What's The Scuttlebutt Podcast
Step into history with The What’s The Scuttlebutt Podcast (WTSPWWII), your go-to source for deep dives into the events, untold stories, and extraordinary individuals of World War II. In some episodes, we bring you firsthand accounts from veterans who served on the front lines, offering their personal experiences and unique perspectives on the realities of war. We also sit down with acclaimed authors who have dedicated their careers to uncovering hidden narratives and shedding light on lesser-known aspects of the conflict. But we don’t stop at books and battlefield accounts—we also explore the world of WWII cinema. From directors and producers to screenwriters, we talk with the creative minds behind the films that bring history to life on the big screen. For those who live history firsthand, we feature dedicated WWII reenactors who meticulously recreate battles, uniforms, and daily life from the era, offering an immersive glimpse into the past. Whether you’re a history enthusiast, a military buff, or simply fascinated by the human stories that emerged from this defining moment in history, WTSPWWII is your ultimate destination. Join us as we honor the past, celebrate the heroes, and preserve the legacy of World War II for generations to come.
What's The Scuttlebutt Podcast
“Conservators of the Greatest Generation: The Journey Begins”
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SPEAKER_02It's been way too long, but yeah, we ride again, and I'm pumped about it, man. It's been a long time coming, and I'm I'm really excited about this show.
SPEAKER_04And in the center square tonight, joining us as always, Mr. Dennis Blocker. Dennis, how you doing down there, fella? Alright. Doing alright. It's like the World War II um Hollywood Squares. Everything good down there? Down on the lonely bottom row?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Doing alright.
SPEAKER_04What's going on, Jeff? So, how you been?
SPEAKER_02Man, well, yeah, we've got we've got lots of updates for our listeners, and man, I've been feels like I've been around the world, and I think I'm about five years smarter than I was a month ago. Um was really fortunate to be a part of the uh Sky Fiesta Las Cruces, which is a uh it's an airfest air show slash air races in uh Las Cruces, New Mexico. Uh did that back uh in October. Uh so it was a different event for me. Um and I yeah, I I Don, I know I see you're like air races. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I was gonna say for our audience, are we talking like the Red Bull style with the inflatable pylons that they fly around? Pretty similar to this.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, very, very similar. Uh they they didn't have inflatable pylons, they actually drilled them into the ground. Uh, but they were, you know, the composite RV type aircraft, very lightweight. Um, and that was like kind of mixed in within some of the other air racks. So it wasn't just wow, look at those airplanes flying in a circle. Uh, you know, there was some vintage aircraft there. Tab was there, that's all brother, our our local C-47 D-Day veteran. Um Tab showed up. Um Yellow Rose, our our uh B-25 uh showed up, and so I mean it was just a little bit of everything, and I didn't know what to expect. Uh I've never been to an air race, Sky Fiesta, before. Um, so it was great because you had World War II aircraft, you had uh Korean War era, they actually had a flight of three MiG-17s doing some amazing um, they were really showing off at the end, lighting up afterburners, uh, did a thousand-foot firewall, um, just you know, strafing runs and everything, bomb runs. Um, then there was, you know, um myself with with my war wagon, some guys from Liberty Jump team that were there. Uh I'm sorry, not Liberty, uh All American, uh the um All Airborne Battalion Um parachute team that was there, um you know, vintage cars and some other things. So it was like it was incredible. Um and it really took, honestly, it took the entire state of New Mexico to to fund it to get it going. Um so you say the entire state, not to cut you off.
SPEAKER_04You literally mean it was state funded, dude.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. This the state of New Mexico. I think there was a representative there that the night before uh talking about, and I want to say, and I hope I'm not misquoted here, but I think the state of New Mexico alone donated like a million dollars towards getting the event done. Yeah, so they had a really big budget. Um, it was all volunteer run. Um, so it was really cool to see it come together and to see that for that event?
SPEAKER_04Is this the first time?
SPEAKER_02Well, no, and and there were some complications. You know, last year uh there was a fatal, and uh the way I understand it, it wasn't during the air show, I think it was prior to. So that kind of really I mean, we know what that's like in the air show world, right? You you have something like that, uh a very unfortunate accident, and it really shuts a lot of things down. It makes a lot of you know, people go, ooh, hmm. Um so I think that's what happened to Las Cruces, and so I think the city kind of pulled out, but a lot of folks there, they still wanted to do it. They just had to find funding and volunteers from other sources, and they absolutely rocked it. So it was really, really cool. Um so did a ground demo there. Um I think they reached over 10,000 people. I've heard as high as 12,000, I'm not sure. So attendance was big for a one-day event. Uh, so really cool to get to talk to that many people um about you know what's the scuttle butt, uh, what's the scuttle butt and some of the other things that we do in living history. So um really cool opportunity. Turned around, went to Dallas, Aviation Discovery Fest in Dallas. Uh, same thing, got to pull out the display. Uh lots of living history guys there. Uh of course, as the world knows, unfortunately, you know, back in September we lost um John Luckadu from the 100th bomb group, and he was kind of a regular at that event. Um, so you know, had to flex and do some other things without a World War II veteran there, um, you know, as seems to be the case lately. Um, so yeah, and then some exciting uh other updates that I think uh Dennis probably uh has told you about, but I don't think we've mentioned the listeners and and Don, you're gonna be you're gonna be uh we're gonna rope you into this, you know, uh at some point.
SPEAKER_04Before you get into that, before you wanna get that, because you kind of sped through it, but I wanted to ask you about the wagon. Um the roots of this podcast, for those of you guys who are new, yes, we do uh we talk a lot of actors and authors and all that, but the basic root of this podcast is you know living history and and the hobby and all that. And one of the tediums of being a living historian is packing up your crap, shipping it out, setting it up, which isn't bad. But then after a day or two, it's the tearing it down, packing it back up, putting in your vehicle, driving it all the way home, unpacking it, putting it back in its permanent place that it sits until the next event, where it you have done what a a lot of people have done, um but most people do it for storage. I mean, I'm gonna put my stuff in this trailer, put the trailer in my garage, pull it out, where you have kind of turned yours into a portable, quick setup kind of mobile museum and display. I'm sure you put some of it out in front of the trailer too, but you use the interior space as kind of a walk-in closet style museum, if you will. How how has that transition gone for you? Is have you found little things you want to fix? What's the size of your trailer, etc.?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. So I honestly I bought an enclosed trailer just to travel with the Jeep, right? Um, you know, barring a flatbed from a buddy or whatever, it's just you know, you can only do that for so long. And yeah, when you when you put a 42 GPW on a flatbed, you're gonna get a lot of looks, questions, you stop at gas, and it's a conversation, right? Um, but it's you know, exposed to elements, you're doing 70 miles an hour, rocks are flying.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it reminds me of the uh meme you see where you think you get a classic car, you think you're going to pick up chicks, but mainly just brings out old men at the gas station.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, pretty much.
SPEAKER_04Well, you're talking about debris, rocks, potential cracking of the windshield, things of that nature.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, I noticed you definitely can't travel with the canvas top up, so then you're folding that down, you're folding the windshield down, anything that could blow away. So you can't really store anything in it. So it worked for uh, you know, temporarily, but so I knew taking that trailer to Dallas or the taking the Jeep on a flatbed trailer to Dallas, I think I did that twice, and I took it to one or two other vents. I knew that time was limited if I was gonna really preserve this vehicle. So I, you know, found a really nice, used, very gently used, um, enclosed trailer. It's seven feet wide, sixteen feet long. Okay. So it's got a drop-down ramp. A guy actually just stored his riding mower in it, you know, wasn't really um wasn't heavily used. So got a great deal on it, and um just used it to put the Jeep in. And then one day I was in there and I just kind of had a vision, and that turned into you know, painting the walls, the a close uh match to the the green zinc chromate inside of a B-17, refurbished the plywood floors, and then went through so when you when you walk in, uh you get there it fits two 12-foot tables down the long wall, and you get the impression of a navigator's compartment in a B-17 up in the nose. Um then you kind of transition around to um you know some of the combat gear that they would wear. So this is you know the tools of the tray for for a navigator, bombardier, there's there's some gauges there, and then it transitions to the flight gear, you know, the the gloves, the uh the throat mic, the oxygen mask, the goggles, and then it kind of comes around as you go to the front of the trailer, and where that kind of tapers into a point, I recreated basically um the personal space, the barracks in England, uh the footlockers, the pinups, uh the pocket trash, the coins, the letters from home, the shoe polish, the hair tonic personal books and things like that, socks, you know, whatever, uh, just to kind of show what life was like not on a mission. Uh and then down the short wall is uh Pacific themed. So it's you know a Japanese flag or a a Navy signal flag, um ration tokens, photographs from Pacific battles, and everything that's on the walls is laminated and attached in a way, or if it's in a wood frame, it's it's bratted to the to the wall. So like everything on the wall stays. Even I've got stuff all over the ceiling. Uh so every time I take it somewhere, people always marvel. They have to like watch. Like, I actually want to see you fit this Jeep into this trailer because I want to see how you do it.
SPEAKER_04So, as somebody who's been carrying a firearm for over 13 years daily, one of the biggest inconveniences is when you come home, you need to take your firearm off of yourself and put it somewhere safe, somewhere secure, especially if you have kids. Now, I know most of us are responsible, we have a gun safe somewhere, but let's be honest, usually these gun safes are big, they're bulky, they're kind of out of the way because they're a bit of an eyesore, your wife doesn't want them where everybody can see them. So sometimes in your closet behind some clothes, sometimes they're in the garage, sometimes in the mud room. And let's be honest, taking your firearm out and walking to those locations to secure it is a pain in the butt. But you have to be a responsible firearm owner, especially if you have kids in the house. That's why you need to get yourself a stopbox pro portable gun safe. You can make it non-portable, you can drill some holes in it, mount it to a place of convenience in your house, but it requires no batteries and no electricity. You simply come to your house, walk up your safe, choose your finger button combinations, open a safe, remove your firearm from your person put it in the safe, close your safe. Just that easy, it's secure. So do yourself a favor, head over to stopboxusa.com forward slash D410 and get all the information today on your stopbox pro. When seconds count, trust the only non-fail firearm storage box, stopbox pro at stopboxusa.com forward slash D410. One question. You said the long wall and the short wall. Dennis and I were talking about this off air uh when we were trying to do a previously scheduled show that fell through. Your long wall, is it 16 feet long?
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_04So 12 feet safe.
SPEAKER_02Essentially, yeah, and then it to the taper.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's you hypothetically have a space about 12 feet long by maybe a foot and a half tall along the top of that wall of clear space right now? Or could you make it?
SPEAKER_02I don't have any clear space in it. Do I need to make space?
SPEAKER_04Well, the reason I asked, I sent you I sent um Dennis a picture of a banner. And we were talking about that banner last week. It's a 12-foot-long banner that says United We Stand. It's an original banner that was flown at USO shows, military, whatever. And it's just says United We Stand, and then it has the red squares with the army eagle badge that you'd wear on your lapel on each end. It's original. I bought it on eBay, but I don't have a 12-foot-long span in any of my rooms. So I would happily send it to you, and I thought it'd be great if you put it like a frame, and you could just put it at the top of that wall because it's 12 feet, or you can put it wherever you want. But I'm just saying it's 12 feet long is kind of a stretch for someone to frame something and have it in their house. But if you have a 12-foot wall and it's only about a foot and a half tall, so you just have to clear off a strip at the top, and it would go up there perfectly. So it's just an option. I'll send it out to you and you can look at it and either keep it or just keep it in the tube. I have in a poster tube, but it's been sitting in my office at work for like a year and a half because I have no place for it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, I could see that uh on the outside of the trailer, even, you know, not permanently mounted, but just to hang on the outside to kind of get some attention.
SPEAKER_04And I know Dennis probably glass so it keeps because it's a bright, beautiful red. It's not fading. Yeah, yeah. This thing was like taken down, put in a tube, and it's been sitting in a tube for 75 years. It's beautiful. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we'll find a home for it for sure. Just uh I just texted you the uh the images there, Jeff.
SPEAKER_04And so and so you're able to pull your Jeep into this without knocking the things off the wall, and obviously you have things stacked, and then you you bring them down and set up your display and then put the Jeep out front.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's essentially like five footlockers that all stack up at the front, and then my field table, uh, and the folding tables, they just fold up and the jeep straddles those, they just stay on the ground. Uh, so everything just goes up at the front, and then it's got tie-downs, so I drive the Jeep up and strap it down and go on my way. I have a very, very it's about a 40, 30 to 40 minute setup. That's all it takes.
SPEAKER_04That's not bad at all.
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_04And it's all protected, most of it's protected from the sun. Because here in Florida, I mean that's the big thing because you see guys' stuff that gets bleached out, especially haversacks, musette bags, uniforms. Uniforms we don't care, right? Because it's it looks salty, but when you have original gear, you kind of hope that you know you don't care if the reproduction stuff fades. But um how tall are you?
SPEAKER_02Five eleven.
SPEAKER_04Did you relocate your driver's seat in any way, shape, or form in that Jeep?
SPEAKER_02Negative.
SPEAKER_04How do you fit? And here's why I bring it up. Um the weekend of Halloween, we had VKE this year, and um one of the German's wife does an army impression, and she recently acquired a Marine Corps Jeep. Um and it was having some problems. We got up and running, but she had a trailer much like yours. Her husband has hip problems, he was in the airborne, um, so his back and his lower back is just completely destroyed from all the years of jumping and all that. And um they asked if anybody could pull this thing in the in their trailer. I have been in jeeps. I've been in the most of my time in the back, occasionally I'll sit in a passenger with my long legs sticking out the passenger side, but I've never driven one in all my years. Now, the first four cars I ever had were standard, so I wasn't worried about that. Anyhow, long story short, I sat in this thing. And now, for those of you at home, reverse is where modern day first gear is, first gear is where modern day second gear is, so you gotta go down. I literally had to open my legs and shift down in front. My right leg was on the opposite side of the I could not fit in this damn thing. I'm like full spread eagle, just like to get my foot on the clutch and the gas. I'm like doing like some weird yoga pose. First time driving a Jeep. I haven't driven a standard in probably five years. Um never pulled a vehicle into a utility trailer. I pulled that son of a bitch in, didn't stall, didn't spit, didn't sputter, didn't hit a single wire, didn't hit the guideline, went right in like I've been driving. I was like, I climbed out of this thing because now you got the walls of four inches from the edge. I climb out of this thing. I was like, not even a good job. But I was I was proud of myself that I didn't stall this thing out, didn't even snag the line. But more importantly, I was just like, if I ever you know, a lot of reenactors, we all have a dream of possibility in the Jeep. I'm like, I would have to like dismount the seat, move it back four inches, drill new. There's no way I could drive one of those comfortably at all. I'm just way too ridiculously tall. And so I was like, well, Jeff's not that much shorter. Me, how the hell does he drive one of these things? I guess he just cramered it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, you know, I think back to, and I use this quite often because I get I get that a lot. Like, oh man, I could never fit in that thing. Like, if you watch Charlton Heston hop in and out of that very easily in the midway film, uh they could have very long five inches.
SPEAKER_04I mean, they do that a lot of stuff.
SPEAKER_02Uh, it doesn't look like it. I mean, because it's hard it it it's not flat right behind the seat, it it steps up, so it would be a complete remod because it fits over that's where the gas tank is on the World War II.
SPEAKER_04No, you're right, it is on the driver's side.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. So there's no moving the seat back.
SPEAKER_04That's true.
SPEAKER_02That that's yeah, so um it can be done. I do, I do it all the time, and I'm but of course, you know, I'm not six foot four either, but um, you know, Jimmy Stewart probably drove Jeeps as well, and he's he's a pretty tall, lanky guy, too. So it I don't know, they just did it. And um, you know, it's funny because uh when I do parades, yeah, when I do uh when I do parades, I may have four or five kiddos in the back seat and they'll and they feel like they're crammed, and then I'll show them a picture of eleven crew members from a B-17 that are all crammed on a one quarter ton with their flight bags, and it's like, you know, you know uh you can fit one more.
SPEAKER_04We like to be macho and brave and all that, but I'll tell you what. Uh at the VKE, we have to we've explained it, uh, acknowledged them on the show, but when we lead the museum, the Allies, we gotta drive down to the other end of the track. So we're driving five or six miles on a modern three-lane thoroughfare, and so I'm running in the back of Joseph's Jeep, but I'm kind of sitting on top of the seat, but kind of using the spare tire like a sissy bar on a motorcycle, and I'm kind of holding on to because he has a modus mounted on it. Well, we're you know, he's got this thing pegged, we're cruising at a brisk, what, 48 and a half mile an hour? The three of us, we gotta get through a traffic circle. I'm like, Lean, lean, because you know, you got leaf springs, this thing's like going through a traffic circle, but more importantly, it's like fellas, we're talking drum brakes here, we're cruising a good 46 and a half mile, which in a Jeep 1943 Jeep in uniform, it feels like you're doing 85. Of course, you got the annoyed people behind you like riding your ass. And Joseph, he he he kind of almost missed that hard right-hand turn. And of course, someone's sitting at that light, and you know, no turn, so we're all doing this, and just kind of I'll be like oh, drum brakes, drum brakes, please, please, bias ply tires. Oh, please make this turn. And I'm like, the older I get, the more scary that drum brakes bias tire, the bias ply tire, 45 mile an hour tripper on that right-hand turn gets scarier every year. And it's just like, yeah, could you? I just granted at the time it's it's high-end newest technology, but just hauling ass to a muddy field trying to outrun an artillery strike, and you're on drum brakes, bias ply tires, no power steering, and you're getting shot at, and you got you know, as many guys as you can crammed on out of some poor son of a bitch on a stretcher across the hood with the windshield down. It's like, oh, no wonder Patton got killed by one of these damn things because you know the brakes, it's just it's a sketchy ride. And one year uh we were making that same ride with the Bouvet brothers, and they had their um their weapons carrier, and that big open son of a bitch, you know, what is it? Four wheels in the back, two up front, same thing, hauling ass, oh, here comes a turn. Break, break, break, nope. We just kind of slid right into the field. It's like, oh crap. Every time, like, no, this is how it ends. I just have vision going. There's no seatbelt on the damn thing, and you're on concrete, so here we go. But yeah, it's uh definitely an adventure, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, but that's what made the Jeep so valuable, right? I mean, I I was talking about this with somebody not that long ago. Uh oh, I was at the motorcycle museum. We've got one here in town and reading the story of the original um Indian and the WLA Harleys, you know, used by the Army, and I didn't realize the the correlation that the Jeeps had to the motorcycles, to the horse, you know, the original horse-drawn cavalry. Um, you know, essentially my heritage in the army. Um, you know, I I mean I I knew about the motorcycles, right? And they were trying to replace the horse, and that worked out okay. But then once the Jeep came along, they were like, well, the Jeep can do everything that this motorcycle can do, and then some, we don't need a two-wheel, you know, vehicle anymore. We'll just take the Jeep. So when you think about that, like, yeah, the Jeep can do everything that anywhere that you can put a motorcycle, a two-wheel vehicle, the Jeep's gonna go there too. And it may not be pretty, but it's gonna get you there and it's gonna bring you back.
SPEAKER_04I think the Germans, because they didn't have a Jeep, obviously they had the Volkswagen thing, but um, I think they had a sidecar on their BMWs, but it had a um axle drive, almost making it three-wheel drive. Some of them, not all of them, but some of them actually had an axle drive so that the tire on the sidecar dug in got a little extra traction too.
SPEAKER_02That sounds like German engineering. It would probably take a team of 20 guys to fix it if it ever broke. Yep.
SPEAKER_04More packed up the sidecar.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And so you the event all in all went pretty well.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Several, several events here lately. I've done three air shows, I think, in about the last six weeks. Yeah, I think I cut two.
SPEAKER_04So it's been about the trail. You said you were going to go to Dallas next, correct?
SPEAKER_02Uh no, did Dallas, so did Las Cruces, and then just a few weeks later, did Dallas turned around two weeks after that, did an air show uh about uh 25, 30 miles from here, uh, which was that was great. I was uh the only World War II representative. Um but um it was really cool. It was the first time, and this was new for me, it was the first time to put together an act for Vietnam. And if there's any guys that love Vietnam that are listening, and guys and gals, so five days before this air show, I get a call from the air boss. Uh, hey Jeff, there's gonna be a Huey there. Do you think you can put together a script and we can recreate uh what it was like to rescue a downed pilot behind enemy lines in Vietnam? Uh okay. And uh he said, All right, well, I'm gonna call you on Wednesday and we'll we'll hash everything out, see if you can get your script done before then. So in 48 hours, I became an expert on the air rescue service in Vietnam. Started reading all kinds of books, all kinds of articles, um, you know, journals and things, everything that I could get my hands on uh to figure out how it was done. There is no how it was done, uh just by the way. There's no standard that I could find. Um there were several different uh variants of helicopters that were used. Of course, um you had all the other compliments with the Sky Raiders or the O2 Bird Dogs and all the other aircraft that kind of made it possible. Um, but one interesting thing I learned was the very first helicopter rescue was in Burma in 1944.
SPEAKER_04Now I knew we had three and but I didn't know we were we had them out earlier than that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. I mean I've seen a few pictures of the of the choppers on uh Iwo Jima, and I've you know they were used for um downed airmen rescue. But yeah, it was a um let me see if I can pull up the it was a Y R4, and we only had about 30 at the time, and it was actually a British um uh well it was British that were wounded, I think. It was an American pilot and an L1, but I think he had a couple British uh wounded soldiers, and they had to put it down, they had to put the aircraft down, and they couldn't get to them except for with this YR4. So they picked him up in the chopper, and the YR4 brought them somewhere else where another aircraft could get in and evacuate the wounded. So it was essentially the first helicopter rescue was in World War II. That blew my mind. Um so we just we put the script together, and I called in some reenactors from Louisiana and all over the place, and we all came together to uh so I would narrate what was going on as this Huey was flying around making gun run passes with the pyrotechnics. Our guys are out there with a couple M16s and an M14 and a prick 77, like they've got comms with the Huey pilot. They pop smoke, and after a few gun run passes, the chopper lands and they they enter on either side of the chopper, and they had a harness that that the pilot had put in them, you know, prior to put under their uniform. So he clips them in, so they're they take off with their feet dangling off the sides, and they do some photo passes in front of uh the crowd. Of course, Fortunate Sun's playing in the background, and Vietnam vets are crying, oh my god, that was amazing!
SPEAKER_01Oh the Huey, you know. So I had never unmistakable. Absolutely, just two rotors or two blades slap in the air, you know.
SPEAKER_04When I moved to Cape Coral, we have the Lee County, we call it the Lee County Air Force, but they do mosquito control because it's all swamp land out here. And for the first 10 years, it was in a Huey, and you always heard it coming and boom, boom, foom, boom, boom. It's like here comes the mosquito, here comes the Lee County Air Force. But yeah, for years they just they were up in there in a Huey. We have some of my members of my um 2nd Ranger Battalion, they and um the Florida Regimental Combat Team, they do Vietnam, and one of our reenactors um flies. He's a certified pilot, but he uh also flies for the uh Military Vehicle Preservation Society. And so whenever they do their Vietnam shows that some of the places airspace, you know, obviously granted, they have a fire base set up and they'll have the Huey come in, and our guys will do the same thing. They go in there and clip in and fly in and out, and it's just it's so cool to see. They've been trying to get me to join. It's like I I can't put together another impression. I I I can't even begin to, you know, start trying to get a you know, an AR, make it look like an M16, and like well, the boots and all stuff. It's like I I just don't, I don't, I I just can't. I just can't I won't allow myself to.
SPEAKER_01I don't have the energy for another war.
SPEAKER_04I don't have the space for another war.
SPEAKER_02Uh but it, you know, it was it was cool, it was a lot of fun. It was it was new for me, and of course the only problem is we totally rocked it, so we're gonna have to do it again. Yeah, and again. Um uh but yeah, and then I think the biggest update that I can't wait to tell everybody about, and I think like I said, I think Dennis kind of kind of lets you in on this, and and we're gonna be roping you in in some capacity uh once this thing gets rolling. Uh so hope you don't mind me talking about it on WTSB. But uh we um we've got a team of five. Well, I shouldn't say team, it's it's it's our board. Um Dennis and I finally kind of got the nudge uh that all of the stars and planets finally aligned, and what we've been talking about for years now has finally come to fruition. We have started a World War II-based nonprofit. Now, of course, the nonprofit status is pending. It takes a little while. Um, but just you know, the conversations that Dennis and I have had over the years and and all the experiences that we've had, it's just honestly, it's about time. And you know, this thing is born out of necessity, honestly, as we are losing losing, you know, our World War II veterans just due to the nature of you can't live forever. And we want to make sure that all of these stories are preserved um in some capacity because Dennis, I think, you know, he he found an unbelievable statistic that uh you know it could be as many as 90% of Americans have a direct lineage to a World War II veteran based off of you know the birth rates through the generations. So that's not an exact math.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, please.
SPEAKER_02Do you mind?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_03No, yeah. It's it's pretty um it's pretty cool. Um speak up a little bit since you don't have your mic close by So here's the uh here's the math on that. Sixteen point four million men and women served during World War II. World War II veterans overwhelmingly became parents, and the majority returned home and started families. The estimated average number of children per World War II veteran family was two point eight per veteran based on U.S. fertility rates in the late 1940s and the 50s. So 16.4 million veterans times two point eight children comes out to 46 million children of World War II veterans. Those children had children, the baby boomers had Generation X. Average children per baby boomer was two. So forty-six million times two is ninety-two million grandchildren of World War II veterans, and then Generation X had kids, and theirs was 1.8. So 92 million times 1.8 is 165 million great-grandchildren of World War II veterans, combining all the generations still alive today to include the baby boomers, Generation X, and the millennials, you get 303 million people alive today in the US with a direct family link to a World War II veteran.
SPEAKER_04And those are kind of conservative numbers. Yeah, those are kind of conservative numbers because as you're going through them like, well, my grandfather had four kids, and then my mom alone had three kids.
SPEAKER_03My grandpa had six.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Yeah. My sister had a kid, I had two, and then you know, each one of them, you know, my aunt had three sons, and my other aunt had three daughters, and my uncle had two, you know, son and daughters. So yeah, I mean, those are conservative numbers. And yeah, it's and and you know, we're all guilty of it, depending on where we live. Here in America, we only think about Americans who have ancestors, but no, everybody around the planet was involved in this thing, and regardless of what military they served for or what civilian population was affected by this, I mean, we think oftentimes when we think World War II, we think of the direct impact of vets, which here in the United States and Canada makes sense, right? Because the war wasn't brought to us. But you know, you're on these islands in the Pacific, or you're in one of these countries over in Europe where, you know, yeah, you none of your direct family members served in the military, but your grandfather's house was bombed, or you're you know, your your great aunt was killed in a in you know a bomb strike. Yeah, it would make perfect sense that so many so uh such a large populace of the earth has some sort of relative connection to anything based around World War II. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and so you know, with that kind of reach, um, it really it it it it puts the uh significance of this nonprofit in in real time, in real numbers, um, how big this really could get. So essentially we're calling it the conservators of the greatest generation or COG, the acronym C O G G. Um, so it's uh to me it's perfectly fitting for what we want to do in preserving, protecting, and honoring the legacy uh of our World War II veterans through numerous uh avenues of of protection and preserving them through uh documents, letters, journals, photographs, artifacts. Um that's that's the tangible things. Um, but then also the fundraising for uh authors, historians, potentially other nonprofits, other museums that may not have the budget. Um, you know, so it's just it goes on and on uh with what we're uh it's ambitious. I think it's the best of it's it's ambitious, it's huge. Um and it's it's a little scary because there's five of us right now that are um been working very hard to kind of nurture this thing and kind of you know mold it into what we want it to be, but then once we release this thing, um the potential impact is going to be enormous. And and Don, of course, you know, now more than ever, we wish geographically you were a little closer to us because the event that we're planning for February is really gonna knock your socks off.
SPEAKER_04February of this coming year and 26?
SPEAKER_02February 20, yeah, February of 26. Um, we've got an event that we are really wanting to plug. And Dennis, do you think we do you want to go ahead and talk some of the details? You want us to hold back a little bit? Sure. Okay. Yeah, so this is this is Dennis's baby, and I just wanted to I want everybody to be aware of that because without Dennis really finding some of this out um and and making these contacts, it wouldn't be possible. I'm just happy to be a part of this thing. But um, from a previous guest here on Wilster Scuttlebutt, and you remember Andrew Boer and the story of the Weslico bate, uh, which among those was Harlan Block, who's now made infamous as one of the Iwo Jima flagraisers. Uh Harlan was from a small town here, South Texas, Westlico. He enlists on the roof of a building. The building was the Marine Corps induction building at the time in San Antonio. Uh, but for whatever reason, these boys wanted to enlist on the roof, um uh which is cool, right? Why why not? Right? Yeah, the beautiful skyline of San Antonio in the 1940s, what a cool thing to do, is a flagpole. And um lo and behold, after seeing this photo, Dennis finds the building and links up with the owner, and then shows the owner, hey, um, this is what happened on the roof of your building. This guy right here did this, and of course, shows the the famous flag raising photo on Suribachi. So now there was a buy-in from the building owner and um the drive and the initiative to um to preserve this and to um honestly to expose the history here to to educate people that this is what happened here. So Dennis created this program to uh designing several plaques that will be um revealed in February, close to the anniversary of not only Harlan Block enlisting in the Marine Corps, but of course the anniversary to the famous photo of the flag raising. Um and we've now since partnered with the Marine Corps, who's actually going to swear in several boots that night at the event. Um and just to kind of honor the history of the building, the history of the Marine Corps and the legacy there, and then of course, specifically Harlan Block and those other boys from Weslico that um you know answered the call for their country um and especially for Harlan, you know, didn't get to come home uh and and and enjoy it today. So again, when you think about the reach of an event like that, uh the potential that it's going to have, and like Dennis uses the word perfectly, the pilgrimage that Marines are going to make to this rooftop. How many Marines are now going to re-enlist right here at this new um plaque dedicated spot at this flagpole? You know, people choose the Alamo, people choose all things that are dear to them. Um, but any of those Marines who who love history, uh, to be able to stand exactly where Harlan Block stood, I once word gets out, they're gonna be busy.
SPEAKER_04Two questions. One, uh obviously it's gonna take longer than four months to get this done, but has there been any talks by the building owner to try to get this registered as a historical landmark so that the building in itself can be protected in the future?
SPEAKER_03That's Dennis's language. So I uh I contacted, I I worked with the city of San Antonio, um, the seventh largest city in the United States, and I put together a uh dossier of the documents from Harlan Block's actual induction document from his paper, which shows the heading United States Marine Corps, Southern Recruiting District Headquarters, San Antonio, Texas, 118 Broadway, this very same building, the very same address, the very same rooftop. Um, I then also included the picture of Harlan, of course, denoting Harlan Bloch in the photograph, and then Harlan Bloch in the famous flag raising photograph. Um and put together, you know, pictures, uh documentation, this and that, um historical significance, and uh submitted the documents to uh the city's uh historical uh preservation branch. And uh I heard back, uh I actually I didn't hear back for a couple weeks, and I kind of reached out and was like, hey, I'm just wondering what the progress is. I'm hoping that that I would what I provided was adequate. And she chuckled on the phone and she says, actually, I was showing some of my coworkers the documentation you provided this morning. We've never had better documentation for a history plaque. She says, This could serve uh as the hallmark for how this sort of uh documentation should be provided because it the way it's done, Mr. Blocker. It's it it's like you can't even deny that she's like it's it it's important and it needs to happen. No follow up requests.
SPEAKER_04So the city of San Antonio no follow-up request for information on our behalf. You've already given it right, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And so she's like, Yes, it's it's it's definitely gonna happen. And so we did uh get the proof uh of the plaque, uh the city. It's called uh it's their history here uh program. It comes with a QR code, the the picture of the guys wearing in will be on the cover of the plaque, the front of the plaque, and then a little uh information about you know the the fact that the building was used as an induction center for the Marine Corps during World War II, uh that Harlan Bloch was involved and that he would raise the flag at Iwo Jima, and that thousands of young men from across South Texas were inducted there. And what's great is that there's a QR code that they have on the plaque that folks and visitors and tourists can and Marine Corps pilgrims can uh scan, and um it takes them to further information, videos that we'll make and documentation, extra photographs, stuff like that.
SPEAKER_04Now, is the building already kind of set up where it's easy access to this location, or is the building manager gonna have to owner gonna have to kind of do a little uh finagling and reconstruction on the inside to accommodate people's requests?
SPEAKER_03So I think that the the location of the plaques is is almost uh I don't think it could have been better because it's almost a Goonies sort of a thing where you have to go through a hatch and you have to emerge onto it's got its it's gonna become its own lore, I think, because of the way you have to get what do you think, Jeff?
SPEAKER_04It's like it's not it's not convenient, and I think it adds to it because it's not at some point if this thing kind of becomes the pilgrimage you guys kind of foresee it to be, is the building the sides of the building, or is there a potential area where they could uh add an external staircase so that a large pipe a larger group of people might be able to get up there if it gets to that point, or is this basically going to be an access upon request type situation? I think that'd be better to tell, but these are just questions that pop into my head because obviously I haven't seen the building.
SPEAKER_03I think that part of the um the the draw is going to be the fact that it is um the way it is right now, and that people have to go to the sixth floor on the elevator, they can only get to the roof by taking the side stairwell goes up to the anti-room brick building on top of the building, which you then go through this sealed door to this old staircase wooden staircase that goes to a half door that you have to bend over to get out to onto the roof. I think that whole thing is just yeah, I I think it's gonna be part of the pull of it. And I think if anyone tried to make it better, there would be a lot of pushback on um trying to make it more convenient. And um yeah. But I I do think though that that um Lawrence and I, the the building owner, we we've talked extensively, and I and I told him the reality is that when Marines find out about the significance of this place, and my nephew Seth is uh uh is a Marine, and he and his buddies um have permission from Mr. Siderly, the building owner, to make a uh first sergeant's cross, uh, which they're going to uh about seven foot cross that they'll put up there, and in the middle it will have the bronze um uh imprint of the flag raising at Iwo and across the uh crossbar of the cross, it will say Semper Fidelis. And uh the Seth told me that in Marine Corps um history and uh uh legacy that when the Marines visit a place like that that has such a cross, they bring extra rank in a pin form and they push it into the wood of the cross. And this is something that Lawrence. Is is very, very excited about the Marine Corps history and the lore. And we've talked about the fact that what we'll probably end up doing is having a a website portal that people can sign up for tours between maybe one and three on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And they'll have folks that can then uh Lawrence sees it as something that people actually put on their to-do list when they visit San Antonio, especially if they have Marine Corps history in their in their families. And then as more and more people visit it, I mean, I absolutely see more and more plaques going up there, different units, and uh uh the the cross becoming absolutely full of pins and needing another cross. Um and uh you know, and Jeff, do you want to tell them about the flags?
SPEAKER_04Well, real quick, did the building owner have any idea of any of the historical significance? That he I think they did some Marine Corps stuff here in Paris, just completely you just you just turn his whole life upside down, and then he came rocking on his office floor like hey fella the building belonged to his dad, and uh he grew up there.
SPEAKER_03And as a kid, his dad he says, Hey, I can hang it, make some extra money. And so his dad says he threw him a big old wad of keys to the whole entire building and says, Sure, go clean stuff. So Lawrence know he knows every nook and cranny of that building and grew up in that building, and he had no idea the history. And what's even better is that it all the induction part of the Marine Corps was on the sixth floor where all of his offices are, the offices of the building, it's all on the sixth floor, and it's just it's just great.
SPEAKER_04It'll be interesting at some point upon research, if somebody finds some old microfilm of a newspaper throwing an article about the recent batch of inductees coming out of there one day or something.
SPEAKER_03For sure.
SPEAKER_04So more information on this event you guys are talking about. It's gonna be February-ish. What date? I mean, I know is this hard set, or are you guys still in planning phases right now?
SPEAKER_02No, yeah, it's a hard set for February 21st, and um, which is a Saturday afternoon. Um, of course, it's because of the nature of the building space, it is a limited capacity um, you know, type event. So uh when we do start really publicly uh promoting it, that's gonna have to be very evident, you know, that we're we're looking for essentially two types of people. One that will actually come to help support, but then two, folks that may not be able to come but would like to support in other ways, you know, specifically donations to make sure that these plaques are done well. And um, you know, we may be uh not replacing, but I think there's going to be some um repair to the flagpole or potentially a larger flagpole to house not just the American flag and Texas flag that fly there now, but to be able to put a decent sized uh Eagle Globe and anchor up there. So, I mean, on top of the six-story building, uh, you'll be able to see that from many blocks around San Antonio. So any Marine or former Marine is gonna see that and go, what is that? What is going on? They're gonna want to know. Uh it's gonna make them curious. And and the building owner wants that. He wants people to go, wait, what is that? What does this plaque mean? You know, down at the street level, the historical significance. Okay, I want to go inside and see what's going on here. And that's what he's hoping is part of the draw as well. It's just the fact that there's a Marine Corps EGA flying above it.
SPEAKER_04You need a big brass one so the sign the sun reflects off of it like a beacon. Now they have the brass one. So for this particular event day, when you guys do this ceremony, this opening, are you going to have any sort of like mannequins like Steve in the background or any sort of um original era kind of gear? Not uh not as permanent fixtures, but as part of this grand opening ceremony. Is there going to be more modern suit tied type of thing? What's the theme you guys were discussing for the particular grand opening ceremony?
SPEAKER_02Well, obviously, you know, we want as many active duty Marines as there as possible, so their uniforms don't look much different if they're in their blues. Uh and then yeah, Dennis and I are working on getting you know several volunteers in P-41s, P42s, World War II Marine Corps gear. Uh, I'm gonna put my Jeep on display. Uh we're gonna have another guy with his uh World War II Jeep table displays, combat gear. It doesn't necessarily I I think we're gonna just try to display a lot of as much as we can about World War II. Obviously, this is very marine heavy, but not necessarily Marine, you know, and it doesn't have to be entirely Marine Corps related. You know, this is World War II. So uh Dennis wants like a USO theme, you know, a 40s band playing like you're you know, Bob Hope's about to walk out in front of this giant 48-star flag banner. Um, so yeah, there's there's there's a lot of things to talk through. There'll be drinks and appetizers and I don't think we've covered this.
SPEAKER_04What is the modern current use of this building? Is it a library? Is it a warehouse? Is it a sports bar? What's what's the current is it office space with sublet units? What's the current use of this? And is there are you guys gonna have is there like a meeting room you guys want to have the the band play in and things like that?
SPEAKER_03The building is occupied by just a myriad of different kinds of businesses. It is an office space. So there's life insurance and there's architects and there's lawyers and law offices and uh graphic designers, and as far as where the uh the event's gonna take place, uh we're gonna utilize a lot of the garage space, which is uh underneath the buildings, um so to speak. Um the building envelops the garage space, and so it's kind of a nifty place to have people uh gather and having a band there, the acoustics would be great. Um plus if it's there's any inclement weather, it it's not gonna people will have a place to you know go inside. But um and then you we we go through what's called the uh the history hall, it's this long white hallway of glass cases that they're refurbishing, which they're going to place a bunch of uh pictures from the building when it was when it was just a skeleton with uh steel beams, and uh and then one of the glass cases now is going to be all about the Marine Corps influence in the building. Um I had uh Captain Gaskin is the executive officer of the uh Marine Corps um Southern Recruiting District for Texas, including San Antonio, and he's uh uh offered to uh provide me a letter of introduction because to your point specifically, Don, I I want to get a hold of the uh museum, the uh the Marine Corps Museum, because I want to see if there's any photographs of this place.
SPEAKER_04Surely there were some guys snapping photographs, or even some cool documentation, you know, of enlistment cards or records that you know they're sure out of there. That'd be very cool.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So and and and I do like your idea of um microfilms. So you you've actually inspired me. I'm one of these weekends I'm gonna go down to the San Antonio Public Library and pull up the old microfish from uh you know that time period and uh and see what I can find.
SPEAKER_04See what the San Antonio Star Herald has. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03San Antonio Light, San Antonio Herald.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's awesome. I'm uh super excited for you guys. Um I mean that is hugely impactful. I just I this guy just going about his business, and here comes Dennis. Can I see your roof? What I want to see your roof. What for? Cable guy? No, I heard some fellas that did something 80 years ago I'm interested in.
SPEAKER_03I mean it's it's wild. I I go from knowing nothing uh to now on my keychain, I have keys to the building. And the crazy thing is wild.
SPEAKER_04And the crazy thing is, is I can remember when we were doing that episode. I think Dennis even mentioned something like I won't take a look at that. You mentioned like you could see the gears turning in your head when that photo came up. You're like, San Antonio, huh? Hmm. And it wasn't too much longer, you were sending messages like, I think uh I think we found this bad boy.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's right. Yeah, because I know San Antonio has a rich history of of not like they'll get a building, but they'll not allow you to to tear it down if it's got some significant um architectural designs. And so seeing the pediment and that flagpole, I knew there was there was just no way they were gonna tear it down.
SPEAKER_04So it had to be somewhere, and it just so happened the first right turn I took walking, I look up and there's uh Travis and Broadway as the is the flagpole in the the And if I remember the photo very if I remember the photo correctly, I think the pony wall around it kind of had some very unique ornate like design to it that you could easily spot. You know, it's not just a square flat roof that looks like the one.
SPEAKER_03Thankfully, yeah, it had a very unique, its own unique uh pediment um that the flagpole was behind. So it's just so easy to match up. And uh, but you know, as a historians, you know, and and writers, you're still you have to be super skeptical, right? Yes, you have to do your due diligence. So when we got uh Harlan Bloch's service record and saw his induction papers with the heading, the heading says US Marine Corps Headquarters, San Antonio, 118 Broadway. I mean, it's the same exact address, and they're on the roof, and it's it's pretty awesome. Uh the commander at the time was uh Captain Donald Taft. And uh yeah, so I've I've got some um investigating to do on that end.
SPEAKER_04Is the Harlan Block family or any of the other men from the Wesleyo 8 Wesleo 8 photo of any of them been reached out to the family about this event in anything in any sort of capacity?
SPEAKER_03Oh yes, yes, I I think there'll be five of the eight families that will come. Um the Harlan Block family, as you can imagine, they're uh inundated, right? By this point in time, they're over. Like they are moving on with their life, and they've done as much as they can to honor his memory and his sacrifice. So um, you know, you have to we have to respect that that you know, goodness grace, it's it's been 80 years and they've had countless requests for you know information and access, and they're they're just it's a daily occurrence for them. Yeah, yeah, they're just seeking peace. So I mean it would be great to have um uh members of the family there, and I think that will probably happen is uh years down the road, we'll hear, man, I wish that we had, you know, or I wish that someone had got a hold of our side of the family.
SPEAKER_04But um, you know, we're who knows if if what you guys foresee this location becoming at some point, you know, someone in the family might say, Hey, I understand there's some historical stuff. Here's some letters, or here's something by all means. And then they'll check out the last one last group of people who'll be reaching out to us.
SPEAKER_03I gotta reach out to you guys. You have them.
SPEAKER_04Well, fellas, um, I'm super excited for that. Um, I don't know, we'll get together off air, maybe. Um, I don't know, maybe we can figure out a way to get from me to get out there and we'll we'll that would be amazing. See what we can do. But I don't see any other reason to try to cram anything else into this episode. I think it's been a very good episode, and to try to pinhole anything else into it would just be an injustice to that particular topic. I say we we wrap it up here. Any any um rebutes or uh requests or anything of that nature?
SPEAKER_03I agree. I think it was great.
SPEAKER_02I'm yeah, no, I we'll we'll definitely we'll talk our other topic next time because I am pumped about that. But uh yeah, we just ask all of our listeners to kind of follow along and follow us as as we go through this process and opening up this this organization that that all three of us will be playing a part in in some way. And uh because you know, we all have the passion and and it's gonna take you know a lot of hands to to make COG truly successful and and it's gonna be it already is way bigger than us. Um so you know, we're just building our social media and and our website now. Um so uh Dennis, if you wanted to send him that information, you can if you wanted to share it or where you can wait. Um but just just a really truly special thing to be a part of. Um, you know, anytime anytime we're remembering World War II veterans in any way through our podcasts, through our books, through our stories, through our artifacts, you know, we're doing something right. And um I saw a quote just earlier today that said that a a generation that doesn't remember its past has no future. And that's a pretty powerful thing. So um, you know, they are they are slipping away, but we're gonna make sure that they don't go away, if that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_04One last announcement, um, because I don't think no, it's relatively new. The what's the scuttlebutt podcast now has its own dedicated freestanding YouTube page. I've been slowly transitioning all the old videos from D410 Media over to the new platform, and I've added the RSS feed to all the existing now, not all 217 shows are available because of space limitation. So, because of how web hosting works over the years, I've been deleting some of the older episodes and then some of those get redistributed as best of, but because of space limitation, not all of them are up there. But all the all the shows that are actively available for download through RSS feeds are also being sent over there. So you can either watch them through YouTube, or if you have the YouTube podcast app, you can subscribe and actually listen to the audio for version of this podcast as well as watch all the videos. They're not all there yet. It's a long, long transition. I gotta download, I literally have to download each video, copy the description, copy all the hashtags, copy the thumbnail from D410 Media, wait until it downloads, switch over to what's the scale button, upload it. So it's going to take some time. But with all that being said, all the videos that were over on analog 410, which was our backup page, have already been transitioned over there. I think there's already 100 episodes up there.
SPEAKER_03I'm really glad.
SPEAKER_04All the new ones are on their way, and then what we're gonna do in the future is whenever we do a video, some of you guys may have noticed, sometimes we'll take an hour and a half show, cut down to a 30-minute clip, and then I post it. So what I'm gonna do in the future, just until people all transition over, because we have such a larger audience on D410 Media, the full versions of the show will be sent over to the What's the Scuttlebutt YouTube page, and then the abbreviated preview version will be put up on 410 media pointing people to go subscribe to the what's the scuttlebutt YouTube page and to watch the full version. So if you guys are subscribed to both channels, you might see a video twice, but one of them will be the shorter one because we're we're pushing 5,000 subscribers on D410 Media, and I don't want to lose that as an advertising base for what's the scuttlebutt. So the full versions of the videos will be over on what's the scuttlebutt, all the full version of the audio will be over there as well, and then I'll put up the short preview versions on D410 Media pointing people over to what's the scuttlebutt. So that hopefully the subscription base will already transfer over there, and it's it's already building pretty quickly.
SPEAKER_03That's awesome.
SPEAKER_04I want to put that out there and we want to hear from you guys. We haven't done this in a while. We're really here at D410 Media, we're horrible at self-promotion, but and we're horrible about little things like asking you to email us at mail call at wtsp worldwar two.com. So send us an email at WTSP WWII.com, just like it says on your books, ww II.com. Email us complaints, comments, suggestions. We've said this before. You guys know this world war two is a huge, huge swath. The three of us can only cover so much, the three of us can only be uh embedded in so much. So if you have a part of the war that you think we need to cover or that you yourself know a lot about, because I know there's a lot of the living historians on here. You feel you can come on and share your topic with us, pretend like we're the the crowd in front of your living display tent, and you want to talk about something particular, reach out to us at mail call. That's mail call at WTSP WorldWar 2.com. We'll happily have you on the show. And uh thank you guys for your continued support. I'm excited to see what uh Dennis and uh and Jeff and Cog have coming up. And uh oh hey this West go ahead.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, this we need to uh say congratulations to Jeff freaking worked his butt off for years and years and burning midnight oil, and he is officially a historian.
SPEAKER_04Somebody has to lend somebody has to lend some credibility to this podcast.
SPEAKER_03We have actually certified his late nights, late nights typing away when he wanted to be sleeping, but he pushed through it all that hard work, and uh he is a bona fide. That's awesome. He's bona fide, he's a suitor, he's bona fide, and uh that's that's to be commended because that is a lot of hard work and it takes it takes a lot to do, and I'm very, very proud of him. And uh yeah, it's it's awesome. Well done.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, I I appreciate that guys, and you know, it's it's it's easy to say now that it's all over, but you know, um really the best way I can sum it up is you know, behind every good man is a great woman, and it wouldn't have happened without her. So um, you know, even even four-star generals have bosses. So it really doesn't matter how high you get, it's always the one behind you that nobody sees that really made it possible. So uh, you know, she's she's the one that really kept uh kept everything going. And you know, we've said this before in the war effort too. It took about eight people on the home front to supply that one soldier. So uh I think that's just another um just another way to remember um what it truly takes and sacrifice, and and we're gonna talk about that next episode when we invade the island of Tarawa for the anniversary. So looking forward to talking about that. Hope we get our our listeners excited because I can't wait to talk about Operation Galvanic.
SPEAKER_04And on that note, we'll talk to you all next week.
SPEAKER_01This has been a digital four tin production.