Speaker 1: It's nice size Boston's news radio before your sports fans
Speaker 1: out there. The Celtics eked out and overtime went over
Speaker 1: the Brooklyn Nets tonight at the Fleet at the Center,
Speaker 1: I was going to say the Police Center had at
Speaker 1: the Garden, the TD Bank North Garden, whatever the hell
Speaker 1: they call it these days anyway, So what are we
Speaker 1: talking about? What have we talked about this week? Well,
Speaker 1: we've talked about a lot of different subjects, as we
Speaker 1: do every week. Monday Night, we talked about overachieving at work,
Speaker 1: It's not good for life, balance, talk with about Alzheimer's awareness.
Speaker 1: We talked about the e MK, the Edward M. Kennedy
Speaker 1: Institute for the Senate over at Columbia Point, talked about
Speaker 1: National Family Caregiver Month this month with Bob Coughlin. And then,
Speaker 1: of course on Monday it was election Eve, we talked
Speaker 1: about the Massachusetts ballot questions and then we asked people,
Speaker 1: invited them to engage in some predictions, and we're going
Speaker 1: to have a winner probably by Monday night. It looks
Speaker 1: to me as if the two states that are still
Speaker 1: in question, Nevada and Arizona, are trending towards Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: So I think he's going to get up around three
Speaker 1: hundred and twelve in my opinion, but we will wait
Speaker 1: until there's a final agreed upon judgment in terms of
Speaker 1: numbers before we tell which of you who were making
Speaker 1: predictions last Friday night actually or in Monday night one.
Speaker 1: So we'd hope to have a winner, but I think
Speaker 1: I know who it's going to be. We'll leave it. So.
Speaker 1: Of course, on Tuesday night we had election coverage, a
Speaker 1: really great newsroom coverage, and during that program I had
Speaker 1: an opportunity to do eight interviews with During the eight
Speaker 1: o'clock I with Jim Brett, the president of the New
Speaker 1: England Council, with Massachuset State represented David Lynsky of Natick
Speaker 1: and Wayland about the efforts by Democratic Party nationally to
Speaker 1: do better in in getting control of state legislators, because
Speaker 1: state legislatures are the ones that actually draw the congressional
Speaker 1: lines in the various states. Talked with nine o'clock Apple
Speaker 1: with former Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Mike Capawano, talked with Massachusetts
Speaker 1: Republican chair Amy CARNIVALI at ten o'clock talked with Congressman
Speaker 1: Seth Moulton, Democrat from Massachusetts, and also with New Hampshire
Speaker 1: Governor Chris Sanunu, who was celebrating his fiftieth birthday. At
Speaker 1: eleven o'clock, talked with former Massachuset Lieutenant Governor Tom O'Neil,
Speaker 1: the son of the great former House Speaker Tip O'Neil,
Speaker 1: and also talked with Emerson College pollster Spencer Kimball. Wednesday night,
Speaker 1: we talked about a couple of events for veterans, Bill
Speaker 1: Pennington's Run for the Troops and Bill Moore's Project New Hope.
Speaker 1: We also talked with a professor from NYU, Marian Nessel,
Speaker 1: about is there a healthy soda? And then talk with
Speaker 1: doctor Kenton Kaufman of the Mayo Clinic out in Minnesota
Speaker 1: about how the balance is so important to older people,
Speaker 1: those of us on the wrong side of fifties, so
Speaker 1: that we don't fall. And we then had two hours
Speaker 1: of election night reaction the night after. At that point
Speaker 1: we knew we have been told early in the week
Speaker 1: oh this election. We might not know for three days,
Speaker 1: or we might not know until the weekend. Well, we
Speaker 1: knew sometime really early Wednesday morning. On Thursday, we talked
Speaker 1: with Chris Price at the Boston Globe about the struggling patriots.
Speaker 1: We talked with Mark Erickson of New Hampshire Special Olympics
Speaker 1: about a series of bowling tournaments up there this weekend.
Speaker 1: Talk with doctor Laura Gabayan about people getting past the election,
Speaker 1: and talked with Hayden Frank the National Weather Service about
Speaker 1: the severe drought we're dealing with here in Massachusetts. Talked
Speaker 1: about the Karen Reid a State Supreme Court argument which
Speaker 1: took place on Wednesday with Attorney Phil Tracy of Boston,
Speaker 1: and we talked about last night for two hours about
Speaker 1: Joe Biden's invitation to President Elect Trump to visit at
Speaker 1: the White House in the not too distant future. And
Speaker 1: tonight we talked about staying away, topics to avoid during
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving with a guest Steve Bittenbender. Talked with a doctor
Speaker 1: Schwa about some of the drugs that people now are
Speaker 1: taking for weight loss which could be dangerous. Talk with
Speaker 1: Nicole Davis about the Massachusetts teacher strikes, and talk with
Speaker 1: doctor Lauren Nicholas about people having problem in older age
Speaker 1: with finances, checkbooks and things like that as an early
Speaker 1: indicator of potential issues with dementia. Spent the nine o'clock
Speaker 1: hour talking about teacher strikes Beverly, Gloucester and Marblehead. And
Speaker 1: last hour talked about Seth Moulton's comments, which I think
Speaker 1: are very justified as the Democratic Party reviews what it
Speaker 1: did well and what it didn't do well enough in
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty four election. And this hour we're going
Speaker 1: to give you a chance to jop on board and
Speaker 1: tell us about someone within your circle of friends, within
Speaker 1: your family, within your community who served in the US military.
Speaker 1: Because of course it's Veterans Day this weekend. Veterans Day
Speaker 1: really began in November of nineteen nineteen. President Wilson proclaimed
Speaker 1: Veterans Day as Armistice Day. That one year after the
Speaker 1: war to end all Wars, and Veterans Day was adopted,
Speaker 1: and finally in the nineteen fifties, President Eisenhower issued the
Speaker 1: first Veterans Day Proclamation and then for a while it
Speaker 1: was part of a three day holiday weekend based upon
Speaker 1: a bill that passed called the Uniform Holiday Bill Act
Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty eight, signed by President Lindon Johnson to
Speaker 1: make sure that Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and
Speaker 1: Columbus Day all fell on mondays to give people three
Speaker 1: day weekends, but because of some of the confusion that
Speaker 1: existed within the law, that issue was readdressed, and in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five President Gerald Ford returned the Veterans Day
Speaker 1: observance to the original date. It's no longer a three
Speaker 1: day weekend, O Lord, will be this weekend because November
Speaker 1: eleventh happens to call, happens to fall on a Monday.
Speaker 1: So that's the purpose of Veterans Day. And this is
Speaker 1: now your opportunity to join the conversation and tell us
Speaker 1: about someone within your family, within your community, within your neighborhood,
Speaker 1: maybe a distant relative who's no longer with us, maybe
Speaker 1: someone who's still on duty somewhere around the globe tonight.
Speaker 1: We are protected by military, both at home and abroad.
Speaker 1: And without the US military, this countryman may not exist.
Speaker 1: It was born in a revolution that started here in
Speaker 1: Massachusetts continues to this day. We had a rough election
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty, but we had I think, an election
Speaker 1: that virtually everyone recognizes with an accurate reflection of how
Speaker 1: the American people felt on November fifth, Tuesday, November fifth,
Speaker 1: we're still calculating all of the votes and it's going
Speaker 1: to be amazing. Eventually. At this point, Donald Trump has
Speaker 1: four million more votes than Vice President Harris, and Donald Trump,
Speaker 1: I guess, will top seventy five million, which will mean
Speaker 1: that we will not have as many people voting in
Speaker 1: this election as in twenty twenty, ironically, but he will
Speaker 1: have won the electoral college and the popular vote, which
Speaker 1: is what I think we needed, whether it was going
Speaker 1: to be Vice President Harris who would succeed, or former
Speaker 1: President Trump. It was not a close election FIA by
Speaker 1: today's standards, and I think most people now have accepted
Speaker 1: the result. There's a lot of second guessing in the
Speaker 1: Democratic Party, which is understandable. But we're going to put
Speaker 1: all of that conversation aside and let's focus on sacrifice
Speaker 1: of veterans in your family, in your community. I'll talk
Speaker 1: about my dad, who served during World War Two in
Speaker 1: two very difficult years in China, Bournman, India. But you
Speaker 1: can pick anyone you want six seven, two five four
Speaker 1: ten thirty or six one seven, nine three one ten thirty.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back and let's begin our annual salute
Speaker 1: to veterans here on Nightside.
Speaker 2: Now back to Dan Ray Live from the Window World
Speaker 2: Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 1: Let's get right to the calls. We'll start off with
Speaker 1: Larry and Dennisport. Larry, your first tonight on Nightside, Go
Speaker 1: right ahead.
Speaker 3: Hi Dan, thanks for this most important discussion topic. I
Speaker 3: would like to honor my father. He was a top
Speaker 3: turret gunner on a B twenty four and he was
Speaker 3: shot down over Germany. And he was a prisoner of war.
Speaker 1: And survived a pow camp.
Speaker 3: Yes, I will just tell you quickly how he survived.
Speaker 3: Everybody and his crew bailed out and were captured by
Speaker 3: the Germans. And when he was in the prison camp,
Speaker 3: the Nazis lined up all the prisoners well being Jewish
Speaker 3: obviously they were trying to separate the Jews, and the
Speaker 3: pilot looked over at my father and started speaking Italian
Speaker 3: to him. So the Nazi passed over my father thinking
Speaker 3: he was Italian, saved his life.
Speaker 1: And any Italian or did he just simply.
Speaker 3: No, Nope, didn't know any Italian at all.
Speaker 1: No, No, What would they done if they had figured
Speaker 1: out that your dad was Jewish? What have been executed?
Speaker 1: Or would he just been isolated?
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know. Usually it was mostly the
Speaker 3: German citizens, the ones that lived in Germany that were
Speaker 3: sent to the to the camps. I'm not sure what
Speaker 3: they did with the Jewish prisoners. I have not really
Speaker 3: studied that. My father didn't really talk about it too much.
Speaker 3: So they called him the Greatest Generation, you know, for
Speaker 3: a good reason. And anyway, he was involved with that
Speaker 3: famous Hitler's forced March when the Allies started closing in
Speaker 3: on the border and Hitler took all the prisoners and
Speaker 3: was marching them into the center. And so he was
Speaker 3: eating just rotten potatoes in the fields and everything, and
Speaker 3: finally got liberated. I think he was about one sixty
Speaker 3: five when he went in for weight and came out
Speaker 3: at around one thirty five. Amazing guy to lose weight.
Speaker 1: Well, my dad was yeah, in Chinabourban, India during the
Speaker 1: World War two, like your dad, and he spent two
Speaker 1: and a half years over there, and it was a
Speaker 1: tough part of the world to be in and he
Speaker 1: was in the army, but he ended up taking a
Speaker 1: lot of flights back and forth. He talked, He talked
Speaker 1: about Joe Stillwell, who was the general over there, who
Speaker 1: who was just admired by the by the troops he
Speaker 1: talked about flying over the Hump, which is the Himalayas.
Speaker 1: So he saw things that I've never seen.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: And obviously that was a time when China was our
Speaker 1: ally so he was often involved in interactions with Chinese troops.
Speaker 1: Now those were troops from Shankai Sheek's government of China,
Speaker 1: not Miles Setung. Right. The thing I remember about my dad,
Speaker 1: and I mentioned it before, so I won't I won't
Speaker 1: spend a lot of time on it. But every Christmas
Speaker 1: he would write Christmas cards to about eight or nine
Speaker 1: of his buddies different parts of the country, Wyoming, Kentucky
Speaker 1: and Longhand Christmas cards about what our family was doing
Speaker 1: and what my brother and I were doing. And he
Speaker 1: got the Christmas cards all Longhand, And of course as
Speaker 1: the years went by, the number of those Christmas cards
Speaker 1: as some of the veterans died off, diminished. But I
Speaker 1: can just remember what sort of a bond there was
Speaker 1: between those individuals. I don't think that any of them
Speaker 1: ever had a reunion once they got home here to
Speaker 1: the States. It just happened that way. You know, people
Speaker 1: had jobs and they got a vacation for a week.
Speaker 1: Back in those days, or two weeks, and it wasn't
Speaker 1: like you got in the car. And I remember one
Speaker 1: of his friends was a fellow named Paul Butler, I
Speaker 1: always remember that name out of Kentucky. And there was
Speaker 1: a guy Lionel Hitchcock out of Laramie, Wyoming. Never had
Speaker 1: a chance to meet those individuals, but he kept in touch.
Speaker 1: That Christmas card was very important. When he got a
Speaker 1: Christmas card from them, he read it and he knew
Speaker 1: all about their families as well. So I'm sure your
Speaker 1: dad must have probably done some of the same, particularly
Speaker 1: with the crew that had been that he had been
Speaker 1: shot down with. I assume he must have kept in
Speaker 1: touch with those guys over the.
Speaker 3: Time, you know he's you know, I don't think he did.
Speaker 3: He never really talked about it until he was diagnosed
Speaker 3: with lung cancer when he was in the seventies, and
Speaker 3: he started telling me some of these stories because he
Speaker 3: wanted them to be remembered. Listen, they didn't call him
Speaker 3: the Greatest Generation for nothing, no question.
Speaker 1: And there were no comfort animals when they were now
Speaker 1: and they were in Europe fighting, and they were eighteen
Speaker 1: and many times eighteen and nineteen year old kids. What
Speaker 1: year was your dad born.
Speaker 3: Jeez, you had to ask how.
Speaker 1: Old was how old was he he was in the service.
Speaker 3: He was I think he was twenty years old.
Speaker 1: Yeah, my dad was. My dad was a little older.
Speaker 1: He he was. He signed up in nineteen forty two
Speaker 1: and he was probably twenty six twenty seven years old,
Speaker 1: so that was considered older and older GI.
Speaker 3: Back in the Yeah, yeah, he was in the.
Speaker 1: Army and came out as and finished up as a
Speaker 1: staff sergeant.
Speaker 4: That was.
Speaker 3: Yeah. My father was was a sergeant also. Yeah, Larry,
Speaker 3: I appreciate the calle Yeah, thank you. On a good note,
Speaker 3: I'd like to just mention to you my daughter Jill
Speaker 3: might be coming home for a little vacation in January.
Speaker 1: Well, I hope she's doing well and I'd love to
Speaker 1: catch up with her on the phone, so you know,
Speaker 1: if it's possible that when you talk to her, if
Speaker 1: she's willing to spend an hour on the phone some
Speaker 1: night as a guest, this is the young woman who
Speaker 1: was actually running a business in Kabul, Afghanistan. Which an
Speaker 1: American woman running a business in Kabul, Afghanistan. If that's
Speaker 1: not a book, I don't know what is. So just
Speaker 1: keep it up. I didn't ask her if she'd be willing.
Speaker 1: We still broadcast remotely, Larry, as you know, so she could.
Speaker 1: I assumed she would probably be visiting you down the
Speaker 1: cape and we can.
Speaker 3: Yes, she's going to be might possibly be staying with us.
Speaker 3: She's here on business, but you might be staying. I'll
Speaker 3: let you know, Dan.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Larry, appreciate it. Talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Have a great week and happy Veterans Day and memory.
Speaker 1: Thanks uh if they were the greatest generation without a question.
Speaker 1: Let me go next to Charlie who's in Saugust, Massachusetts. Charlie,
Speaker 1: you're next on Night Side.
Speaker 3: Welcome, Yes, Hi you good program. I'd like to mention
Speaker 3: an uncle of mine who was in World War Two.
Speaker 3: His name was Al Langdon and he was in the
Speaker 3: US Navy in the Pacific and he served aboard a
Speaker 3: mind sweeper in Little Walk too, and he when he
Speaker 3: got out of the Navy, he continued to serve. He
Speaker 3: had a firefighter of the Boston Fire Department, really and
Speaker 3: his his firehouse was a really dirty one that got
Speaker 3: as many as three calls on a single night.
Speaker 5: And he spent.
Speaker 1: What part of Boston was East Boston, East Boston okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: and so his his first name was what.
Speaker 3: His first name was, el Alfred Langton and uh yeah,
Speaker 3: And as a matter of fact, he spent the last
Speaker 3: few years of his wife on oxygen tanks because of
Speaker 3: damage to his long some of fighting fires.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean it's it's amazing what firefighters in
Speaker 1: the in the forties and fifties and even into the
Speaker 1: sixties went through. We had that horrific tragedy the Von
Speaker 1: Dome Hotel fire.
Speaker 3: Really yeah, yeah, there.
Speaker 1: Was a uh several you know, we had the two
Speaker 1: firefighters recently who were killed on on Beacon Street, that
Speaker 1: fire that that March day a few years ago, we
Speaker 1: lost to firefighters, including my hockey teammate Paul Lintini from
Speaker 1: South Boston. Uh in the fire, yeah.
Speaker 3: Right, yeah, you have to have a lot of cars still,
Speaker 3: uh uh a firefighter these buildings and.
Speaker 1: Obviously, yeah, I mean when a when a floor collapses,
Speaker 1: you're you're basically in a fire pit. And that's that
Speaker 1: is what has happened. And of course back in the
Speaker 1: day when a lot of these buildings were built, they
Speaker 1: didn't have the codes that we have today. And uh,
Speaker 1: look and looking across the firefighters from nine to eleven.
Speaker 1: What what is the number of the three hundred or
Speaker 1: so who died, who who went into those two buildings,
Speaker 1: the twin towers, knowing full well both of those buildings
Speaker 1: were a flame and could collapse. Apps talk about talk
Speaker 1: about courage. That was aff that was a new generation,
Speaker 1: but just incredible courage for for all of them, and
Speaker 1: for your for your uncle to be on you said,
Speaker 1: a mind sweeper in the South in the Pacific. It's
Speaker 1: dangerous work.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was dangerous work. Charlie, appreciate it at present now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, we all have a great and we all
Speaker 1: agree that to them, no doubt, to the men and
Speaker 1: women of World War and women in Korea, the men
Speaker 1: and women of Vietnam, and the men and women of
Speaker 1: what of those who are standing guard around the world today.
Speaker 1: Charlie appreciate you call very much. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, takeically care. Happy veterans, same to you, sir.
Speaker 1: And again this we this is Veterans Day, Memorial Day.
Speaker 1: We celebrate the passing of veterans and the sacrifice. We
Speaker 1: could celebrate their lives on Veterans Day and the sacrifice
Speaker 1: they all taking a very quick break. We're coming back
Speaker 1: right after the news here on Nightside.
Speaker 2: Here on Nightside with Dan Ray on w Boston's news radio.
Speaker 1: Back to the phone calls. We're celebrating Veterans Day and
Speaker 1: giving you an opportunity to honor and acknowledge someone within
Speaker 1: your family, within your community. I Leen, you were next
Speaker 1: on Nightside. Who would you like to honor tonight? Eileen?
Speaker 6: Well, I honored him a year ago, but I didn't
Speaker 6: get everything quite right, okay, And that's my uncle David.
Speaker 6: And he graduated from Princeton University in nineteen forty one.
Speaker 1: Tough to graduate from college, go ahead, and then he.
Speaker 6: Was immediately drafted into the army. And I actually found
Speaker 6: from the Princeton alum nye website he Uh, let's see,
Speaker 6: he was assigned to be a navigator in October nineteen
Speaker 6: forty three. Uh, he as in the Army Air Corps
Speaker 6: and then he and then he was then but his
Speaker 6: plane was shot down in nineteen forty four and he
Speaker 6: suffered a back injury that nearly killed him.
Speaker 7: The other crew members on his.
Speaker 6: Plane were all killed. And but he was in the
Speaker 6: hot what what area was he in?
Speaker 1: These in the Pacific? In Europe? Where was he shot down?
Speaker 6: No, it was let's see, he was on route. I'm
Speaker 6: looking at the uh what I found online and he
Speaker 6: was en route to England in April of nineteen forty four.
Speaker 6: And then after he did make he made a remarkable recovery.
Speaker 6: And then like your father, he joined the Office of
Speaker 6: Strategic Services and served in India and Burma until separating
Speaker 6: in November nineteen forty five.
Speaker 1: Dad, it was not in the OSS he was. He
Speaker 1: was in the Army as a staff sergeant in China
Speaker 1: Bourban India as it was called CBI. Did your uncle
Speaker 1: after we get out of the military and all of that,
Speaker 1: did he have a good life? I hope after having sacrificed.
Speaker 6: So much he actually he did, but he had life
Speaker 6: lifelong PTSD. You know, he would wake up in the
Speaker 6: middle of the night crying and I remember this.
Speaker 3: But he.
Speaker 6: Went to law school after he got out, and he
Speaker 6: and he got his law degree from the University of Florida,
Speaker 6: and that's where he practiced law. He was a real
Speaker 6: estate lawyer. He managed big citrus groves and so forth.
Speaker 6: And I was very, very proud of him. He was
Speaker 6: my favorite uncle.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm glad that you that you got it all
Speaker 1: in the record, Leen, he did a good job and
Speaker 1: that just shows the sacrifice from from Princeton to being
Speaker 1: shot down and having his back injury that he probably
Speaker 1: carried that with him for the rest of his life. Aileen,
Speaker 1: I got a role here because I got a couple more.
Speaker 1: I got to get in here and then we will
Speaker 1: talk again. Thank you so much.
Speaker 6: Okay, Yeah, thanks Dan, good night very nice.
Speaker 1: Yes, good night to you and have a great weekend. Okay.
Speaker 1: Coming up next, Ray is in reading. Ray, you were
Speaker 1: next on Nightside. Welcome TYI.
Speaker 3: Thanks Dan. I like to remember, like your previous callers,
Speaker 3: the Greatest Generation, my dad was a B seventeen pilot
Speaker 3: thirty three missions, shot down twice second time pow managed
Speaker 3: to escape, made it back home, continued a career like
Speaker 3: every other American, became an American history professor and was
Speaker 3: the laison officer for the Air Force Academy.
Speaker 1: Was he a history professor at the Air Force Academy too?
Speaker 3: No, no, no, no. He After when he came home
Speaker 3: from the war, he became a history professor as full
Speaker 3: time vocation and then continued service in the Air Force
Speaker 3: Reserves and was the what they call the liaison officer
Speaker 3: for the Air Force Academy went off.
Speaker 1: I'm really curious with did he where did he teach,
Speaker 1: and what was his area of expertise as a history professor?
Speaker 1: What was his his area us.
Speaker 3: And mayor and history expertise? And he caught at Gordon College.
Speaker 1: Oh sure, Gordon College right up the road here in Massachusetts. Sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And he essentially wrote all of you know, went
Speaker 3: to the high school, to the presentation on attending the academy,
Speaker 3: interviewed the interviewee, and wrote recommendations for Senator Brooke and
Speaker 3: Senator Kennedy and for the appointments to the academy.
Speaker 1: Sure yeah, absolutely, Well that's great from becoming a B
Speaker 1: seventeen pilot and the pow now a part of history.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's someone who wasn't on the sidelines. He
Speaker 1: was in the middle of the battle. That's a great story.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And then two Gold Hopenleague cuffs and the Distinguished
Speaker 3: Flying Cross he was awarded and I never really talked about.
Speaker 3: I learned a lot by researching myself and talking to
Speaker 3: other members of his crew. And then more importantly, when
Speaker 3: I remember my uncle who I'm named after, the loss
Speaker 3: his life in the Battle of the Bulge.
Speaker 1: So you had more than one direct family member involved
Speaker 1: in World War Two.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, yeah, And truthfully, I haven't I haven't met
Speaker 3: I haven't met in my young years, I am. I
Speaker 3: haven't met anyone else that had actually a family member killed,
Speaker 3: you know, in World War Two. You know, you know,
Speaker 3: it's pretty significant, and it was, you know significant my
Speaker 3: mom and her family, which is, you know, my mom's brother.
Speaker 3: I never met him in there. Obviously, they named myself
Speaker 3: after him, so I wanted to remember him in the sacrifice.
Speaker 1: I was telling a story today to a friend of
Speaker 1: mine about someone who you've never heard of. He was
Speaker 1: a major league pitcher's name was White Wilhelm. He was
Speaker 1: in the Battle of the Bulich, and he was wounded
Speaker 1: in World War Two. Anyhow, came back and pitched for
Speaker 1: twenty one years in the big leagues. Wow, yeow in
Speaker 1: the fifties and sixties, the late forties, in the fifties
Speaker 1: and sixties, White Wilhelm a great knuckleball pitcher, by the way,
Speaker 1: and anyone who would who knows much about baseball knows
Speaker 1: Hoyt Wilhelm. But he was as an American soldier, was
Speaker 1: in the Battle of the Bulge and was wounded.
Speaker 3: Wow. Yeah, that generation. I don't think there's no one
Speaker 3: like them, you know, I'm convinced of that now the
Speaker 3: more I've learned and the more I've read about it.
Speaker 1: And he's a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: inducted into the Hall of Fame in nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 3: Wow wow, yeah. Yeah, it's just incredible. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And it's a great trivia question. By the way, if
Speaker 1: you want a trivia question, you could look it up.
Speaker 1: He's a major The question is name the major League
Speaker 1: baseball player who hit a home run in his first
Speaker 1: time at that played for twenty two years in the
Speaker 1: big leagues. I think that was the number of years
Speaker 1: that he played. He was in fifties and he broke
Speaker 1: in in fifty two, so probably twenty years in the
Speaker 1: big leagues and never hit another home and people will
Speaker 1: go crazy, and it was hot. Wilhelm. He hit a
Speaker 1: home run in Polar Grounds in nineteen fifty two. The
Speaker 1: Polar Grounds hit a very short right field foul pole.
Speaker 1: It was only two hundred and fifty two feet from
Speaker 1: home plate. It was about fifty feet shorter than the
Speaker 1: Pescu pole of Fenway Park, and as a pitcher. You
Speaker 1: know you didn't hit many home runs and uh yeah,
Speaker 1: wow White Wilhelm.
Speaker 3: Now that is that is a good question, that will
Speaker 3: that's a great trick question.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, really is, particularly if you're a baseball fan. Ray.
Speaker 1: I loved the story about your your your your dad
Speaker 1: and about your uncle. Uh and uh. And I hope
Speaker 1: you know if you've ever called before, but I hope
Speaker 1: you become a more regular caller.
Speaker 3: No, I have a first time caller, but an avid listener.
Speaker 3: So give me a round of applause.
Speaker 1: That's my thought. Because I never remembered to Ray for reading.
Speaker 1: I got a pretty good memory for names. Well, thank you, sar,
Speaker 1: and I loved the call and call any night.
Speaker 3: Okay, thanks very yeah, thank you, thank you night.
Speaker 1: Let me go to Maureene and Weymouth. Hi, Maureen, welcome.
Speaker 1: How are you tonight?
Speaker 8: I'm good, Keanne, how are you?
Speaker 1: I'm doing great. Who would you like to remember on
Speaker 1: this tribute to Veteran's Day.
Speaker 8: Well, I had a grandfather, a maternal grandfather who used
Speaker 8: to fly on blimp during World War One. He survived
Speaker 8: really and I had yes, and then I had my father,
Speaker 8: his sister and uncle all were in the service during
Speaker 8: World War Two, and unfortunately, my father's brother, at age
Speaker 8: twenty three, was on a submarine and it was after
Speaker 8: Pearl Harbor had been bombed and they the sub was
Speaker 8: on the way there and they were oh, you know,
Speaker 8: something happened and they were lost at see to this
Speaker 8: day have never been found. And that was my father's brother.
Speaker 1: Oh, your uncle.
Speaker 3: Even my father's brother.
Speaker 8: Was only yeah, he was only twenty three. My father
Speaker 8: was like twenty one. And his sister, my aunt, she
Speaker 8: was also but she, you know, she didn't go overseas
Speaker 8: or anything. She was in the navy. My father was
Speaker 8: in the navy. And yeah, my uncle, I have a
Speaker 8: brother that was named after him, and I have a
Speaker 8: twin brother and a brother that were went off you know,
Speaker 8: during right out of high school. They were drafted in
Speaker 8: nineteen it was nineteen sixty nine or nineteen seventy, and
Speaker 8: one went into submarines and the other one was in
Speaker 8: helicopters over in Vietnam, and thank god, they came back safely.
Speaker 8: But yeah, we've always you know, I never knew my
Speaker 8: uncle that of course, you know, my parents weren't even
Speaker 8: married at the time when he was lost at sea.
Speaker 8: But that was, you know, very hot on my father's
Speaker 8: family obviously.
Speaker 1: Wow. Well what great stories, what great stories, Maureen. You
Speaker 1: have a family that has given such great service to
Speaker 1: the country.
Speaker 3: Yes, they have.
Speaker 1: I hope you have some records of them. To be
Speaker 1: honest with you, I really do hope you have some
Speaker 1: records of them.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 8: Yes, my brother is my twin brother. He's he's got
Speaker 8: a lot of the information. He's actually gotten a diary
Speaker 8: from my uncle that was lost at sea on some
Speaker 8: other missions that he was on, and you know he does.
Speaker 8: He's got medals and you know, purple.
Speaker 7: Hot all that stuff.
Speaker 8: But yeah, they were. They were very proud of all
Speaker 8: of them.
Speaker 1: The greatest generation, exactly, no doubt, no doubt. Marie. Thanks
Speaker 1: as always for calling and supporting the program. And it
Speaker 1: was a great shot.
Speaker 8: Yes, and I appreciate it for you taking my call.
Speaker 7: Jean.
Speaker 8: You have a good night and a and a good weekend.
Speaker 1: You have a great weekend, Thanks Marie. Talk to you soon.
Speaker 8: Okay, good night, good night.
Speaker 1: All right, we're going to take a quick break here.
Speaker 1: I got Christine, she's coming up. Alex and Richard and
Speaker 1: I got a little room for a couple more if
Speaker 1: you want six one, seven, ten thirty six seven honoring
Speaker 1: and by the way, everyone so far has honored people
Speaker 1: from World War Two. You may have a relative who
Speaker 1: served more recently than that. Their service uh, whether it's
Speaker 1: in Iraq, Afghanistan, wherever police feel free, this is your
Speaker 1: opportunity to salute a family member, a friend, a member
Speaker 1: of your community, a neighbor. We'll be back on Nightside.
Speaker 1: By the way, our great friend Bill brett Uh is
Speaker 1: working on a book which will be coming out next
Speaker 1: Memorial Day about people from the the Greater Boston area,
Speaker 1: New England who served in the military, and it's going
Speaker 1: to be another one of his great coffee table books.
Speaker 1: We'll talk with Bill about that at some point. Coming
Speaker 1: right back on Nightside. Stay with us.
Speaker 2: Now back to Dan Ray Live from the Window World
Speaker 2: nights Side Studios on DOMBZ News Radio.
Speaker 1: Okay, we get pack lines. I'm going to ask everybody
Speaker 1: to just tighten it up, so we get everybody in.
Speaker 1: Christine and Debtim your next Linezech, Christine, go right ahead.
Speaker 7: I wanted to remember my dad. He was in Korean
Speaker 7: War really Okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: He was, yeah, and he came home safe and sounds
Speaker 1: and I hope Christine.
Speaker 3: He did.
Speaker 7: He came home taking time. But when he got off
Speaker 7: one of the planes, he stepped on a land mine
Speaker 7: and the piece of them, the landmine went up into
Speaker 7: his eye. He lost his eye and he came home. Yeah,
Speaker 7: he went to BU graduated from VU and then went
Speaker 7: into the insurance business.
Speaker 3: With so many years.
Speaker 1: That's great. Yeah, and I hope he had a good
Speaker 1: and a long life.
Speaker 7: He at the end he suffered. He had Alzheimer's in
Speaker 7: Parkinson's disease for quite a number of years. He was very,
Speaker 7: very sad.
Speaker 1: End that's a tough. But did he did he talk
Speaker 1: much about his military service.
Speaker 7: He didn't like talking about time he brought up. He
Speaker 7: got very sad. He wouldn't. He didn't like to talk
Speaker 7: about it.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, yeah, he sacrificed greatly, that's for sure.
Speaker 7: So yeah, and my uncle was close. Got his brother
Speaker 7: and now my nephew, my third oldest brother, his son,
Speaker 7: William is in the army in Germany. Right now.
Speaker 1: Well, that's that's great. So we honored a gentleman. What's
Speaker 1: his first name, Christine?
Speaker 3: Uh, my father, No, No, the.
Speaker 1: The your the nephew that's in Germany, William O'Brien. All right, Christine,
Speaker 1: that's great. We got it all in. Thank you so much.
Speaker 7: I sort of let you know if you're interested. The
Speaker 7: Germans homes having better sing Monday morning at ninth already
Speaker 7: my mother is at the German home.
Speaker 1: Is that the one in West Roxbury? Yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I know it well, I know it well, Okay, people
Speaker 1: in West Roxbury and dead. I'm sure I've been there.
Speaker 1: I had a friend of mine who spent a lot
Speaker 1: of time there recuperating. Thank you, Christine, I.
Speaker 7: Remember you telling me that, Okay, have a good weekend.
Speaker 1: You have a great weekend. Thanks. Good night. Let me
Speaker 1: go next to Alex and Millis. Alex, we're getting a
Speaker 1: little late here. Who are you going to honor for
Speaker 1: us tonight?
Speaker 4: Oh? My late dad. He just died. He just passed
Speaker 4: away recently. He was ninety six. But he wasn't a
Speaker 4: US veteran. He served overseas, uh, you know, with the
Speaker 4: Nazis against the Nazis and UH and the forces of
Speaker 4: Mussulin in Greece. And then my brother Frank, he's uh,
Speaker 4: he's currently uh in the reserves, but he was in
Speaker 4: the Air Force. UH served in Lackland.
Speaker 1: So your dad served in the Greek military.
Speaker 4: Yes, he escaped actually from Uh. He was at the
Speaker 4: time right now with Albania. But and he met my
Speaker 4: mom in in Greece. But he Uh, he had picked
Speaker 4: up arms to defend defend his Uh town against the
Speaker 4: Nazis in the atrocities that committee.
Speaker 1: Well, that's your dad had to be a pretty courageous guy.
Speaker 1: And he lived a long life till nineties. God bless him. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Self educated, and he was orphaned very young. But you
Speaker 4: know they say, what doesn't what doesn't kill you, makes
Speaker 4: you stronger. He was cool for that, no doubt.
Speaker 1: Alex. Thank you. I'm jamming everybody here in the I
Speaker 1: still liah full and thank you so much. Great to
Speaker 1: hear your voice. Talk to you soon. Where we're going
Speaker 1: to go next, I'm going to Richard and the Hot Richard,
Speaker 1: You're next to Night's. I'd got three behind you, Richard,
Speaker 1: go right ahead.
Speaker 5: Yeah, okay. Honoring my father. He was born in nineteen
Speaker 5: hundred and he was in the Navy when he was
Speaker 5: like eighteen and World War One, whoa yeah, and after
Speaker 5: that I was over not too much excitement in the
Speaker 5: navy in World War One. He would joined the Merchant Marines,
Speaker 5: and then after that he spent a lot of the
Speaker 5: time in night school and he finally earned a Merchant
Speaker 5: Marines chief Engineer's license.
Speaker 1: Experience.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, So in nineteen forty two he joined the
Speaker 5: Navy again and as a chief engineer on a destroyer
Speaker 5: escort as a lieutenant commander, and he, uh, he got
Speaker 5: torpedoed in the Mediterranean Sea, but they shut all the
Speaker 5: front of the barley. They took up torpedo in the barley,
Speaker 5: shut all it all off, and they got back into
Speaker 5: port but he got a lot of his ribs broken,
Speaker 5: so they shipped them by a plane to a hospital
Speaker 5: in Argentina, you know. And then after that, all of
Speaker 5: a sudden we got a call fromhim. He was up
Speaker 5: in Portland, Maine. I don't know how he got there, but
Speaker 5: he was coming down to Boston. So we, uh we
Speaker 5: went in town and met him for a while for
Speaker 5: about five or six hours, and then he took a
Speaker 5: train all the way out to California and he uh.
Speaker 5: We got the chief engineer on a troop troop transport
Speaker 5: thirty three five hundred men on it, and they were
Speaker 5: getting ready for the invasion of Japan and then, of
Speaker 5: course bombs were dropped in in Japan surrender, so then
Speaker 5: he had to put the occupation on me into into Japan.
Speaker 1: It's it's amazing, what what what? What stories we've heard tonight,
Speaker 1: and yours is one of them. Richard, thank you so much.
Speaker 5: I got I got one. Uh the Dorchester. My wife's
Speaker 5: my wife's father. He died, he got torpedoed and killed
Speaker 5: on the Dorchester, the one where the four chaplains gave
Speaker 5: up there, gave up there like Jackets.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm not familiar with that story, but I got
Speaker 1: three more folks. I got to get to Richard in
Speaker 1: fairness to them. So thank you so much for tonight. Okay,
Speaker 1: very much. You bet. Carol is an ever, Carol, you
Speaker 1: got to be quick for me. I hate to do
Speaker 1: the see, but you've called lake. Go ahead, Carol.
Speaker 3: Hi.
Speaker 9: I just wanted to honor my uncle Charlie. He fought
Speaker 9: in the Battle of Normandy and right on the beach,
Speaker 9: and he survived it, and he went back and he
Speaker 9: visited decades later later, and uh, and his name is
Speaker 9: carved in the wall, still in the bunk, because the
Speaker 9: bunk is now the seller of a restaurant.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's a great story. That's a great story. I
Speaker 1: hope you got to know him well as you were
Speaker 1: growing up.
Speaker 9: Oh, I live next door to him.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, Thanks so much. I just got two more.
Speaker 1: I'm going to try to thank you in here. Thank you, Carol.
Speaker 1: We'll talk again. Okay, thanks very much. Good night. Let's
Speaker 1: go to Richard Arlington. Rich I got you, and I
Speaker 1: got one behind you got John and Drake. All right?
Speaker 10: Yeah, my father, John Butler fought in the Battle of
Speaker 10: the Bulge in the tanks for General Patton. He was
Speaker 10: a got injured and they got a purple Hot. He
Speaker 10: was also received a Bronze Stop for rescuing his comrades
Speaker 10: under machine gun fire. And also he was nominated for
Speaker 10: the Silver Saw. And then the war ended, but he
Speaker 10: he was when his tank blew up. He was hitting
Speaker 10: out in a potato cella by some a young couple.
Speaker 10: I've got a great picture of him sitting on the
Speaker 10: tank with the young couple. After the war ended, and
Speaker 10: he conversed with them and after the war, and so
Speaker 10: I think of them all the time. And he died
Speaker 10: of cancer at age sixty eight. But he survived the
Speaker 10: Battle of the Bulge.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much for that one quick thing, and
Speaker 1: I got together okay, behind by thanks man John and Draco. John,
Speaker 1: I got about thirty seconds for you. You're going to
Speaker 1: be the last call of the night. Go ahead, all right.
Speaker 5: My father, US Coast Guard veteran Robert Deeker Joyce, loved
Speaker 5: the military so much, loved this country. He passed away
Speaker 5: in twenty nineteen on July fourth.
Speaker 1: How about that day. I have a couple of presidents.
Speaker 1: I think I think that Adams also passed away on
Speaker 1: July fourth. John, thank you, I'll bet he did. We
Speaker 1: all do? We all do? Thanks, John, appreciate it so much.
Speaker 1: To all the calls, I want to thanks very much.
Speaker 1: I want to thank all of them very much. I
Speaker 1: want to thank all of you for listening. I want
Speaker 1: to thank Robin did a great job tonight. We had
Speaker 1: a great week. Rob, welcome back. Thank you very much. Marita,
Speaker 1: thank you very much. She's probably listening, but she did
Speaker 1: a great job producing all week. It was a historic
Speaker 1: week here on Nightside. Remember this week for a long time. Everybody.
Speaker 1: My name's Dan Ray. I'll end us always. All dogs,
Speaker 1: all cats, all pets go to heaven. That's what my
Speaker 1: pal Charlie ray Is who passed fourteen years ago in February.
Speaker 1: That's where all your pets are who were passed. They
Speaker 1: loved you and you love them. I do believe you'll
Speaker 1: see them again. Hope to see again on Monday night
Speaker 1: here on night Side. You could listen to me on Facebook.
Speaker 1: I'll be here in about two minutes. Thanks everybody, have
Speaker 1: a great weekend. God bless