The Eric Metaxas Show - Chad Robichaux

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

Chad tells his story of creating mighty oak's foundation that supports our veterans suffering from PTSD

Noble gold investments is the official gold sponsor of the Eric Mataxis show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals. Learn how you can protect your wealth with noble gold investments. That's noble gold investments.com. Welcome to the Eric Mataxis show. We'll get you from point A to point B. But if you're looking for point C, well, buddy, you're on your own. But if you'll wait right here in just about the two minutes, the box. The point C will be coming right by. And now here's your Ralph Cramden of the Airways, Eric Mat, Texas. Hey there, folks. Oh, boy.

Oh, boy. Am I excited? Right now, I'm sitting in the studio, in this glorious TBN studio, with my friend, Chad Robeshow. Chad, I can't believe you're here in New York. Welcome. Yeah. Well, thanks for let me come up.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's a real sacrifice. to let you come up here to New York. This studio is my second time in here. It's amazing. It's beautiful. It's beautiful.

And you know, there are people who listen to this on the radio. And I keep telling him, go to Ericmatakis.com, sign up for my newsletter. Because some of these, you really want to see the video. Trust me on this. And especially with you here. Now, look, I want to cut to the chase. You have a new book out called A Mission Without Borders, Why a Father and Son risked it all for the people of Ukraine. before I get into this book, which is, it's nuts, folks.

It's nuts. You've got to hear about this. Help my audience understand who you are because there are people. Some people know everything about you. They follow you like crazy. Other people listening right now do not know. And I'm always challenged because you are a little complicated. Where do we start with you?

Yeah, I got a definitely eclectic background. primarily my I think my foundational background is you know I'm a I'm a morning and believer I'm a Christian and I've been married for 30 years almost 30 years see this is the problem

when you have evangelical Christians as guests they all go humble oh I'm nobody I'm just a follower of the Lord Jesus and I'm a married to my bride of 30 years like no all right all right well I I totally appreciate that I have met your bride

I have met your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I'm on board with that. But you're too humble, and I want my audience to understand. To me, I don't want to embarrass you, but you're a big deal. You're a hero. You're a hero. You're an American hero. You're a patriot. So let me, maybe if I read this, I'll get you to respond. It says, you're a former force recon Marine. You served on eight deployments to Afghanistan as part of a joint Special Operations Command Task Force. You, I mean, you were, how do you describe it, an MMA fighter?

Yeah, what is your? I won an MMA world title. Excuse me. Okay, this is a classic thing. It's the people who have won an MMA world title are too humble to say, I want an MMA World Title, you've got to pull it out of them. You want an MMA world title. Chad Robes Show, that is a very, very, very big deal.

Anybody who's into the world of MMA, which you can tell from looking at me that I'm not. But that is a gigantic deal. So you serve your country in a big way. You come over here, you come back home, you get big time into mixed martial arts stuff, you get a world title. But you were ripped apart inside. You had PTSD. and almost kill yourself.

You've told that story in this program before. And as a result of all this, you find God and you start the Mighty Oaks Foundation, which is a very big. Talk just a little bit about that before we get into this other stuff. Yeah, well, coming home from Afghanistan, those eight deployments were difficult. I lost 15 friends over my deployments. I worked in a very neat. Again, I got to interrupt you.

Like, that's unbelievable. There are people who do nothing for their country. nothing. Some people don't even vote. And you served your country, you lost 15 friends. Yeah. This is a big thing. Yeah, it was tough deployments. You know, when I say I was a J-Soc Task Force, for those that know what J-Soc is, Joint Special Operations Command, that's where the premier special operations units are, C-O-Team 6, Delta

Force, Task Force, Orange, those units. And so the Marine Corps doesn't have those units, so the Marine Corps has the opportunity to participate by... giving a few slots a year. So I was very privileged to get one of those slots, about six Marines at my time, got to go and represent the Marine Corps at one of these premier special operations units.

My job was an AFO, advanced force operator. And for those I don't know what that is, it's kind of like being undercover. So I didn't live on a base and go out and kick indoors and hunt bad guys. I lived out in town in the community of Afghanistan as working with a guy named Aziz. And Ziz was my interpreter, my teammate, my friend.

And your last book was called. Saving Aziz, yeah. That's another insane story. Ladies and gentlemen, that's a book you want to get, Saving Aziz. Because I met Aziz. I was at the Mighty Oaks Foundation,

fundraiser, your gala that you had in Houston last year. And so I got to know your story. And it's, I mean, it's unbelievable stuff. It's just, it's absolutely unbelievable stuff. You're just a patriot.

And so it's, you know, when you, when you talked about, you know, people kind of talk about, well, it was suicidal, you really almost killed yourself. Yeah. When I came home from that, I don't. What we hear about the debilitating panic attacks, the anxiety, depression, the guilt, like all those things I dealt with. And, you know, in addition to dealing with the shame and the pressure of those things, I had very real physiological symptoms to where I felt debilitated like I was going to die. And for someone that kind of my personality, who's like a, you know, alpha male, go.

get her like always trying to move forward to be debilitated like that physiologically is is a shameful uh you feel like ashamed you feel like useless and uh and that led to a lot of problems in my home and led to a three year downward spiral and the end of that downward spiral was me and my wife separating filing for divorce and me making a very real attempt to take my life in 2010 and uh you know it wasn't for my wife and some amazing people who came around me to help pull me out of that and then uh And then this man stepped into my life and mentor me and disciple me into a relationship with Jesus. And that process was about a year long. And on the other side of the process, God just put a deep burden on my heart to help all the other service members that were struggling with the same things.

And that's manifested in the founding of Mighty Oaks Foundation. That was almost 15 years ago now. And through these programs, we've raised upwards of, and just that, Missed Mighty Oaks, about $50 million. But with the humanitarian efforts, we raised about $100 million. to give back and we've provided services for over half a million warriors. I've spoken about half a million warriors on military bases around the world. In our recovery programs, we've had over 6,000 people come to our recovery programs and then internationally helping people like in Ukraine and Peru and Afghanistan,

all those different places. We've rescued 17,000 people from Afghanistan. So all of these things we've been able to do just because it's a paying for an effort. You know, I paid it forward to one person and then the next person to the next. and all these years later. And you, I mean, you discovered, I mean, I'm sure there's somebody out there listening right now. When you're really in hell, there's no answer but Jesus. You were in a place where there is no answer.

Either you kill yourself or you find God. And a lot of people don't know about Jesus and they kill themselves. And your partner, Jeremy, what's his last name? Stoneacker, Jeremy's been on this program bunch of times talking about how many service members how many vets are killing themselves in this country

it's so shameful folks it's so shameful that this country allows the number they get thrown around a lot is 22 but the new VA report says 17 but ironically or you know to their benefit they've taken out jumps

they've taken out overdoses and they've taken out car crashes which Many veterans will jump. Many veterans will drive in a telephone pole, and most veterans are overdose on the medications that the VA gives them. So they've conveniently taken out those numbers. The real report, I'm told, there's probably more like 40 to 50 a day. One a day is too many, though. It doesn't matter.

So the veteran administration's lies. Of course, yeah. And the Biden administration, you've talked about them before, about how they've just been, I mean, unhelpful would be putting it really graciously in some of the stuff that you've tried to do. But you discovered that when you're in the pit, Jesus really is the answer. And I want to say to people, because there's so many people that, you know, they don't get that. I'm here to just to bluntly tell you, you need to get it. Like, it's like there's food. You're hungry.

Here it is. Jesus is the answer. Now, sometimes that's a little complicated, but doesn't need to be complicated. It doesn't. I'll tell you this. Like, so me being coming from that top special operations community, we have a lot of resources to us. Yeah. So you're not talking about somebody that had to find whatever they can find.

Like I had the best psychologist. I had the best medicine. Yeah. And I tried that. And then I had professional success. I won the accolades, money. I had all these things. But none of those things worked for me until I get Jesus shot.

It's, uh, that's, that's about it. All right. When we come back, we're going to be talking about the brand new book, A Mission Without Borders, talking to Chad Robes Show. Don't go away. There's been a national focus on eating only the healthiest of foods. And that's great news for. balance of nature. Their method of producing a vibrant nutritional supplement is second to none.

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That's Mypillow.com promo code Eric or call 800858-0-263. Promo code Eric. Welcome back. My guest is Chad Robesho. Who can spell that? I don't need to. It's not my name. Chad Robes Show, you've got a new book out called The Mission Without Borders. So tell the story. You and your son, and I know your wife was not all that happy about this, decided to risk your lives and, you know, going to Ukraine. I have to be clear. I'm not a big fan of the United States getting involved. Ukraine, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But when people are suffering, if you can help people who are suffering, that's always the right thing to do. And that's ultimately your story.

So tell the story of what happened. I do want to touch on that because it's very important to me that people understand. I am on the side of, I don't think the United States government should be given hundreds of billions of dollars to Ukraine to fightless this war. I think it only prolongs the situation and fuels into the United States. the, you know, the neocon warmongering machine. The neokin Unip Party is making a lot of money off of wars. And I never was somebody who could accept that.

Yeah. And I know that that is true. It's despicable. It is evil. And human beings suffer. That's right. Yeah. So for me, I've got a lot of heat like, why are you in Ukraine?

Zewinsky's corrupt. And I'm like, yes, Zawinsky is corrupt. And so is Joe Biden. And so as so many politicians, almost all of them, right? Unfortunately. And, but for me, like, if I let my politics get in a way of my compassion for people, then I missed a point, right? If you let your politics get away, your compassion for other humans, then you should try to

probably change your politics. For me, this is not about Zewinsky. This is not about President Biden. This is not about any politics about human beings in need that are victims to this political war. And so originally, we knew this was going to happen because when Putin, when Afghanistan, but I'll go back, the Afghanistan withdrawal happened because of President Biden's weakness, and I wouldn't even say weakness, it was deliberate decision to sell Afghanistan

to China. Okay, now, hang on, hang on, because a lot of people aren't tracking with this. Again, folks, this is demonic. This is evil. This is wicked. There's nothing neutral about this. This is not, well, we have different points of view. Biden is profoundly corrupt. He is in bed with corrupt forces. And what Chad just said, we don't have time to get into the details, but he sold out Afghanistan to China. Now, there has to have been backroom deals with China. When you look at, you know, Hunter Biden's

laptop and you start looking at all this stuff, this is nasty, nasty corruption. This is the worst thing. This is the absolute antithesis of everything who were supposed to be as a nation. This isn't a blunder or debacle or a poorly executed withdrawal

at all. This was the deliberate decision. So where people died, where where a nation is thrown under the bus because Joe Biden made some political deals, made a lot of money working with China, who is our enemy. So as a result of the nightmare of Afghanistan,

which when it happened, most people couldn't even believe it. You're like, this can't be, there's no level of incompetence that could do this. I can spend hours talking in details of that, and a lot of it is in my book, Saving Aziz. Yeah. Well, and by the way, saving Aziz, your book is being turned into a movie? It is, yeah.

Yeah. Praise God. We hit, you know, a bestseller with it. I got picked up by, I'm not supposed to say, but I'll just say it here. The guys wrote Terminalist. Who wrote what? Terminalist, which is Chris Pratt's Terminalist on Amazon, which is the number one Amazon show last year, and they were making part two.

So they, Max Adams and the writers there wrote screenplay for it. For saving Aziz. Yeah. The book is amazing. Well, anyway, so we're talking about this. So you're saying that. So the Biden administration sets this up, projects weakness, debacle in Afghanistan, which leads to Putin. Putting 100,000 troops on the eastern border of Ukraine flexing to see what this weak administration is going to do.

And the response was the White House removed our U.S. troops from Ukraine, closed our embassy consulate in Ukraine. the rest of the world, the United Nations countries, left as well. And so that left a green light for Putin to roll in, right? It was permission at that point to roll in. So a lot of people would push back on me saying, well, there was only less than 200 U.S. troops there. It doesn't matter if there was one. Article 5 violation is at risk if Putin comes in. And those are no Article 5.

If Putin would even indiscriminately injure a UN troop, then the whole world has to respond. So Putin, by President by doing that, they knew exactly what they were doing. They gave a green light to kickstart a war. And a lot of people would say, oh, this is dangerous of World War II, World War III happening. I would say that World War III is happening. I've been to Ukraine 10 times now. There's 30 countries participating in Ukraine, including the United States, China, Russia, Iran, all these countries by proxy are in World War III.

I mean, they've got every major nation in the world, including North Korea, are all in Ukraine right now fighting. We just, we just, a U.S. cluster bomb just killed 100 civilians in Crimea. Okay, a U.S. cluster bomb. So our taxpayers' money, our money, pays for something that killed a lot of people. So we are now involved in this. It's like a million civilians, a million people have already been killed. I don't know why. That's not a major headline on news right now, but over a million people have been killed in the last few years there.

This is, and by the way, President Trump continued. to say this, and I believe him, he could, and this could be in 24 hours. Oh, look, first of all, if President Trump, who actually was elected in 2020, in case you didn't realize that, if he were in the White House,

the nightmare in Afghanistan would have never happened. Putin would have never been encouraged to kind of say, hey, what can we get away with? Because evil people, you know, dark forces, they're looking for weakness. So he steps up, he does this. Then he got the whole Uniparty neocon team that they're

all in for quote unquote NATO. So Russia is the bad guy, but they, rather than trying to diffuse it, they are pushing Ukraine to become a member of NATO. Really, I mean, it's so, it's a level of cynicism that is just demonic. Like it's so that you don't care about human beings and you, you're just going to do what you can and you're going to kind of push forward your narrative. So here we are in the situation where, yeah, the people in Ukraine are suffering. Yeah. So we knew this was going to happen when I say we, not necessarily Mighty Oaks. I work with. I chair several other humanitarian operations that are run by special operations veterans.

So I'm the chairman of the board on one. And my main guy is named C-Spray. He's a former Special Forces guy who's turned, went CIA ground branch, those underwood ground branches, the paramilitary unit. He's my main guy that operate with out there. So he was already there a week before in Ukraine knowing this was going to happen. Russia rose across the border. He gives me a call. We head out.

I head out. The reason we headed out originally was to make sure Americans were able to get out because our state department, just like Afghanistan, left before our surveillance. And so we went to be able to make sure that we were able to get Americans out. One of the kind of criteria, just so people don't think I'm a warmongering, chasing opportunities, like opportunists. One of our criteria for the things we do is if the government can't or won't, then we will. If the government can or will, then there's no reason for us to get in. In fact, we de-conflict.

We did conflict everything with the Pentagon or J-Socke, so we have those relationships. Always work directly with the CIA solo special operations liaison officer. So I'm not like a bunch of veterans going out there on my own doing this. So you're not Rambo. Right. And don't want to be. I have plenty of enough on my plate. But when the United States has a civilian of interest, whether it's American or someone we care about, in a war zone, there's three things that happen.

One is we'll use diplomatic action. Yeah. Second is military action. Third is covert action. A fourth option would be someone like me who says the government can't or won't, so a fourth option would work in conjunction. But what are we to make in the fact that this despicable administration would not do this and that they would make effectively you and others risk your lives to do what our government ought to be doing?

Yeah, well, I mean, they want casualties because casualties gives them the backing of the American. So if there's American casualties there, if there's Ukrainian civilian casualties, then America's going to be like, of course we need to help, right? It's playing on a compassion of the goodhearted American people who want to help people that can't help themselves, and that's how they get the buy-in. So they need casualties. It's like the school shootings, right? You need a school shooting.

What could possibly be more cynical, more dark? I mean, it's just hard to believe. This is evil. It's just, it's so, it's, there's no other word for it. The idea that you would want people to die so that it furthers your agenda. and you can get to do what you want to do. It's just unbelievable. So in any case.

It pains me to say, I've got to say this, Eric, it pains me to say, and this is me speaking on behalf of like dozens of special operations veterans who gave everything. They gave their youths, their youth, they gave their lives, they sacrificed from their families, they gave up their friends, their health, their physical parts of their body, that all of us are saying right now that we are no longer to good guys. I said it as a patriot who loves this country, America right now is no longer to do. good guys when it comes to geo-politics. Well, this is why if you don't, if you don't vote and if bad guys like Biden get in, you're guilty, ladies and gentlemen. If you didn't vote, I hope you feel very guilty about that. I hope you repent. And I hope you become an activist citizen because

human beings are suffering, not just in this country around the world. When we come back, I want to talk to you, Chad, specifically about what you cover in this book. The book folks, is called a mission without borders, why a father and son risked it all for the people of Ukraine, not for Zelensky, who's corrupt, but for the people of Ukraine. We'll be right back talking to Chad Robeshow. Welcome back talking to Chad Robeshow. Brand new book, A Mission Without Borders,

Why a Father and Son risked it all for the people of Ukraine. Okay, so what happened? Well, so I get to Ukraine. Sea sprays there and we start looking for people that need it help to get out of Ukraine. I mean, everyone's, when you talk in the beginning, the first days, February 24th, 2020, the line is days to get out. So this is, so you're going into a war zone. Putin has unleashed hell on the Ukraine and there are Americans stuck there that our government is not getting out. And so you go there with your son to help get them out.

And one thing that makes sure people understand, like, people think, oh, there's always somebody like special operations or CIA behind the scenes. No, the White House forbid. Delta Force was sitting in Krakow, Poland, itching to go across to rescue Americans, and they were forbidden. Why? Because the White House would not let them cross that border. Why? I would think because of what I said earlier, they want those casualties and they don't want to interfere. They don't want to interfere because they want this thing to progress.

I mean, an American casualty is a, is a, it feeds into the narrative that we need to be giving money to make you. I hate to overuse the word. It's this demonic. It is. It is unbelievable. Demonic nihilism and cynicism toward human lives, toward American lives. It's just. You're talking about the most willing, patriotic, and capable people on the planet, Delta Force, and who's, and you'll never hear this from anyone.

but I'm telling you, I have the insider. They're sitting in Krakow, Poland. I'm sitting across from them, having dinner with them, and they're just so upset because we're getting to go across and they can't, you know, because these are some of our friends. And in the CIA, same thing, the ground branch, and that's what their job is, to go rescue Americans. They're not allowed to do it.

So we're going to go and do that. And so there's a number of rescues we've done. One of the highlights is we got a call from the Pentagon and the Special Operations Lia officer in Poland for the CIA, asking us to go rescue Benjamin Hall, the Fox News reporter Benjamin Hall. And when we got the call, we're sitting in our safe house in Poland, right at the border.

And I'm Reese Spray. We're all in, you know, kind of putting our equipment together and kind of laughing and playing. And overseas spray picks up the phone, and he gives us a hand signal to be quiet. He starts writing stuff down. He puts down the phone and he says, there's a Fox News reporter, Benjamin Hall.

His team was killed. Sasha, the Fox correspondent in Ukraine. Pierre, Zosseski, who is a 25-year Foxx Corps cameraman, their security team. And Benjamin Hall is alive. They didn't know how long he's going to be alive, but he's like, the United States is not able to go get him. He has a wife and two little girls at home. And if we in this room right now don't go, he's not going to live. Now, you have to realize that at a time, Russia is encircled Kiev, the capital, and everybody thinks it's going to fall that night. So that's where he's at.

And there was nine people in our room at that time, and everyone raised their hand. Because the seat spray is like, if we don't go get him, he's not going to live. Who's in? Nine of us in there. Everybody raised their hand. Eight special operations veterans. One professional baseball player, Adam LaRoche just happened to be there for dinner. And he's like, I'll drive.

So I got to always give him credit for that. But at that time, we decided to go get him. My son grabs a bag and goes to throw it in the vehicle. I know we don't have a lot of time, but I got to say this. This is how incredible God is. With one hour before that, we had got all the assets in place. We call this access and placement, the ability to build to go places. All the assets in place to be able to do this one hour before.

We knew we needed to get, about to get past curfews and everything. We need ambulance, ambulance vehicles. We needed paperwork. So any kind of paperwork with official, put a stamp on it. It's good to go. Badges. We made some badges and EMT uniforms. That gave us access around.

So we spent all week building, putting that, together. And about an hour before, we got that in place. When we got the call within only an hour, we're capable. And I think God orchestrated that to go rescue Benjamin Hall. But my son threw a bag in the vehicle and C-spray says, hey, Hunter thinks he's going, but I need him in the operation center to monitor. He stayed back with the solo to about to monitor the operation. And my son thought I was benching him, which previously, Afghanistan evacuations, I benched him because I didn't want him to be involved in that. I put him in Dubai. I mean, he's a Marine. He's Afghanistan veteran, he's seen combat. He's very capable, he's very smart, and God had burdened

his heart to do these things, but I'm a father, and I don't want to put my son in harm's way, especially as someone that's part of this operation. So we went rescued Benjamin Hall. We got him back across the border. For those who know his wounds are catastrophic, he lost a leg, a foot, a hand that they reattached, an eye. He had shrapin on his throat. He was probably not going to make it. But we got him across the border. The U.S. military, the 80-second air, Boy was waiting on the other side of the border when we got him across, handed him off. They flew him to launch dual Germany to eventually to Brookharmine Medical Center in Texas. And now he's on his prosthetics and dancing.

He did a video of him dancing. It made him back with his wife and little girls. Then we were asked to go back and get Pierre Zuchensky's body. Zussetsky's body. And we said no, because we're not going to go in Kiev, which is under siege at the time and risk our teammates to get a body. But then his wife, Michelle, came into Poland and said, I want my husband. And we were like, yes, ma'am. and so I actually drove Pierre's body out myself

and got him out of, and delivered him his wife to give a dignified recovery of his body. So from there, my son is just performing in this way that is making our team capable. And C spray is like, hey, I need him here. And it came the point to where I had to really have to make this decision to where I had to decide as much as I love my son.

And obviously I do. God loves him more. As much as I could protect my son, God could protect him more, whether he's on his couch in Texas or in the front line of Ukraine. God had burdened his heart to go do this work and who am I to get in the way of it?

And I think, I really believe this. As a father in a situation, there's no more safe place on the planet for anyone to be than in the will of God, and I believe that's where God wanted him. So I had to make this very difficult decision to let my son be part of the forward team. And now he's done 13 trips past the Russian lines

in the India Ukraine Unbelievable Unbelievable Chad Robes Show The book folks Get a copy please A Mission Without

Order Westbound 747 Hey there folks It's the Air Traxxas Show As promised Our friend

Our old friend Bill Federer Is in the building Look he's right there Bill welcome back Eric It's great to see you Now look

I never know how to describe you have written a ton of books. You're what I would call a polymath, and that's a compliment. You really bring history to life, and you've written so many books. Anybody who knows anything about you knows that you're just a delight. I don't want to embarrass you, but you are. And you've written these wonderful books, and you tell us about history how we didn't know, which is crazy. So I thought, since Memorial Day is happening this weekend, let's start. start there. I mean, you've been all these great books. William Federer. William J. Federer. Make, uh, except no, um, what is that?

Imitations, something like that. William J. Federer. You've written all these books, but I do want to talk to you about Memorial Day first. Right. 1868 is when General John Logan set May 30th as the date to have Memorial Day. Start on that. I always, this always happens with you. You go right in. And I got to, already hit pause. Mayor, say it again? May 30th of 1868. Yes. Was when General John Logan. General John Logan. Union General. Okay. And what right does he have to, you know, he's a general? And he does what? He's the one who sets May 30th as decoration day. Right. So my question is, well, first of all, what is decoration day? And then how does a general get to do that? Well, Southern women put flowers on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers. And there are about a dozen different places that claim to be the original place where this memorial honor took place. But it was General Logan that made it a national thing and set the day on May 30th.

But how is it possible that a general gets to do that? You'd figure a president could do that. But a general? Well, it wasn't official as far as. as the government goes, but it became a national event. The Grand Union Army of the Republic is what he did. It was after the Civil War, and it was honoring those that had died. That continued in, it was 1958, when Eisenhower put a soldier in the tomb of the unknown soldier from World War II. As a matter of fact, it was 1921 Harding put a soldier in the tomb of the

unknown soldier. And it was from Europe. And they had a whole process of, you know, picking the different caskets and a rose was put on one anonymously. And then they brought that over. And that's the soldier from World War I that's in the tomb. But it was 1958 when Eisenhower put in someone from World War II and then the Korean War. And these are the remains of soldiers who've not been identified. Correct. And it was 1984 that Reagan put in a soldier. from the Vietnam War. Honestly, I had no idea. And you're saying that these events always took place on what we now call Memorial Day.

Right. So Veterans Day is for those that are still alive, veterans. Memorial Day is for those who had died. And when was it called Decoration Day for quite a long time? Right. It really wasn't changed up until the end of World War II. So that was one. So for most of our history, we've called this day, I mean from 1868,

until after World War II, our parents' generation and grandparents would know it as Decoration Day. Correct, correct. I like Decoration Day better than Memorial Day because it tells you what to do. It's not vague, right? And I don't know. When did they change it to Memorial Day? Well, I think it was when Eisenhower put in the soldiers from the World War II and the Korean War. A little trivia, the soldier from Vietnam War, the family had a suspicion that their son was the one.

They pushed and pushed, finally got the government to open it up, do a DNA test, and find out, sure enough, his name is Michael Blassie. They did the DNA test. And he went to my high school. He was 10 years older than me. And I graduated in 76. He graduated in 66. He was flying a dragonfly jet and was shot down on Ann Hawk and Locke in Vietnam.

So from this point on, they're not putting any more soldiers in there because with DNA testing, they're no longer unknown. I, you know, you are a fountain of trivia, except the real definition of trivia means, you know, it means that it doesn't have any, all of the trivia is non-trivia. You're sharing delightful information and facts. What you just said is, of course, beautiful on many levels. The idea that, now you said this was Ronald Reagan in 84, so this is Memorial Day in 84. They put this soldier from the Vietnam War in there. Now, how did his parents have some inkling that that body was their son? They knew the approximate period from when the body was taken

and what battlefield it was taken from. But the DNA testing didn't exist in 1984. No, no. So it was in 2000 and I think it was around the year 1998. Okay, so they waited all those years. They couldn't have proof, but they got the bug. disinterred enough so that they were able to do this. That's amazing.

And then you're telling me that this fallen soldier went to your high school. Where did you go to high school? St. Louis University High School. Which is where St. Louis. It's the oldest high school west of the Mississippi River. And so it had, you know. The oldest high school west of the Mississippi River. Right.

So Sacchiae's husband, Charbonneau, you know, and Lewis and Clark, their son went to my high school. Now wait, Pompey? Yeah, yeah. You're kidding. No, no. Little Pompey. Went to St. Louis University High School. Pompey went to your high school?

Yes. Saka Jua's son? Pompey went to your high school? I can't get it. Albin, is he making this up? His daughter's here. Bill, is he making this up? How does he know all this stuff?

Pompey went to you? Anybody who's read about Sakajuwea remembers her little baby Pompey, but we're talking like, you know, Pompey was a baby in what, 1803 or something like that? So the school was started in 1808. I can't get it. This is hilarious. You know, Bill, you just, you outdo yourself. I can't, first of all, this one guy, you're telling me went to your high school. And then you're telling me, Saka Jouia's kid went to your high school. What about Johnny Appleseed's brother? Did he go to your high school? Or Pekos Bill's sister-in-law? Did she go to your high school? I unbelievable. No, no, one story, if we have time to throw it in World War I. Actually, we don't have time this segment when we come right back. Folks, I'm talking to Bill Fetka. Federer. He's got a lot of great books. You can tell he's a fountain of information, almost literally.

And when we come back, we're going to hear more about Memorial Day. I'm talking to William J. Federer, a fountain of information, almost literally. We're talking about Memorial Day. It used to be called Decoration Day. And we've just got a few minutes left, Bill. So tell us you had an anecdote about Sergeant York, is it? Right. So the faith, it was the New York Bible Society. had Woodrow Wilson and General Pershing write the foreword to a New Testament, and they passed it out to all the soldiers in World War I. Matter of fact, Woodrow Wilson had a day of fasting and prayer when we entered the war. So one story, back when America was a Christian nation.

Right. So in 1918, American battalions over in France. My grandfather was in the 338th Machine Gun Battalion over there, but they're pinned down. And there's a Sergeant Alvin York. And here's a quote from his book, The Germans got us. They stopped us dead in our tracks. Their machine guns were up there on the heights overlooking us, well hidden. He goes on, we couldn't tell for certain where the terrible heavy fire was coming from.

Those machine guns were spitting fire, cutting down undergrowth all around me. Well, guess what? All of eight, but his group were killed. But he grew up in Kentucky, Tennessee, and would do hunting in the backwoods. And so he starts shooting the Germans on the hill. And then he thought he could shoot better standing up. And then now they're putting. their heads down, he makes turkey calls.

Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble. And the guy sticks his head up to see what's going on, and he shoots him. And he's just doing, and then he gets charged from behind. Six guys with bayonets are charging him. And he writes, I shoot him the way you shoot turkey. You shoot the furthest away one first. Because if you shoot the closest one, the others will scatter, you'll never get him. And so he shoots him, and then he turns around, and he picks off the rest. Finally, a little white flag comes up, and the German commander surrenders, marches down. There's 132 of them. and the German commander says,

how many of you are there? And it was just Sergeant Alvin York and a couple guys that crawl out of the woods. But he was, but he were from Kentucky. And when you're from Kentucky, that's different. I mean, seriously, not that many people know this story anymore. Gary Cooper starred in a film about him. And Alvin York, we know, was a very, very sincere Christian.

And he was, you know, not somebody who took, took killing lightly. Well, here's one of his quotes. He said some of them, he got the Medal of Honor. Some of them officers been saying that I being a mountain boy and accustomed to the woods, done all these things just the right way by instinct. I had never got much larnan except from the Bible. Maybe my instincts are more natural, but that ain't enough to account for the way I come out alive

with all those German soldiers rain and death. He says, I'm telling you, the hand of God must have been in that fight. Just think of them 30 machine guns, rain and fire, point blank range, 25 yards, and then their rifles and pistols besides those bombs. And then those men charging me with fixed bayonets, and I never receiving a scratch and bring in 132 prisoners, I have got only one explanation that God must have heard my prayers. I mean, seriously, you talk about a hero facing death.

I mean, there's no way he should have lived. There is no way he should have lived. Some people doubted the story, so they went over to that area where the battlefield was, and sure enough, they found one spot that's circled with shells from that he was just shooting them all, and the shells were just falling, and they were still there. but he started a Bible school when he came back, the Sergeant York Bible School.

And then, as you mentioned, Gary Cooper started a movie, Sergeant York. But it's just a fascinating story of times of, you know, we put together my wife and I have a book called Miracles in American History. But these stories that where there's a crisis, people have courage and faith and things turn around, they're just so inspiring. Now that, but we're at a time in this hour, but Miracles in American History is not in this pile. But you've written a literal pile of books more than I'm. have here. Bill William Federer, thank you for being my guest. Folks, have a great Memorial Day. Remember these important facts. This is not trivia, important stuff, and pick up some books by William J. Federer. Thanks for listening.