All across America and around the world, this
is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. And
now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry.
Welcome, welcome to Veterans Radio. This is our
special. Memorial Day Celebration 2025. We've
got two stories for you today. We've got Joe
Galloway from 2020, and we're going to be talking
to Gary Lilly from 2008. He talks all about Arlington.
So we're not going to run any ads or anything
during today's program. We really want you to
just sit back and enjoy. Think about what Memorial
Day really means to you. But we do have to thank
our sponsors real quickly. So that's Legal Help
for Veterans, the National Veterans Business
Development Council, PuroClean, Charles S. Kettles
VA Medical Center, American Legion Post 46, and
the Charles S. Kettles Chapter 310 of the Vietnam
Veterans of America. So without further ado,
we're gonna get straight into our program. Here
is Joe Galloway. We are back here on Veterans
Radio today. It is Memorial Day weekend and I
can't think of a better guest to have on our
program than Joe Galloway and about his new book,
They Were Soldiers that he co -wrote with Marvin
Wolf. So Joe, welcome to Veterans Radio. Nice
to be back again. It's nice to be anywhere, isn't
it sometimes? It is that. Well, I wanted to.
have you on the program when I saw this book?
And I guess the idea is, where did you come up
with the idea to talk about the sacrifices and
contributions of Vietnam veterans? Well, Marv
Wolf and I have been friends for 55 years. I
first met him. He was a spec four photographer
in the First Cav Division Public Affairs Office.
in An Que in 1965, and we've been friends ever
since. And he moved to North Carolina a couple
of years ago. He lives about two hours drive
from me, and we got our heads together. And it's
something both of us had been thinking about,
and that is that so many Vietnam veterans came
home to no welcome, no respect. The media the
movies. Portrayed vietnam veterans as losers
and lieutenant galleys. And a lot of bull like
that and and it just wrong they're not that not
who i saw in four tours in vietnam from beginning
of that war to the end of it and we wanted to
focus. On forty eight vietnam veterans who and
not and not so much about the war they fought
but about the lives that they have lived and
the good that they have done for their communities
and our country since that war. They came home
and did good stuff and there are some famous
people and there are some people you never heard
of but should have. But they are all successful
and they're all giving individuals and there
ain't a loser among them. No, not at all. I was
I was very excited when I first got the book.
So I was able to to go through this and there
are just. Just amazing stories. You do mention
in most of them a little bit about their experiences
in Vietnam and some of them about their trials
and tribulations of when they got home. But then
the last half of almost all of the stories is
about their successes. There are so many talented
people in here and I know that you had a couple
that you wanted to mention specifically and I've
got a couple I'm going to throw at you as we
go along. here of the 48. So let's start off
with one that you wanted to mention. Let's talk
about the Army nurse, Diane Carlson Evans. I
thought hers was a great story. It is a great
story. She was a nice, innocent, young Midwestern
farm girl, got her nursing degree and went immediately
and enlisted in the Army, took a commission and
said goodbye to her four brothers and their mom
and dad on the farm and headed off to vietnam
and you know they first assigned her to a man
hospital in boom tower over on the coast really
a resort and she did that for a couple of months
but that wasn't what she was looking for and
so she volunteered to go to the the back hospital
and play crew. Camp Holloway and that was right
smack in the middle of the fourth division the
big meat grinder battles up in the central highlands
and and She got all of the war she wanted and
more hundreds of casualties pouring in and she
pulled her tour and She went home and and she
went home angry She got home and found that she
couldn't talk to anybody about what she had experienced.
She tried to stay in the army medical field and
that didn't work. She married an army doctor,
a surgeon, and they went home to Minnesota and
she started having kids. But behind it all was
the PTSD of what she had been through. More to
the point is nineteen eighty two comes along
and they dedicate the vietnam veterans memorial
the wall in washington and they pay attention
they put the three statues of the three g is
up at the end of it and dian says. Where's the
where's where's the woman you know we serve to.
And and we're aware we're ignored and left out
of the whole deal and that ain't right so she
thought she would start a campaign to create
a women's memorial on the mall in dc and she
thought it might take two years it took ten.
She had the fighter way through the washington
dc bureaucracy though. Park service the congress
there's art commissions and all kinds of people
and nobody wanted to help her except all of our
fellow nurses all of the women who served in
vietnam who understood what she was all about.
And eventually they got it done like i said it
took ten years. For the dedication of that women's
memorial, they had a big veterans march down
Constitution Avenue. I remember that well because
General Moore and I picked up the first cab guys
and put them at the front of the parade where
we thought they belonged. We were leading them.
And suddenly a little short red headed lady came
running out got between us and grabbed each of
us by hand and she said. I'm from the 82nd evac
hospital and yet wrong we treated all of your
wounded that came out of the cab in the eye drawing
valley and i wanna march with you guys. We were
as proud of her as she was of the cab and we
all marched down and then we could be proud of
what Diane Carlson Evans had achieved with that
magnificent statue of the two nurses and the
wounded GI. And she's just a remarkable woman.
and achieved so much when there were times she
thought about suicide. The PTSD was eaten away
at her, but this campaign gave her what she needed
to get over that and get past that and do something
good for America. And for all of those military
nurses who took such good care of all of our
wounded, you know, and in four tours in Vietnam
and half a dozen other wars, I've seen it all.
I've seen the bodies stacked high as the roof
in places like Bangladesh and the India -Pak
War and other wars. I could not do the job the
military nurses do. I could not see that 12 hours
a day, every day, month after month, destroyed
bodies, the young men dying. How do you do that?
I don't know. We've had the privilege here on
Veterans Radio of talking with a number of nurses
from the Vietnam era and each one of them talks
about at some point in their tours, they just
shut down emotionally because they couldn't deal
with it any longer. It's amazing. Last year,
I spent a week doing video interviews of the
veterans, the doctors, nurses and techs from
the 85th evac hospital in Nha Trang. who treated
our wounded from the I had rang battles in the
nineteen sixty -five. Those stories are just
etched in their minds and their hearts. One of
them told me, you know, on one single day in
that terrible November of nineteen sixty -five,
we had two hundred twenty -five first have troopers
wounded land on our doorstep in one day. People
today, nurses and doctors and so forth can understand
that with the coronavirus going around where
people are coming into their hospitals by the
tens and hundreds and you can see when you look
at Diane and the other nurses that of course
it's going to take its toll on you. And I wanted
to start off with her because I thought that
was so important that we realize what these nurses
go through on a daily basis when they hold the
hands of the, in this case of the young boys
that were dying in Vietnam and unfortunately
today they're holding the hands of the people
that are passing away from this virus. Let's
move on to, let's do Max Cleveland. I had the
honor of talking with Max a number of years ago
and this guy is tough. He is a remarkable human
being, one of my heroes. And I must tell you
that, you know, my co -author, the late Lieutenant
General Hal Moore, is a very non -political guy,
all of his career. There's only one exception
to that. He stood on the steps of the Georgia
State Capitol and endorsed Max Cleland for reelection
to the U .S. Senate. And and i cheered him on
max just a remarkable human being you know he
lost both legs and one arm in a grenade explosion
he was a cab officer he was arriving at case
on when the cab went up to lend the marines a
hand with all of that. stuff up there, and he
was dismounting the helicopter and somebody dropped
a live grenade. It got him. It got him bad. You
lose three limbs and you don't have much left,
but what do you do then? If you're Max Cleland,
you go home. You get to work and you go into
politics and you become the secretary of state
of Georgia and then you achieve the highest goal
of your life. Sit in the U .S. Senate and he
did that and you know he got done in by some
dirty politics on his attempt to get a second
term. And since then has worked as the executive
director of the American battlefield commission,
which takes care of our military cemeteries all
around the world. Yeah, he's an incredible. incredible
guy. I mean, you know, and the idea that people
attacked him because he quote wasn't wounded
enough was was just disgusting. And it's always
so upsetting to people who were attacking him
for not being wounded enough. Yeah, I know. I
know what you mean. Well, you know, that happens.
So let's move along. How about this? I want to
talk about your wife. Always, always happy to
do that. I figured you would be well, doc. Gracie
is a truly remarkable human being. Uh, best thing
that ever happened to me. They say third time's
charm and, uh, she's wife number three and we've
been together. Well, I met her 50 years ago in
Indonesia, should have married her then and,
uh, kept track of her until about. Thirty years
ago and saw her in dc and then she disappeared
she turned up nine years ago and i said where
the hell have you been and she said well i took
my. Eight year old daughter and ran away and
joined the circus and i said what can yeah. She
had signed on as a traveling nurse with Barnum
and Bailey. And a year later, she and her little
daughter were aerialists in the trapeze act in
the big top. And she did that for 10 years. And
then she came back and got her nurse practitioner
degree and license. And then she got a PhD in
public health. And, uh, she turned back up and,
uh, and I said, well, you're not getting away
this time. I'm going to marry you. Uh, she's
a Singapore Chinese now an American citizen,
of course, but she was a first cousin of, uh,
the old Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew,
uh, who founded modern Singapore and made it
run like a Swiss watch. And she's nobody to mess
with. She's still works every day at the community
free clinic here in Concord. She tastes, she
doctors people who have no insurance, people
who are poor, people who are homeless and not
inconsiderable number of homeless veterans who
camp out in the woods behind the Harris teeter
grocery store. If they're too spooked to come
to the clinic, she takes her black bag and goes
out in the woods and treats them out there. My
goodness. I wanted to bring her up because she
was actually in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive.
She was indeed and was working with the street
kids and war orphans in Saigon. A relative had
a big house in Cholan, the Chinese section of
Saigon, and that house was burned down. So she
went through some tough times. That's what I
wanted to get to now. She continued on and just
wanted to be a nurse and that's what she's been
doing forever. That's what she's been doing forever
and she's going to keep doing it as long as she's
drawing a breath. It's great that there are people
out there and you're lucky that you found her
again. Oh, absolutely. She says she's going to
get another 15 years out of me. We can only hope,
Joe. We need you around. And we're talking with
Joe Galloway here on Veterans Radio. And the
name of his newest book is They Were Soldiers.
It talks about the sacrifices and the contributions
of Vietnam veterans. And there are so many names
in here. Some of you will that many of you will
recognize some of them. So many people in this.
in this book that, you know, obviously we can't
get to all of them today. We're talking with
Joe Galloway, his new book is They Were Soldiers.
It's about the sacrifices and contributions of
Vietnam veterans. We've got a lot of people here
to be proud of as fellow Vietnam veterans. And
we just wanted to put their stories out there
for Americans to read and understand who we are.
And I've for years been making speeches to veterans
groups and active duty military. And what I say
is the Vietnam cohort may not be the greatest
generation, as they said, of the World War II
guys. But by God, they're the greatest of their
generation. Absolutely. I couldn't agree with
you more. And I think if you stack them up against
the greatest generation, if you put them all
in the same situation, they would all react the
same way. You got it. You got it. I think that's
what people have to have to really remember.
The book is the book is they were soldiers, the
sacrifices, contributions of Vietnam veterans.
i encourage you to go out and get a hold of this
there are so many names in here that you're going
to recognize no galway i want to thank you very
much for being on veterans radio again uh...
my pleasure and we'll do it again sometime welcome
to veterans radio tell us uh... we are in what
you do good morning gary thanks for having me
on this morning and uh... we hope uh... that
you guys are enjoying the Memorial Day weekend
and hope that all of your listeners are celebrating
Memorial Day as it should be, remembering those
who've come before us and have served. But again,
as you mentioned, my name is Michael Patterson.
I'm the Webmaster and originator of the Arlington
National Cemetery website, which is my own personal
website. It doesn't belong to the government
or to the Army. I do it as a gift to America,
if you will. They have their own website, which
is very is it the identical name only dot org
or yeah? Yes, it is your website is before we
get ours is w w w dot Arlington Cemetery dot
net and also Arlington Cemetery dot com Michael
You started you started off with a very small
website, correct? Well, I did Gary back in in
1996 We started off with a very humble very small
ten page website and how large is it now? It's
now running about 35 ,000 pages. I don't think
I could go through it in my lifetime. I don't
know how you found time to do it. Tell us, you
got interested in it because your dad was in
the military. You're now retired, so he was in
World War II, Korea, and the start of Vietnam,
is that correct? Yes, he was. He retired in 1965.
He was a lifetime military officer. And through
that, you know, I gained a lot of interest in
military history and American history, for sure.
And, you know, because of his affiliation with
the military, we had been down in the D .C. area
a number of times. And of course, you know, when
you visit Washington, D .C., you know, the metro
area, Arlington National Cemetery is certainly
a place that one needs to visit. That's such
a solemn spot. And every time I walk through
there, it just hits me. I look at these tombstones
and I think, the stories here, the stories that
have never been told. It's sacred to me. How
large is Arlington? Arlington Cemetery right
now is 660 acres. The good news is that there's
been some additional property ceded to Arlington
from joining military organizations, so we'll
be adding about 80 acres to the cemetery, which
will keep it alive certainly beyond 2060. as
an active cemetery. And how many are buried there?
Well, right now there's pushing around 300 ,000.
How much more room will they have? How many more
can it take? Well, again, the present burial
rate, which is around between 27 and 30 a day,
they'll be able to continue right up until 2060.
It's estimated at this point. Who qualifies to
be buried there? Well, it's... The criteria there
has become very restricted following President
Kennedy being buried there. Arlington became
a very popular burial site, as you can imagine.
Congress passed some very severe restrictions
following that time. Right now, anyone who dies
on active duty, of course, is eligible. Retired
military who are receiving uh... no uh... retirement
pay from the military are eligible and uh...
certain other persons who receive certain military
honors of course medal of honor recipients silver
star recipients and of course purple heart recipients
are immediately eligible so that there are all
sorts of other criteria You know we do have that
on the website it goes on and on for several
pages because there there are some exceptions
of course So if somebody wants to know whether
or not they or a loved one qualifies they can
go to your website Absolutely, they can okay
terrific what a service How did Arlington get
started and when well it was a very interesting
story it actually Arlington is you probably know
was was in the family of Robert E Lee who became
the Confederate general. But in 1862, after the
Civil War had started, the United States Congress
passed a tax act against the states that were
in rebellion, the southern states. If those taxes
weren't paid, certain properties were seized,
and one of those was the Arlington estate. They
filed suit against the Arlington estate in the
amount of $92 .07 in taxes plus penalties. And
of course, General Lee could not pass over the
line to pay the taxes, so the United States government
seized the property in 1862 for what they categorized
as war, military, charitable, and educational
purposes. And it didn't become a cemetery until
1864. when Brigadier General Montgomery Meigs,
who was the quartermaster general of the Union
Army at that time, and who was a person who harbored
a strong jealousy for Robert E. Lee for turning
against the Union and joining the Confederacy,
recommended to President Lincoln that they establish
a cemetery on the grounds, principally to provide
additional burial space, but secondarily to prevent
General Lee or his family from ever living in
the estate again. And actually, before the cemetery
was actually established in June 1864, on May
13th, 1864, the first burial took place, who
was a private William Crispin from a Pennsylvania
infantry regiment who had died in a Washington
hospital. That's amazing to me that That you
would know or that the history would know the
very first person to be buried at Arlington I'd
have never guessed we we would know that and
was where the Union soldiers buried close to
the Mansion did I understand? Yes, they were
they were buried in what what was mrs. Lee's
Rose Garden? Right right near the the mansion
and Meigs General Meigs who we mentioned before
actually personally supervised it because he
wanted them buried so close to the mansion that
it would never become a private home again. Tell
us the connection or the history of Mrs. Lee.
Well, Mrs. Lee actually owned the property. It
wasn't actually General Lee's property. Her father,
George Washington Park Custis, was the adopted
son of George Washington, which many people don't
know. When he died, the property went to Mrs.
Lee. And she and raised her family there for
many, many years while her husband was in the
United States Army serving out West. He came
back to the property at some point in time after
George Washington Park Custis died. And he's
actually buried with his wife on the property.
So they were actually the first burials, although
they were civilians. They were buried on the
estate well before it was a cemetery. Now the
mansion is still there. Yes it is. It's called
Arlington House or sometimes called the Custis
Lee Mansion. What do you see when you're standing
there? What is the house used for now? It's used
now. It's now called the Robert E. Lee National
Memorial and it's been restored to the way it
looked in the 1860s. It has much of the original
furniture in it and it's a very beautiful home.
And when you stand on the porch you look out
over? Well, immediately if you look out, you
can look down and right down the hill from that
is the John F. Kennedy burial site, the Robert
F. Kennedy burial site, and right in the front
yard is where General Phil Sheridan from the
Civil War is buried. And then you look out and
you see the graves and then in the distance you
see the Potomac? You see the Potomac and you
can see Washington D .C. off in the distance.
And off to the right would be the Pentagon. Yes,
absolutely, and you can see the U .S. Capitol,
you can see the Washington Monument. It's just
an absolutely beautiful sight. It's stunning.
I've been there and I've wandered around. When
you wander around, you see a lot of monuments,
you see a lot of plaques of dedication. Can you
tell us about that and tell us who qualifies
to be able to put a plaque there? Well, many,
many very groups, military groups principally,
obviously, of course, have applied to Arlington
over the years to have plaques placed in memory
of their groups. There were very groups such
as the Navy Seabees, of course, have a monument
right outside the gates of Arlington on Memorial
Drive. One that I'm near and dear to my heart.
I knew it would be. That's why I wanted to mention
that, Gary, because I know that that's very close
to you. But again, there are literally hundreds,
I wouldn't say thousands, but there are many
hundred memorials that have been placed by various
military and veterans groups throughout the cemetery.
And there are anything from trees with plaques
below them to very large memorials. There's going
back into the late 1890s, early 1900s, there's
the Spanish -American War Memorial, there's the
Rough Riders Memorial, And then, of course, the
largest one in the cemetery is the USS Maine
Memorial, which was established from the USS
Maine being sunk in Havana Harbor, which started
the Spanish -American War. And in the early 1900s,
the mast of the USS Maine was brought to Arlington
and placed above the graves of many of the sailors
that were lost on the USS Maine. Do I remember
hearing something about the remains of people
being in that mast, or is it another monument
that I'm thinking of? No, you're absolutely correct.
Over the years, Manuel Cusano, who was the president
of the Philippines during World War II, was in
exile in Washington and died in Washington, and
his body was kept in the base of the USS Maine
until the war was over, and eventually his body
was returned to the Philippines. Another interesting
thing is Ignis Jan Patarski, the president of
Poland at the beginning of World War II died
in the United States in 1941 and he laid in state
in the base of the USS Maine until the administration
of the first President Bush when his body was
finally returned to Poland once Poland was declared
free again. That was something that caught me
by surprise is that there are different people
from different nationalities. The person that
you mentioned, that is not the same person that
there's a statue in Detroit. I think the person
in Detroit was a Revolutionary War general, is
that correct? Yes, but he was not in Arlington.
But you know, once you've mentioned it, there
are just numbers of foreign persons who are buried
in Arlington. It sometimes surprises a lot of
folks. The most recent one, of course, was an
Iraqi Air Force captain who was killed on a mission
with several American military people, and their
remains could not be individually identified
because they were killed in a plane crash. He
is buried in Section 60, where most of the casualties
from Iraq are buried. And his name is Ali Hassam
Abbas Arubai. And he was, again, an Iraqi Air
Force captain. In fact, there's a number of graves,
are there not, where there are more than one
person because of the way the casualty took place?
There was no separating them? Is that correct?
Oh, absolutely. There are very many group, what
they call group burials at Arlington. And again,
most of them, or a lot of them, result from World
War II. And they're still finding, you know,
remains of World War II casualties, mostly from
aircraft accidents and shoot downs, a lot of
them from New Guinea, you know, as late as just
this year, where they're finding aircrew remains
and they're burying them as a group burial in
Arlington. Now, who's getting buried the most
right now? Is it veterans or is it active duty?
Well, right now it's veterans, for sure, because
we're losing so many of our World War II veterans,
and they certainly were, as Tom Brokaw wrote
in his book, The Greatest Generation, and we're
losing them at an alarming rate. That will, I
think, continue to be the case because of the
way we're losing them, and they're aging out
on us, and we're losing so many of them that
if you look at the roster of the funerals taking
place every day, that we're losing the veterans.
As a matter of fact, it surprises many people
to know that per capita, Vietnam vets are dying
at just about double the rate per capita as World
War II vets. Yes, they are, and obviously at
a much younger age. Right. I keep looking at
the clock, the calendar every day. Don't do that,
Gary. We need you to continue on with this fine
program. This program keeps me going, believe
it or not. At any rate, you get a lot of visitors.
How many visitors a year do you get at Arlington?
About four million people a year visit through
there. It's the most visited cemetery in America,
probably in the world. You've been down there
a number of times and I'm there quite frequently.
It varies from school groups to veterans groups
to... I was just down there two weeks ago and...
They had police officers from all over the country
that were in for the police officer's memorial,
which is held in Washington, D .C., annually.
And they were just thousands of police officers
in the district. And most of those groups came
to Arlington, and they were all in their uniforms,
and they had all come to the Tomb of the Unknowns
to witness the changing of the guard by the 3rd
Infantry Division, which is the old guard. And
when we come back, we're going to be, in the
third segment, we're going to be talking about
the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. And in the next
segment, I want you to take us through a funeral
and how it takes place there at Arlington Cemetery.
We're talking to Michael Patterson on Veterans
Radio. Michael Patterson maintains his own private
website on Arlington National Cemetery, and it's
ArlingtonCemetery .org. The time is roaring past.
We're going into our first break. We'll be right
back on Veterans Radio. We're with Michael Patterson.
You know what? I got a little scattered there
because I'm looking at my notes, and I wanted
to have you take me through a funeral that takes
place. I'm looking at the names James Linton
Heward, who was someone I knew from Dearborn,
Michigan back in the teenage days prior to the
service. James Linton Heward was an F -4 pilot
who went down on July 12th, 1972 up in the north
and then his remains were found and returned
and he was buried in 1997. Very, very emotional
day and I was thinking about that and I was getting
a little bit emotional about it again. Michael
Patterson, take us through the cemetery, the
burial at one of those, at Arlington Cemetery
and I'm going to let you talk till I get my That's
okay, Gary. I can understand. You know, when
you attend a funeral at Arlington Cemetery, it's
unlike anything that you'll ever experience.
There are two types of funeral services that
take place there. The most common one is called
standard military honors, and that's available
to any enlisted service member or any officer.
And that consists of a six -man body -bearer
detail. a firing party which fires a three -rifle
volley, and that's sometimes confused with a
21 -gun salute, which it's not. There's a bugler
to play taps, and then there's, of course, a
chaplain from the deceased military service.
The body bearers carry the flag -grave casket
to the grave, hold the flag over the casket while
the chaplain says some appropriate words, and
then following the committal service, the firing
party is called to attention, fires the three
-rifle volley, And then the bugler plays taps,
which to my mind is just always just awesome.
It just makes the hair stand up on your back
of your neck. The body bearers fold the flag
and then that's presented to the next akin by
the officer that's conducting the services. Now
on the other hand, Arlington is the only cemetery
in the world that offers on a regular basis a
full military honors funeral. available at the
family's request to officers and warrant officers.
Now, a full honor service consists of a procession
to the gravesite with a horse -drawn caisson,
a marching band, a marching escort of troops,
a four -man color guard. The chaplain joins the
procession as well in front of the caisson and
behind the escort band and color guard. Once
at the grave site, the services is pretty much
identical to the standard services, with the
exception that the band plays while the casket
is taken to the grave and the flags being folded.
It's just an absolutely breathtaking and emotional
and absolutely symbolic farewell to an American
fighting man. The interesting thing that happens
at Arlington as well, and people of our era may
remember this from John F. Kennedy's funeral,
is the riderless horse. And that is for officers
who are a Colonel or above, where the riderless
horse follows the case on. And that is called
the Capron horse. And it's a horse with no rider,
of course. And the boots are reversed in the
stirrups, which means that the rider will no
longer ride his horse. When you see that happen
at Arlington, it absolutely takes your breath
away. That was the funeral type of funeral they
had for Jim Heward. Absolutely. I'm the Vietnam
Veterans of America Chapter 310 representative
at the Vietnam Veterans of America Michigan State
Council, where we get the committee reports,
one of them always being the POW -MIA report.
hit me like a bolt of lightning. I was taking
the notes when the man was giving his report
and he said the remains of James Linton Heward
from Dearborn, Michigan have been returned and
my head snapped back to I know and my eyes filled
with tears and I continued to take the notes
although I had a hard time seeing the paper and
tears were dropping on the paper and then the
funeral took place at Arlington a good friend
and I drove out there and there's first the chapel
where they have the service and Jim's sons were
there and one of them was played on the little
baby grand piano inside the chapel and what I
remember is he played How Great Thou Art and
it was so stirring the way he played it I'd never
heard it like that before and hair stands up
just thinking about it and when they carried
Jim out and put him on the caisson and with the
riderless horse and then the band and the color
guard, one of them carrying the MIA flag. There
were a lot of Vietnam vets from Dearborn, Michigan,
one out there, my friend and I amongst them.
And as we walked, I don't know if it was a half
mile or three quarters of a mile winding through
the cemetery, gradually the Vietnam vets stopped
talking. They were in groups. fell into columns
of two, fell into step, and then silently marched.
And I just looked around, and I said to my friend,
I am so proud to be a part of this small band
of brothers, this small elite group. And as we
walked, looking at these rows of crosses, it
was very emotional. Later on, they had the, at
the cemetery at the gravesite itself, the Air
Force flew the missing man formation, the four
planes come flying over and one peels off before
it hits the Arlington and so only the three fly
over in the missing man formation. Is the missing
man formation something that you see very often
there? Yes you do because you know most of the
marine aviators, naval aviators, air force aviators
who were combat aviators, their families request
that quite frequently and it is absolutely Gary
a stirring stirring thing to see. And it's played
out so well because you can imagine that it has
to happen with such technical preciseness the
way it happens during the course of the funeral.
But it just absolutely takes your breath away.
And for the four million visitors that are visiting
when that type of a funeral takes place, it's
worth the admission. And there's no price of
admission. This is a free... visit, isn't that?
Oh, absolutely. I mean, this cemetery belongs
to the American people, as does my website. I
mean, this is an American tradition. This is
a national cemetery. It belongs to you. It belongs
to me. It belongs to all of those four million
people who come and visit, and it belongs to
the millions of people who come and visit it
on the website every year. I can't recommend
your website enough. There is so much in there,
historical photographs, everything from the How
do I do it? Who qualifies? To the stories of
the people? And it's just amazing. I spent hours
browsing through it getting ready for the show.
And speaking of that, this segment is almost
over. You're listening to Michael Patterson,
who has the most astounding website on Arlington
National Cemetery. We'll give that address again
coming out of this next break. In the next break,
Michael, we're going to be talking about the
tomb of the unknown soldier, the old guard, and
I'd like you to give us some of the history of
that wreath laying. I was honored to lay a wreath
one memorial day. We're with Michael Patterson
talking about the Arlington National Cemetery.
He's got the fabulous website on it. We'll repeat
it again later. Right now... I'd like to have
you tell us about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,
the old guard, the changing of the guard. Give
us a bit of a history on that if you would please.
I'd be glad to, Gary. Well, you know, the Tomb
of the Unknowns is the second most visited place
in Arlington National Cemetery. Most of the visitors
who come go immediately to John F. Kennedy's
grave site, but the place to me, the center point
of the cemetery, is the Tomb of the Unknowns.
It was established in 1921. when a unknown from
World War I was selected and interred right behind
the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington. In 1958,
he was joined by unknowns from World War II in
Korea. And then in 1998, there was a Vietnam
unknown chosen. And I had mentioned that because
I know that that's near and dear to your heart.
And eventually, the Vietnam unknown was identified
and removed from the tomb and that was Air Force
First Lieutenant Michael Joseph Blassie and they
were able to identify him through mitochondrial
DNA and at his family's request he was removed
and he was brought home to Jefferson Barracks
National Cemetery near his home in Missouri and
he was certainly an American hero as well but
you know he was brought back to his home but
the Tomb of the Unknowns has been guarded 24
hours a day, 365 days a year by the third United
States infantry, who is commonly referred to
as the old guard. They earned that name in the
Mexican war back in the 1800s by the way that
they participated in that war. They are the oldest
continuous military organization in the United
States Army. They are the only a military unit
that's authorized to have bayonets on their rifles
at all times. But these are guys who are specially
trained, obviously. They are the honor guard
of the United States Army. How are they selected?
They are selected on military bearing, on intelligence,
on dedication to duty. There's height and weight
restrictions. They have to have a 28 -inch waist,
for instance, which I haven't seen since I was
10 years old. But these guys are out there 24
hours a day, 365 days a year in rain, in snow,
in horrible weather, in heat. I understand that
during a storm a few years ago, the blizzard,
that was so bad, they were authorized to not
do their... their guarding and turned it down
and they stayed out there anyway? Yes, they do.
If you've been there, Gary, and I know you have,
there's a little booth off to the side, and when
the snow piles up, they will retreat to that
booth and stay at attention while the area that
they march on is cleaned, and then they resume
their march. They are the most dedicated, wonderful
young men and women. There have been three tomb
guards who are females that you'll never know.
And as far as the tomb itself, it's having some
issues right now because of some cracks that
have formed. And there are discussions underway
whether the tomb should be replaced, at least
decap the top of it that we're all familiar with,
or whether it should be repaired. And there have
been issues over the years where it has been
attempted to repair it. I'm glad they're not
just jumping into it and doing something that
they're... I'm glad they're not either. Congress
has stuck... stuck their their their hand into
it and said listen this this you know sit back
on this research this a little bit well i think
there there's a couple of very poignant things
about the two men one is the inscription which
sits on the front of it which i think is pretty
familiar to all of our veterans friends out there
and it says merely here rest in honor of glory
an american soldier known but to god and that
is the truth i mean this this is simply an american
soldier and you know whether Like yourself, if
you're a CB, or you're a sailor, or a Marine,
or a Coast Guardsman, or an Airman, you know,
to be called an American soldier is certainly
something that you can be proud of. And if I
could, just for a second, I'd like to read to
you the Sentinel's Creed, if I could. Please
do. And it says, my dedication to this sacred
duty is total and wholehearted. In the responsibility
bestowed on me, never will I falter. With the
dignity and perseverance, my standard will remain
perfection. Through the years of diligence and
praise and the discomfort of the elements, I
will walk my tour in humble reverence to the
best of my ability. It is he who commands the
respect I protect, his bravery that made us so
proud. Surrounded by well -meaning crowds by
day, alone in the thoughtful peace of night,
this soldier will, in honored glory, rest under
my eternal vigilance. And let me tell you what
these guys take that so seriously This is an
oath they all take they all take and one of the
most cherished Awards that is an army soldier
you can you can earn is the honor guard badge
and You know you have to pass some very stringent
requirements to earn that and not even all of
the old guard guys who guard the tomb earn that
You have to be outstanding amongst the outstanding.
You absolutely have to be. Once you earn that,
you can wear that on your uniform no matter where
you go or whatever assignment you go to after
you've served at the tomb. It's very special.
If you folks out there have not seen the changing
of the guard at Arlington National Cemetery,
that's something you must do before you leave
this planet Earth. the uh... the people there
you look at these young people and you say this
country is good this country is good i don't
care what anybody said if i could throw sort
of a a semi -political thing and you know from
what most michelle obama said how could you look
at that and not be proud to be an american impossible
impossible indeed and and so the uh... when it
when it comes to laying the wreath who's qualified
to lay the wreath we've got to use just a little
over a minute left well you know Obviously any
military group, veterans groups, on the website
I have a link where you can get information on
that. You can write in on your group's letterhead
and, you know, request a date. But, you know,
you should request a couple of dates because,
you know, it is quite a popular thing. But you'll
send in to the cemetery. There's people who handle
requests and do the scheduling. And that's on
your website, correct? It absolutely is. There's
a link right to it on the front page. As I mentioned
earlier that my Vietnam Veterans of America chapter,
one of the members wrote in, requested that,
and as the president that year, I had the honor
of laying the wreath. Now, we've come to the
end of the show, Michael. I can't believe it.
I can't either, Gary. It's been really a pleasure.
Thank you so much for being on. We want to thank
you for listening in on Veterans Radio. Alright,
some of you may be familiar with that tune. That
is the song, Harlington, and we're going to go
out on that today. But I did want to just remind
everybody that Memorial Day is to remember those
men and women who did pay the ultimate price
during their time in service. And so I did want
to mention this little comment that someone sent
me today that said that this Memorial Day, we
remember those who sacrificed their lives for
our freedom. Our thoughts and prayers are with
all of those who are grieving. May we, as Abraham
Lincoln said at Gettysburg, highly resolve that
these dead shall not have died in vain, that
this nation under God shall have a new birth
of freedom and the government of the people by
the people for the people shall not perish from
this earth. And so we're going to end up playing
the song Arlington by Trace Atkins. And I want
to thank everybody for listening today. If you
like the program, please send us a comment. Let
us know exactly what you thought of the program,
what you would like us to cover in the future.
I think that that's what's really important to
you. So we will go down to that song and we play
the song and then we're going to end up with
taps. So until next week, you are dismissed.
I never thought that this is where I'd settle
down I thought I'd die an old man back in my
hometown They gave me this plot of land Me and
some other men For a job well done There's a
big white house sits on a hill just up the road
The man inside he cried the day they brought
me home They folded up a flag and told my mom
and dad We're proud of your son And I'm proud
to be on this peaceful piece of property I'm
on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company
I'm thankful for those thankful for the things
I've done I can rest in peace I'm one of the
chosen ones I made it to Arlington I remember
daddy brought me here when I was eight We searched
all day to find out where my granddad lay And
when we finally found that cross He said, son,
this is what it cost To keep us free Now here
I am a thousand stones away from him He recognized
me on the first day I came in When he clicked
his heels and saluted me And I'm proud to be
on this peaceful piece of property I'm on sacred
ground and I'm in the best of company And I'm
thankful for those thankful for the things I've
done I can rest in peace of the chosen ones,
I made it to Arlington. And every time I hear
twenty -one guns, I know they brought another
We can rest in peace, as we are the chosen ones
We made it to Arlington Yeah, dust to dust, don't
cry for us We made it to Arlington