182 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:42,240 He's been to the Catskills for people from the East, you know, people from the East Coast 183 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:43,240 will recognize that. 184 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:49,840 That's for all the Jewish entertainment centers were and camps were. 185 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:55,000 And, you know, if you saw a dirty dancing, that's one of those places. 186 00:13:55,000 --> 00:14:00,960 And so he was there trying to break into the entertainment industry. 187 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:05,680 He was able to avoid the draft because he was married and had a child. 188 00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:06,680 But he volunteered. 189 00:14:06,680 --> 00:14:10,880 So what was the idea behind volunteering, do you think? 190 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:19,760 Well, there's there's the idea that that, you know, he felt that he told his wife that 191 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:22,480 he felt it was his patriotic duty. 192 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:31,440 And so many men were were volunteering that there was as as you well know, there was great 193 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:39,520 social pressure on on men to be involved with the armed services. 194 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:47,560 I also kind of put in under the surface the idea that he might have been trying to get 195 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:56,280 away from the complicated situation of adult life and, you know, making a living and and 196 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:57,880 dealing with that. 197 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:09,360 And there is an undertone of of that idea that he is kind of retreating, if you will, 198 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:12,920 from the perils of adult life. 199 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:18,120 Well, you know, yeah, unfortunately, again, I'm not I don't want to give away too much 200 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:19,920 as a book because I want people to read this. 201 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:21,640 I think you'll really enjoy the read. 202 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:23,640 The read the book is called Jeep Show. 203 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:25,320 And you got to look at it and read it. 204 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:28,880 We're talking with Bob O'Connor, the author of the book, if you're going to look it up 205 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:33,000 on Amazon and look under Robert O'Connor. 206 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:37,120 And again, I'm sorry to personalize this. 207 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:40,240 My dad enlisted at the age of 39. 208 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:41,240 Wow. 209 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:45,960 Because he was afraid because they were drafting up until 40. 210 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:49,040 And if they he figured, well, they're going to get me. 211 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:50,360 I can't be in the infantry. 212 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:54,120 There's no way I can run around and do all that stuff. 213 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:59,760 And so, yeah, I mean, he ended up in the Coast Guard, guarding the wrong coast. 214 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:01,960 But that's amazing. 215 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:07,480 You mentioned that that that Jim was working in vaudeville was trying to break in, you 216 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:10,280 know, in New York and all these other things. 217 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:14,480 And he decided that he was going to enlist. 218 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:16,360 But he didn't want to go in as an entertainer. 219 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:17,360 Did he? 220 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:22,000 No, he wanted to go in as a paratrooper. 221 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:29,240 But like your guest later in the program, he was too tall for paratrooping. 222 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:36,680 And one of the recurring jokes in the book is he has he tried to make it into show business 223 00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:39,240 as a song and dance man. 224 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:43,800 And he keeps being told that he's too tall for ballroom dancing. 225 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:46,360 It's like a buddy Epstein to me. 226 00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:47,600 Yes, exactly. 227 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:51,200 That is that is called eccentric dance. 228 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:55,880 And yes, he kept he keeps being coached to get into eccentric dance. 229 00:16:55,880 --> 00:17:01,800 So he wanted paratroopers, the Army, as you well know, sends you where they think they 230 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:03,200 need you. 231 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:08,880 And because of his show business background, they assigned him, they made him an entertainment 232 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:09,880 soldier. 233 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:10,880 Okay. 234 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:17,800 So can you in our audience, the book is kind of it's based. 235 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:21,640 Beginning of the book is loosely based on Jim Hertz there's life. 236 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:28,440 And then you kind of use your fictional writing skills right toward toward the end. 237 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:34,640 But kind of describe to our audience how he got to England, because it now he's now he 238 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:37,160 has met Mickey Rooney. 239 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:38,160 The real Mickey Rooney. 240 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:41,760 In fact, there were some other people that you mentioned that were part of this cheap 241 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:43,480 camp. 242 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:44,720 Yes. 243 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:49,400 Enlisted entertainers included, of course, Mickey Rooney. 244 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:53,920 Mel Brooks was in was in special services. 245 00:17:53,920 --> 00:18:01,600 Sammy Davis, Jr. was in special services, the comedian Red Buttons, Bert Lancaster, 246 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:08,560 the great dance producer Bob Fosse, Dick Van Dyke, Borough Lives, Don Knots. 247 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:16,680 So a there's a long cast of men that went on to have or had already had in some instances, 248 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:19,600 you know, solid careers in show business. 249 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:25,440 And then there were dozens and dozens and dozens of Jim Tanzers who were performers, 250 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:30,600 but you know, were not had not made it in show business until the army, until the army 251 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:32,880 put them there. 252 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:42,040 Can you describe for our audience this, they all went over to England in what 1944. 253 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:49,880 This group, the special services battalion that these Jeep show men were part of, went 254 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:59,280 over on the Queen Mary in, let's see, it was about September of 1944. 255 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:04,280 At that time, they did not know that they were going to be doing Jeep shows on the front 256 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:05,280 line. 257 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:14,600 And then eventually the cast and the orchestra of a big army show, a big army show to be 258 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:22,400 put on in London and Paris, there were a feature of the times was that they would do large 259 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:27,800 theatrical shows with with enlisted men. 260 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:32,720 So they thought their show which had played in New York and and some other places in the 261 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:38,680 East Coast, they thought that they were going to be taking their show to England in France, 262 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:39,680 liberated France. 263 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:40,680 What's this? 264 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:44,840 However, I was going to say, is this the parody of Shakespeare thing? 265 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:47,440 Or was that something else? 266 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:49,000 Was that another show? 267 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:51,880 Yeah, that's that's another show. 268 00:19:51,880 --> 00:20:00,040 The main character and this was just a creation of my imagination, it becomes a very interested 269 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:09,320 in Hamlet and is writing a parody called Spamlet, because Spam made up a large part of the GI 270 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:17,040 diet in World War Two, if they weren't eating carrot, and it was even in K-Rations. 271 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:19,320 So they got over to England. 272 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:24,360 And as you know, the army will decide things and not tell you why. 273 00:20:24,360 --> 00:20:29,320 And the show was apparently the army felt that there was already too much entertainment 274 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:31,680 in Paris for GIs. 275 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:42,400 And there had been such rapid movement of troops from the breakout in Normandy to just 276 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:48,160 about the German border in literally a matter of three or four months. 277 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:55,840 So the army was stretched sort of thin and there were men on the front line then, literally 278 00:20:55,840 --> 00:21:03,120 on the German border in Belgium and Luxembourg, especially, that needed to be reached. 279 00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:10,240 And so the idea of Jeep shows was invented at that point to reach these far flung men 280 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:15,720 on the front line who were not able to be reached with by the Red Cross or the USO. 281 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:20,200 Now, I was going to say, I don't think Bob Hope didn't did any shows that close to the 282 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:21,200 front. 283 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:29,200 Bob Hope was an incredible contributor, but the USO shows could not go in these combat 284 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:30,200 areas. 285 00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:34,160 So can you tell our audience a little bit about what kind of acts these chief shows 286 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:35,160 did? 287 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:36,160 Yes. 288 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:40,240 Essentially, it was a small variety show. 289 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:45,840 So let's say you were, you know, there was three, Mickey Rooney was one of the three. 290 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:50,000 There was one of the guys would play an accordion. 291 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:54,240 You know, he would, he would literally be a professional musician before the war and 292 00:21:54,240 --> 00:22:04,840 he'd play an accordion and Mickey Rooney would do routine and probably what's known as a 293 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:09,800 two-man routine with the other guy where the other guy would be kind of the straight man 294 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:11,280 for Mickey Rooney. 295 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:17,520 And they would sing songs and they would dance and they almost always would pull a soldier 296 00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:23,360 out of the audience who his buddies would, you know, say he could perform something and 297 00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:27,680 they know they pull him out of the audience and he might do a terrible impression of Edward 298 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:33,000 G. Robinson or he might sing or he might have real talent and do something. 299 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:42,000 So kind of a portable variety show, you know, a K-Rash inversion of a variety show. 300 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:43,720 I think that's kind of cool. 301 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:44,720 Yeah. 302 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:53,080 And when you think about it, the way you describe it, they had a kind of a wrestling routine 303 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:54,960 that they did in the book. 304 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:55,960 Yes. 305 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:56,960 Yes. 306 00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:57,960 Yeah. 307 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:03,480 That I, that was real. 308 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:10,960 Mickey Rooney did a famous movie in the, I think mid 30s called Boys Town and it included 309 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:20,400 a pantomime wrestling match and Mickey Rooney lifted that routine from that movie and he 310 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:31,040 and his Jeep show squad did that pantomime slow motion pantomime wrestling match. 311 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:37,360 Must have probably did it a thousand times, you know, between 1944 and 1945 and, you know, 312 00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:43,000 they did it for, you know, two soldiers and a goat. 313 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:47,560 They did it for a thousand airmen, you know, at a big airfield in England. 314 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:50,800 So yes, that was the core of their routine. 315 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:53,000 Thanks for reminding me about that. 316 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:57,760 I just thought that was funny. 317 00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:04,520 The whole description that you give in the book to book is titled Jeep Show and the author 318 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:07,000 is Robert B. O'Connor. 319 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:11,280 And I know you can get the book pretty much anywhere as soon as it comes out, which is 320 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:12,920 in the next couple of days. 321 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:14,600 It's coming out Thursday. 322 00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:18,280 It'll be available on Amazon Thursday. 323 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:25,600 We'll get to regular bookstores a little bit later, but I wanted to get it out for the 324 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:29,160 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. 325 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:30,160 Speaking of which. 326 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:31,160 Yes. 327 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:32,160 All right. 328 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:44,120 So we have our main character over in Europe and he's running around with, you know, doing 329 00:24:44,120 --> 00:24:53,200 his Jeep shows and he gets stuck in the middle of the Battle of the Bulge and gets separated 330 00:24:53,200 --> 00:25:00,240 from everybody, it seems like, and it ends up with a great description. 331 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:06,040 I mean, just a really detailed, unfortunately, probably a little graphic, but still such 332 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:13,280 an important description of what he was up to because he ran around. 333 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:16,120 Everything that could go wrong for him went wrong. 334 00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:17,120 Right. 335 00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:18,120 Right. 336 00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:24,040 There were company sized strong points on the German, literally a mile from the German 337 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:30,840 border and he and Mickey Rooney and their colleague are doing a show in a little village 338 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:35,920 called Hosengin, which is a company sized strong point. 339 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:41,800 And yeah, he gets events happen and there's no room for Jim in the Jeep and he gets stuck 340 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:51,800 there and the next morning, the December 16th, 1944 is the next morning and the Germans begin 341 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:58,800 the artillery bombardment at about 5 a.m. and he is scrambling all the way to Bastogne 342 00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:02,040 over the next three or four days. 343 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:05,400 He runs into a lot of really unusual characters too. 344 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:07,400 Yes, he does. 345 00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:08,400 Yes, he does. 346 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:14,920 And I don't want to give them all away, but there are a couple about it. 347 00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:15,920 All right. 348 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:19,880 Well, the one that he exchanges is gives his dog tags too. 349 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:20,880 Yes. 350 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:21,880 Yes. 351 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:22,880 Yes. 352 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:33,960 One of his, one of the infantry soldiers at, let's see, 28th Division Company, one of the 353 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:42,520 infantry soldiers in Hosengin is Jewish and during the German attack, it is clear that 354 00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:49,440 this company strong point is going to be surrounded, bypassed and surrounded by the Germans and 355 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:59,840 the captain in charge of the company, the XO, asks Jim to give his dog tags to this Jewish 356 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:07,760 soldier because the fear is that this is SS or that the Gestapo will be right behind 357 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:13,400 the German troops and that they will murder Jewish soldiers. 358 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:22,320 So Jim does give his dog tags to the Jewish soldier and there is a plot twist, Dale, and 359 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:28,320 I don't know if you want me to mention it, but it leads to a significant and interesting, 360 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:32,400 I hope, plot twist later on of mistaken identity. 361 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:33,400 Right. 362 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:34,400 Misunderstanding. 363 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:36,120 We'll leave it at that. 364 00:27:36,120 --> 00:27:44,320 Well, the other thing was that the, evidently, is that the protagonist, the hero of the story, 365 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:48,120 also spoke German or a little German. 366 00:27:48,120 --> 00:27:51,600 And so the next thing he's drafted as an interpreter. 367 00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:52,600 Yes. 368 00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:53,600 Yes. 369 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:57,440 His mother was an immigrant from Germany. 370 00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:02,120 There were so many immigrants from Germany in the late, in the late 19th century. 371 00:28:02,120 --> 00:28:10,440 So there was German at home, the protagonist, Jim's German is very imperfect, but he is 372 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:16,720 not afraid to use it to avoid other unpleasant duties. 373 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:25,520 And so there are a few interrogation scenes of Germans, both officers and enlisted men, 374 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:31,360 where Jim's imperfect German is causing some confusion. 375 00:28:31,360 --> 00:28:35,920 And he picks up a buddy along the way, who was actually with a German prisoner. 376 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:42,560 He picks up, he picks up a fellow that was born in Milwaukee, whose parents went back 377 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:45,600 to Germany in the mid 30s. 378 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:51,680 This fellow was then drafted into the German army, was not thrilled about being in the 379 00:28:51,680 --> 00:29:00,840 German army and gets captured by, actually by the protagonist, Jim, and ends up, yes, 380 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:03,200 helping with the interrogations. 381 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:05,200 Yes, Willie. 382 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:06,200 Willie. 383 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:07,200 Willie Hock. 384 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:14,280 Who, by the way, all his German colleagues just are always teasing him about his Milwaukee 385 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:16,280 accent. 386 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaks German with a... 387 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:18,960 Yes, with a Milwaukee accent. 388 00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:21,480 With a Milwaukee accent. 389 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:31,720 The battle of bolts caused so many infantrymen to be separated from their units that they 390 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:35,920 formed up, I don't know if the army did this or these guys did that, but they formed up 391 00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:38,440 their own unit, sort of called the snafus. 392 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:43,640 We don't have to go through the whole definition of what a snafu is, because I think most of 393 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:45,560 our audience knows what it means. 394 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:51,800 Anyway, so it's kind of this ragtag group of everybody from everywhere. 395 00:29:51,800 --> 00:30:00,960 Yes, Team Snafu is a lesser known participant in the Battle of the Bulge, and particularly 396 00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:09,440 in the Siege of Bastone, in that hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of soldiers, either 397 00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:22,760 infantrymen from companies that had been overrun or barbers, telephone operators, band members, 398 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:32,320 various non-combat soldiers, fell back to Bastone or were stuck there and were organized 399 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:39,680 into Team Snafu, which essentially had an important combat role in trying to fill gaps 400 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:46,600 between the 101st Parachute Division battalions. 401 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:59,540 Because as I recall, there are four in paratroopers, there are four battalions, and they were spaced 402 00:30:59,540 --> 00:31:07,640 around Bastone, and there were gaps in between that Team Snafu members would be trying to 403 00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:09,600 fill at various times. 404 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:21,320 They also did other, are the duties like gathering food supplies from farms around the area, 405 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:31,320 and there is a chapter where Jim is involved with a Graves registration effort. 406 00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:38,160 Yeah, that's, I mean, all these stories in there that you've weaved through the book 407 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:39,160 are all real. 408 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:40,160 Yes. 409 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:45,200 I know they're real, but you just go, oh, how did these guys do this? 410 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:50,240 And then, you know, when you read the stories, I mean, not only is he part of a Graves registration 411 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:56,400 thing, but then he ends up being at one of the concentration camps when it's liberated. 412 00:31:56,400 --> 00:32:06,040 And you do a masterful job, I think, of describing the concentration camp and what it looks like. 413 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:15,160 And again, you're bringing in all these characters of Hollywood directors and filmmakers and so 414 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:16,160 forth. 415 00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:19,560 And they want to, oh, we got to take a picture of that, we got to do this, because they want 416 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:26,120 to make a documentary to show to the German people what really happened here, folks. 417 00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:33,240 And to the American audience, because there was, as Eisenhower said, and Eisenhower did 418 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:39,000 tour this camp, as Eisenhower said, you know, we'll show people what we were fighting for. 419 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:43,720 Because there was some significant, especially before the war, there was some significant 420 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:47,880 American opinion that, you know, this is not our business. 421 00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:56,720 So yeah, I wanted to, I did not want to have a lively, you know, at times very funny narrative 422 00:32:56,720 --> 00:33:06,920 of the war without showing the suffering, the, you know, the terrible, terrible toll 423 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:15,760 that war takes on the soldiers that participate, the combat soldiers in particular, and civilians. 424 00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:24,120 So I wanted to show that through the eyes of this one, this one kind of misplaced, misplaced 425 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:25,120 soldier. 426 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:26,120 Yes. 427 00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:33,600 Well, I think you've done a really a masterful job of weaving humor and trauma throughout 428 00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:34,600 the book. 429 00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:40,440 The book is called a Jeep Show and author is Robert O'Connor and really encouraged people 430 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:43,000 to go out and read this. 431 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:50,880 It's not only is it enlightening, especially for some people that are, you know, over 70, 432 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:55,280 let's say, yes, you know, want to find out what their folks actually did. 433 00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:58,280 But then again, for the younger generation, what did grand, you know, what did granddad 434 00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:00,440 do in the war and so forth? 435 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:04,840 Because many times, obviously, they did not talk about their experiences. 436 00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:12,160 And some of it is, it's a laugh out loud, humorous, and it's also tear jerking. 437 00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:20,040 You see what, you know, what modern day war does to a whole country. 438 00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:27,040 And what to end up on a happier note, I guess, is that we know that our our protagonist did 439 00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:29,320 survive, although he did get court. 440 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:34,320 They tried to court martial for stealing a Jeep, which he didn't steal. 441 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:39,120 Which I thought was well, that's just let me tell I have to throw in this story. 442 00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:46,960 This is one of our local heroes, Charlie Kettles was a Medal of Honor recipient. 443 00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:52,080 He was a helicopter pilot who lived here in Michigan and the VA center is named after 444 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:53,400 him now. 445 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:59,200 But he his Medal of Honor, he received it for going back again and again and again, 446 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:01,320 picking up wounded soldiers. 447 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:05,120 One time his whole company had pulled out and they thought they had everybody and somebody 448 00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:07,040 calls on the radio and says, oh, we forgot something. 449 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:13,120 He immediately turns back and goes in and gets eight more of them out loses his door 450 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:14,920 gunner. 451 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:18,800 The helicopters just shot the hell. 452 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:23,600 So anyway, during that particular day, he wrecked four or five helicopters. 453 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:27,160 I mean, they're all full of bullet holes and all this other stuff. 454 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:36,600 So when he got his Medal of Honor, he received from the United States Army a bill for 483,000 455 00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:43,200 dollars to two for all of the repairs on the helicopters he broke that day. 456 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:45,120 And that's so funny. 457 00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:49,920 You know, followed up by a by a bill stamped paid in full. 458 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:51,120 That's absolutely. 459 00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:58,560 I believe that the unit of patents armored force that relieved Bastone also presented 460 00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:05,040 them presented the hundred and first airborne with an invoice related to the special trip 461 00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:08,720 they had to make from France to relieve best on. 462 00:36:08,720 --> 00:36:12,880 Well, you know, there's all that, you know, there's all that dark humor. 463 00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:17,080 Yes, that that does go on in the military and it wouldn't survive without it. 464 00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:18,080 Exactly. 465 00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:22,600 And I think the other thing is that you weave all of these characters in their real characters. 466 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:27,800 I mean, like the patents and the Eisenhower's and the Bradleys and all these famous names. 467 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:32,520 You even bring the Russians in and they have a big party together and they're singing and 468 00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:37,720 dancing and he goes off on a drum playing riff. 469 00:36:37,720 --> 00:36:41,240 I don't know how much of this is true or not, but I sure suckered me. 470 00:36:41,240 --> 00:36:43,520 I thought it was about half of it. 471 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:47,440 Probably about half of it. 472 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:52,640 But anyway, I really want to thank you for being on Veterans Radio. 473 00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:56,040 I really encourage again, as I said, people just go and read this book. 474 00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:57,840 I think you'll really enjoy it. 475 00:36:57,840 --> 00:36:59,360 I mean, the title grabbed me. 476 00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:02,280 That's why I wanted to see what it was all about. 477 00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:06,640 But as you said, it's going to be out on Amazon in a couple of days. 478 00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:11,560 Big Christmas present for older relatives and younger relatives as well, just to see 479 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:14,960 what the world was like back in the 1940s. 480 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:15,960 Great. 481 00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:19,000 Dale, thanks so much for letting me talk with you and your audience. 482 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:20,280 It's been a real pleasure. 483 00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:21,280 Okay. 484 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:22,280 Thank you. 485 00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:24,080 Let me know the next time you write a book. 486 00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:26,760 I'll talk to you in a couple of years. 487 00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:27,760 Okay. 488 00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:28,760 Okay. 489 00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:29,760 Thank you very much. 490 00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:30,760 Bye-bye. 491 00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:31,760 Bye-bye. 492 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:32,760 All right. 493 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:33,760 So, quick break. 494 00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:34,760 We're going to do our Medal of Honor segment. 495 00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:37,840 And then when we come back, we're going to do our NVBDC. 496 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:40,760 But come back to me, Derek, when we get a chance. 497 00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:41,760 All right. 498 00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:42,760 So, here we go. 499 00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:46,240 So, this is our Medal of Honor segment for today. 500 00:37:46,240 --> 00:37:47,240 Stames Fox. 501 00:37:47,240 --> 00:37:49,560 And it happens to be during the Battle of the Bulge. 502 00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:51,120 So you're listening to Veterans Radio. 503 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:52,120 We'll be right back. 504 00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:57,320 The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in combat, given a member of the Armed 505 00:37:57,320 --> 00:37:59,120 Forces of the United States. 506 00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:04,000 There have been over 3,400 recipients of the nation's highest award. 507 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:05,400 This is one of them. 508 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:09,520 First Lieutenant John Fox called in artillery fire on his own position. 509 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,680 Details after this. 510 00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:16,560 If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans Appeals, contact Legal Help for 511 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:20,800 Veterans at 1-800-693-4800. 512 00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:24,800 They're experts in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. 513 00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:28,120 Their number again, 1-800-693-4800. 514 00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:34,160 On Christmas night in 1944, enemy soldiers in civilian clothes gradually infiltrated the 515 00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:40,600 town Fox and his men were in, and by early morning, the town was largely in hostile hands. 516 00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:45,160 An organized attack by uniformed German units began at 4 a.m. 517 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:50,040 Being greatly outnumbered, most of the American forces were forced to withdraw from the town, 518 00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:54,600 but Fox and other members of his observer party voluntarily remained on the second floor 519 00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:58,720 of a house to direct defensive artillery fire. 520 00:38:58,720 --> 00:39:02,240 Fox reported the Germans were in the streets and attacking in strength. 521 00:39:02,240 --> 00:39:06,760 He then called for defensive artillery fire to slow the enemy advance. 522 00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:11,520 As the Germans continued to press the attack towards the area that Fox occupied, he adjusted 523 00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:14,320 the artillery fire closer to his position. 524 00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:18,720 Finally, he was warned that the next adjustment would bring the deadly artillery right on 525 00:39:18,720 --> 00:39:21,160 top of his position. 526 00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:26,220 After acknowledging the danger, Lieutenant Fox insisted that the last adjustment be fired 527 00:39:26,220 --> 00:39:30,560 as this was the only way to defeat the attacking soldiers. 528 00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:34,760 Later when a counterattack retook the position from the Germans, Lieutenant Fox's body 529 00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:39,120 was found with the bodies of approximately 100 German soldiers. 530 00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:42,640 The Medal of Honor series is a production of Veterans Radio. 531 00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:44,920 Military veterans touch everyone's life. 532 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:50,200 I'm guessing right now you're thinking of a veteran, a close friend, relative, maybe 533 00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:51,320 it's you. 534 00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:56,080 Even the toughest of us sometimes need help, but don't know where to turn for support. 535 00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:58,640 You don't need special training to help a veteran in your life. 536 00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:01,520 We can all help someone going through a difficult time. 537 00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:03,680 Learn how you can be there for veterans. 538 00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:10,400 Visit veteranscrisisline.net VeteransCrisisLine.net A message from the U.S. Department of Veterans 539 00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:17,040 Affairs. 540 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:24,520 And we're back here on Veterans Radio and right now we're going to go to our NVBDC segment 541 00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:26,920 or our spotlight of the month. 542 00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:32,240 My partner Jim Falzone interviewed Army veteran Annette Stevenson. 543 00:40:32,240 --> 00:40:38,680 She is the owner of the Stevenson Consulting Group and she's also a board member of NVBDC. 544 00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:39,680 So here we go. 545 00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:42,080 This is, as they say, this was recorded earlier. 546 00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:48,240 So here is Jim Falzone and Annette Stevenson. 547 00:40:48,240 --> 00:40:54,160 Welcome I am Jim Falzone and this is a Veterans Radio spotlight on the National Veterans Business 548 00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:59,480 Development Council, better known as NVBDC.org. 549 00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:04,300 We have a partnership with NVBDC, which is the nation's leading third party authority 550 00:41:04,300 --> 00:41:07,400 for certification of veteran owned businesses. 551 00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:14,920 Of all sizes, this 501C3 has been in business doing its good work for over 10 years now 552 00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:21,240 and it addresses the growing need to identify and certify both service disabled and veteran 553 00:41:21,240 --> 00:41:27,660 owned businesses for a commercial or corporate and marketplace as well as the government. 554 00:41:27,660 --> 00:41:32,860 It provides a rigorous certification process designed to withstand the scrutiny of corporate 555 00:41:32,860 --> 00:41:37,600 entities seeking to utilize certified veteran owned businesses. 556 00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:43,880 And we want to welcome to the program today Annette Stevenson, an Army veteran. 557 00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:44,880 Annette, welcome. 558 00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:45,880 Thank you. 559 00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:48,600 Great, great for the opportunity. 560 00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:52,640 Well you're a tenure Army veteran and we'll get to that in a little bit but let's start 561 00:41:52,640 --> 00:41:59,720 with as president of Stevenson Consulting Group and you have a long business history in supplier 562 00:41:59,720 --> 00:42:01,220 diversity. 563 00:42:01,220 --> 00:42:04,720 How did you get involved with NVBDC? 564 00:42:04,720 --> 00:42:11,400 Well, when I came off of active duty trying to figure out what my next step was, I wound 565 00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:16,240 up working for the state of North Carolina for about seven years in contracts and grants 566 00:42:16,240 --> 00:42:21,800 and some minor purchasing and then had the opportunity to go to corporate America. 567 00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:27,640 So I wound up working at SAS Institute for 18 years, got credentialed as a procurement 568 00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:34,080 analyst and then was working actually for a retired Army warrant officer in procurement 569 00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:39,720 and he gave me the opportunity to stand up and manage our supplier diversity program. 570 00:42:39,720 --> 00:42:46,440 So a couple years into that, you know, when veterans were coming to the forefront of business 571 00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:51,600 opportunities in corporate America, it's where I met Keith and you know, he didn't believe 572 00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:57,480 I was a veteran at first, you know, Keith is just always questioning. 573 00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:01,800 Because I had actually served in the National Guard and reserves in college before I came 574 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:04,000 on active duty and got my RA. 575 00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:09,000 So we talked and see how we could help veterans in the corporate space. 576 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:13,880 I helped them build some relationships through the industry groups and you know, was able 577 00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:19,480 to reach out to Apple, Oracle, Dell, all those big corporations, AT&T and Google, when they 578 00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:23,800 were looking at the different certifications for veterans that were coming online, you 579 00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:29,640 know, aside from the VA CVE because there was so much fraud, a lot of corporations did 580 00:43:29,640 --> 00:43:34,920 not want to take the CVE verification. 581 00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:41,440 So when Keith stood this up and you know, became gold standard and you know, really understand 582 00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:48,120 what it takes to be a vet according to the public law, reading the 214s, you know, we 583 00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:54,280 just drove it now I serve as a board member for the NVBDC and my own consulting company 584 00:43:54,280 --> 00:43:56,280 is NVBDC certified also. 585 00:43:56,280 --> 00:44:01,960 And I believe you're also the vice president of North Carolina Veterans Business Association. 586 00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:07,000 Well, I was, I was, but as my business started to grow, I did. 587 00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:09,000 Yeah, pick and choose. 588 00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:15,400 Yeah, we all learn we can't do it all, but this was obviously an important thing. 589 00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:22,040 We were just at the National Convention for NVBDC in Detroit, Michigan. 590 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:27,080 Why is it important if you're a veteran owned business to get certified? 591 00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:32,600 Annette, can you give us your vast experience as to why is this important? 592 00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:33,600 Yes. 593 00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:39,280 So thank you for that question because it's, it's funny, we don't know what we don't know. 594 00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:44,880 You know, all most veterans understand is the federal sector, right? 595 00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:50,400 The SBA, the CBE program, now the vets first program. 596 00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:54,120 And that's to do business in the federal contracting arena, right? 597 00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:59,400 Has really nothing to do with the corporate mindset, but veterans don't understand. 598 00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:05,080 There's three different sectors to have opportunity, federal, state and local and corporate. 599 00:45:05,080 --> 00:45:09,840 And so for an organization like SAS and a lot of the major corporations, they do business 600 00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:12,200 in all three verticals, right? 601 00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:15,240 And there's different requirements that you have to meet. 602 00:45:15,240 --> 00:45:20,840 And ironically enough, even if you're verified or certified through the SBA now, if you outgrow 603 00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:25,400 your NAICS codes, right, or your number of employees, you're no longer eligible to be 604 00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:29,360 certified because you've outgrown the small business requirements. 605 00:45:29,360 --> 00:45:32,560 That doesn't happen with NVBDC, okay? 606 00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:37,960 So if you notice it's that little S in the SDVOSB versus SDVOP, right? 607 00:45:37,960 --> 00:45:44,640 acronym, sitting, but by getting certified through NVBDC, you know, they've been accepted 608 00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:46,400 by the billion dollar roundtable. 609 00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:51,280 And as you mentioned in the introduction, they thoroughly vet you that you own operating 610 00:45:51,280 --> 00:45:57,280 control, your company, and even more so that you meet the standards to be a veteran, okay? 611 00:45:57,280 --> 00:45:58,440 And we didn't make them up. 612 00:45:58,440 --> 00:45:59,440 It's not pick and choose. 613 00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:00,440 We like you. 614 00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:01,440 We don't. 615 00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:05,960 It's by the public law, right, that you meet the criteria to be a veteran. 616 00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:10,560 And so the corporations appreciate that standard of certification. 617 00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:15,680 And when you go through the process, and it is a fee based process, I always tell people, 618 00:46:15,680 --> 00:46:18,680 it's like getting a college degree, right? 619 00:46:18,680 --> 00:46:21,480 College degree does not guarantee you a job. 620 00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:22,560 It's a hunting license. 621 00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:23,960 It's a credential. 622 00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:26,240 And that's what certification gets for you. 623 00:46:26,240 --> 00:46:28,520 It's a badge that you've been thoroughly vetted. 624 00:46:28,520 --> 00:46:32,520 The corporations that look at you now know you've been through that process, and they're 625 00:46:32,520 --> 00:46:37,880 willing to give you an opportunity and a seat at the table to go through and look for those 626 00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:40,000 corporate opportunities. 627 00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:46,040 And really one of the things that NVBDC, as you mentioned, is sort of the gold standard 628 00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:49,080 for veteran certification. 629 00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:53,160 That's on the individual company side, certifying the company. 630 00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:58,680 But it has all these relationships with these really large companies who want to do business 631 00:46:58,680 --> 00:47:02,080 with certified veteran owned businesses. 632 00:47:02,080 --> 00:47:07,320 And that's sort of unique as well, those introductions to all of those big companies. 633 00:47:07,320 --> 00:47:11,320 And that's also the side of the table that you've been able to play on. 634 00:47:11,320 --> 00:47:12,480 Yes, exactly. 635 00:47:12,480 --> 00:47:17,560 Well, because businesses want to have the value, right? 636 00:47:17,560 --> 00:47:21,640 So if I'm paying that certification fee, what's the value? 637 00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:27,360 They want to do business with veterans, because veterans like myself, I'm Asian American. 638 00:47:27,360 --> 00:47:28,600 I'm an Army brat. 639 00:47:28,600 --> 00:47:32,960 Our father was an original member of Special Forces back in the 50s. 640 00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:35,080 He was a Vietnam vet also. 641 00:47:35,080 --> 00:47:37,840 And I grew up at Fort Bragg. 642 00:47:37,840 --> 00:47:46,440 But the characteristics that veterans bring to the table, well, I mean, one, I got sideways, 643 00:47:46,440 --> 00:47:49,520 but I'm a minority woman's service-assabled vet. 644 00:47:49,520 --> 00:47:52,960 So veterans cross the whole spectrum, right? 645 00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:55,200 And you can have multiple certifications. 646 00:47:55,200 --> 00:48:00,480 But the value we bring from our experiences by serving in the military, you know, we can 647 00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:06,320 make a lot happen with limited resources, working well under pressure, hard work, the 648 00:48:06,320 --> 00:48:12,280 leadership, the innovation, the teamwork, you know, it's something and logistics, right? 649 00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:16,720 We're great at logistics and problem solving and big picture thinking. 650 00:48:16,720 --> 00:48:18,960 All that goes into entrepreneurship. 651 00:48:18,960 --> 00:48:24,520 And this isn't to say that other groups or minority women don't have that characteristic. 652 00:48:24,520 --> 00:48:29,000 But it's pretty much what we do in the military, you know? 653 00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:32,440 We've learned how to step up to the plate and take ownership. 654 00:48:32,440 --> 00:48:38,040 And that's what corporations and businesses are looking for from their suppliers. 655 00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:40,320 How can you help me fix this problem? 656 00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:41,320 Can you save money? 657 00:48:41,320 --> 00:48:43,120 Can you help me save time? 658 00:48:43,120 --> 00:48:44,760 Is there something else I should be doing? 659 00:48:44,760 --> 00:48:47,360 Is there innovation that you can bring to the table? 660 00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:54,280 And a lot of time that is through veteran-owned businesses being able to provide that. 661 00:48:54,280 --> 00:49:00,360 And the stat that Keith just shared was the billion-dollar roundtable members, the corporations, 662 00:49:00,360 --> 00:49:05,720 spent $4.3 billion with NVBDC certified vets last year. 663 00:49:05,720 --> 00:49:10,160 Well, if that's not enough to motivate you to say, hey, maybe I want a piece of that 664 00:49:10,160 --> 00:49:15,720 opportunity, let me go get certified by NVBDC. 665 00:49:15,720 --> 00:49:22,000 Certainly the experiences of Annette Stevenson across a broad range of having her own businesses, 666 00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:27,520 working for a major corporation, understanding supplier diversity ought to be enough to motivate 667 00:49:27,520 --> 00:49:28,520 you. 668 00:49:28,520 --> 00:49:31,760 And you can go to NVBDC.org to get started. 669 00:49:31,760 --> 00:49:34,720 They're very helpful, but it is a rigorous program. 670 00:49:34,720 --> 00:49:37,760 Hey, we're back here on Veterans Radio. 671 00:49:37,760 --> 00:49:40,840 I'd nothing like muting your mic when you want to talk to somebody. 672 00:49:40,840 --> 00:49:41,840 All right. 673 00:49:41,840 --> 00:49:50,120 That was Jim Faustone talking with the representative of NVBDC, Annette Stevenson. 674 00:49:50,120 --> 00:49:53,320 I wanted to bring on a new friend of Veterans Radio right now. 675 00:49:53,320 --> 00:49:55,400 He's a Marine. 676 00:49:55,400 --> 00:49:57,880 We had a couple of minutes to talk with him, Brian Bayhub. 677 00:49:57,880 --> 00:50:00,240 Brian, welcome back to Veterans Radio. 678 00:50:00,240 --> 00:50:01,880 Thanks for listening in the whole show. 679 00:50:01,880 --> 00:50:02,880 Hey, that's all right. 680 00:50:02,880 --> 00:50:04,720 It's good stuff. 681 00:50:04,720 --> 00:50:06,320 So tell us, tell our audience. 682 00:50:06,320 --> 00:50:12,520 We got a little story about it, that you were a Marine and that you were on your way to 683 00:50:12,520 --> 00:50:14,720 Vietnam, but they said you're too tall. 684 00:50:14,720 --> 00:50:15,720 Yeah. 685 00:50:15,720 --> 00:50:16,720 The whole platoon went. 686 00:50:16,720 --> 00:50:23,720 I mean, I guess it was kind of a shock, but they just pulled me aside and said, you're 687 00:50:23,720 --> 00:50:24,720 not going. 688 00:50:24,720 --> 00:50:25,720 You're too tall. 689 00:50:25,720 --> 00:50:30,160 I was officially the tallest Marine they ever had. 690 00:50:30,160 --> 00:50:31,320 How tall are you? 691 00:50:31,320 --> 00:50:32,320 I was 6'11". 692 00:50:32,320 --> 00:50:37,720 I'm getting old, so I'm not as tall anymore, I don't think. 693 00:50:37,720 --> 00:50:40,920 Well, I know you're one of the few people that I really have to look up to. 694 00:50:40,920 --> 00:50:42,920 No pun intended there. 695 00:50:42,920 --> 00:50:49,640 Ironically, I have found in the last year, there's a guy in California that has a website 696 00:50:49,640 --> 00:50:55,480 called the world's tallest Marine, I mean, Marine Corps tallest Marine or something 697 00:50:55,480 --> 00:50:56,960 like that. 698 00:50:56,960 --> 00:50:58,960 And he's only 6'9". 699 00:50:58,960 --> 00:50:59,960 Oh, wow. 700 00:50:59,960 --> 00:51:01,320 Hey, that's nothing. 701 00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:11,960 And I was aware of him because the articles that they had about me being the tallest guy, 702 00:51:11,960 --> 00:51:16,120 I have an article that says there was a guy that was 6'9". 703 00:51:16,120 --> 00:51:23,120 And I don't want to bust his bubble, but you know, sorry, he's got a website I don't, 704 00:51:23,120 --> 00:51:24,720 so that's all right. 705 00:51:24,720 --> 00:51:26,840 Well, we'll start promoting. 706 00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:31,040 We have the tallest Marine on our program. 707 00:51:31,040 --> 00:51:33,720 So what did you end up doing in the Marines? 708 00:51:33,720 --> 00:51:44,560 Well, heavy equipment mechanic in North Carolina, and ironically, I saw a lot of returning veterans 709 00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:50,200 that both well adjusted in, shell shocked. 710 00:51:50,200 --> 00:51:58,040 And then I ended up on from left camp of June, I ended up on Cherry Point. 711 00:51:58,040 --> 00:52:04,520 And there was a bunch of guys showing up from there and by then they had started to rebuild 712 00:52:04,520 --> 00:52:06,560 their barracks into two man rooms. 713 00:52:06,560 --> 00:52:12,280 And I ended up having my own room for about two weeks. 714 00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:16,680 And then they put a guy in there that was pretty extremely shell shocked. 715 00:52:16,680 --> 00:52:23,040 And we had some good conversations, you know, because nobody else would room with them. 716 00:52:23,040 --> 00:52:27,720 So, you know, it's just what it is. 717 00:52:27,720 --> 00:52:31,880 I know, I know you're a good guy and you are involved in a lot of things here with our 718 00:52:31,880 --> 00:52:34,400 local Veterans Service organizations. 719 00:52:34,400 --> 00:52:36,400 You're in the Honor Guard. 720 00:52:36,400 --> 00:52:37,400 Yes. 721 00:52:37,400 --> 00:52:38,400 Yeah. 722 00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:42,880 Yeah, they're all ages of funerals that we do. 723 00:52:42,880 --> 00:52:51,800 There's not as many from World War Two anymore, but a lot of Korea now and guys our age, you 724 00:52:51,800 --> 00:52:52,800 know, right? 725 00:52:52,800 --> 00:52:53,800 Yeah. 726 00:52:53,800 --> 00:52:59,080 And you get to read about their obituaries and stuff if you want to. 727 00:52:59,080 --> 00:53:05,720 So, well, I think it's great that you are interested in, you know, coming on to our 728 00:53:05,720 --> 00:53:10,440 program and, you know, I'm looking forward to you, you know, maybe gathering up some 729 00:53:10,440 --> 00:53:13,040 of these taller Marines and so forth. 730 00:53:13,040 --> 00:53:17,760 And maybe we could do a program about that or any of the other stories that you've been 731 00:53:17,760 --> 00:53:21,680 exposed to because we're coming up to the end of the program here. 732 00:53:21,680 --> 00:53:22,680 Yeah. 733 00:53:22,680 --> 00:53:23,680 Yeah. 734 00:53:23,680 --> 00:53:24,680 Yeah. 735 00:53:24,680 --> 00:53:27,840 It is what it is. 736 00:53:27,840 --> 00:53:34,280 I had the experience of graduating boot camp with my utility uniforms because they didn't 737 00:53:34,280 --> 00:53:35,840 have my dress uniform yet. 738 00:53:35,840 --> 00:53:37,400 We got to go, Brian. 739 00:53:37,400 --> 00:53:38,640 I'm sorry to cut you off. 740 00:53:38,640 --> 00:53:39,640 All right. 741 00:53:39,640 --> 00:53:40,640 We'll be back next week. 742 00:53:40,640 --> 00:53:42,400 So, you've been listening to Veterans Radio. 743 00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:44,320 Go to our website, veteransradio.org. 744 00:53:44,320 --> 00:53:45,320 You are dismissed. 745 00:53:45,320 --> 00:53:46,320 All right. 746 00:53:46,320 --> 00:53:47,320 Thanks. 747 00:53:47,320 --> 00:53:48,320 Thanks. 748 00:53:48,320 --> 00:53:49,320 Thanks. 749 00:53:49,320 --> 00:53:50,320 Thanks. 750 00:53:50,320 --> 00:53:51,320 Thanks. 751 00:53:51,320 --> 00:53:52,320 Thanks. 752 00:53:52,320 --> 00:53:53,320 Thanks. 753 00:53:53,320 --> 00:54:23,320 Thank you. 754 00:54:23,320 --> 00:54:38,320 White was born, God left America, My home, sweet home. 755 00:54:38,320 --> 00:54:48,320 God left America, Land that I love, 756 00:54:48,320 --> 00:54:59,320 And He's hight there, and hight there, To the night, to the night from above. 757 00:54:59,320 --> 00:55:15,320 From the mountain, to the prairie, To the ocean, white before. 758 00:55:15,320 --> 00:55:33,320 God left America, My home, sweet home. 759 00:55:33,320 --> 00:55:43,320 From the mountain, to the prairie, To the ocean, 760 00:55:43,320 --> 00:56:03,320 White was born, God left America, My home, sweet home. 761 00:56:03,320 --> 00:56:31,320 God left America, My home, sweet home.