E57 The VIP Café Show with Butch and Joyce Shood: Veteran's Tales of Courage and Heart

Have you ever wondered how love can endure through the chaos of war? Join us in a heartfelt conversation with Vietnam veteran Butch Shood and his wife, Joyce, as they share their incredible love story that began on roller skates and survived the trials of Vietnam through the exchange of audio tapes. Their story, filled with resilience and devotion, offers a profound glimpse into the sacrifices made by veterans and their families, showcasing the strength of the human spirit during times of conflict.

We also bring you the gripping experiences of a Vietnam War truck driver, whose tales of navigating the dangerous roads of Saigon in a deuce and a half truck reveal the harsh realities faced by soldiers on the front lines. His accounts of tense convoy attacks and the camaraderie that was crucial for survival paint a vivid picture of the challenges and quick thinking required in the war zone. These personal anecdotes offer listeners a deeper understanding of the Vietnam War's impact on those who served, highlighting the tension and the bonds formed amidst adversity.

Reflecting on the broader lessons of military service, we explore the enduring values instilled in veterans, from the profound significance of the American flag to the emotional journey of returning home and transitioning to civilian life. With stories of pride, achievements, and the therapeutic power of storytelling, this episode celebrates the unique experiences and contributions of veterans like Butch and Harry, honoring their service with gratitude and admiration. Join us for a thoughtful exploration of the sacrifices and triumphs of those who have bravely served our country.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:06

hey, hey, hey. It's the vip cafe show coming to you from the havana house in boardman, ohio and they make some amazing coffee they have amazing wine here, beers and cigars and also pipe tobacco, if you're into that I think people would be surprised if they came and saw what I was here. So we have. This is a special day, it's November 11th, yeah.

Speaker 2 0:29

What's that? Veterans Day was to honor the end of world on November 11th, because that's when World War I ended. World War I ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, and that is what we now know as Veterans Day. There you go, love it.

Speaker 1 0:48

That's awesome. That's so serendipitous I had this story I was going to tell and you just trumped me. Why don't we go ahead and introduce our guest, Debbie?

Speaker 2 0:57

Okay, so today we have Butch and Joyce Shod. Butch is a Vietnam veteran. He has seen the combat in Vietnam and we are so honored to have him here with us today to talk a little bit about his experiences and to honor him, as well as every single veteran that is out there listening, all the veterans that we know and love. We wouldn't be here talking if not for their bravery and their willingness to fight for our country. So welcome.

Speaker 1 1:23

You know a couple of things I want to say before we start is number one. On behalf of Debbie and I and the entire audience, we want to thank you for your service and also thank Joyce for your strength, because the truth of it is that strength of the woman is the strength of the man, and that's a fact.

Speaker 2 1:39

I like that, that's so good it is a

Speaker 1 1:42

fact it's true, the Spartans were picked to guard the gates of Thermopylae based on the strength of the women, not the strength of the men, because they knew they were going to die and the strength of the women would carry the people forward.

Speaker 4 1:55

What.

Speaker 1 1:57

So behind every great man in combat, you're going to find a great woman behind him.

Speaker 2 2:03

I like that, wow, wow, okay, welcome Butch.

Speaker 4 2:08

Thank you.

Speaker 2 2:08

Thank you for coming to be with us. Were you drafted or did you sign up and volunteer?

Speaker 4 2:13

I was drafted.

Speaker 2 2:14

Wow. How old were you.

Speaker 4 2:17

I think I was 20. Oh, my goodness, I believe I turned 22 in Vietnam.

Speaker 2 2:23

So young. Would you remember what you felt like when your name was picked and you were called? Were you scared or were you excited to go?

Speaker 4 2:31

No, what you did is you looked at it as you got a job, you got given a job to do, and then you did your job and you just had to follow when you got drafted you just followed whatever they wanted you to do.

Speaker 2 2:45

Wow, that's such a brave thing. Did you grow up here?

Speaker 4 2:49

Yes, I've been in Youngstown Ohio all my life.

Speaker 2 2:52

Really Wow In 1944.

Speaker 4 2:54

Wow.

Speaker 2 2:59

It was a snowy day, all right, okay, so you were drafted. You were around 20 years old and, from what I understand, you had been seeing a beautiful young woman at that time.

Speaker 4 3:08

We went together for five years before we got married. Wow and I've known her since she was 13 years old. We used to roller skate together.

Speaker 2 3:17

I guess I should spend more time at the roller rink.

Speaker 4 3:19

Yeah, right.

Speaker 1 3:23

That's where successfully happy people meet. I guess you're going to.

Speaker 2 3:26

Austin town Right Could have joined the roller derby.

Speaker 1 3:29

There, you go.

Speaker 2 3:30

So, joyce, that would be you right, that would be. That was you, so tell us so. You guys met young at the roller skating rink and then you're dating. You probably had thought about marriage then. And then do you guys remember what the atmosphere was like in the country when Vietnam was starting and you started to come to the realization that possibly this could affect your life? Do you remember? Can you talk to us a little bit about that?

Speaker 3 3:53

I know it was the first one ever to be televised every day and you've seen what was happening and it was really hard on his parents, really as their child. And what we did is we made tapes. We have all the tapes and you could hear the bombing and the rain and we still have them to this day. And then he'd send it to me and I would make a tape and you had all the family members on, and so we have probably about a dozen or more tapes that we made and you can hear the bombs and you can hear the bombs and you can hear the rain. You could hear the background. But it was an emotional thing, it really was, and we were so in love too.

Truck Driver's Vietnam Experience

Speaker 2 4:34

Oh, it's probably what kept him alive during some of those and we're going to get to some of those experiences, but you guys got married right before you ended up shipping off right.

Speaker 4 4:45

Before I went. Yes, Before you went, okay.

Speaker 2 4:47

Where did you get initially shipped off to Like? When you left Youngstown, what happened?

Speaker 4 4:52

Cameron Bay. I remember going on a ship. We took the boat over and I got out in Cameron Bay and then from there I went to the 86 Transportation Company and I drove a deuce and a half truck the whole time all around Saigon and wherever they sent us. That's what we did. I was able to make it back. That was a plus. There was a couple times it was a little touchy because I'd seen a little bit of stuff, but I've never really talked about it too much.

Speaker 3 5:25

He started out on the ship uss pope yes, and how many guys were on there?

Speaker 4 5:30

about, I think there was 2,500 to 2,000 to 3,000 on the ship with us when we went over.

Speaker 3 5:37

It took us almost it was 10 days to get over and you were chosen out of all those men to guard the safe? No way Are you serious.

Speaker 4 5:47

They strapped a .45 on my hip. I wasn't qualified with them.

Speaker 2 5:50

Wow, did you ever have to like stop somebody from you know? No, no, no we were very lucky.

Speaker 4 5:55

No, no, nobody tried to get in there. This hole was right there, right, no, it was good.

Speaker 2 6:01

Now, in that time did you meet any other people from Youngstown that were also shipping off with you?

Speaker 4 6:07

Not that I can remember. It seemed like there was one fella that was from Youngstown Over there no, Maybe in the States when I was going through my Joyce, when I went through basic training. One fella was there. I think his last name was Williams, but I'm not positive. Wow, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 6:27

Wow. Okay, so you were going off to Vietnam and I remember like Vietnam was so pivotal for our country, there was such a I want to go fight for my country. I want to do this. My dad was a Marine and he remembers he said I felt like I could take on the world and I was ready to go and do my duty. And then there were some very harrowing things and they fought in a different way over there from what I understand. Can you talk to us a little bit about what that was like over there?

Speaker 4 6:55

I can only give you my vision of what I did okay. Because I drove a deuce and a half truck the whole time I was in. So I was in the 86 transportation company and when we got over to Vietnam and a half truck the whole time I was in.

Speaker 4 7:06

So I was in the 86 Transportation Company, yeah. And when we got over to Vietnam I did the same thing, I know. When I went over there it was really a funny thing that comes to my mind I thought I was going to have my old truck that I had in the States. Yeah, I got over there, I got a brand new truck.

Speaker 2 7:18

Oh nice.

Speaker 4 7:18

Everything was brand new.

Speaker 3 7:19

Yeah, wow and anyhow then I drove all around Saigon. When you first landed, you landed in Cameron Bay and you stayed there and because of why it was so hot, 130 degrees no bugs.

Speaker 4 7:41

they were all fed, but you couldn't wear a t-shirt. Wow, no, no bugs. Okay, they were all fed. Oh, but you couldn't wear a T-shirt.

Speaker 3 7:47

Wow, but they kept them there to adjust to the weather.

Speaker 4 7:51

Yeah, my goodness For two weeks I was in Cameron Bay Then. Then we went off to Tonsenute Air Base. For a while I was in Togo for a while.

Speaker 3 8:01

And what were you there?

Speaker 4 8:03

Truck driver.

Speaker 3 8:06

No, that's right. Yeah, I did.

Speaker 2 8:06

I dispatched me and another kid His last name was Hermas, I remember him, yeah. So what was the biggest threat to truck drivers like yourself? No, we weren't.

Speaker 4 8:16

No, but you were a big target. There was no two ways. I was only hit on one convoy over there. I was very lucky the whole time, and we were going to Tonsenute Air Base or somewhere. Anyhow. Our trucks got hit, and what I mean by hit? They attacked us, wow, and I was pinned down for 12 hours.

Speaker 2 8:34

Oh my.

Speaker 4 8:35

Oh yeah, no, you didn't go nowhere. And then they brought in the napalm bombs and stuff. I can still see it in my mind, but anyhow, about 12 hours later we got to go. We were going to head on up to the air base, wherever we were headed to, and they hit us again. We just got moving and they hit us again. So, anyhow, then, it was taken care of and they come in with the helicopters.

Speaker 3 8:59

The air support. Now, what did you do when you got hit, when they were started?

Speaker 4 9:05

First thing I did was jump out of the truck, down underneath the wheels, where you weren't supposed to go. That's where you weren't supposed to get under there with your rifle. You weren't supposed to do that, but that's the first place I headed. Yeah, it works.

Speaker 3 9:18

Yeah.

Speaker 4 9:19

I'm still here.

Speaker 3 9:20

Yeah, and how about all the grass was so high? I was on a road.

Speaker 4 9:27

On one side it was woods, the other side was like a field and grass. I could see it in my mind. I can't explain.

Speaker 3 9:33

You said you couldn't see it. You couldn't see anyone but the crossfire you helped create. We did.

Speaker 4 9:38

I did shoot a little crossfire. The first thing that happened, my gun jammed.

Speaker 2 9:43

Your gun jammed yeah.

Speaker 4 9:44

My one fellow beside me says check your, there's a little valve on there. He says check that valve. And here it was like half cocked and as soon as I turned that it was fine, it ejected. Oh thankfully he was there and I only had to shoot a few times, so that was lucky enough Wow.

Speaker 2 9:59

Now they say okay, because with Vietnam there were the northern Vietnamese and the southern Vietnamese, and a lot of times you couldn't necessarily know who was, who I know. So do you have any memories of encountering somebody like not knowing who was the enemy?

Speaker 4 10:15

I've got to tell you a story. The whole time I was over there, my mom and dad sent me a camera that you had to wind the old style, okay. Anyhow, I took videos of Vietnam and I still have them to this day and I can look at them and just remember everything about it and the question you were asking me about the people that we've seen. I got pictures of them.

Speaker 3 10:39

But you said you never took anything that— I never took nothing bad.

Speaker 4 10:43

Everything I took was pretty country.

Speaker 3 10:46

Yeah, he likes to show that video to everyone.

Speaker 2 10:50

Oh man, okay, what was, what was the worst thing that you saw during those days? How long were you?

Speaker 4 10:59

here Almost to the day.

Speaker 2 11:00

Wow, Now what is the worst thing that you experienced or saw while you were there?

Speaker 4 11:07

Okay, that's all I can tell you. I don't want to say too much more about it. You know, when you're driving all around, say a 40, 50-mile radius of Saigon, you know. You didn't know what you were going to run into. It was a real experience. That's all I can say.

Speaker 3 11:23

One of the things he mentioned much later on when he was in that battle that when they went he slept in his truck a lot, but when they went he got to his destination. He did do a lot of delivering supplies, ammunition to the men and uh, but when he came back they wanted him. They had the bodies lined up and they wanted him to drive over them but he refused.

Speaker 4 11:49

What a haunted him if he ever they did, they laid him right out on the road, right yeah those.

Speaker 2 11:55

There's so many decisions, split second decisions that people have to make in those situations and you talk to people and they're like you can't go back and undo what you have done. In those moments you talk to several veterans and that's really good that you had the wherewithal to do something that would actually help in the future, because you know that would be tough, especially because you hear so many stories about the northern vietnamese and how cruel they were and sometimes it would be easy to get put into a position where it's kill or be killed type deal. I can't even imagine going into that situation. What were the other guys like? Fortunately you had a loving wife at home, a loving family, but like where was? What was the general atmosphere?

Speaker 4 12:37

we all got along very well, and I was in a barracks too. It started out when I first went there. We were in a tent oh wow.

Speaker 2 12:45

And then in that hot weather, yeah, 130 degrees anyhow.

Speaker 4 12:50

Then they built the barracks and I was in a nice barracks and okay, and I was the first one inside the door and also about you, the ammunition dump.

Speaker 3 13:00

It blew. It was blown up twice and you were in it. I was in it the first time it went up.

Speaker 4 13:04

I was getting the truck loaded and it went up about two moves over and they had there was big banks, yeah, and it went up when I was in it the first time second time i't in it, but it went up again and I was only like two miles away from the ammo dump itself.

Speaker 2 13:20

Oh man, so what? They hit it and it blew up.

Speaker 3 13:23

Blobbed in a oh man and they had to turn off all the lights and everything. Someone help guide you guys.

Speaker 4 13:30

Yeah, the one time my company lieutenant officer came in and got us out of there. But you could, only we had them little slit lights you could only turn them on to follow him out, and he come in and got us out of there. The only thing I can say is I'm very lucky to be here.

Speaker 1 13:48

It sounds like it it's true, so tell me this experience and you've been in this country for a long time. What does America mean to you?

Speaker 4 14:01

America means everything to me. I don't know how to put that, and really to answer that question would be to say that people don't understand what war is like unless you've been there and done that and heard it, because it's totally unbelievable. You just to hear the bombs and the shells and when you're in the middle of it it's a little different than what you have here at home, which is great. You can see it on tv, they can make it up on movies, but it's not the same and you never forget.

Speaker 4 14:35

No, you don't, it's always the same and you never forget it? No, you don't. It's always in the back of your mind.

Speaker 1 14:39

Just staying strong is important, you have to.

Lessons From a Vietnam Veteran

Speaker 4 14:42

There's no other way of doing it. I picked up a paper.

Speaker 3 14:45

I picked up a flyer and I read the back of it. It was a freebie paper. You get in a restaurant Anyhow. I wanted to send it to my kids. Harry was at the house the other day and I said but you read this and this is what it said. What is a veteran? A veteran, whether active duty, discharged, retired or reserve, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for the amount of up to and including his life. That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country today who no longer understand that fact. Isn't that something?

Speaker 1 15:31

When I was a young boy. I came home from school one day and there still is a way to treat the flag in the United States, but they ignore it. You're not allowed to have a flag flying at night without a light on it. My father had a flagpole and didn't want to run electricity, so he would take it down every night and put it up every morning. One night I was coming home, I had stayed late at school. I went around the corner of our barn and I see the flag still flying and it's getting dusk out. So I went over and took it down because I think Dad was sick or something. So I took it down and I'm running in the house and he comes out there madder than a hornet's nest.

Speaker 1 16:02

Grabs the flag out of my hand and says get up to your room Next day, he takes me to Arlington National Cemetery, stands me at the top of the thing and he puts me there and he says you tell me why all these people passed away for you and you away for you, and you can see the pillboxes forever. And he said you tell me why all these soldiers died for you. So I'm thinking freedom, freedom, and I but I better milk this. And I got back in the truck and I said dad, they died for our freedom. He goes no, son, there's 61 countries that are free. He said we're different.

Speaker 2 16:37

He said those soldiers died for your dreams. And he said don't you ever forget it.

Speaker 1 16:40

And he said don't you ever let that flag drag on the ground again. The thing is, we've got to restore the faith and the honor that we have. We are so blessed. We are a blessed country and, unless you go overseas, I'll never forget when my nephew went over. He was in the Marines and my dad said when you come back, son, you're going to be kissing the ground. And he went over there and sure enough, he said Grandpa, I've got to show you something.

Speaker 4 17:09

That's true. When you go out of this country, people don't understand what it's like in another country, especially like Vietnam. It was totally different.

Speaker 2 17:17

So I had the opportunity to meet some Southern Vietnamese, the Montagnard, and they actually were a group that fought with the United States soldiers and when we pulled out they were left to fend for themselves, and they're still being persecuted to this day.

Speaker 1 17:33

We ought to quit doing that.

Speaker 2 17:35

Yeah, I know it was interesting to listen to their stories. It was like a window into the world. How was it coming back?

Speaker 4 17:42

Coming back to home. Yes, it was nice you had a bride. What else can I say?

Speaker 2 17:51

Okay, so did you know when you went over you were only going to be over there for a year?

Speaker 4 17:55

Yes, because I just had a year to go.

Speaker 3 17:57

Oh, I see I wanted to mention before he got home, after he was there seven months. We got to go on.

Speaker 4 18:03

He got to go on hawaii, hawaii hawaii. No, you're about to meet him in hawaii I'd never, been on a plane I was 18 years old.

Speaker 3 18:13

I finished school and everything, but I went to student standby. And when I got to California I went standby. I was lucky enough to get in the good section. At that time they fed you a whole meal, but I happened to sit right beside the nicest person. He was a professor at the Hawaiian University and when we got there his family was there and they put a lei on me. He was at the Tonsenute Airport and anyhow his plane, the engine broke down on his plane. He was coming to meet me there in Hawaii and the family took me to the base in Hawaii. He was at the Tonsenute in airplane and they needed a new motor and he wasn't allowed to jump plane. So he was gone. He was there two days and he just didn't have any sleep when he got off the bus that brought him to the air base yeah I didn't even recognize him.

Speaker 3 19:09

That's how bad he looked. But we got to have a week together.

Speaker 4 19:16

It was really wonderful, I know I got back two days late to my company. They want to know why they thought I was AWOL. They want to know why I was two days late. I called and let you guys know that my airplane had they had to send to Hawaii, they had to send up somewhere else to get an engine for it. And then they rebuilt the airplane, put a new engine in it and but I waited there for two days.

Speaker 2 19:39

I slept on a bench oh my goodness, that's the only thing I could do, but I finally got there with her that's like a movie, when all you want is to hold your wife and then you have to sleep on a bench for two days.

Speaker 4 19:52

We weren't supposed to jump another plane, but there was a warrant officer there that did jump a plane. I left a letter with him to give to her when he got to.

Speaker 3 20:04

Hawaii. Oh, that's how you found out. That's how I found out. I don't know.

Speaker 2 20:08

Now, what school did you guys go to?

Speaker 3 20:09

Fitch Austin M Fitch.

Speaker 4 20:11

Yeah, that's the new Fitch.

Speaker 2 20:13

Oh, that's the new.

Speaker 4 20:14

Fitch, you guys went to the old thing.

Speaker 2 20:15

Okay, sometimes you talk to veterans and they had a hard time readjusting to civilian life. Did you have a hard time when you came back?

Speaker 4 20:24

I don't think I had a hard time, but I already had a job before I went in. I was a welder at Youngstown, welding and Engineering.

Speaker 3 20:31

And, yeah, I came back to the job.

Speaker 4 20:35

I come back. I had three years service.

Speaker 3 20:41

Seniority, huh, oh nice, but what did your father say to you when you got back?

Speaker 4 20:44

Don't expect anybody to say anything about your service. It was just something that you had to put in your brain because these other people didn't really care. All they did was see it on TV and that was it.

Speaker 2 20:57

They wanted to get out of there, so he warned you. Were you back while the war was still going on.

Speaker 4 21:02

Oh yeah, were you there. Butch 66 and 67.

Speaker 3 21:05

Wow.

Speaker 4 21:06

I got married before I went over.

Speaker 3 21:08

Right, a few weeks we were married. We were together a few weeks and then you went over.

Speaker 2 21:12

Okay, so when you, thankfully your experience coming back was not bad, I hear, especially in the bigger cities, horror stories.

Speaker 4 21:19

It was horrible. Tell you the thing about coming back. I really remember was flying in the airplane and the airplane went up like this. It's almost like straight up.

Speaker 3 21:34

Just to fly out of that country, oh man.

Speaker 4 21:35

And something else you mentioned is that the guys looked up to you because you were older than a lot of the other fellas there wow.

Speaker 2 21:41

So that and that means a lot at that age I turned 22 in vietnam oh my goodness, so I was 21 when I went over Wow and he's a birthday Christmas baby, christmas baby. A birthday baby, yeah.

Speaker 3 21:55

Christmas baby. Yeah, I was born on Christmas in 1944.

Speaker 2 22:00

Yeah, Wow, wow, back a little way, don't it it? Sure does. Okay, so what is your perspective now? What would you tell young people going into the military?

Speaker 4 22:12

The only thing I can say do what you're told, don't question it and just keep moving on. You can't argue with the sergeant, the officer. You just do what you're told and keep moving on and, best thing, try to protect the others that are with you. You all took care of yourself. That's how it is.

Veteran's Pride and Achievements

Speaker 2 22:31

You took care of each other is what I should say Did you see a lot of drug use in those days? No, ma'am, that's false.

Speaker 1 22:38

No, it's not.

Speaker 4 22:38

It's not false at all, but it was more or less later. Okay, okay, we may have maybe one guy that might have been using stuff. It was so long ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 22:50

Yeah, so it's cool to actually sit and talk to a Vietnam vet Because, you're right, we learn so much of what we know from movies or from somebody writing or just whatever's mainstream. I do know that it was interesting because growing up I heard my dad was 17. And he was a Marine and he was ready to go fight and he was ready to defend the country and then they sent his platoon over to Vietnam.

Speaker 2 23:16

But he was only 17, just a couple months shy of 18, and they would not let him go over. And he begged and he said my dad will sign, we will do whatever. His dad said, yeah, I'll sign for him to go. They would not let him go under any circumstance. So he was here and he was upset and his platoon got over there and they got a bad batch of guns and they jammed and they didn't even have a chance to fight. And so it's interesting because, talking to another Vietnam vet, he said, oh, that was probably the blah blah, blah, blah blah Like whatever kind of gun.

Speaker 2 23:48

He said, oh, that was probably the blah blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever kind of again, and they were able to fix the problem. But everything was so rushed that they didn't test it. Obviously you know beforehand and you know just so many stories. Greg always says what do we connect on stories?

Speaker 1 24:01

Yeah, we do, we all do. Joyce, I want to ask you, from your perspective, how proud are you of this man?

Speaker 3 24:10

I'll tell you I'm so proud of him. That is the thing he's most proud of is serving in Vietnam. That is the thing being a soldier. In fact, he said to me every person should go serve a year or more in the service. It's good discipline and I know how much it means to him. Should I say about the GED?

Speaker 4 24:33

That's okay, say whatever you like.

Speaker 3 24:34

He took his GED when he was in the first year of the service. Now, we weren't married, but for some reason he thought that was only for Kentucky where he took his basic training, fort Knox, and then he went to Fort Campbell for a year, his basic training, fort knox, and then he went to fort campbell for a year. Was that bob? That was haunted him all his life is not finishing high school and that he, he was even going to night school. But anyhow, it haunted him. It was what, five, six months ago I was going he's got a lot of papers for everything he did in Vietnam, the service. I said there was his GED and I said, butch, I come out to him and I said, oh, you were supposed to have sent this, you were supposed to have sent this to your school and they're qualified for a diploma. And he didn't react too much about it. He didn't say too much, but I'll tell say too much, but I'll tell you what that has haunted him more than anything.

Speaker 3 25:34

The three wonderful children we have. They, they took it, made a lot. They called the, they contacted the army and they contacted the high school, the superintendent of the high school, and he qualified for a diploma and was it in August that he, the kids, already came from New York and Heather and Butch, we all got together, they got together, this was all their doings, and they contacted the superintendent of Austintown and he qualified for it. We told him he was going there to meet for a veteran, something to recognize veterans.

Speaker 2 26:11

Oh my goodness, I love it. That's why he was surprised in the video.

Speaker 3 26:16

Yes, and he was, and the superintendent did such a good job. They said Harry Shudd, you're about to receive your high school diploma and it was such an exciting day I can't even tell you.

Speaker 1 26:30

and there was a.

Speaker 3 26:31

I didn't. Only I mentioned it to his sister, that was all. But somehow there was 20, some of us there and it really was a special day, it really and he got his diploma. Yeah, harry, harry shot started it. He's been going to some speaking classes. He just loves the people he's around.

Speaker 2 26:54

Can we shout out the speaking club that he went to? Yes, all right. So Harry is a Toastmaster of a club that Greg and I are both a part of members of and we are so blessed to have him.

Speaker 2 27:07

I got to be there when he gave that free for that speech and it moved us all. It moved the entire, all of us, the entire club, and I am so honored to have gotten to see that because, knowing now that the domino effect that it had, harry gave the speech and one of a fellow toast master came up to him and said that was extremely moving. Have you ever told your dad On?

Speaker 3 27:31

Father's Day he said that's what he came over and we cried. It was so beautiful. A father couldn't have had more said to him, more beautiful things said to him about that. And that's what started me about this. Just looking through his papers and I came upon his ged. It was that speech because, for he started off, he says my dad is smart, my dad is smart and and he had said something he didn't realize that he about it, some of the things we didn't tell. And that's how I found that GED amongst all his papers. But it was a powerful speech that he did.

Speaker 1 28:14

It couldn't have been. That's wonderful. Cheers to Austintown for honoring that. What's time for Rapid fire.

Speaker 3 28:22

I'm going to ask the first one.

Speaker 1 28:23

Where is your favorite place to go get a meal? In Youngstown, perkins, it is. It is. What did you guys get today? Favorite place to go get a meal?

Speaker 2 28:30

in Youngstown, perkins, it is, it is. What did you guys get today?

Speaker 4 28:34

I forget what we had.

Speaker 3 28:35

You had pancake and eggs and bacon.

Speaker 4 28:40

Yeah, for lunch at.

Speaker 2 28:41

Rostentown, perkins that's where we got, don't forget to get a free scoop of ice cream from Handles.

Speaker 1 28:46

There you go. That's where we're going next.

Speaker 2 28:48

And let me just shout out I think they're doing it to the end of the day, but you get a free meal at Texas Roadhouse or a voucher to come back a different day. Really, yes, I compiled an entire list for all the local veterans so they could see. There must be like 30 things on there Pepsi or Coke.

Speaker 1 29:07

He was sure about that one.

Speaker 4 29:13

North Vietnam or South Vietnam. I wasn't too far away from the war. Oh man, hawaii, have you guys been back? Yeah, yeah, I've been there though.

Speaker 2 29:21

Yeah, I'm sure, did you guys end up having?

Speaker 4 29:24

Three Were any conceived in Hawaii.

Speaker 2 29:27

No, I'm kidding. I'm just asking.

Speaker 1 29:34

It's a box, not for kids. Thank you so much for being here, thank you for coming and thank you again for your amazing service to this country.

Speaker 4 29:46

Thank you, I really appreciate that.