A War Veteran Recalls Historic Moments

0:066 secondsyou've asked if i was ever involved in an historic event i've lived a long life 0:1313 secondsi'm 85 now so my life qualifies as a kind of history but i can't say that i recall actually being on scene 0:2222 secondsor in the room at an historic event still three historic moments come to mind 0:3030 secondswhich affected me personally the earliest such event was pearl harbor it was a sunday when i was five years 0:3939 secondsold i was lying on the floor watching embers glow and flames dance in the fireplace while my dad listened to a concert and 0:4848 secondsread the paper in a chair next to me the concert was interrupted 0:5454 secondsand i still remember the look on my dad's face at what he heard 1:021 minute, 2 secondsjohn daly's voice that afternoon has also stayed with me ever since 1:101 minute, 10 secondsthough as is characteristic of a five-year-old the memory is no more than a vignette 1:171 minute, 17 secondsa still picture in my mind it was the day of infinity we were at war 1:231 minute, 23 secondswith japan my next sharp memory was when i was eight years old 1:311 minute, 31 secondsgeneral eisenhower was to have a parade in new york right up the street outside my dad's office 1:391 minute, 39 secondsalthough it was a school day i rode into the city on the train with my dad 1:461 minute, 46 secondsi felt very grown up a woman who worked in the office was charged to get me to the parade 1:541 minute, 54 secondsdad's idea was that i would go to the roof of his office at 45 east 17th street from where we would have a vantage point 2:032 minutes, 3 secondsto watch the parade that's not how it turned out instead we went to ground level along the parade 2:122 minutes, 12 secondsroute the excitement of the crowd is what i remember but i couldn't see anything through the 2:202 minutes, 20 secondsthronged grown-ups suddenly an excited man bent down and swooped me 2:272 minutes, 27 secondsup onto his shoulders just then the open convertible with the familiar face of the general drove by 2:362 minutes, 36 secondsthat too is an image i will never forget i know now 2:432 minutes, 43 secondsthat it was june 19 1945 a day for jubilation and as general 2:502 minutes, 50 secondseisenhower put it that day today is not because one individual 2:572 minutes, 57 secondsone american came back from war it is rejoicing that a nasty job 3:043 minutes, 4 secondsis done a nation united was able to shout its joy and to steal itself 3:123 minutes, 12 secondsfor the nasty job still ahead as the parade neared dad went to the roof expecting i'd be 3:213 minutes, 21 secondsthere hence my other memory is how dad reacted thinking i had missed the whole thing 3:293 minutes, 29 secondsalthough it was disturbing at the time i still draw comfort today from his caring so long ago 3:373 minutes, 37 secondshumans are more given to compassion and mutuality than they are to conflict and war 3:453 minutes, 45 secondsas the destruction of warfare gave way to joy and peace the hard work to rebuild the lives and nations that war 3:543 minutes, 54 secondshad destroyed began we are the beneficiaries of that reconstruction 4:034 minutes, 3 secondsmay 9th 1970 was another day that stands out in my memory 4:104 minutes, 10 secondsi was 33 years old the unity of world war ii was long gone the country was in chaos over our 4:194 minutes, 19 secondsinvolvement in vietnam then explosively at the beginning of may the war which we thought was winding 4:284 minutes, 28 secondsdown was extended into cambodia soon after national guard troops fired 4:354 minutes, 35 secondson students at kent state that was a shock we feared the war might escalate into 4:424 minutes, 42 secondsworld war three coming home from work one night that week i emerged from the subway at 110th and 4:504 minutes, 50 secondsbroadway to find someone selling tickets for a round-trip bus ride to washington dc the following saturday 4:594 minutes, 59 secondsfor a rally the tickets were obviously subsidized since they cost only five dollars round-trip 5:085 minutes, 8 secondsso i bought four for my wife and me and our two children eight and ten i thought it might be a good learning experience 5:165 minutes, 16 secondsfor the children come saturday we were up before dawn for the long ride to washington 5:255 minutes, 25 secondssure enough there were the buses lined up on 110th street just east of broadway oddly the buses had driven down through 5:335 minutes, 33 secondsthe night from montreal to take us on south the trip began routinely enough 5:415 minutes, 41 secondsbut about halfway we got our first idea of where the subsidies had come from 5:485 minutes, 48 secondsas we passed philadelphia someone took the bus microphone to begin to tell us about how trotsky 5:565 minutes, 56 secondswas a true communist this was not what folks had signed up for so there was much grumbling 6:046 minutes, 4 secondsthe trotsky connection was then and still is beyond my knowledge or understanding 6:126 minutes, 12 secondssomeone murmured that the bus had been financed by chinese communists i never did get the full story 6:206 minutes, 20 secondsi began to feel uncomfortable and questioned whether it had been a good idea to have grabbed that bargain 6:276 minutes, 27 secondsthough we were in good company surrounded by our neighbors the whole thing reached a crescendo 6:346 minutes, 34 secondswhen the guy with the mic said that they weren't going to the events on the ellipse by the white house instead 6:426 minutes, 42 secondsthey were going to demonstrate on the steps of the state department and they had brought sheep's blood with them to cover everyone 6:516 minutes, 51 secondsthat wasn't part of our plan and we weren't going to do that the bus parked at the tidal basin 7:017 minutes, 1 secondthe cherry blossoms were beautiful we went to the mall where speeches of one sort or another droned on 7:097 minutes, 9 secondsdespite the potential for drama the day was rather dull until later in the afternoon 7:177 minutes, 17 secondswhen protesters began to take off their clothes and walk around nude in the lincoln 7:247 minutes, 24 secondsmemorial reflecting pool i'm sure that was educational for our kids a rumor circulated that early in the 7:327 minutes, 32 secondsmorning a sleepless president nixon had walked to the lincoln memorial from the white house to talk with 7:407 minutes, 40 secondsdemonstrators in camp there that gave hope and the mood of the crowd turned 7:487 minutes, 48 secondspositive the festive spirit changed dramatically though as the hour approached for us to return 7:577 minutes, 57 secondsto our bus suddenly the streets were filled with army trucks converging on the crowd 8:058 minutes, 5 secondswe feared that things might turn violent we thought of kent state just one week earlier 8:128 minutes, 12 secondswe had our children with us so we started leaving the area standing at a crosswalk waiting for the 8:208 minutes, 20 secondslight to change army truck after army truck passed in front of us we saw troops with weapons 8:298 minutes, 29 secondsin the backs of those trucks but they weren't brandishing them instead the troops were giving the demonstrators 8:388 minutes, 38 secondsthe peace sign the army was comprised of citizen draftees 8:468 minutes, 46 secondsthey were with us we were safe 8:518 minutes, 51 seconds[Music] 8:578 minutes, 57 seconds[Music] 9:069 minutes, 6 secondsyou