From the studios of Ave Maria radio in Ann Arbor,
this is veterans radio and now here's your host
Dale Throneberry Good morning America. How are
you? My name is Dale Throneberry and I will be
your host this morning on veterans radio the
world's greatest veterans program and we are
Talking to people here in America and I want
to say a special hello to our friends listening
down in Australia on veterans radio net And around
the world, you are more than welcome to give
us a call here at Veterans Radio. During our
program today, we're going to be talking to some
greeters from Bangor, Maine. We're also going
to be talking with the author of the book, These
Scars Are Sacred. And we're going to be welcoming
back our cohort and co -host, Gary Lilly, from
his trip to Vietnam. And I'm just really excited
to talk to all of these people today. The number
here in our studio is 877. 573 -7825. My air
boss today is Bob Gould. Hi, Bob. Good morning,
Dale, and good morning to all our listeners out
there in this great land of ours. It is true,
and the sun is shining. That's the big thing.
I think the snow is finally melting up here.
It's a good day to go out for a 20 -mile hike.
In full gear. That is for sure. Joining us right
off the bat here on Veterans Radio is an organization
in Bangor, Maine. And I want to just tell them
how thankful we are for the work that they do
up there. And their job is that they greet troops
as they come home. And they've been doing this
for a number of years. And I want to welcome
Chuck Maples and Dee Denning to Veterans Radio.
Good morning to both of you. Good morning. How
are you? We're doing well, thank you. Okay, if
you're listening to the radio or something, you
might want to turn it down. It's getting a little
feedback there from somewhere. I'll start off
with Dee. Can you tell me a little bit about
the main troop greeters? Well, the main group,
actually it's the troop greeters, started back
in 1991 during the Gulf War, and we welcomed
63 ,000 troops through here at that time. between
I think it was March and August. And that was
pretty much the start of what's occurring today.
And it was continued on during various conflicts
after that by four troop creators. And then when
this all started again, Harry Wright out and
Dick Campbell called for local patriots to come
out and hold flags and show support. And then
arranged to get some phones and a room at the
airport, and the troop breeding process began
out there. It sounds like just a great thing.
Chuck, I understand that you flew aircraft in
Vietnam? Yes. Back in the 60s, I flew KC -135s
on a couple of TDY deployments to support the
Vietnam War. We operated from the Pacific bases
in Guam, Okinawa and Thailand and a couple of
other places supporting the aircraft that were
doing work in Vietnam. So how did you get involved
in the Maine Readers? Well, actually I'm a Texan,
my home state, but I come up to Maine in the
summertime and enjoyed visiting around here and
one day I happened to be at the Bangor Airport
and saw these people greeting the troops. And
I said, I've got to get involved here. So the
next time I was up, I went out and talked to
the folks there. And over a period of time, became
a troop reader. And how often do you go out there?
Well, actually, we get information on almost
all the inbound flights. Pass it down through
our telephone tree. And those volunteers who
are able show up at the airport. So it can be.
No flights in a day or it could be as many as
a half dozen flights in a 24 -hour period and
we're there day and night. Why is it that, I
guess, is it because in Bangor that's where the
flights, the last part of America where they
leave from and the first part they get into,
isn't it? Let me pass the phone to Dee here because
she is more familiar with the troop greeting
operation itself. Okay. Hi Dee, the question
was why Bangor? Well Bangor is the airport that
a majority of the flights or a good number of
them deploy through. We've had over 3 ,000 flights
since 2003. Over 610 ,000 troops have passed
through here. Wow. So Bangor is like the farthest
east of the United States and this is the last
part of the country that these troops will see
and it's the first part they see coming home
is that it in many cases yet that they do deploy
to other areas uh... but they were going to be
uh... you know primary uh... deployment but they're
also going through more now down in t down in
new hampshire they've had i think a hundred and
twenty flights and picking up there are they
trying to do the same thing down there they are
the marine corps lead has uh... you know brought
in many many people to come in and welcome the
troops. And they are doing pretty much the same
thing. Well, can you tell me about, let's plug
some of the people that help you out. Can you
tell me about some of their corporate sponsors
and what they've provided for you? I would love
to tell you. Unicell, which is a telephone company,
started the whole telephone process where they
gave, I think, initially 12 phones. And there's
40 or 60 phones now that they have given. But
then US Cellular came on in 2005 and between
the two of them they've donated millions and
millions of minutes and all calls are free for
the troops that use those phones. Sam's Club
provides all the cookies. We all need cookies.
Little goodies that, you know, little brownies
and different things like that. Oh, I'm trying
to think. There's just so many people that...
How about some of the service organizations?
Are they helping you out, too? Service organizations
do, and like the American Legion has started
the Build -A -Bear program, and that's for new
dads and moms that have had a child since they
deployed. And they're given a bear with a little
condo and a certificate when they come back through.
Oh, that's cool. It is cool. And then you have
like the American Legion Post 200, the Vietnam
Veterans, number 185, and the MaineTroopReaders
.com, which is a domestic nonprofit that all
do various projects. And we have like one program
for the wounded warrior that deployed through
Bangor but was unable to return. And what we
try to do is to get hold of them and say, you
know, we promised you we'd be here for you when
you came through and you weren't able to, so
you will bang or remain a visit, and we have
a t -shirt for you and a letter and some other
things that we send to them. We've also started
a new project where we're going to be sending
three by five embroidered flags to deployed units
that, again, that have deployed through here,
that they can fly. in Iraq or Afghanistan and
then send home to their families. That's just
a couple. We have a Beanie Baby project that
we do through Vietnam Veterans and that's where
we give the small toys to the troops that are
on the street because they found that a lot of
the troops that are patrolling that give out
these items are less targeted. Well, if somebody
wanted to help you out with a contribution or
something along those lines, how would they do
that? Well, there are two websites. There's maintroopreaders
.com, which is the one that the American Legion
Post 200 and the VBA are on. And then there's
also one that was established in 2006. And it's
called TheMainTroopGreeters .com and donations
can also be placed there. Okay, so one is called
MainTroopGreeters .com. Right. And the other
one is called TheMainTroopGreeters .com. MainTroopGreeters
.com was, I created that back in 2004 for the
troops and their family. Okay, so our people
can go to those websites and they can donate
money or anything else that you might need. Yes,
they can. But, you know, I would really, really
encourage listeners to get involved in various
ways. Not everybody can do what we're doing because,
you know, we have the opportunity, you know,
of being in the location. But if they see a veteran,
just go out and say thank you. Well, that's very
true. We have a quote on our website from Will
Rogers that says, you know, not everybody can
be in a fight. Some of them has to stand on the
curb and clap as they go by. And I think that
that's what some of us have to do. Well, I want
to thank both Dee and Chuck, Dee Denning and
Chuck Maples from the Maine Greeters Group from
Bangor, Maine. Thank you so very much for what
you do for our troops coming and going. And we
need more people like you out there. Thank you
so very much. Well, we would like to thank all
of your listeners. Thank you. You are welcome.
Thank you. And right now, in fact, here's a nice
little segue. We're going right into our Welcome
Home segment, Bob. Yeah, Dale, I wanted to add
one thing there. The truce do not know that they're
going to be there when they're being greeted.
Like, imagine the surprise in the fact that they
give them cell phones with unlimited calling.
They can call their loved ones right from the
Bangor. Oh, I think that's terrific. And they
have no idea. They have no idea. Well, they may
now a little bit. Well, yes, I know. Well, we
just... Rumor control, now everybody knows. Well,
now that we're... Right, just put it out in the
air. And to say something, our Welcome Home,
we've been doing our Welcome Home for four years.
That's true. And the Bangor Greeters for five
years. Hmm? Okay. Welcome Home, each week on
Veterans Radio, we welcome home servicemen and
women who have been stationed around the world
in the service of our country. Dateline, Birmingham,
New Jersey, Burlington. Have you heard of, you're
from New Jersey. Yeah, it's Burlington, New Jersey,
it's Burlington. Is that right? Yes, that's right.
Like Burlington coat hot wear. How close is that
to where you were? Everything's close in New
Jersey. Not that far away, maybe about 30 miles.
Burlington, New Jersey. A ceremony was held at
Maguire Air Force Base for 75 Airmen of the New
Jersey Air National Guard's 108th Air Refueling
Wing Security Forces Squadron. They recently
returned from a six -month deployment in Iraq.
Dateline, Fort Eustis, Virginia. Sixty -five
Fort Eustis base soldiers from the 7th Sustainment
Brigade returned home following deployments to
Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. Welcome Home is
sponsored each week by the Marine Scholars Program
of Ave Maria University. For more information
regarding the Marine Scholars Program, visit
them online at avemaria .edu. or call the Assistant
Director of Admissions at 239 -280 -2552. That's
239 -280 -2552. Welcome home. You have honorably
served the United States and the Marine Corps
in times of peace and war. Now we would like
to serve you. The Marine Scholars Program covers
the total cost of attending Ave Maria University
by combining resources from the Ave Maria University
Marine Scholars Funding, federal financial aid
entitlements, and the GI Bill. The benefits are
granted for the duration of the recipient study
at Ave Maria University contingent upon good
conduct and good academic standing. The Marine
Scholars Program is open to all reserve and active
component Marines and other combat veterans of
Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi
Freedom who have honorably served our country.
Please visit us online at www .avemaria .edu
or call the Assistant Director of Admissions
at 239 -280 -2552. You helped us. Now let us
help you. Semper Fi. are the movement experts
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Road in Ypsilanti and the other at 6180 Michigan
Avenue in Saline. That's Quantum Physical Therapy,
734 -483 -9200 or on the web at www .qptherapy
.com. We're going to be talking to our guest
in just a second, Elliot Storm, and I want to
make sure we get our number out here. It's 877
-573 -7825. It's 877 -573 -7825. And Elliot Storm
has written a book that we've talked about before,
but we're going to talk a little bit more detail
today. And if you do call in with a question,
I think we might be able to get you a copy of
that book for you. I wanted to read one review
of the book right here. I thought it was very
interesting. It says, these scars are sacred
is about a young man who was drafted into the
Vietnam War. The author did what his country
asked of him. Through this young Marine we hear
the truth about a war, about what war is all
about. Storm's story will shock you, but there's
no complaining or business, bitterness. Storm
tells it like he saw it and doesn't spare the
reader the gory details. When you finish the
book you will feel pride in our armed forces
for their bravery and the patriotism. I think
that's very appropriate. And one other comment
from another reader was, The idea here is that
this book will help those understand possibly
what it was like to have their friends go through
a war themselves. These Scars Are Sacred by Elliot
Storm. Elliot, welcome back to Veterans Radio.
Good morning, Dale. Good morning, Bob. Semper
Fidelis, and welcome home to all my brothers
out there. And welcome back to Veterans Radio.
Thank you. Let's talk a little bit about your
background just real quickly. We always have
to establish credibility. I teach communication
so we have to do that. Can you tell me a little
bit about your experience in the service, what
you did there? On the back flap of my book, the
author is a combat Vietnam veteran of the 1st
Marine Division in 1969. I was awarded multiple
Purple Hearts along with a prestigious combat
action ribbon. I'm a life member of the disabled
American veterans. I'm currently the judge advocate
for the American Legion Post and district. I'm
formerly a VISTA volunteer, which is a division
of the Peace Corps. I am a mediator with the
ESGR, which is the employment support of the
Guard and Reserve. I was also awarded at one
time, I think it was in 83, a veteran advocate
of the year with a small bit of administration,
and I'm also a member of the VFW Post 594. of
Norwich, Connecticut, a great post, a great commander,
and they just put on a big gig for me last weekend
thanks to a good friend. His name is Michael
Warren and Richard Delorge. They went out and
they got three veteran groups of American Legion,
a VFW, there was some VVA members there, and
Disabled American Veterans and all the groups
combined together and they just put us on one
grand gig. Well, I think that is great because
one of the reasons that we asked Elliot to come
on our program today is that he is going to be
out here in Michigan the week of April 14th and
we've got him pretty well booked up too. He's
going to be giving lectures at Washtenaw Community
College. on Monday the 14th in the afternoon.
He's going to be giving a lecture at Schoolcraft
College on Thursday afternoon and we're having
our big veterans gala on Wednesday evening at
1900 hours and we're going to be down at the
VFW post. on Wagner Road and I'll give you more
information about that as the program continues
because I can't find my notes right this second.
You're going to keep me busy, aren't you? I am.
We've got some other radio interviews and trying
to get some television stuff going and also we
are going to be talking at the University of
Michigan with some people from the psychiatric
department up there so we're going to be talking.
Debbie and I are looking forward to coming out.
I might say as our schedule is booked right through
fall. I mean, people have been just super good
to us. They've been asking us to come out. Of
course, we're going to be going out to California
or California, as their governor would say in
the summer. You're and my good friend, William
Dietzel, who's also my agent on the West Coast
and does a great magazine called Veterans Magazine.
He's putting the tour together for us in California.
And of course, we'll be at all the border stores.
The only national chain I'll do a book signing
at is Borders. We've got those scheduled all
across the United States. I have to put a plug
in. You notice he just said they're the only
national book jam. Elliot is going to be at Nicola's
Books in Ann Arbor and Westgate on Tuesday the
15th, I believe it's at 7 o 'clock. He'll be
signing books there too. Let's talk about the
book for a minute. What caused you to write this?
This is a fictionalized account of your experiences.
It's a lot of experiences of a lot of veterans,
your experiences in there. I haven't had a veteran
who has picked the book up who has said, Elliot,
we found a part of us in there. What I did is
a long time ago, I went and saw a psychiatrist,
I still see my psychiatrist. And at that time,
they asked me to write a letter or a paper, what
was disturbing me? And I think we've talked about
this before, and I wrote a 65 page single spaced
on a remnant typewriter exactly what was disturbing
me. The psychiatrist read it, started shaking
and said, write a book. And what I did is I put
it into the introduction of my novel. And from
there, we just took off and it took me about
six months to put it together and about 10 years
to get it published. I was going to say, this
wasn't written yesterday. No. And it has taken
you a while, as you mentioned, to get it published.
And is this self -published initially? It started
out to be, although I have... 52 corporate sponsors,
which I'm glad to have. I just had someone walk
in my house, a Vietnam veteran. He is an icon
of New England. His name is John Labarca, who's
got a radio show in the South. Good morning,
John. I'm on the radio. How you doing, Elliot?
Good, Johnny. Sit down. He just came over and
said to say hello. John is also a Vietnam veteran,
a disabled Vietnam veteran, and it's very, very
proud to see him come over here. He's given my
wife... A big hug and kiss right now. What a
surprise. Hey, hey, hey, this is Family Radio.
We've got a video. I know. Hi, John. How are
you? You can say hello to him in a moment. I
know we had something scheduled. Sit down, John.
But what a surprise to see John here. John is,
like I said, an icon of New England. Everybody
knows who John LeBlanc is. Anyway, that's how
it started, Dale. But I'd like to ask you a question.
OK. What is post -traumatic stress disorder?
What is post -traumatic stress disorder? Well,
that's a good question. I think that a lot of
times it is whatever if that you are exposed
to it doesn't make a difference if you You know,
you could be in a car wreck. You could be you
could witness somebody getting blown apart in
a war zone But it's something that scars your
your brain almost and it Most people can deal
with events in a lot of cases, but some people
just cannot. It seems to haunt them as they go
through life. It could be an odor. It could be
avoiding a place where the incident occurred.
I don't want to get into that, right? It's so
many things to so many different people. That's
one of the problems, I think, when they initially
tried to come up with a definition of what post
-traumatic stress disorder was. They used to
call it shell shock. Soldiers heart, all kinds
of good things. Again, I don't want the public
to misunderstand me. It is not just military
that have these problems. You, I, my brother,
my brother sitting down next to me and all my
brothers listening in right now, what makes us
unique? What makes our post -traumatic stress
disorder unique? I think because it was finally
recognized. We're on number one, but there is
a difference. Okay. And there's a big difference.
And the big difference is this. I don't care
if you flew a helicopter. I don't care if you're
out in the jungle. I don't care if you sat behind
a desk and we had something that happened that
was very, very unique. When we came home, We
were all blasted. And that's what made us unique,
my brother. We came off that airplane. The folks
did not care what you did in Vietnam. We were
all labeled the same. That's what made our stress
unique. And that's one of the reasons I wrote
my book and put it into writing to show my brothers
it's their book. Everybody in that book is the
character Jim Clark. And we all suffer from the
same thing. got that same kind of recognition.
In 1989, the Veterans Administration labeled
us and gave us something that was our own. It
was called post -traumatic stress disorder. A
lot of groups now have it. A lot of people now
have it. I agree with it. But now what I had
to come and humbly say, those are our scars that
are sacred. Well, I agree with you on that Elliot.
I think in talking and doing this program now
for over four years and in talking to so many
especially Vietnam era veterans, you know, veterans
in general from that time period is that as you
said when we came home we got slammed and some
of us got slammed with some of us. The other
side of that coin I think is that we were ignored
and nobody wanted to know. what it was that you
went through. And one of the things, and we talked
about this just a couple of weeks ago, we were
talking with an Indian chief and historian and
talking about the necessity of talking about
your experiences together. And that's one of
the things, you know, when we came back from
Vietnam is that most of us came back as individuals.
We didn't come back as a group. And so we didn't
have the time to decompress. we were thrown from
being in Da Nang, Saigon, wherever it was that
you left from 24 hours later you're walking into
your front door at home and you know mom's giving
you the hug and all these other things and they
just wanted you to put your uniform away and
you know go back to school or whatever it was
you were doing. Good luck. And yeah it was it
was very difficult to do that and I wasn't even
aware of that myself for I don't know 20 -25
years I thought I was fine. Perfectly adjusted.
That's one of the reasons the scars that are
sacred are still with us. Again, folks who have
read the novel have saw Jim Clark going from
them jungles to a point that was home, to a point
that where he got educated and he still suffered.
He went through a lot of crises through that
book. In the end, I think there's a heck of a
twist to the ending, but that's how he found
his healing. I didn't find mine that way, but
that was just how the ending ended. talking to
the right person. We're talking with Elliott
Storm, the author of the book, These Scars Are
Sacred, which deals with many veterans' issues
of being in combat and coming home to a civilian
life and it doesn't necessarily go quite as smoothly
as many of us had anticipated. If you have a
question or you have a comment or a story that
you'd like to share with our audience, give us
a call here at 877 -573 -7825. That's 877 -573
-7825. You give us a call, we'll give you a book.
How about that? And that'd be a great deal. Well,
we're trying to do that. Leave me autographed,
won't it? And they are autographed. And I want
to talk about, you know, we've got about three
minutes or so until we're going to come up to
our first break. But I want to talk about how
you've distributed this book. I think that's
amazing the way that you've done that. We can
talk about that. I'd like to talk a little bit
about are these heroes that are coming home now
who are experiencing some of the same backlash
that we experienced, maybe not by the populace.
but by the Veterans Administration and how they're
getting, you know, they serve their country.
We're giving them the welcome home and thanks
to good people like Chuck and Dale, we're just
on your show. My absence, I salute folks like
that. But a lot of these new guys are going to
the VA. and the VAs turning their back on them.
Well, let's hold off on that. We only got a couple
of minutes. We got a whole 15 minutes on the
other side of our break to go into that issue.
But I do want to talk about how you get the book
out. I think that's what's most interesting.
I think the veterans need to know that, that
every one of your books, if you don't buy it
individually, that you've been giving away, and
I want to point that out, you've been donating
these books, corporations are helping you out,
but you've been donating these books to veterans
administration groups, to veterans groups. To
get them to into the hands of the troops coming
home and into the families of the Vietnam vets.
Well, we've been blessed doing that we had a
lot of a Good friend of mine guy or leave it
came up with a plan of action for us and what
we did we put it together We have 52 right now
52 individual and corporate sponsors and what
we've done. We've put them in VA hospital service
organizations They buy them at a discount. They
buy them in blocks of 10. We've sold as many
as 10 to 100 and What happens is they send them
out to all these VA hospitals and service officers
and when the folks come in with a post -traumatic
stress disorder problem, they say, take this
home, have your family read it. You've already
lived with this story, now have your family read
it. They'll understand you and then come on back
and as psychiatrists we're going to talk with
you, put you in groups or whatever. So we've
been blessed to that order but we've got these
books out all over the country and in fact they're
in Japan. It's being printed in Japan, German,
French, and I understood about a month ago, we're
in the London library. So we've been blessed
on that kind of a circuit. But we've got the
word out by just a lot of good friends out there
who got behind me and helped me out. Well, that
is true. And the book I'm holding in front of
me, it says it's donated by Tony Trumpauer. I'm
assuming it must be a relative. That's a relative
of mine. His wife passed away about two years
ago, and he asked me, he says, can I buy some
books? And I said, sure, you can, of course.
So we have individual sponsors. We have our good
friends. We have national corporations. And small
town companies are out town. Like I said, we've
got American legions who have purchased them.
We have VFW. We've had district officers purchase
them on their own. And what they do is they just
send them out to whomever. Well, we've got about
a minute until our break. I want you to remind
the people, because we talked about this before,
about the sandwich, The Perfect Storm. I want
you to plug that restaurant again. A perfect
storm. A perfect storm, sorry. A perfect storm.
Well, I have a real good friend. Her name is
Dee McDonald. She owns a deli here in Milford,
Connecticut. She's been a supporter of mine from
day one. She called me over one day. Well, I
used to go have lunch there about once a week
and have this one type of sandwich, which she
doctors up for me. and it came down to the bottom
line. I came in there another day and there's
a big sign that said... They she called it a
perfect storm and it's a great sandwich and you're
gonna be getting some Because she's making you
a bunch up that I'm gonna be putting in the motorhome
and bringing them back to you I can hardly wait.
I haven't had a I haven't had a decent sub since
I left New Jersey Oh, wait, do you see this one?
Okay, we got to take a break here We're gonna
be coming back after the after our break and
talking more with Elliott storm and about PTSD
and how we can possibly help you out there our
listeners So give us a talk you put John on the
phone for a few minutes. We'll be back back after
this The Medal of Honor is the highest award
for valor in combat given a member of the Armed
Forces of the United States. There have been
over 3 ,400 recipients of the nation's highest
award. This is one of them. Private First Class
Henry Gerke threw himself on a grenade to save
his fellow soldier. Details after this. While
his platoon was engaged in the defense of a vital
roadblock on Bougainville Island... Gurk, in
company with another Marine, was delivering a
fierce stream of fire against the main vanguard
of the Japanese. Concluded from the increasing
number of grenade barrages that the enemy was
determined to annihilate their small two -man
foxhole, he resorted to a bold and desperate
measure for holding out despite the torrential
hail of shells. When a Japanese grenade dropped
squarely into the foxhole, Gurk, mindful that
his companion manned an automatic weapon of superior
firepower and therefore could provide more effective
resistance, thrust him roughly aside and flung
his own body over the missile to smother the
explosion. Gertz sacrificed himself in order
that his comrade might live to carry on the fight.
The Medal of Honor series is a production of
Veterans Radio. We're back here on Veterans Radio
and I have to point out that Schrader Yachts
is a veteran -owned business and he's a brand
new grandfather so congratulations, Radio. We're
back talking with Elliot Storm. If you have a
question for him, he's the author of the book,
The Scars Are Sacred. The number is 877 -573
-7825. Okay, Elliot, now let's talk about how
this book is going to help us and any other veterans
out there. Great deal. You asked me before we
got on the show, when you called me earlier and
we talked, you asked me to write a segment out
of my novel, and I would like to do that. Okay.
But what I'm going to do is read one of my testimonials.
And I know you read one by my dear, sweet friend,
Jane Wayne, who's also a published author, also
John Wayne's cousin, believe it or not. But I'm
going to read a segment for you. And it says,
Dear reader, I had an opportunity to read Elliot
Storm's novel, These Scars Are Sacred, in its
manuscript form. This fast -paced, high -intensity,
physiological tale is about the proverbial boy
next door who finds himself in the killing fields
of Vietnam. well -trained by the Marine Corps
and is suitably naive. It is a novel about betrayals,
grand and small, by a first love, by pure cracks,
practiced and impracticed, and lamentably by
his countrymen. But for the most part, however,
is about the healing. The healing of many a scar,
wastefully visited upon the soul of a boy man
in exotic and legislatious land and upon his
unwelcome return to what has some characterized
at the time America with a K. It was about the
distinction between paranoia and reality, bitter
truth, about the search for a little of the sacred
and seemingly unholy world. It was about a pilgrimage
from the numbness of vicious combat to the quasi
-numbness of the norm. It reminds the reader
of his own scars, sacred and otherwise. It is
a book easily forgotten. And John E. Rooney Esquire,
who was an attorney and also a light curl in
the Marine Corps, wrote that testimonial for
me. 12 years ago. Well, I think it is important
to point that out. You asked me earlier, you
know, what was post -traumatic stress and how
do you, you know, how do I define it? And I finally
found the sheet that I was looking for and it's
from the Post Traumatic Stress of the National
Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and
it talks about some of the symptoms that you
may observe in friends or maybe in your own self.
And that's, you know, number one is that you
keep, you know, you're reliving the event, you
avoid the situations that remind you of the event,
you're feeling numb and you feel keyed up alert.
all times. After the event, you may feel scared,
confused and angry. If these feelings don't go
away or they get worse, then you need to talk
to somebody. And we strongly encourage anybody
out there who has symptoms that they think are...
It doesn't hurt to go and talk to somebody because
it will help you out. Trust me, it does help
you out. Well, Dale, you know, you're hitting
things right on the niggle. And one of the things
I tried to do and attempted to do in the novel,
if you read the chapter titles, those are all
triggers. They're one of my chapter titles in
the trigger. Unfortunately, they are because
they're all song titles from that era. For instance,
I just flipped the book over. My baby wrote me
a letter. Some people got Dear John letters over
there. He got me going in circles. It's been
a hard day's night. Let's see what else. Right
on through to the other side. Right on through
to the other side. I just played that in class
the other day. It is amazing what does trigger
these flashbacks. And people say, you still have
flashbacks. And you go, yeah, everybody does.
And some of them are good flashbacks, and some
of them are bad flashbacks. Well, we have some
good times, do you? You know that as well as
I do. My good friend Johnny is sitting right
next to me. I like to have him say hello to everyone,
because you probably remember his voice a little
way when you were in Vietnam. You were in the
Mars station. Oh, he's like, over. You're talking
to your mother on the telephone and you're getting
incoming mortars. The craziness of that place
has stayed with all of us. But they were good
memories, too. We've all formed some great brotherhoods.
You and I, Dale, we're great brothers. And that's
one thing I love about Vietnam Vets when we get
together, when one sees my cover that I wear
with my hat. Or I see one, Debbie and I will
be out on the road somewhere, we're going to
a truck stop to get fuel for that big beast that
we drive, and I'll see a trucker in it with a
hat on, I'll walk up to him. I'll come home,
my brother, and you know, it puts tears in each
of our eyes, but it's something we give in each
other. Well, I strongly agree, and I think that
some of us have taken longer to realize that
we were not alone, and we're still not alone,
and that we need these guys, these men and women
that went through the experiences with us, we
need them. They are our foundation, and they
are part of us, and they all live within us.
Exactly. I think so. You wanted to introduce
John. Yeah, let me put John on for you. This
is John LaBarca. And like I said, if you're in
New England, you know who John LaBarca is. Johnny,
this is Dale Thromberg. Hey, Dale. Welcome home,
brother. Hey, welcome home to you, John, and
thank you for being such a good friend to Elliot.
He needs all he can get. He's been a good friend
to me. When I first met him, the first thing
we did was hug and say, welcome home, brother.
And yeah, the tears always show up, you know.
I've been working with the Veterans Administration
just I'm in the midst of it now and Serving with
other Vietnam veterans and the new veterans that
are coming home today And you know we Vietnam
veterans literally with our struggle and our
work to get recognized and with the help of others
We've literally blazed a trail for some of these
new veterans that are coming home today And you
know it's funny that everyone's got a struggle
to get something back after they've, you know,
been willing to donate their entire lives, you
know, and sometimes it's just not fair. We know
it. We've lived it. Well, I think one of the
things that we learned through our experiences
is that we cannot ignore, you know, this generation.
No. And, you know, we have to help them because
people, you know, You need to help people and
that's the problem that many of us incurred when
we did come home is that nobody would seem to
be around that was willing to give us the help
that many of us needed. Someone had to make that
first step and many of those people were veterans
as well. That's true. No one understands a veteran
better than a veteran. That's true. I'm going
to need to cut away here. We've got a call coming
in from Tasmania. Oh, great. Alan Wood is on
the phone and Alan, I want to welcome you back
to Veterans Radio. Alan? Yeah, it's about eight
months since I last talked to you guys. That's
true and I want to appreciate you very much for
listening. Are you there, Elliot? Elliot will
be here in a second. Hold on. Oh, okay. Yeah,
I'm a vet. Well, I was over there a year ago
actually. in Ann Arbor. My wife and I spent a
week there and got to meet the Chapter 310 guys.
I'm diagnosed with PTSD, of course. I've had
it for about 10 years now. I was over there in
Vietnam, 68, 9, with one of about 60 -odd thousand
other Aussies. Yeah, we were down inland from
Vung Tau, what would that be, southeast of Saigon.
Right, yeah, because I was looking at some photographs
the other day and I have a picture of an Australian
gunship helicopter, which was an H model with
your rockets and stuff hanging off the side.
I did a couple of missions with you folks. Let
me break in, Norman. Welcome home, my brother.
This is Alan. This is Alan Wood in Tasmania.
It's Alan Wood. He sounds like Norman Lloyd.
Well, he sounds like Norman. Elliot. Yes, sir.
Yeah, hi. Al Wood here. Yeah, I wonder, with
the guys coming back from the Middle East now,
I mean, a lot of those guys seem to get diagnosed
PTSD. within weeks or months, whereas it took
us guys so many years to be diagnosed. Is that
just because you think that it's more recognizable
now? Well, it's like my good friend John LaBarca
said a few moments ago, we broke the ground for
these kids. Yeah, it just wasn't recognized in
those days. It wasn't recognized, number one,
but a lot of these new kids are getting turned
away. They're not calling it post -traumatic
stress anymore. They're calling it something
different, and the name of my good friend Tim
Kelly told me a week ago what it was, and it
escaped me, and basically what they're saying
is, you had it before you went there, so we're
going to turn you down. We're getting a lot of
it. Pre -existing condition. Pre -existing condition,
yeah. Oh, you were messed up before you went
there, so we're not going to help you. And this
is what I was saying. Yeah, it's a compound.
This is where these kids are getting turned,
a lot of them are getting turned away, and they're
getting... We're fighting the VA over that right
now. But I think it's because what John just
said a little while ago, we broke that ground
for him. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it took me 30 years
before a friend of mine took me along to a psych
friend of his and he said, yep, you got it, mate,
you know. But up until then, I always thought
the only guys who got pensions had, you know,
the missing arms and legs and God knows what,
but nothing up top. That's an interesting way
to put it. I think it's important that we let
our audience know. We're talking with people
from all over the world talking about PTSD and
as you can see with this phone call from Alan
down in Tasmania that it isn't just American
troops that get this. I think it's every warrior
is exposed to horrors of war. I think when we
flew back, I can remember now in early 69, We
flew in under cover of darkness into Sydney.
We were virtually dispersed and told, you know,
try not to talk about it to people. And some
of the guys who were flying interstate, because
it was a late evening arrival, there were no
flights going interstate that night back in 69.
There was virtually nothing organized for those
guys to overnight there before they got the early
morning flights. They virtually had to sleep
on floors, benches in the terminal, whatever.
I mean... I got to ask you guys to hold on for
just a second. We're coming up on our last break
for the show and I want to make sure everybody's
listening to Veterans Radio. We'll be right back
after these. And we're back on Veterans Radio
and we've got all kinds of people on our phone.
It's really exciting today. We're talking with
Elliot Storm, the author of These Scars Are Sacred.
We're talking with Alan Wood from Tasmania. Isn't
that cool? Also I want to welcome to the program
right now is one of our partners Gary Lilly who
just returned from his trip to Vietnam. Gary?
Good morning gentlemen. Gary, welcome home. Thank
you so much. It's good to be home. As you said
Dale, I did go to Vietnam. Just hold on just
a second. I've got to have one at a time. Let's
have Gary talk first. Go ahead. Then I go, okay,
here we go. I served there in 1966, and this
was as a CB, July, and this was my trip back
for 42 years. There's just so much to say that
my mind is jumbled, but I'll start with the ending
first. When we were getting ready to leave the
night before, I took a young couple with me,
very, very close, the guys like my son. to me
and his name is Dustin and his wife Olivia and
they Olivia was videotaping final thoughts and
she said you know what is your final thought
on this and I said the last time I left I left
exhausted and weary and with a great feeling
of accomplishment this time I'm leaving a little
tired and with a great feeling of peace the the
trip back was so healing for me and one of the
goals that I had was to take Dustin and Olivia
to a place called Hill 35 between Chulai and
Tam Kee and tell them about the things that happened
there in 1966. Well, Hill 35 is about a mile
off of Highway 1 and I had a photograph that
I took by the highway back in those days. It
was a Marine camp that we were building for them.
There was a sand trail that went in off Highway
1 back to the hill. Right now that sand trail
is a straight road through an industrial park,
a massive industrial park. And where there was
a ridge on the right, that ridge is now gone.
We took sniper fire and they launched a couple
of attacks and ambushes from it during our time.
And that ridge is gone. It was used to fill in
the rice paddies. And so there's industrial buildings.
But I was sure that I was in the right spot.
When I got to the base of the hill, we were standing
there talking, and I said, I think this is it.
I said, look around. Well, a guy, for lack of
a better word, a peasant came walking along the
path along the base of the hill. And my interpreter
started talking to him, asking him if he knew
where the, if this was the hill the Americans
called Hill 35. And as they were talking, I heard
the word light from that guy. and I knew he said
arc light and so I knew he was VC and it turned
out he was. So I knew he was VC and it turned
out he was and he said it was the right hill
and I shook hands and congratulated him on the
both of us being alive. see the day we could
shake hands. I felt honestly a bond. This guy
was 15 years old at the time I was there. He
was VC fighting against the Marines that were
there. And they lived up in the hills across
the valley, and he said they would get hit by
arc light during the day and artillery all night
long. And I thought, really, what bravery. They
took a pounding. So at any rate, when we got
to the top of the hill, He pointed out what the
indentations of the old bunkers were. There was
remnants of sandbags on the top of the hill.
He and I burned incense together. I took incense
with me. He burned it with me, and we both said
prayers for those that died there. I don't mean
to cut you off, Gary, but we're going to be doing
a whole show about your trip back there in a
couple of weeks. But I did want you to point
out the one line that you told me about how you
view Vietnam now versus the way that it was?
Well, it's the name of a country, not the name
of a war. I think that's really important. Alan,
I know that you were there and you've met Gary
and you've talked to him before. Have you gone
back? No way. Gary went back to the Holy Land,
Dale. Well, that's one of the triggers. We know
about that stuff. And Elliot, I know you have
not been back. Well, I'll tell you a fun story
real quick if you'll let me. I had a friend of
mine, well, you've read my book, number one.
Yes, I did. I'm not giving it away. Okay, but
a friend of mine went back, and this is back
in, oh gosh, the late 90s, I guess. Well, and
he brought me something. He says, Elliot, I got
something for you. In fact, it was my birthday
party. All my non -brothers were there. Jack
just got back from Vietnam. He said, I brought
you something I want you to see. And I said,
what is it? And I opened this box up. He took
a picture of a place fairly close to Liberty
Bridge where I had been shot. And it wasn't a
good feeling. Jack, he was sitting there smiling.
He says, I think this will bring you healing.
And I ended up in the psychiatric ward the next
day. I mean, it wasn't a good feeling at all
for me. Well, people have to do what they have
to do and I admire the courage of these guys
that do go back because I don't think I want
to either. Gary, I want to hold on here because
we're going to come back to you. Alan, I want
to thank you so very much for calling us again
from Tanzania and we're going to be talking to
you again because I know that Gary's got a dog
3 show coming up. And we're going to be talking
with you sometime in the near future. Thanks
so very much. We'll let you guys go and I'll
get back on the road on the computer and listening
to the end of it. There you go. And welcome home,
my brother. Good talking to you. OK. Thank you.
Bye bye. All right. Bye, Alan. Elliot, how can
people get a hold of your books right now? Well,
they go to any border store. And if they don't
have it in stock, they can order it. Or they
can give me a call. I'd be happy to send them
an autographed copy at 203640. 2233. That's 640
-2233 with the area code 203. Or they can go
on John LaBarca's website. Or on our website.
Or your website. In fact, I'd rather have them
go to your website and buy it from you. Or they
can go to Amazon .com. And I think they're going
to be taking it down off Amazon real shortly
here because we've come up with our fifth edition
now. We're in number five. And we've done some
changing. We changed the cover around. If they
go to Amazon, look up These Cars Are Sacred,
go to order. And if it says not available, give
me a call. But he will be available shortly because,
like I said, they're putting up a new website
for us. My publisher, we've just come up with
a new cover. And they said it's going to be down
for a couple of days. But I'd rather have them
go to you and buy it from you. Well, we'll get
all that information up there. In the next couple
of seconds, because I want to get back to Gary
before the end of the show today, You've also
been going around to various organizations and
giving your talk about the healing process that
we go through. I just want to mention a couple
of them because I think it's important. You've
been to the Navy War College. You've been to
Yale, I believe it is. Yale University, yes.
You've been to a couple of VA hospitals, a number
of veterans organizations. You're going to be
going to the Army War College. In August. In
August. You're going to be the main speaker at
the state convention. We were, that's the VFW
convention, yeah. And we did it at the American
Legion. We're gonna be, in fact, I'm gonna do
a dog and pony show with my good friend right
here, John LaBarca, at the Mohegan Sun Casino
on Veterans Day, or Memorial Day, I'm sorry.
And then, but we've got a score of... Yeah, you
do. And I want to thank you both, John and Elliot,
very much for being on Veterans Radio. And if
you do want to get a hold of the copy of these
scars or sacred, I encourage you to go to our
website. We'll get the information and get it
out to you. He's going to be in the Ann Arbor
area in the week of April 14th. Next week. That's
right. And we'll be talking to them then. And
we're very excited about him coming out here.
And all of you will have the opportunity to meet
him in person if you want to get an autographed
copy of the book and so forth. So Elliot, thank
you so very much for being on the radio again.
Welcome home, my brother. Welcome home to all
my brothers. God bless you all. There you go.
Talk to you again. Talk soon, bro. Bye bye. Bye
bye. As I mentioned, Elliot is going to be at
Washtenaw Community College on Monday, April
14th. He's going to be in LA 275. He's going
to be there from 2 until 5. We've got two sessions
going for those a little bit further to the east.
He's going to be at Schoolcraft College on Thursday,
and the building is MC 200 from 1 till 4. And
Wednesday night in Washtenaw County, he's going
to be talking at the VFW post down on South Wagner
Road. Let's see, that's VFW post 423. 230 South
Wagner Road, 7 o 'clock. All veterans, all veterans
organizations and the public is invited to come
down and ask them as your questions. And I think
it's going to be a great healing opportunity
for all of us. So I look forward to seeing you
all there. Okay, Gary. Yes, sir. Sorry, a little
busy today. Absolutely. I was pleased to hear
you out on there. My experience, I'm the first
to say, was a lot different than the experience
of guys like Alan and Elliot. The combat I saw
was at a distance. I wasn't involved in it. So
I understand how those guys feel. But what I
would love to see guys do is consider going back.
They don't have to go back to the spots where
they fought. Just go back and see what the country
is very industrious. It's young. They love to
say hello in English. They love to practice.
Little kids, they're fascinated by us. And they
just see the fact that this is a productive,
happy society. The communists thought that communism
would go south, but what happened? Capitalism
went north. The whole country is capitalism now.
And there's huge housing developments. four -star,
five -star hotels, and as you know, the most
beautiful beaches in the world. Before I ever
went to Hill 35, I was feeling at peace. I think
it's sort of like a reverse domino theory. Gary,
this is Bob here. I just love that last comment
that you made. Would you say that again about
the Communism going south and what happened?
That's great. Well, the communists figured that
communism would take over the country, and rather
than that, capitalism has taken over the country.
And it went north. It went north. It went north.
It was just so great to see these people. They
really seem happy, I've got to tell you. Well,
I think it's a great tribute, I guess you could
say, to mankind. We get on with our lives, and
we continue doing the best that we can to survive.
I wanted you to talk a little bit about your
program that's going to be coming up in two weeks.
In two weeks we're going to do Winter Soldier.
Winter Soldier 2, right? Winter Soldier 2. We're
going to talk about the myths, the fallacies
and the lies of the Winter Soldier hearings because
I think they did a great disservice to the people
that served in our military over in Vietnam and
are serving there in Iraq and Afghanistan. These
are honorable people, as you know, Dale. And
when I came back and I heard what murderers we
were, I thought it must have been just over that
next hill, because the people that I saw were
great people. And I became convinced, you know,
in the winter soldier hearings, you know, I just
thought, oh my God, you know, I was part of a
war criminal army. It was very, very heavy cost
to bear. When I found out it was all lies, that
was hard to deal with. The general public needs
to... I agree with you, Gary, and I think it's
going to be a very important show, and I want
to make sure that people do tune in. That's going
to be in two weeks on the 19th. We're going to
be talking about Winter Soldier II, and I've
been talking with Gary Lilly. Thanks, Gary. We'll
be talking to you later. And I want to thank
everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today
to Elliott Storm. If you want to get a hold of
the copy, these scars are sacred. You can call
them direct at 203 -640 -2233. Tell them that
you heard about them on Veterans Radio and we'll
send a book out to you autographed. We've got
a bunch of those ourselves. You are dismissed.
The opinions expressed on this program are those
of our guests. and are not necessarily those
of Veterans Radio or this station. Veterans Radio
is a production of Veterans Radio LLC.