All across America and around the world, this
is Veterans Radio. And now, your host for today's
program, Dale Throneberry. And good afternoon
and welcome to Veterans Radio. My name is Dale
Throneberry and I get to be the aircraft commander
today on Veterans Radio. We're very excited to
have you joining us here on our program here
at WAAM Talk Radio 1600. Many of you are listening
to us on the Internet. You can follow us on Facebook.
You can also send us a tweet if you want to and
we'll try to figure out how to read those. It's
kind of an exciting thing. We also, as you know,
go to veteransradio .net and you can listen to
many of our programs in our archives and also
podcasts of some of the other programming that
we are doing that we don't get on the air all
the time. I'm very excited to have you listening
to us today. We've got a great program lined
up. I'm going to talk a little bit about events,
and then we've got a guest here to talk about
a big event that's coming up on Saturday, May
14th, that we want the people in Southeast Michigan
to know all about. And in the second half of
the program, we've got an author who's going
to be talking about Veterans Stories, a book
that has been recently published by National
Geographic. Guys, we're moving up in the world.
And so I want to make sure that you... Participate
in this opportunity to talk with us here on Veterans
Radio. If you want to get in on the conversation,
you can give us a call here at Talk Radio 1600.
The number is 734 -822 -1600. 734 -822 -1600.
All right, so we've got a number of things that
are coming up. So first of all... I wanted to
remind people that the Yankee Air Museum has
their American Bistro night and that is the 1940s
dinner dance that's coming up on Saturday, April
30th, next Saturday. The door is open at 5 .30
and you can find out more about this at yankeeairmuseum
.org. This is just down the road from up here
right now and talk radio 1600 down at Willow
Run Airport. This is where the bomber plant was
during World War II and they have purchased one
of the old hangers and they're in the process
of refurbishing it and they need your help to
raise some money for this so we encourage you
to do that. That's Saturday, April 30th, 2016
on the 1940's USO Dinner and Dance. Make sure
you're there. All right. All you Vietnam veterans
out there. And I know there's just a few of you
that do listen. Coming up on May 6th at the Ann
Arbor VA, we've got the Vietnam Era Veterans
Commemorative Event. And this is going to be
at 930 at the Ann Arbor VA in the auditorium.
That's B14. And our guest speaker is Lieutenant
Colonel Charles Kettles, our good friend here
on Veterans Radio, who is waiting anxiously to
receive his Medal of Honor. That will be coming
up in the next couple of months, I'm sure. It's
already been approved and we're anxious to maybe,
well, make a road trip down to Washington to
see Charlie get that award. He's a great guy
and he's going to be the guest speaker at the
Ann Arbor VA. And this is for all Vietnam veterans,
May 6th from 9 until noon. There's going to be
music, commemorative pins are going to be given
away, the military memorabilia, all kinds of
different things. And so put this on your calendar.
It's Friday, May 6, 9 a .m. to 12 p .m. The other
event that I'm going to get to in a second, because
I'm going to take a break before I talk about
it, is the Silver Star event that we're going
to be talking about after our first break that's
coming up on May 14, 2016. This, again, is also
in the Ann Arbor area. A couple of years ago,
actually it's been four or five, almost five
years now, we lost our partner and very good
friend Gary Lilly. Gary, as many of you knew,
was a commercial real estate guy. He bought and
sold property. Joining me on the line right now
are the owners of Ann Arbor Builders. We've got
Alex Dewberry. Alex, welcome to Veterans Radio.
Hello. Well, thank you. Thank you very much.
And also joining us on the line is his wife Betsy
Dubary. Betsy, welcome to Veterans Radio. Thank
you very much. Okay. So I'll kind of give it
a little history here of how Gary was involved
in our program right from the very beginning
and that he was also involved in commercial real
estate. And you've done a wonderful thing here.
You've named a street after Gary Lilly. Alex,
tell me, what made you do that? Well, Gary actually
started the project in the early 2004, 2005.
And then the economy tanked, so it sat dormant.
And then he unfortunately got killed by a hit
-and -run. So his partner, wanted to continue
with the project or at least get it sold. And
then, so we bought the project and thought it
would be great to name the street after Gary.
Well, it's very exciting for us, especially here
at Veterans Radio, to know that he is being honored
that way. He was certainly the veteran's veteran,
always involved in any activity that had to do
with veterans and helping out other veterans.
Betsy, whereabouts is this street? This is out
off Plymouth Road as you're going toward 23,
and just before you get there, there's a street
on the right called Irishire, and you go down
probably a quarter of a mile on the left. And
let me just add to what Alex said. You know,
as developers, we are responsible for coming
up with a name, and we didn't even blink an eye.
Just no other name that we would have even thought
of it immediately. It was Willie Lane. I mean,
he basically assembled a land and started this.
It was his idea. And, you know, while naming
a street probably doesn't sound like much of
a big deal, we just thought it was some small
way of at least recognizing, you know, his many
years in the business and, you know, how he started.
this project and I want to say too that this
project is now sold out and we've told the story
to all of the owners who live on this street
and they're very, very touched and very moved
by it. Well, I was very excited to drive out
there the other day and I took a picture myself
and put it up on our website. for letting people
know where it is and go out there and drive around
a little cul -de -sac that it is. I can remember
Gary talking about this project when we first
started Veterans Radio. This was going to be
his big deal. We all talk about Mr. Big is going
to come along. That's it. We don't have to work
ever again in our lives. But he was so excited
to put this project together, and I know he was
disappointed when the recession hit. But on behalf
of my partner, Bob Gould and the other friends
of Gary, we want to thank you and Alex and, of
course, Ann Arbor Builders for honoring our late
partner. Well, it certainly was the very least
we can do. I'm going to ask Alex to pop in here
if you don't mind because he goes way back with
Gary, who basically helped him get his start.
So Alex, jump in here and say a couple of words
here about Gary. Well, I met Gary probably early
70s when he was working with Max Weed, Weed Realty.
Oh wow, that's a long time ago. known Gary for
obviously many years, so we've interacted on
a couple of other projects and whatnot, but it
was really a shock. I can remember that day.
I was out of town and my partner Bob called me
and it was one of the few times I just dropped
to my knees when I heard that he had been killed.
It was such a shock for all of us in the Ann
Arbor area, you know, in the veterans community,
and I'm sure in the builders community was the
same thing, because I know the turnout at his
service was, you know, amazing. And I just, again,
I want to thank the two of you especially for
doing this, and we're going to make it a destination
point for all the people who bought those really
nice houses out there. You're going to be wondering,
what are all these veterans' cars turning around
and called us back for? But I think they'll know.
They'll know how important Gary was to all of
us in the community. Gary was very well -known
and very well -liked. People will remember Gary
and his name will be there for a very, very long
time. Well, again, on behalf of Veterans Radio
and all of us in the local area, thank you both
very much for doing this. Well, thank you so
much for having us on today. Thank you. It's
quite an honor to talk about Gary always to remember
him. He truly was a great guy. I know. I always
see him running out there with his kilt on and
so forth. Again, thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you. Take care. Bye -bye. One of Gary's
many, many involvements with veterans was the
idea of suicide. And I know that he and many
of the other members of the local veteran service
organizations have helped many, many I guess
downtrodden and depressed veterans have talked
them out of committed suicide. There was an article
this morning in the New York Times, and I thought
this was really timely. We've talked about suicide
here on Veterans Radio numerous times, and we're
trying to make a positive statement here. We
know that approximately 22 veterans a day are
committing suicide, which of course is an outrageous
number, and we can't tolerate that at all. But
this new generation of veterans has been using
social media to help each other out. And they've
got a new, I think it's a Facebook page according
to the article, that's called Buddy Check on
22. And every 22nd of every month, these guys
send out a blast to all of their members of their
various units that they were in in Iraq and Afghanistan
and so forth, just checking on them. And they
won't let it go. If they don't hear back from
somebody, they'll make personal contacts and
they'll go in there and talk about this. And
I'm going to try and get this started. Call this
guy to be on Veterans Radio. It's E. Michael
Davis, a former Army Sergeant, greeted his Facebook
friends one afternoon last night and says, buddy,
check on 22. Where are my warriors? And he gets
all these comments back, you know, that I'm out
in the yard cutting the grass and I'm doing this
and so forth. And I just think it's really important.
These men and women have obviously paid a heavy
price in their multiple deployments. And I think
that this is a great idea. And I love the one
that calls by. And one guy just said, you know,
it says A -OK top. This is from somebody that
was in Texas. So we want to follow up on this
story, and I thought maybe you would like to
do it, too. If you're interested, you can go
to NewYorkTimes .com. It looks like it's page
21 in the national section, and it looks like
a really cool article. So we're going to try
and get Mr. Davis on the program in the next
couple of weeks to find out more about this buddy
check on 22. Not a bad idea for all of you veterans
out there, you know, that you haven't been in
contact with some of your friends lately over
the last Oh, I don't know, 40, 50 years. Send
them out a Facebook request and say, hey, how
you doing? You'd be surprised. I get a Facebook
thing from a guy I was in Vietnam with 45 years
ago every week. And it just feels so good to
hear from Larry out there in Texas. And so check
on him. Check on him. Right now, we're going
to take a quick break. And then we'll be back.
And we're going to find out all about this. helping
homeless, let's eliminate veteran homelessness.
That's the next event that we're going to be
talking about coming up on Veterans Radio. We'll
be right back after this quick message. And we're
back on Veterans Radio and joining me in the
studio right now is a member of the Silver Star
Event Committee. I guess I put that up there
and it is Glenn Monroe and Glenn, welcome to
Veterans Radio. Thanks for having us Dale, appreciate
it. It is a pleasure. I'm so excited for what
you guys are doing. Tell us how you got involved
in this event. Okay, well Jordan Reese is where
Ann Arbor based company. We're a medical supply,
medical equipment distributor to the VA and Department
of Defense. We have headquarters here in Michigan.
We've been working actively behind the scenes
with a couple different veterans groups over
the past couple years. just to make sure that
we give back to the community that we serve last
year being the inaugural flight of honor flight
out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. And more recently,
we connected with a group out of Toledo, Ohio,
Veterans Matter. It's a group founded by Ken
Leslie, who's been a homeless advocate in the
Toledo area for the past 20 years. And Veterans
Matter has a unique place in the homelessness
situation here with the VA. They are actually
able to expedite the deposit for a house. So
the VA works to HUD VASH vouchers, so they're
able to pay for a veteran's housing for a year,
90 % of the veteran's housing for a year. The
problem has always been getting that deposit
for that veteran. Right. We have talked to Ken
on Veterans Radio a couple of times about this.
It's a great program, folks, and you just got
to go to veteransmatter .org to find out more
about it. But yeah, the VA does this wonderful
thing about providing rent money for homeless
veterans to live in apartments and houses and
so forth, but they don't give them the deposit
money. And so this is what this fundraiser is
all about, right? Correct. So we're holding this
benefit Saturday, May 14th at Father Gabriel
Rashard from 6 to 9. We're selling tickets right
now that are $25. Those are tax deductible donation
tickets. You get access to the silent live auction.
It's going to be catered with roving appetizers
by the Saline High School Culinary Arts Program.
There's also going to be wine and beer available.
And some of the auction items are going to be
pretty nice. We're going to have some... The
football tickets with Notre Dame Michigan State
coming up in South Bend here with a two -night
hotel stay. A weekend getaway to Mackinac Island.
Some signed memorabilia. David Bowie signed guitar.
Things of that nature. So there's a lot of good
things up for charity and every dollar since
we have nice good corporate sponsorship. And
I'd like to mention Phillips Respironics Healthcare
is our main corporate sponsor and has allowed
us to be able to basically pay for the event.
So your dollars at the event go directly to Veterans
Matter and Housing Veterans that day. Well, I
know when I met with you folks last week, I guess
it was that 100 % of this $25 donation goes directly
to Veterans Matter. Correct. So this is unusual
for many fundraisers. They usually are fees and
so forth that are involved. And I know that you
and the rest of your team has been working very
hard to get local people involved. Yes, we have,
and the outreach has been great and we appreciate
being out here and being able to speak to your
audience today. Veterans Matter has a small administrative
cost to providing those veterans a deposit, but
I think at 17 to 18 percent of that dollar going
towards administrative costs, we've all heard
recently charities that are taking much higher
administrative costs. It's very nice to see that.
Well, we certainly appreciate what you are doing
and I understand in addition we've got this is
on Saturday, May 14th from 6 till 9 o 'clock
at Father Gabriel Richard High School which is
in Ann Arbor just east of Ann Arbor off of Plymouth
Road and 23, right? You go up to the Domino's
Farms. Right next to the Domino's Farms, yes.
You turn actually into that entrance there. Okay.
And you mentioned that there is going to be a
silent auction with great stuff. Yep. At Silent
Auction there's going to be some items that are
going to be out there like gift baskets and barbecue
grills and there's just so much I can't even
list it right now but the live auction pieces
there's going to be quite a few nice event pieces
there and memorabilia items so come out and be
able to give directly to Veterans Matter. Let's
suppose that I were a corporate person with a
lot of money and things and I wanted to give
you some money. How would I go about helping
you guys out? Well, you can definitely reach
out to us at SilverStarEvent .org, and there's
a place there to contact us directly. You're
able to give via the website, and folks that
are not able to attend the event, you can text
HOME, the number 4, GOOD. to 41444 and be able
to give directly to Veterans Matter through the
Silver Star Event. So there's many ways to get
involved. If you're a corporate sponsor, please
reach out through the website and if you'd like
to give directly and you can't make the event,
you're able to do so through the website as well.
Okay, so this is... we go to what's the website
again? SilverStarEvent .org. Oh, that'll explain
why I couldn't find it. We also have a Facebook
page at Silver Star Event. Okay, so all right,
here we go. The other one was an old people's
home. Not that any of us in the room are old.
Certainly not me, right? And so I can make a
donation online even though I can't go to the
event. Correct. You can buy your tickets online.
You'll also be able to buy tickets at the door.
Tickets are going quickly now, now that we've
been out there and advertising actively for the
past three weeks. So reserve your spot. We're
expecting 200 to 250 people to join us that evening.
Wow. And everybody's welcome. That's great. I
think that's a great opportunity. So this is
the first annual Silver Star event, a benefit
for Veterans Matter, Health Eliminates Veteran
Homelessness. This is what we've been talking
about. And we're going to talk a little bit about
this when we get into the next segment of the
program, too. There are so many civilian organizations
that are actively involved in trying to help
out this situation. There seems to be no reason
why there should be any place where a veteran
should be homeless. What you touched on earlier,
when we were speaking individually, really hit
home. A lot of these guys are coming back and
having to deal with so many traumas and then
trying to reacclimate to life. Some of those
pressures make it overwhelming to be able to
become an active member of society again after
they've been plucked out for their time in multiple
deployments in the sandbox and overseas. So it's
difficult to get plugged back and acclimated
to life, and a lot of these guys fall on hard
times. The best part about the VA program and
getting these guys housed immediately is once
they have an address. you can bring all the services
of the VA to bear, whether it's substance abuse,
PTSD, medical care, those kind of things, job
training, getting them back to a productive,
healthy life, and hopefully stemming off some
of that suicide. Yes, absolutely. And also, this
is not just for men, by the way, folks. This
is for the women veterans because there are a
lot more women veterans out there coming back
from this conflict than there has ever been.
Correct. And again, as I mentioned in the other
part of our interview in the next segment, we're
going to be talking about some of those women
and the organizations that they have put together.
But I want to go back to Veterans Matter for
just a moment. And in talking with Ken, I don't
know if this is kind of a blind question for
you, but I know his goal was to house at least
a thousand veterans by the end of the year. Do
you know if we... We've already achieved that.
Oh, that's great. Well, fortunately, you know,
I work for a company that does a lot of things
behind the scenes, Jordan Reese's, but we've
given over the past year about $200 ,000 to Veterans
Matter, and Ken has kind of been our mouthpiece
out there, but he has many different supporters,
be it Mitch Album in the community here, Kid
Rock, Katy Perry, those kind of celebrities out
there supporting Veterans Matter. And he was
able to cross the thousand veteran threshold.
And that's just veterans, not including their
families, that they've been able to house. So
I know we're well on the way. We want to get
all those guys housed. We have still over, I
believe, over 47 ,000 homeless veterans out there,
closer to 50 ,000 homeless veterans that are
still out there. That's an outrageous number.
It is. It's unacceptable. That's the term I was
looking for right there. It's unacceptable. Guys
that have done so much. My father was a Vietnam
veteran. He didn't ask to be drafted, but he
was drafted. He served honorably. He came back.
Usually not to a welcome home, a lot of those
guys. Fortunately, we as a country have stepped
up and done a whole lot better on that front
as far as welcoming these veterans home. But
we still have an unpaid debt to get these guys
housed. Right. Well, one of the things we've
always talked about here on Veterans Radio is
obviously helping veterans any way that we can.
Because if you want to keep a strong military,
you've got to take care of them. You're asking
them to go out and put their life on the line.
And then when they get home, one of the problems
that so many veterans have is that they feel
like they're alone. And I think that the idea
of these types of projects that you've got going
here because I know that we are talking to many
of the different universities in the area to
their student veteran groups and inviting them
to come out and support the program and so on
and so forth. I just think that I'm so impressed
with across the country with the different organizations
that are stepping up to help this generation
of veterans and I know that a lot of them are
being sponsored and motivated by the Vietnam
era veterans. Because they they want to make
sure that this never happens again And so this
is I mean, this is this is our goal. It was powerful.
It was powerful for me I mean as a I served in
the Air Force but hearing my father Talk about
his time of service and really the service coming
back and trying to transition into life. It just
is it's heartbreaking and These guys shouldn't
have to deal with that and they sure as heck
shouldn't have to deal with not having an address
It turns out that that address is really important.
Again, talking to our veteran audience out there
is to make sure that you have an address. Also,
to make sure that you register with the VA, go
over there because you are entitled to benefits,
whether you know it or not. You're entitled whether
you are wounded or not wounded, but you have
the ability to utilize the VA's facilities. top,
top notch. I know here in Ann Arbor, we're very
fortunate that we have, you know, a great hospital
attached to a great university and you can get
the best of care here. So I encourage everybody
to, again, mark down on your calendar, Saturday,
May 14th, 2016, from 6 o 'clock to 9 p .m. at
Father Gabriel Richard High School in Ann Arbor.
Or you can go to SilverStarEvent .org. Find out
all the information buy your tickets online make
your donation away start throwing money at these
people they need the money Because they want
to help these guys and come out and join us because
you're gonna do we're gonna have a lot of veterans
out there Then you're gonna be able to see that
support Okay, well, we're There's the music.
So we're coming up to the bottom of the hour
and Glenn Monroe I want to thank you very much
for being on the program and thank all of the
people at Jordan Reese's and all the people at
veterans matter and Hopefully we can make an
appearance at this one. I think it would sounds
like it would be really fun It would be a worthwhile
cause. So thanks. Thanks Dale. We look forward
to seeing you. Okay All right. We're gonna take
a break here for the news and we'll be right
back with my other guest Which is Robert Miller
and his book all about veteran stories And we're
back on Veterans Radio and my name is Dale Throneberry
and I get to be the host today and I'm really
excited to welcome our next guest to the program.
If you want to get in on the conversation you
can give us a call here at Veterans Radio at
734 -822 -1600. The name of the book is Veterans
Voices and as you know here at Veterans Radio
this is what we've been doing for 13 years. We
tell stories. and we let you tell your stories.
And so I was very excited to hear about this
book and then to find out that the author lives
just down the road I thought was really kind
of cool. And so let me give you a little press
release that I received a little bit about it
and then I'll introduce my guest. So it says,
Veterans Voices Remarkable Stories of Heroism
Sacrifice and Honor. By the way, this book is
published by National Geographic, which is really
kind of cool, I think. And according to Robert
Duvall, All of you like Robert Duvall, right?
We all do that, too. He was the, you know, the
Colonel in the apocalypse now. But he says, veterans
voices is a mighty read with images that inspire
the soul, giving our servicemen and women a platform
to share their personal stories of resilience
is necessary to understand our country's freedom
because it's because of their courage, loyalty
and sacrifice that we can unite to preserve the
important values that makes America a beacon
of hope. Perfect. Alright, so my guest in the
studio right now is Robert H. Miller, and Rob,
is welcome to Veterans Radio. Thank you very
much for having me. I appreciate it very much.
So tell me how this book got started. I know
that you are an author and a photographer. I
didn't mention that to our audience, but this
is what you do for a living, so tell me about
it. Well, I do. I have actually two careers,
but this is my favorite career. Basically what
happened is this all kickstarted in 1994 when
my father suddenly passed away. When he passed
away I knew that he was a prisoner of war and
what happened was about three weeks into after
you bury your father and you kind of mourn, you
do all this, my mom brought out this POW journal
that I really didn't know anything about and
she gave it to me and I opened it up and I literally
started almost crying when I read it because
it was heartfelt, it was very emotional and it
was his time when he was in Stalag 7A in Germany
in a prison camp. And I didn't really understand
it at the time and I had four kids bouncing around
the house at that time, actually five because
my youngest was just born. And basically what
happened was is that I kind of shelfed the book
and pulled it out and 13 years later I decided
to read the book. And it led me on to developing
a story about my dad which was based on research
and it was called Hidden Hell, discovering my
father's POW diary. And at the time I had a really
unique job which allowed me to go to Europe all
the time. And so what I did was I retraced my
father's every step, every step from Boston all
the way. and I wrote that book and it started
my quest on understanding what veterans go through
especially my father and it gave me a real interest
in this particular topic. I think it's interesting
we were talking just before we came on the air
about this and you know once when I found out
what my father had done during during World War
II was a very similar story it's such an emotional
thing because it's not normally the side that
we see of our parents you know the insight and
so forth you know they're just dead. And so from
that led to, what's next? Yeah, after I did that
book, I actually partnered up with a gentleman
named Andrew Wakeford. And we actually, I met
Helen Patton, who was the granddaughter of the
iconic George Patton on the beach of Normandy
on the 65th anniversary. And she heard about
my book and I started a relationship with her.
Andrew Wakeford was actually involved with her
too and Andrew is a professional photographer
and a good writer and him and I became instant
friends. So over a period of a year and a half
we decided to write another book together about
veterans called Portraits of Service and that
was about 80 some veterans and we interviewed
veterans from all around the world shot a beautiful
photograph but we put the short poignant heartfelt
stories into the book and what happened was We
are debuting the book at the book festival in
New York City, the largest one, and National
Geographic saw it and traced us down, and I kept
turning National Geographic down for a year,
but they wanted to do a book very similar, but
with their own natural National Geographic blending
to it. So finally we engaged with them, which
is the greatest thing ever, and we've created
Veterans Voices, which will be released officially
next Tuesday. April 26. We're headed a curve,
folks. Yep. Yeah, you're exactly. And it's a
global book, so it'll be available all around
the world where National Geographic books are
sold. So it's pretty exciting. I would think
it's very exciting. It's a beautiful book. It
is truly a beautiful book. And you got a really
great forward by Bob Woodruff, who has been on
our program also from the Woodruff Foundation.
He was a reporter who was injured in Iraq. I
believe it was Iraq. set up this foundation to
help veterans and to help people, especially
with traumatic brain injury. And so tell me,
because you've got, I forget the number of people
that are in this story in the book itself, but
did you talk to each one of them in person or
was it by phone or how did this work? No, everybody
was vetted out and researched. We have a selection
of people and veterans in the book, male, female,
homeless. non -homeless, everyday people, and
also some very well -known people like actor
Chuck Norris and Michael Humphreys, who was the
child star for the young Forrest Gump. Right.
I read that this morning. I said, oh, I know
that guy. And really, everybody was talked to
or visited and interviewed and photographed.
But we did, Andrew and I have had the pleasure
of almost 600 veteran interviews in the last
five and a half years. So we were looking for
unusual stories, but we were one looking with
our editors at National Geographic that we could
convey a total story package. And in there, for
example, Glenn, who was just on your show, talked
about the male homeless. Well, we actually have
female homeless veterans, and most of the people
don't know, but there's about 11 ,800 homeless
female veterans at one time on the streets of
this country. And we have their individual stories
as well. So there's a great mix of veterans.
There's tons of interest in every one of their
stories on how much pain and post -traumatic
stress that has been really involved with them.
And every one is heart -moving in my estimation.
What I like about it is it isn't all of the big
-name veterans that we may have heard of in the
past or may have heard recently. It's about the
ordinary people, as we always say in this program,
who have done extraordinary things in the service
of their country. And you mentioned the idea
of the homeless women veterans, and you've got
a story in here that seems like I can find her
name here. It looks like Jazz Booth. Yes. Right?
Tell me about Jazz Booth. Wow, Jazz. Jazz is
a very good friend now because we communicate
probably monthly and we stay in touch. But Jazz...
actually was going to be deployed to Kosovo and
she was living in New Orleans and what happened
was she just was diagnosed with thyroid cancer
and she was serving in the military. Hurricane
Katrina came in and slammed in and she became
instantly homeless and lost everything along
with having a young child she was divorced and
she literally became homeless and then she was
going to be deployed but couldn't. So a long
story short there, Jazz was faced with a terrible
situation of being homeless because she was not
on active duty and she kind of fell between the
cracks. And what happened was is she started
an organization called Final Salute and what
she was concerned about was having other female
veterans not be in this situation, whether they've
been deployed or they come home and they're not,
you know, maybe they're only on reserves but
they don't have a mechanism in place because
their education's not high enough, whatever the
case might be. And she started a tremendously
good organization with two, actually three houses
now. very large houses that have been donated.
And she takes in female homeless veterans and
puts them on the feet, help them to get jobs,
does any education and training, gives them some
living quarters, and then they go ahead and start
to get their lives organized. So Jazz has been
really a beacon for this type of thing, and she
gives everything to everybody else and actually
puts herself. second but she's an amazing person
and Oprah has even actually Oprah Winfrey has
acknowledged her and given her a special award
for all the things that she's done so she's quite
a gal. I need to point out that all of these
veterans are not just recent veterans you've
got World War II you've got Korea you've got
Vietnam you've got Iraq, Afghanistan, you've
got the first Gulf War, you've got Kosovo, you've
got everything. It's all across the spectrum
and many of them I found really surprising because
I didn't even know that sometimes that the Army
was in. Columbia or wherever it happened to be.
Exactly. You know, and it's really interesting
is that every one of these veterans when you
start interviewing them, it's like peeling back
an onion. They all have a story, but all of them
have heartache. Everybody who's served that's
been in a traumatic situation really comes home
with scars that are quite unusual. And to keep
that in for the rest of their lives, I don't
know how they do it, you know? I don't know.
It just took me a long time to realize that you
can't keep it in all the time. And I was just...
I can't remember the name. One of the stories
in here that I found really fascinating was a
guy that was involved with the Ghost Army during
World War II, right? And he eventually came out
of the service... The Ghost Army was, for our
listeners real quickly, were fake tanks and airplanes
and people and everything else that Patton actually
was in charge of to fool the Germans and to think
that we were going to attack France in a different
place. Right. Short version, if I can get it
right. But then he eventually, was he the one
that ended up working with the CIA? Exactly.
Yeah, he was involved totally with the CIA and
counterintelligence. And he actually got involved
in espionage and actually camouflaging of humans.
And he could reconstruct ears and noses and give
a total different face. And if you've ever watched
the series on FX called The Americans and all
the counterintelligent with the Russians and
the disguises. This is what it was all about
with him. He went into prosthetics after that.
Exactly. He is one of the best prosthetic manufacturers
for actual custom prosthetics for people who
need help from the military who've lost a limb
or whatever. I know. I'm trying to find it in
here. This guy was amazing. He does ears and
hands and noses and eyeballs and all kinds of
things. It's a great little story. And so you
can go from him, but then you also go to the
Chuck Norris character from he was in the Korean
War. Yeah, you know, it was really interesting
speaking to Chuck. And I talked to Chuck still,
I've talked to him like three times since his
interview. You know, he's a well -known actor,
but he's incredibly shy and he's one of the most
genuine, honest people you've ever wanted to
meet. And basically, what his story was is he
was really good at martial arts. He really had
an interest in it and he ended up training with
that. And he had so much anxiety just to come
into play with martial arts because he never
thought he was good enough. He never thought
he could do these things. and when he joined
actually was into the military in korea he started
looking even more with the taekwondo and all
of a sudden it just clicked on him and he gained
the confidence and he gained you know the ability
to really understand and he had a framework in
the military that gave him a left and a right
side so he credits his military involvement with
the martial arts to his overall success sort
of like cracking an egg open that allowed him
to grow and become eventually an actor because
you know how things turn right somebody knows
there were there were many stories like that
how the military turned these people's lives
around one way first of all is when they joined
and then secondly when they came back Right,
and what had occurred to them overseas and whatever
their conflict happened to be. We've got to take
a real quick break here. We're talking with Robert
Miller. He's one of the authors of Veterans Voices,
a new book coming out this coming Tuesday published
by National Geographic. We're going to take a
real quick break and we'll be right back. You're
listening to Veterans Radio. We're back on Veterans
Radio. I'm going to get to be your host today.
My name is Dale Throneberry and my guest is Robert
H. Miller. He's one of the authors of Veterans
Voices and I better give Andrew Wakeford some
credit there too. I think he had something to
do with it. And it's a remarkable story of heroism,
sacrifice and honor is what the PR piece came
with it. But we've talked about some of the people
that are involved and I was fascinated by one
of the stories of Vernice Armour and Vernice
was a pilot. Right in the Marines and not only
was she a pilot, but she was the first black
pilot and Unfortunately, she lost both of her
legs. Yes She did and remarkable woman Remarkable
ability to move on and actually win over triumph,
you know, she She was lots of trauma lots of
anger lots of a lot of things and I can imagine
if you would lose all your legs and just could
never do it again but she was the ability to
pick things up and move forward and start a life
and she is actually her story has meant a good
breath to the book itself because it gave us
a foundation to say wow here's somebody who's
really had trauma who's really turned her life
around and can live her example to go forward
and actually you know come out of this whole
thing and actually put a smile on her face and
being the accomplishment of being one of the
first black pilots, that's a huge accomplishment.
And she's given a lot to that. And then if you
couple that story with the other story, there's
another story in there called Brian Forney. And
Brian is an individual that actually was on a
training mission. in Taiwan and he was practicing.
He was on a chinook. Exactly. And what happened
was that he was trying to land on one wheel to
show. Wins caught it and his rotor hit the tree.
And basically what happened was a fireball and
he was actually trapped and given up for dead
after some of the guys and the gals got out.
But they ended up seeing his legs and they were
able to pull him out. And Brian is a remarkable
person and reminds me of Bernice as well. You
know, his fortitude of survival was the most
important thing for him. I mean, that was saving
him. I mean, he literally lost his arm. He has
severely burnt legs, which will require a brace
on both for the rest of his life. Plastic surgery,
I think he's had 160 surgeries. Yet he remains
able to put a smile on his face, love his kids.
love his wife, and actually put some meaningful
things for going forward in society. And remarkable
guy. I mean, Gary Sinise had the option, actually
it was a time when Gary visited San Antonio Hospital.
And I talked to Gary about Brian and he goes,
In the face of all this, Brian always even managed
to smile even when he was in the ICU. He wants
more and he did not want to sit there and just
wallow in his pain and not continue to live.
So those are the type of stories that mean a
lot. There are many stories like that in this
book. It's a fascinating story. Veterans Voices,
I encourage everybody. It's going to be available
starting this coming Tuesday. You can probably
pre -order it in some places. Anywhere National
Geographic books are sold. Amazon, Barnes & Noble,
bookstores, small bookstores. I want to talk
a little bit. I have to dig out the names here.
First of all, you also have World War II. So
let me go back here and talk about Emma Didlake.
Yes, Emma. 110 years old. Yes. Really amazing
gal. I met Emma last June when I got a call from
the Freedom Center in Detroit Metropolitan Airport,
which I'm pretty integrated with. Emma was going
to be on an honor flight with Talon's honor flight
out of Grand Rapids. They invited me to come
out and I did. I said I want to obviously put
her in the book. So I interviewed Emma. And I
did not go to Washington with her that day, because
it was a private jet. It would have been a little
bit crowded, but I got her story at the very
beginning. And it's just amazing. At 110, she
was articulate. She was clear. She could smile.
And she really had a vivid memory about what
she did, even though she drove a truck. She drove
a truck with honor at that time. She drove it
as the most important part of her life. and she
gave back to our country so that others can obviously
be free and and we would you know all be free
by winning the war so her efforts went unbelievably
noticed but the interesting thing is she was
black and she was interesting that people just
took it for granted at that time even though
there was a few generals that really appreciated
her service but she actually kept that dear to
her heart and people remembered her as she got
older and she became involved more and more as
she became older at 110. She went to see President
Obama at the White House and it was a splendid
visit. Unfortunately Emma died three weeks later
of old age peacefully and her granddaughter was
so pleased that she was able to be in this book.
I told her that she was going to be in the book
and she loved it and she just kept saying, you
think my smile's good enough? The picture is
great. The book itself is broken into eight chapters
and you talk about inspiration, courage, resilience,
and the stories about resilience are really powerful
stories. You have men and women that have gone
through just pure hell and have come out the
other side and are doing so many things for other
people. And I'm trying to find the one in here,
but and probably it may be off the top of your
head. You can remember the guy. Oh, there he
is Rick, you knew she yes Does the horses yeah,
like the horses for heroes. Yes. Yes Can you
tell me about him and yeah, and the other guy
that went there? Yeah. Well Rick is an amazing
gentleman, you know Served and came out with
lots of you know, interesting trauma for him
but he got involved in horses for horse therapy
and what it was was introducing veterans in New
Mexico and a state literally an area that they
could actually integrate themselves with nature
and horses and horse therapy. And basically what
they do is they spend some time together, they
go riding, they get understanding what the horses
are all about, how to care for them, just on
a one -on -one level. And what he's done magically
is being able to tie all this together in regards
to the service people. So, you know, he actually,
it's almost like a therapy session that goes
on all day long while you're out there. But it
isn't like a therapy session sitting on a couch.
It is just more of an interactive type play and
a lot of these people that come to him have a
lot of trauma. They have a lot of trauma where
they're actually frightened all the time, loud
noises, shells, anything that goes off is really
an issue. And these horses spending time with
them and developing a relationship and a bond
actually helps them deal with that. And he actually...
talk to them about their, you know, their issues
and things and blends it all together perfectly.
There was a line in here, I think it was his
wife who said something about, you know, the
horse nose. what's going on. Drawing out her
years of experience, she said, a horse won't
work you, work with you, if you are not calm
and centered. So the whole idea is that to get
the veteran to calm down a little bit and take
control of his emotions, we've had people on
the program that talk about dogs the same way.
And I love this only because I'm a I'm a wannabe
cowboy and I'm looking at this thing and one
of the lines in here was something called Cowboy
Up and I said wow this is great maybe I ought
to run out there and help him and he had a gentleman
in the program, I'm trying to find his name here
if I can, Chris Chasen who went through the program
and then stayed. Right. He stayed and became
a teacher and literally got himself involved
in the whole program. You know, you said an interesting
thing in the quote in the book, as I was going
to mention that the horse, if you're really uptight,
a horse wants nothing to do with you, especially
these horses. And you have to develop this relationship.
So you're going to be forced to be calm. And
this gentleman who went through the program at
the same time, he had to calm down and learn.
And he loved it so much. he wanted to give back.
So it's one of those stories that intertwines
together, you know, that's really powerful, that
really means a lot. It's a great story and he's
also, Chris also had lost a leg. Correct. And
so it's a great story. Before we run out of time,
we have to get a local person that is in the
book, you know. It's not just veterans, but in...
in Vietnam and World War II and I'm not sure
they probably have them in Iraq and Afghanistan
and those were the Red Cross Volunteer Girls
better known as the Donut Dollies. So we got
about three minutes to talk about our local Donut
Dollies. Yep we have Joan Puffer -Kotcher a Rochester
Hills resident that I met and you know I there's
actually two Donut Dollies in the book we decided
that we wanted to have two we have Holly Watts
and Joan and Joan's story's pretty amazing because
Joan was thrusted into the battle area I mean
in the deepest darkest parts of the jungle and
literally she had to make life -and -death decisions
for herself but also too since she was a civilian
to get the heck out of there because obviously
Her responsibility was to help the soldiers,
but at the same time, she was going to be under
fire by the Viet Cong. And literally the worst
thunderstorm, tropical storm that came in, they
actually had an airlift to get out of there or
else they would have been assassinated by the
Viet Cong. And listening to her describe in great
detail the air flight out and how scary and bumpy
and dark and lost power and just... just crazy
and she did it all with a smile and she did it
all and just was happy to be able to do it and
even today I think she's pretty close to 70.
She wears her red cloth donut dolly uniform with
pride and she's happy and she's got a book and
she communicates that to the world and lets everybody
know. Well I wanted to make sure that we got
Joanne involved in that because she had been
on our program as Holly had been on also and
I think we're down to about a minute to go. And
it goes so fast. It does. It goes so fast. And
I hope we can have you back on the program, Robert,
and not about this one, about your father's book.
I think that one sounds very interesting to me,
too. It's definite. shocker when you read that
book. Yeah, so the book is Veterans Voices published
by National Geographic. You can go out and get
it starting Tuesday. You can probably go online
and find it wherever National Geographic books
are sold and some of the other books. It's Robert
H. Miller and Andrew Wakeford. Thank you so very
much for being on Veterans Radio. It's a great
story and you're local so we can talk more about
it anytime. We can. It was a real pleasure and
thank you very much and to all the listeners,
thank you for listening. All right, our pleasure.
Well, folks, that's another Veterans Radio is
in the can, as they say. And we want to make
sure if you tune in next week, Jim Falzone of
Legal Health for Veterans will be your host.
And then we've got Medal of Honors coming up
on the 8th and the 15th of May. We've got two
Medal of Honor recipients, one from Iraq, Afghanistan,
and Sammy Davis from the Vietnam era. So we're
very excited to do those. I encourage you to
go to our website, listen to our podcasts, listen
to our archives. You know what you got to do
if you've got a story you want us to tell Contact
us here at veterans radio till next week. You
are dismissed