Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm deeling busy Boston's
Speaker 1: News Radio.
Speaker 2: Well, today was Memorial Day. It is a federal holiday.
Speaker 2: It's one that has been on the book since eighteen
Speaker 2: sixty eight, so it's been around for a while, over
Speaker 2: one hundred years. Over one hundred and fifty years, I
Speaker 2: guess pretty close to one hundred.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, no, it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's over one hundred and fifty years, and only
Speaker 2: half of Americans know what Memorial Day represents. There's a
Speaker 2: new research that was done by a group called Talkerresearch
Speaker 2: dot Com. It's brought to my attention by one of
Speaker 2: my listeners, Andrea Shocking. Data revealed that in a new
Speaker 2: survey of two thousand Americans, forty eight percent of respondents
Speaker 2: knew that Memorial Day is a holiday honoring military personnel
Speaker 2: who died in service to the country. Thirty five percent
Speaker 2: of the people correctly thought, excuse me, incorrectly thought Memorial
Speaker 2: Day was a holiday celebrating all military personnel, both living
Speaker 2: and deceased. That, of course, is Veterans Day. Twenty five
Speaker 2: percent thought it was a holiday commemorating all public servants
Speaker 2: military of law or law or not, who lost their
Speaker 2: lives while working. Kind of a big, big mistake on
Speaker 2: that one. The divide is greater amongst young groups older generations.
Speaker 3: I'm just going to give you the headlines here.
Speaker 2: Older generations by and large more likely to know the
Speaker 2: exact definition.
Speaker 3: Of Memorial Day when compared to younger Americans.
Speaker 2: Only twenty seven percent of Gen Z respondents selected the
Speaker 2: correct definition, as well as just thirty eight percent of millennials.
Speaker 2: So the younger you are, the less you would know.
Speaker 2: Baby boomers from most. On top of it, fifty six
Speaker 2: percent knew precisely why Memorial Day was observed. But just
Speaker 2: because you don't know what Memorial Day is doesn't mean
Speaker 2: you have to work on the unofficial start of summer
Speaker 2: of employeed survey responding sixty five percent of the day
Speaker 2: are from the job, while thirty five percent will be
Speaker 2: still heading into work.
Speaker 3: Well, the thing that's interesting about this is that this
Speaker 3: is a this was done.
Speaker 2: This survey was taken between May ninth and May fifteenth.
Speaker 3: Okay, so.
Speaker 2: His three percent of the public felt Memorial Day commemorated
Speaker 2: the founding Fathers in their role in American independence, two
Speaker 2: percent to honor past presidents who served in the military,
Speaker 2: two percent. Look, the real purpose of Memorial Day is
Speaker 2: to honor military personnel who died in service to our country.
Speaker 2: Simple as that, Simple as that. What this shows is
Speaker 2: that the younger the group, the less they knew about
Speaker 2: Memorial Day, which says to me, which proves to me
Speaker 2: that history and the purpose of American history is not
Speaker 2: being taught with the same rigor that it was taught
Speaker 2: to previous generations. I think that's an inescapable conclusion. So
Speaker 2: what I'm going to ask you to do is just
Speaker 2: tell me your thoughts on Memorial Day. What did you
Speaker 2: do today? I certainly thought about people who I knew
Speaker 2: who died in service to the country, and I thought
Speaker 2: about people who I knew who served in the military,
Speaker 2: although again that is not the specific purpose for Memorial Day.
Speaker 2: But on a personal level, I think I think that
Speaker 2: many people might not know anyone who died in service
Speaker 2: to the country. So I'm going to open up the
Speaker 2: phone lines six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty
Speaker 2: and six one seven nine three one ten thirty and
Speaker 2: tell me what what your thoughts are on today. I
Speaker 2: think it's a really important holiday, I really do. I
Speaker 2: think it's it's right there with the fourth of July.
Speaker 2: It's more important than Labor Day. It's more important than
Speaker 2: I think many of our holidays.
Speaker 3: But it is.
Speaker 2: It's as important as the fourth of July because without
Speaker 2: Memorial Day and the people who have served in the military,
Speaker 2: and and and died in service of the country, those
Speaker 2: who gave their they're all maybe the fourth of July
Speaker 2: would be a footnote in history, and there'd be some
Speaker 2: other country. We would always speak in German, Japanese or
Speaker 2: something some other language.
Speaker 3: Let's go to the phone. Let me go to Steve
Speaker 3: and Cambridge.
Speaker 2: Steve, I love it when you start off a topic
Speaker 2: for us because you always have an interesting perspective.
Speaker 3: Steve, go right ahead. Thanks for calling it.
Speaker 1: Dan.
Speaker 4: I have some thoughts on Memorial Day, which I think
Speaker 4: when it was first founded was decoration Day.
Speaker 2: I think you might be right on that, yep, because
Speaker 2: decoration refers to decorating gravestones with American flags and flowers.
Speaker 4: I don't know, Okay, I'm not sure. Well, okay, I
Speaker 4: think one of my biggest thoughts on it, well, I
Speaker 4: have several and is that correct me if I'm wrong?
Speaker 4: But the holiday used to be observed on a particular date,
Speaker 4: not just on a Monday.
Speaker 2: I think it used to be. I think it used
Speaker 2: to be May thirtieth, but I can check that out.
Speaker 4: Okay, So you have a problem there because the day
Speaker 4: has become just another Monday off and people get in
Speaker 4: the car and go someplace. Loses the meaning of the day.
Speaker 4: At one time, like if it became in the middle
Speaker 4: of the week, people stayed in I live in Cambridge.
Speaker 4: They stayed in Cambridge. They didn't go away necessarily, and
Speaker 4: so therefore they attended the parades, they attended the observances
Speaker 4: of the city, and they might even get to know
Speaker 4: their neighbors. But now it's just a three day holiday
Speaker 4: and it begins the summer, and everyone who ken leaves
Speaker 4: Cambridge and the whole I think a lot of the
Speaker 4: meaning of the day is lost.
Speaker 2: I think you make a really great point, it says,
Speaker 2: I'm just checking out here. It said that in nineteen
Speaker 2: sixty eight Congress changed its observance. It was observed on
Speaker 2: May thirtieth. The first national observice was May thirtieth in
Speaker 2: eighteen sixty eight, and it remained on May thirtieth until
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty eight. So it was one hundred years later
Speaker 2: that Congress changed its observance to the last Monday in May,
Speaker 2: and in nineteen seventy one standardized its name as Memorial Day.
Speaker 2: It had been called Decoration Day, which did include the
Speaker 2: decoration of military grace with the American flag. So you're
Speaker 2: right the holiday has been sort of watered down a
Speaker 2: little bit.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 4: I mean, for example, Cambridge had a ceremony. The city
Speaker 4: had a ceremony in Cambridge Common for an hour and
Speaker 4: a half, and I thought that the city did very
Speaker 4: well by it. The councilors and the mayor restrained themselves
Speaker 4: from attacking Trump. I'm sure required a certain amount of restraint,
Speaker 4: and they really, you know, just talked about the sacrifice
Speaker 4: of so many Americans and that was good. But the
Speaker 4: problem is there. I mean, we had a reasonable crowd,
Speaker 4: but the whole city was empty. You know, there was
Speaker 4: I don't know if there was a parade or not,
Speaker 4: but in before sixty eight, if it had fallen during
Speaker 4: the week, there would be so many more people attending
Speaker 4: and realizing exactly what the day meant.
Speaker 2: I totally agree with you with your point. I think
Speaker 2: Labor Day has always been a Monday. The fourth of
Speaker 2: July has not been changed. Obviously, this year, the fourth
Speaker 2: of July happens to be on a Friday, but you know,
Speaker 2: once every seven years, it's on a Monday. Once every
Speaker 2: seven years on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving has always been pegged, I guess to that last
Speaker 2: Thursday in November. Christmas obviously is always on the twenty fifth.
Speaker 3: It's just funny.
Speaker 2: Doctor Martin Luther King's birthday is always a Monday holiday.
Speaker 2: President's Day is a Monday holiday.
Speaker 3: I'm not even.
Speaker 2: Sure if the Fed's still well Columbus Day, it's all
Speaker 2: that's also now been turned into a Monday holiday. It
Speaker 2: used to be, you know, well President's Day used to
Speaker 2: be you had George Washington's birthday on the twenty second
Speaker 2: and Abe Lincoln's on the twelfth, so you learned a
Speaker 2: little bit of history. I wonder if they did a
Speaker 2: if they did some sort of a survey now, if
Speaker 2: people could tell you, particularly younger people, Lincoln's birthday and
Speaker 2: Washington's birthday they're not the same day.
Speaker 4: And you know, as I say, Cambridge who was dead today,
Speaker 4: So there was I mean, we had a good ceremony
Speaker 4: and I was very happy that I went and I'm
Speaker 4: gonna you know, this is something I should do every year,
Speaker 4: and I admit that I haven't, but that is something
Speaker 4: we've lost by that.
Speaker 2: I think it's a great observation, Steve. You always a
Speaker 2: very perceptive but you always bring an a game and
Speaker 2: you bring an obvious point. I think again, what has
Speaker 2: happened is that a lot of you know, commercial interests
Speaker 2: like to see the long three day weekend, and whether
Speaker 2: or not it's the start of summer as it is,
Speaker 2: I'm sure there are a lot of people who today
Speaker 2: are coming back from wherever and probably stayed over Saturday
Speaker 2: and Sunday night somewhere. If Memorial Day this week or
Speaker 2: this month, let's see the thirtieth, it would have turned
Speaker 2: out it would have been Friday, so there would have
Speaker 2: been a long holiday weekend.
Speaker 3: It would have been next weekend. But you're right, I.
Speaker 2: Mean it was a today in the middle of the week,
Speaker 2: people would take the day off and they probably stay
Speaker 2: closer to home.
Speaker 3: Great observations.
Speaker 4: Can I make one more observation?
Speaker 3: Push again? Absolutely?
Speaker 4: Well, you may have a few other people.
Speaker 2: Who I don't know, I will, but your observations are
Speaker 2: always spot on.
Speaker 4: To go ahead, Well, every time they talk about the wars,
Speaker 4: and they always say the men and women who died
Speaker 4: in the Civil War, the First World War, the Second
Speaker 4: World War, the Korean War, Vietnam. I think younger people
Speaker 4: are going to get the idea that during these wars
Speaker 4: there were a lot of women in the ranks and
Speaker 4: there weren't. These were men who died. And as a
Speaker 4: matter of fact, at Cambridge Cemetery they had a memorial
Speaker 4: or they had a monument for fifty five Cambridge men
Speaker 4: who died in the First World War and are buried abroad.
Speaker 4: So I'm thinking, you know, they wanted to talk about
Speaker 4: women all the time. But I think a lot of
Speaker 4: young people are going to get the idea that women
Speaker 4: were fighting in the Revolutionary War, which is just not
Speaker 4: the case.
Speaker 2: Well, I think that women were killed certainly during the
Speaker 2: Civil War and during World War One and World War Two,
Speaker 2: maybe less so in Korea, but I think that there
Speaker 2: were a lot of women who were in the military
Speaker 2: as nurses. I don't think what we see today we
Speaker 2: see women. I was watching the ceremony with President Trump
Speaker 2: both at West Point in Annapolis.
Speaker 3: There are a lot of women who are graduating.
Speaker 5: In these days.
Speaker 4: Yeah, these days. But I mean, for example, on the
Speaker 4: Vietnam Memorial in Washington, d C. There are the names
Speaker 4: of fifty thousand American men.
Speaker 3: Who died fifty eight thousand?
Speaker 4: Is it fifty eight thousand? Do you know how many
Speaker 4: women are on that memorial?
Speaker 3: How going to guess a couple of hundred?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 5: Eight?
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, thank you very much, And that puts it
Speaker 2: in perspective. Steve great points again, times change and circumstances change,
Speaker 2: and there are a lot of women who are in
Speaker 2: the military today.
Speaker 5: So that's true.
Speaker 4: And I was very happy that I did go to
Speaker 4: the ceremony, and I take my hats off to the
Speaker 4: Cambridge government which ran a very nice ceremony.
Speaker 3: I appreciate that. Thanks, thank you, Dandy.
Speaker 2: We'll talk So I got one line at six one,
Speaker 2: seven thirty and one at six one seven nine thirty.
Speaker 3: What did you do today?
Speaker 2: Did you think about Memorial Day? Did you think about
Speaker 2: someone who you knew who died in service of the country,
Speaker 2: in the military, service of the country.
Speaker 1: Coming back on Nightside, Night Side with Dan Ray on
Speaker 1: Boston's news radio. Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ,
Speaker 1: Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Got to try to get everybody in here quickly go
Speaker 2: to Larry, down to the Cape. Larry, you're next on
Speaker 2: NISI go right ahead. You have thought some Memorial day.
Speaker 7: Yeah, thanks for talking about this, Dan, I didn't get
Speaker 7: a chance to call in Friday in the twentieth hour.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 7: So I'd like to honor my father. At the beginning
Speaker 7: of the war, he went to work in the shipyard
Speaker 7: and then went into the Army Air Corps. He was
Speaker 7: a top ten gunner on a B twenty four Wow
Speaker 7: got shot down over Germany and his whole unit, the pilots,
Speaker 7: everybody bailed out and they got captured by the Germans
Speaker 7: and got into a prisoner war camp. This part of
Speaker 7: the story is what's unbelievable. When they lined up all
Speaker 7: the prisoners, I think I might have told you the
Speaker 7: story when they lined up all the prisoners and Nazi
Speaker 7: asked all the Jews to step forward. Well, my father,
Speaker 7: being Jewish, didn't know what to do. Pilot looked over
Speaker 7: to him and winked at him and started talking to
Speaker 7: him an Italian, So the Nazi thought my father was
Speaker 7: Italian passed over him. Okay, I'm unbelievable. So he was
Speaker 7: a prison war for about six months he went into
Speaker 7: the militariat maybe one sixty five, came out at one
Speaker 7: twenty five, got liberated. He went back to the family business,
Speaker 7: and after I got out of the army, I went
Speaker 7: to work there. My father, you know, we had an
Speaker 7: other repair shop in Chelsea, taught me everything I knew.
Speaker 7: He retired yuh young, but he started to get sick,
Speaker 7: went to the VA. Turned out he ended up being
Speaker 7: diagnosed with meso thelioma, which is from the asbestos that yeah,
Speaker 7: at the shipyard. Yeah, and there was a massive and
Speaker 7: they explained to us, that doctor explained, so it takes
Speaker 7: fifty years for his bestest to metastasize and the cancer
Speaker 7: and their lungs. So he was an amazing guy. Never
Speaker 7: talked about any of his experience until he was diagnosed,
Speaker 7: and I knew he was and to die an amazing guy.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you, apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Speaker 2: And it's amazing to think that what he experienced, including
Speaker 2: the pow camp. Thank god that his uh you know,
Speaker 2: the the captain of that ship, his plane was thank
Speaker 2: god they were they were all you know, did they
Speaker 2: all literally land in such an area that they all
Speaker 2: were picked up by the Germans together or the Germany.
Speaker 7: Yeah, they were on a bombing mission over Germany and
Speaker 7: they all bailed out yep and ended up being they
Speaker 7: all they all were captured, the whole crew.
Speaker 2: Okay, and all of them. I'm sure he kept in
Speaker 2: contact with all of them for the rest of his life.
Speaker 7: You know, I don't think he did. He didn't talk
Speaker 7: about It was almost like what was the path that
Speaker 7: he just wanted them move forward?
Speaker 2: Yeah, my dad, I've mentioned this before, but uh, my
Speaker 2: dad was in China, Bourman, India during World War two
Speaker 2: and he kept every Christmas he would write a long
Speaker 2: hand Christmas card to about eight of his buddies and
Speaker 2: he would get longhand Christmas cards back from them. There
Speaker 2: was one guy named Hitchcock who was in Wyoming, Paul Butler,
Speaker 2: I remember their names in Kentucky. I don't know if
Speaker 2: he ever saw them after the war was over because
Speaker 2: he didn't travel widely, but he there was always a
Speaker 2: Christmas card to and from each one of them.
Speaker 7: Yeah. So what I did to honor for a Memorial
Speaker 7: Day today where I live in Dennisport, and I had
Speaker 7: to laugh with the who's the guy that answers the
Speaker 7: phone today, your producer, and I told him I'm from Dennisport.
Speaker 7: He goes, is that in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: Well, all of our guys are not geography majors. I'm
Speaker 2: not sure where Noah is from originally, but at least
Speaker 2: he's asking questions. Just you got to have the courage
Speaker 2: to ask questions. Absolutely good.
Speaker 7: You know, I couldn't get up to the Cormon where
Speaker 7: they were having a nice ceremony because there was actually
Speaker 7: a road race that came right through Dennisport, and our
Speaker 7: streets were blocked off to allow the runners to come through.
Speaker 7: So I went down the end of the street and
Speaker 7: I cheered on. I cheered all the runners on for
Speaker 7: doing this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that I understand.
Speaker 2: I think that that also backing up what Steve said before,
Speaker 2: you having a road raise some Memorial Day distracts from
Speaker 2: what the purpose.
Speaker 3: Of Memorial Day is.
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, at least it was. It was it was
Speaker 7: an honor of veterans and to raise money for cancer.
Speaker 7: But I agree as soon as they moved the holidays
Speaker 7: to Mondays, it was like another day off.
Speaker 3: You got it.
Speaker 2: You got it, Larry, Congratulations. Hopefully your dad is listening
Speaker 2: to us tonight and he's very proud of your you know,
Speaker 2: recalling for us what he and his crew went through.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
Speaker 7: Yeah, thank you, Thanks Larry.
Speaker 3: Talk to you soon. By the way.
Speaker 2: It's just doing some some research here, and there's an
Speaker 2: article which I'm reading which is an estimate and basically
Speaker 2: says that between five hundred and seven hundred American service
Speaker 2: women were killed during World War Two.
Speaker 3: I don't know if that's.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm just just googling stuff here, but obviously
Speaker 2: the American service women have died in combat in recent wars.
Speaker 3: I know that in the War on Terror, I.
Speaker 2: Think the numbers about one hundred and seventy three Afghanistan,
Speaker 2: I Raq, Syria, et cetera. So, you know, as more
Speaker 2: and more women joined the military and and get closer
Speaker 2: and closer and indeed on the front lines, Uh, they're
Speaker 2: going to suffer the same paid as others who engage
Speaker 2: in combat activity. We're going to take a break. Uh,
Speaker 2: the only line open in six one seven. Here's the
Speaker 2: news at the bottom of the air. We're going to
Speaker 2: do this for about an hour, so if you want
Speaker 2: to get in, you want to get in before we
Speaker 2: wrap it up at ten o'clock.
Speaker 3: Back on Nightside after.
Speaker 1: This, It's night Side with Dan Ray. Hey Dan, Boston's
Speaker 1: News Radio. You're on night Side with Dan Ray on
Speaker 1: Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 3: All right, let's go back to the phones. If we
Speaker 3: go to Linda down and way with Linda. Welcome next
Speaker 3: on Nightside.
Speaker 7: How are you hi?
Speaker 8: Fine? Thank you? My dad has passed. But when he
Speaker 8: was alive on D Day, indeed on some of the
Speaker 8: different Veterans Days, he would call up fellow veterans, talk
Speaker 8: for a while, and you'll leave them alone for a
Speaker 8: couple of hours. I spent the day. I thought it
Speaker 8: was going to go to a parade, but they didn't
Speaker 8: have the parade down here in Weymouth. What they had
Speaker 8: as an extended it's called Freedom is not free Memorial
Speaker 8: Day observance and dedication ceremony. They had five bronze probably
Speaker 8: statues of veterans from the town that player important role.
Speaker 8: It lasted about an hour and a half and then
Speaker 8: they had they ended with a concert by the military brass.
Speaker 3: This was in Weymouth. That's right, No good, Weymouth did
Speaker 3: it right.
Speaker 1: And.
Speaker 8: Yeah, i'd see incorrected. I thought it was for all veterans.
Speaker 8: I used to work at the VA office.
Speaker 3: No Veterans Day is Veterans Day.
Speaker 2: Is Veterans Day, Okay, so that's when we honor all veterans.
Speaker 2: Memorial Day focuses on those who have served. By the way,
Speaker 2: based upon what my first caller, Steve said, there were
Speaker 2: eight women who died in Vietnam and they were all nurses.
Speaker 2: There were eleven thousand female nurses who volunteered. Excuse me,
Speaker 2: I didn't hear what you were saying while you were
Speaker 2: interrupting me, Linda.
Speaker 8: Excuse me, I'm sorry I interrupted by My mom was
Speaker 8: in the the not the waves, but she was with
Speaker 8: First Days for the Veterans of World War Two.
Speaker 2: Were she that's called Were those called the wax?
Speaker 8: Yes, okay, I don't think she particular was in that
Speaker 8: particular brand.
Speaker 2: Well, we're talking about eleven thousand women who served. We're
Speaker 2: just we're kind of talking over each other here, Linda.
Speaker 2: That doesn't work a lot, So let me just finish
Speaker 2: my sentence and then I'll let you have a final word.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: There were eleven thousand women who served in the American
Speaker 2: military in Vietnam. Many of them obviously were in the
Speaker 2: role of nurses, but many of them had ranks of
Speaker 2: captain and lieutenants, and they were on the front lines
Speaker 2: because the front lines were not well defined in Vietnam,
Speaker 2: and as they say, eight of them died of combat
Speaker 2: related injuries.
Speaker 3: Go ahead, Linda.
Speaker 8: First off, I stand correct that I apologize, but we
Speaker 8: had about I would say, about hundred people at the ceremony.
Speaker 3: Oh good, yeah, yeah, we've covered that, Linda. Thank you much.
Speaker 2: I appreciate your call, and thank you very much for
Speaker 2: your parents' service and your dad's service. Thanks talk soon.
Speaker 2: Let me go quickly here. I'm going to get to
Speaker 2: gym in south Hampton, Massachusetts. Is that Southampton, Massachusetts or
Speaker 2: Southampton New Hampshire gym? It's Massachusetts, okay, and it's Hampton
Speaker 2: ha mp to o n yes, okay, go right ahead.
Speaker 6: So for this day, I'm a vocational high school teacher
Speaker 6: and I had a student who was killed in Iraq. Yeah,
Speaker 6: and so I always make a point to visit his
Speaker 6: gravestone on Memorial Day.
Speaker 2: Wow, boy, that's Southampton. Are you out in the western
Speaker 2: part of the Stateum, I'm trying to locate that in
Speaker 2: my mind.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's west of Springfield.
Speaker 2: Yeah sure, okay, so you are still a tea teacher
Speaker 2: and one of your students was killed in Iraq and
Speaker 2: you visit and you visit his grave every Memorial Day.
Speaker 3: Boy, that's let me.
Speaker 2: Tell you, that's quite an honor for him. And it
Speaker 2: also is I think really remarkable that as a teacher
Speaker 2: you would feel that connected to your students. I mean that,
Speaker 2: hats off to you, Jim. I wish there were more
Speaker 2: teachers like you. Do you use his passing to you
Speaker 2: to talk about him to the students. This recent survey
Speaker 2: that we quoted in earlier in the Hour would suggest
Speaker 2: that a lot of gen Zers really don't have quite
Speaker 2: a solid grasp on what Memorial Day is all about.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Actually, I kind of make a point. If I get older,
Speaker 6: I kind of mind my remind of like my father
Speaker 6: and grandfather always made a big deal of it, and
Speaker 6: as a kid, you didn't really think much about it
Speaker 6: at the time though it was important to them. But
Speaker 6: as I get older, I find a need to express
Speaker 6: that to my current students, and they always pause and
Speaker 6: think about it, you know when I talk about it.
Speaker 6: Whether it sticks with them, I'm not really sure.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, look, I would suspect that if you
Speaker 2: did a survey of students who took your classes, they
Speaker 2: would do a lot better in terms of their recollection
Speaker 2: and understanding of what Memorial Day is all about because
Speaker 2: you took the time. I mean, again, what type of
Speaker 2: course do you teach? Are you in high school? You
Speaker 2: said you're a high school teacher.
Speaker 6: I teach a landscaping in true care programs of vocational
Speaker 6: high school.
Speaker 2: Okay, so therefore it's not part of your curriculum. But
Speaker 2: I think that sort of conversation, even if it's for
Speaker 2: twenty minutes someday, is invaluable for young people to realize that, know,
Speaker 2: people a little bit older than they went off to
Speaker 2: the military and did not come home.
Speaker 6: I would agree. And you know, as a teacher, I
Speaker 6: mean I was in my early thirties when that happened.
Speaker 6: It wasn't something I expected to have to deal with
Speaker 6: as a teacher.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, no, absolutely absolutely. And I assume you
Speaker 2: probably started teaching before nine to eleven, correct, Yeah, so
Speaker 2: when you became a teacher, nine to eleven hadn't occurred.
Speaker 2: And I don't know what year your student, you know, graduated,
Speaker 2: but I suspect it was after nine to eleven. And
Speaker 2: he responded to the to the needs of the nation
Speaker 2: at that point and put himself in harm's way.
Speaker 3: What Bridge did?
Speaker 2: Did that young man servant if I could ask?
Speaker 6: He was in the army and he was. He was
Speaker 6: a junior the year of nine to eleven, okay, and
Speaker 6: then instead of two years after high school and died
Speaker 6: not long after that. Yeah, so it was it was
Speaker 6: kind of a powerful thing at the time. I'm grateful
Speaker 6: to have been able to support kids through it, but
Speaker 6: it certainly was something you never thought about, you know,
Speaker 6: as a young person.
Speaker 2: And people never think about mortality. Would you mind sharing
Speaker 2: as an honor to this student the name of the
Speaker 2: student with us?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 5: Sure.
Speaker 6: His name was Matthew Bean.
Speaker 3: Matthew Bean, like the E A N. Yes, Matthew Bean.
Speaker 2: And he would have died I'm assuming at the age
Speaker 2: of twenty or twenty one something.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it was in two thousand and five, so he
Speaker 6: was pretty young. He graduated in two thousand and three, Okay,
Speaker 6: so we would.
Speaker 2: Have graduated at probably eighteen and so he probably would
Speaker 2: have been twenty or twenty one at most. Matthew Bean
Speaker 2: of Southampton, Massachusetts, Well.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he was.
Speaker 6: He actually lived in the town of Pembroke.
Speaker 2: Pembroke, Okay, I'm sorry. In Pembroke on the south Shore.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I used to teach it.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, great, Okay, well that's good. I'm glad you
Speaker 2: you said that.
Speaker 3: That's great.
Speaker 2: No, that's thank you for that clarification. So you taught
Speaker 2: in Pembroke's Matthew Bean, being of Pembroke, Massachusetts. I drove
Speaker 2: through Pembroke today as a matter of fact, so I
Speaker 2: know exactly where Pembroke has. I had a tough locating
Speaker 2: exactly Southampton because there's also Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, and
Speaker 2: I was saying, gee, we talk in New Hampshire, Massachusetts.
Speaker 3: But thank you for doing that today, and thank you
Speaker 3: for following up with the phone call tonight. It was
Speaker 3: really uh it's a memorable phone call.
Speaker 2: And I really do appreciate, Jim, the type of relationship
Speaker 2: that you have had with your students. This speaks volumes
Speaker 2: about your your relationship with your students and your relationship
Speaker 2: with your profession.
Speaker 3: We need more teachers like you, sir. Well, thank you, thanks,
Speaker 3: thanks so much for joining us tonight. Jim.
Speaker 2: Matthew Bean, being of Pembroke Massachusetts pat killed in two
Speaker 2: thousand and five.
Speaker 3: Boy, it's tough. We'll be back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1: Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 1: It's Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston's News.
Speaker 2: I promise you we're gonna get Greg, John and Georgian.
Speaker 2: Let me start it off with Greg. He's been on
Speaker 2: the longest. Greg from Lindfield. Greg, next on Nightside. What
Speaker 2: do you do to this memorial day?
Speaker 3: Greg?
Speaker 5: I went to the cemetery, I turned the prayer this morning.
Speaker 5: Oh we'd love to hear the three guns in the taps.
Speaker 3: Yeah did, But yeah, did have any one who.
Speaker 2: Gave their life in service of the country.
Speaker 5: I had a great uncle.
Speaker 9: That died in World War One.
Speaker 5: Obviously I never knew them.
Speaker 9: My father served probably in the Army, and my grandfather
Speaker 9: served in World War Two and was a tank driver
Speaker 9: under General Patton.
Speaker 5: But before I get into his story, which I want
Speaker 5: to tell you, like when you said five hundred two
Speaker 5: one thousand women died in World War Two, I think
Speaker 5: they should honor the women that died in industrial accidents
Speaker 5: building the war machine for this country, because.
Speaker 2: There were a lot of women who worked on the
Speaker 2: home front. Absolutely, Rosie the Riveter was the epitome of that. No,
Speaker 2: I know, I know my history and you obviously know
Speaker 2: yours as well. But yeah, there were you know again
Speaker 2: they were not There are more women who have who
Speaker 2: died during the War on Terror. I think the number
Speaker 2: was one hundred and seventy three. I have to go
Speaker 2: back and look it up again. But in terms of
Speaker 2: there were about five thousand US service personnel who died,
Speaker 2: you know, in World War Two there were rather Vietnam
Speaker 2: there were eight women, primarily nurses, who were in helicopter
Speaker 2: accidents or were at camp at bases and they were
Speaker 2: shelled and they were killed. So each each military conflict,
Speaker 2: it's a higher percentage of women. It's the numbers are
Speaker 2: not equal to men as yet.
Speaker 5: Well, there's more women serving men they were ever before.
Speaker 3: Exactly, Yeah, that's exactly true.
Speaker 5: So I want to get in a story about So
Speaker 5: my grandfather who got drafted in his mid thirties in
Speaker 5: World War Two, and he was a barber before that,
Speaker 5: and when he was in boot camp, his whole training group, battalion, platoon,
Speaker 5: whatever you want to call him, came down to measles
Speaker 5: and so for graduation because my grandfather was a barber.
Speaker 5: He trimmed everyone proper, shaved them all. And there was
Speaker 5: a they always had a general overseeing the graduation from
Speaker 5: your boot camp.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, And the general was like, these guys have been
Speaker 5: in quarantine for a month. How did they get all
Speaker 5: clean shaven? And someone mentioned to him that one of
Speaker 5: the guys was a barber. Yeah, and this is why
Speaker 5: I want to talk about the greatest generation. That my
Speaker 5: grandfather was approached by the general to be his personal barber.
Speaker 3: That's good. How about that I missed it. He must
Speaker 3: have liked the way the troops looked. That's a great story, Greg.
Speaker 5: And you know what my grandfather said, Like, you know
Speaker 5: what my grandfather.
Speaker 2: Said, I bet he said, no, I want to stay
Speaker 2: with my men.
Speaker 5: He did, and he went and saw a hell in
Speaker 5: the war. And he always he always said, he was
Speaker 5: like I should have been the barber for that year.
Speaker 3: But Betty did the right thing. He did the right thing.
Speaker 5: He did like he won a bronze star. He wow.
Speaker 5: But you know that's all I want to say.
Speaker 2: I would say, I would say, you don't win bruns,
Speaker 2: you earned them.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And anyone today would just take easy way out and.
Speaker 2: Be like some would some would in some would, and
Speaker 2: there's a lot of young men and women today who
Speaker 2: do not who do the right thing and dotate these
Speaker 2: ways out, Greg, I love the story.
Speaker 3: I got to get two more in here. Thank you,
Speaker 3: my friend. Great call.
Speaker 5: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Have a great night.
Speaker 2: John and Dorchester. John, want to get you in one
Speaker 2: more in maybe go right ahead.
Speaker 10: John, Hey, damn hey John, first time call up a
Speaker 10: long time listener.
Speaker 2: The round of applause here from our digital studio audience.
Speaker 3: If you want to.
Speaker 2: I don't think no was able to find the button,
Speaker 2: but that's okay, go right ahead, Johnny.
Speaker 7: You're one of my favorite people aligned with Jack Williams,
Speaker 7: Liz walks up.
Speaker 2: And bob Blo belt, bob Blo bell ye bringing me back,
Speaker 2: bringing me back here, buddy, go ahead.
Speaker 7: Tell you why I know all those people because after
Speaker 7: I get out of Vietnam. Oh, and I don't want
Speaker 7: to disturb your body and stand okay, but I'm going
Speaker 7: to be like the other nice gentleman and all the
Speaker 7: people that earlier gentlemen that talked it's emotional.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I'm sure it's all about emotion, Yes, sir, So
Speaker 10: I come out of Vietnam after shooting people, and I
Speaker 10: worked with some of the nicest guys that you'd ever me.
Speaker 7: But you know what they would do so they would
Speaker 7: feel good. They shoot up heroin and then we'd go
Speaker 7: out on patrol. Yeah everything, you know, so you know,
Speaker 7: boom and then we'd go out. But anyway, yeah, so
Speaker 7: I come back. I'm lucky enough to get the gi bill.
Speaker 7: I go to Harvard undergrad. I go to Harvard Medical School.
Speaker 7: I learned how to be a surgeon. And so I'm
Speaker 7: seventy nine years old. Dam Okay, I've been around. I've
Speaker 7: been around, all right. I know when did you get
Speaker 7: out of college? Did you go to Boston.
Speaker 3: State A long time ago? Yes, sir, you went to
Speaker 3: Boston State, right, yes, sir.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you went to with my brother. Okay you all right,
Speaker 7: long time ago, that was a long time.
Speaker 3: So did you did you practice? Did you practice?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 7: Boston Medical?
Speaker 3: Wow?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Wow. Doctor Now it's no longer John from Dorchester. It's
Speaker 3: doctor John.
Speaker 5: Go ahead, there you.
Speaker 3: Go, all right.
Speaker 7: That's why that's why I know the guy you talked
Speaker 7: to first times mountains. The other one was a sleep doctor. Yeah,
Speaker 7: and trust trustmen, Dan. When it comes to sleep doctors.
Speaker 7: They don't know how to operate on people. They don't
Speaker 7: know how to do any stasiology, and they don't know
Speaker 7: how to put people to sleep to make them feel better.
Speaker 2: All right, all right, well, John, that's quite an experience
Speaker 2: from the jungle to to to the operating room.
Speaker 7: I'll tell you that's right. It's really been something else
Speaker 7: then you've seen.
Speaker 2: You've seen a lot of different parts of the world,
Speaker 2: not only geographically, but also uh in terms of the good,
Speaker 2: the bad.
Speaker 3: And the ugly.
Speaker 2: John, I'm up against it. I hate to run here.
Speaker 2: This is your first time calling. Come on back again
Speaker 2: and we can talk longer.
Speaker 3: Okay, all right, thank.
Speaker 2: You, thank you for your service. There's there's the applaud
Speaker 2: for you. We got the button. Thanks John. Okay, bye bye,
Speaker 2: bye bye. Unfortunately, George, if you hold over, I will
Speaker 2: take one more call of George on the other side
Speaker 2: of the ten o'clock news. But I don't want to
Speaker 2: cram and George. I'll take you on the other side
Speaker 2: if you'd like, stay with us back on night side.
Speaker 2: If you want to continue this conversation for a little bit,
Speaker 2: I'm more than happy to open up some more lines
Speaker 2: on this one. Okay, so we'll make an exception. If
Speaker 2: the audience wants to go longer, we'll go longer. Coming
Speaker 2: back on night Side,