Unsubscribe Podcast - The Medal Of Honor Story That Inspired Forrest Gump - Sammy Lee Davis | Unsubscribe Podcast Ep 278

Episode Date: August 24, 2026

WISHLIST SCAVLAND! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3373500/Scavland/ Support CUDGEL: https://gofund.me/2dba5cdc1 We are honored to host Sammy Lee Davis, a Vietnam veteran who received the Medal Of Honor for his service. Watch this episode ad-free & uncensored on Pepperbox! https://pepperbox.tv/joinunsubscribe WATCH THE AFTERSHOW & BTS ON PATREON! https://www.patreon.com/UnsubscribePodcast 👕 Merch & Shoes https://bunkerbranding.com/pages/unsubscribe-podcast 🔋 Energy Drinks https://drinkechelon.com P.O BOX: Unsubscribe Podcast 17503 La Cantera Pkwy Ste 104 Box 624 San Antonio TX 78257 ------------------------------ THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS! HEXCLAD Find your forever cookware at HexClad and get 10% off at https://hexclad.com/UNSUB #hexcladpartner CASH APP Download Cash App Today:https://capl.onelink.me/vFut/5u7gm6rr #CashAppPod Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App’s bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. Cash App Visa® Debit Flex Cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC, and The Bancorp Bank, N.A., pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. See terms and conditions for the Sutton prepaid card, Sutton debit flex card, and Bancorp debit flex card. Cash App Green features, Savings, Direct deposit, Round ups, Overdraft coverage and Discounts provided by Cash App, a Block, Inc. brand. Visit cash.app/legal/podcast for full disclosures. GHOSTBED Get an extra 10% off already reduced prices at https://ghostbed.com/unsubscribe with code UNSUBSCRIBE at checkout. ULTRA Don’t sleep on  @UltraPouches . New customers get 15% Off with code UNSUB at https://takeultra.com! #UltraPouches #ad BLUEPRINT For a limited time only, new customers get 20% off + free shipping at https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.com by using code UNSUB at checkout. #Blueprint #ad ------------------------------ FOLLOW OUR SOCIALS! Unsubscribe Podcast https://www.instagram.com/unsubscribepodcast https://www.tiktok.com/@unsubscribepodcast https://x.com/unsubscribecast Eli Doubletap https://www.instagram.com/eli_doubletap/ https://x.com/Eli_Doubletap https://www.youtube.com/c/EliDoubletap Brandon Herrera https://www.youtube.com/@BrandonHerrera https://x.com/TheAKGuy https://www.instagram.com/realbrandonherrera Donut Operator https://www.youtube.com/@DonutOperator https://x.com/DonutOperator https://www.instagram.com/donutoperator The Fat Electrician https://www.youtube.com/@the_fat_electrician https://thefatelectrician.com/ https://www.instagram.com/the_fat_electrician https://www.tiktok.com/@the_fat_electrician ------------------------------ unsubscribe pod podcast episode ep unsub funny comedy military army comedian texas podcasts Chapters: 0:00 Welcome To Unsub! 7:31 Sammy’s Childhood Jobs 17:00 Why Sammy Joined The Army & Volunteered For Vietnam 37:09 Sammy’s Experiences in Vietnam 46:28 Being A Medal of Honor Recipient at 23 Years Old 51:32 Sammy’s Medal of Honor Story 1:37:16 The Pencil Story 1:38:44 Sam & Dixie’s Relationship 1:43:10 Sam’s Harmonica Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Part of the reason why I'm doing much better in my soul today was because of me being able to go back to Vietnam. They didn't bring in to fight any more wars or anything. You didn't pick up an M16. Brandon His hair is fucking fabulous Dona A dog joke disposition And there's a fat electrician

Welcome to unsubscribe Zupa Hey, hey, hey, what's up? We have a video game releasing on September 4th On Sub Studios, that's right, we're a video game developer now Broom! Go add it to your wish list, uh, you know Clean and then No Shadow Team They've been crushing this

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we are a video game production company. It's what dreams are made of and it's all because of you. Thank you all. Three, two, one. Hey, oh. Oh. Hi, everyone. Welcome to the unsubscribe podcast. We're joined today by Eli Double Tap. Nick, the fat electrician is in town. We have Sammy Davis, Medal of Honor recipient, Brandon Herrera, and myself Donut Operator. Thank you so much for being here. Hello, esteemed gentleman. Look, he dressed Sam looks sharp today. Holy moly, Sammy.

At breakfast, I was like, I underdressed. I got a switch from a t-shirt. You cheated. I'm in work clothes. Sammy, you showed up to brunch. You walked up in that. And, you know, I thought Brandon was the sexiest person at brunch. Thank you.

I think. Yeah, you took the cake, buddy. You're going to have to fight off these boys. Sam. Like, back, back. No, Eli had a t-shirt. on earlier, went back to his house and changed. I know. I was like, pretending like we would

notice. And you look nice. Thank you. Thank you. I had to, I mean, you were wearing the Medal of Honor today and I was like, oh, oh, yep, okay. We're super respectful today. We appreciate you dressing up for this and also coming out and being on the podcast. This is absolutely. I'm honored to be here with you all.

I'm proud of the job that you all do. Thank you. Nick's the one to set this entire thing up. He was like, hey, got an idea. Nick, why did you set this entire thing up? Because it's Sammy Lee Davis. What do you mean?

Somebody's like, I know how to get a hold of them. I was like, good. Give me the phone number. And yeah, we got it set up. I'm really excited. So you can correct me if I'm wrong, but it was your Medal of Honor actions were kind of helped inspire the movie Forest Gump, right? It is in my Medal of Interactions is what they're talking about in the movie Forrest Gump. They've been overly.

And I know because we did a podcast with Gary Sinise earlier this year. And we were in his office. Obviously, he's got a ton of pictures, but one of the ones closest to his desk was you and him. And I pointed that out to everybody. And that kind of got the ball rolling to me tracking you down to get you on the podcast. I believe in Gary Seney. I think he should be president of the United States. I don't disagree.

He has the patriotism and the love in his heart that he's the kind of person we need. He's awesome. He's one of the most amazing gentlemen we have ever met. And he's just nothing but positivity. And we got lucky and ran into him at the, just at the airport last month. I just, by chance, Finn didn't realize it was him because Finn said. Is that after VIR? Yeah.

Yeah. Ben was like, no, that guy's too short. I was like, I don't think so. I just like ran up. I was like, Gary? And he's like, looked at me for a second. He's like, yes? What airport were you at?

Charlotte. Oh, Charlotte. Yeah. You know, we just magically ran into him. And he was like, oh, my God, podcast guy. I was like, that's my name. I'm fine with that. To you, yes, sir.

Yes, sir. He was with his family. They were going on to family vacation. So it was just awesome seeing him again. But I didn't know about the bit about them superimposing Tom Hanks' face over your body in the movie. I had no idea about that until I looked it up yesterday. Did they ask your permission? They told me.

As a Medal of Honor recipient, I am public domain. Really? Yes. I did not know that's how that works. Yes, sir. And as long as they're using it properly, everything's good. We're going to make so much T-shirts of you. I'm joking.

We actually, so one thing we try to do with every Medal of Honor recipient that does come out, or, I mean, even the World War II, any veterans just went above and beyond and done what you guys have done, made the sacrifices you have done. We always try to get you guys gifts. It's like one thing when we start one of the episodes. Thank God you're a watch guy. Yeah, we're not out doing his current watch. I hate to break it to you.

No, 100%. That's a watch you can't just get. So we got you a Hamilton because they've been doing watches in the United States. And Illinois, I think, is where they started in the States. And they provided the time watches for the naval ships during World War II. And that one is a good, uh... Also, we're just not gonna let you get away with saying Illinois's. Illinois.

Illinois. And then to the missus, if you wanna come get yours, we got you a gift too. Dixie. Dixie. Get your beautiful butt over here and take this watch. We have his amazing wife here joining us as well. Any side, any side, whatever. If you want to be on camera, you don't have to come on camera if you don't want to.

You let us know. I wish I want to be on camera. Get over here. over here we got you one of those I wasn't sure why I marry him so I get gifts we weren't sure if you wanted cool this is beautiful we weren't sure if you wanted this is beautiful yes hopefully you both let me see yours Sam oh mine's better okay we're very military on hit thank you guys of course thank y'all for coming down you both are amazing. It's been an absolute

pleasure and the community makes this a possibility to do things like this. So thank you all so freaking much. It's an honor to be here with you. Now the honor is entirely ours. We promise you. And now we get to just ask you questions for

the next hours. Yeah, we get to grill you for an hour. And I will answer any question you have. Let's go. Except for my secret fishing hole in. And I will take you there, but I'll have to blindfold you. The price is right out on the We already gave you a watch

And if you go to any watch, especially Lee Michaels today or when you get back home, they will adjust it for you and get it all taken care for you. You're very welcome. At least we could do for you all. Now the question is. So I have questions. Yes, sir.

you worked a lot of jobs when you were a kid. Yes, sir. How old were you when you first started doing manual labor jobs? 12 years old. 12. What was your first one? Mowing yards. Okay.

But back then, I could make a lot of money mowing yards. I could get 50 cents for mowing a yard. Now that back then, that was wow. Bill Gates money. So it ramped up pretty quick, though, because, I mean, you were, worked at you were a lumberjack you did some I don't know if oil rigging is the right word but you did some well digging oh definitely what uh like how old were you when you started doing that stuff because I mean that's more associated I was 14 years old oh wow lived in California and my oldest brother was working up in the mountains and he said well would you like to it was summertime would you like to come up and work with me is they'll they'll pay you $1.25 an hour. That was, wow, unbelievable money back in the 50s, late 50s.

And so I went to work up in the mountains. As the youngest kid, youngest person on the team, I got to do a lot of chainsawed. We were building the road through, sorry brain's not working but way up in the mountains and they were building the road through the big park up there and I had to go through cut down the trees and then I had to go back and cut the trees up and then I had to go back and get the trees the logs up on the logging truck so I got to learn a lot and it was hard work and I made.

I was making an unbelievable amount of money. At what age was this? 14. Yeah, when I turned 14. They had to be 14 years old to be able to drive. I moved to California from Texas and at Texas at 14 you could get a driver's license. So I had my driver's license and we moved to California and I just went down to the driver's license bureau and handed him my license and they just print, they didn't because you couldn't

get a driver's license in California at that time at 14 years old, but they didn't look. And I had a driver's license. And they handed you a chainsaw. In their defense, a lumberjack walked in and said, I need to update my license. I loved being a lumberjack. What I learned and what it did for my body was amazing. 14 years old and I turned into a man. It's just, it's crazy for us to hear that because like I got my.

first job at 14 too but i had to get permission slips signed and everything by the school and i had to get a work permit and that was just to that was to be a waiter at a pizza place for nothing compared to being a lumberjack that like you wouldn't be allowed to do that as a kid today so it's kind of crazy not at 14 years old no i think now you have to be at least 18 yeah oh to be a little especially a job like that yeah but i mean starting out at 12 like i was cutting grass as well i'm sure eli was too but we have a certain disposition yeah The Mexican upbringing. I'm more, again, 14, that's Mike.

My son being a year younger would be cutting, or not even cutting grass, but using a chainsaw to make roads. Yes, that is big road too. Wild. Yeah. Was it Yellowstone? It was, sorry, my bridge's not working.

I got big bear. I don't know. There's a whole bunch of different areas. I'll cut roads in Big Bear, yes. There you go. Yosemite? Yosemite, yes, definitely. So you said it was $1.25 a day, which is a lot of money back then.

That was an unbelievable amount of money. Well, and in your book, it was, you say that, but it, it's hard to convey like what is good money. And then in your book, you say, as a kid, you'd use that money and you'd actually bought a new car and a motorcycle. Yes, sure. At 14, 15 years old with that amount of money. So, I mean, how much were cars and motorists? and motorcycles back then when you were buying them and you bought them brand new they weren't used they were they were new yeah yeah i don't remember but it wasn't nothing compared today that's what i'm saying

like now a truck is a hundred thousand dollars oh wow and he was he was buying a brand new car and a motorcycle at 14 years old from his summertime job well the first car i bought was not brand new it was a the 1946 Chevy. But it looked brand new. It was in wonderful condition. And that's what I drove from where we lived down south of Stockton. And I would drive it up up in the mountains. That's where I worked all week and then drive it back home.

And it worked great. It sounds like at 14, you were already a full adult. Just how you're speaking about that, even buying a motorcycle, a vehicle, and then driving up for the week coming back home on the weekend and you're 14, 15 years old. At 14 years old, my daddy said, son, if you want a vehicle, then you have to get a job. And he meant it. And so I got a job. Well, my oldest brother was working, I can't remember the name of the company, but it was

cutting down the big, they were going down, cutting the Greek big, you know, Redwoods. And so I got a job. As the youngest guy there, I'm the man that had to cut. climb to the top of the Redwoods with at least one chainsaw strapped on my waist and then start cutting off 30 foot sections. Coming down, coming down, coming down, coming down. Well, guess who's the inheritor of a new pot? Not Brandon because he doesn't cook. It's me. Notice how it didn't dent even against Connor's hard ass head. I smell toast. He's cooking the meal of his dreams with hexclad.

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Now go. Do it. What was the attachment system? Because this is safety of today. There's no OSHA at this point, I'm guessing. I had a rope. And that was, and then come down

then come down then come down and if you came when you came to the limb which on the redwoods there weren't that many limbs on them and you had to go around to where the limb was and undo your rope and then put it below the limb

and put you know Sammy were you gaffing do you have the spikes on your shoes oh definitely yes sir you're gaffing up and down yes sir that's dangerous work too because if you slide down there's a well on those things sticking out it goes through you

on those big redwoods, the bark is in slabs. And if you weren't careful, you guys ever hear about gaffing incidents? They're bad. Yeah. Giant spinters. Splinters, it'll go up in you and hit your heart. I just do 14.

It's a wild to be doing this. To be gaffing of a redwood and then come back down. That's insane. It seems crazy to us. You lived it, so it probably doesn't seem too crazy. That's the way it was. Yeah. I guess what was, was there training they gave you to climb trees like that?

Or did they just kind of be like, here's a rope, figure it out, climb up that tree? Well, I can't say it on the microphone what they told me, but get your up that tree. So I got my up the tree. I guarantee you you can say it on this here. You can say it on our podcast. If you want to get your ass up that tree. And that's how I learned to climb. And you said,

this was for a $1.25 a day? No, no, that was an hour. Okay, an hour. Okay. So in today's- I think they started me off at like 70 cents an hour and then went 75 cents an hour. And I became relatively proficient at it. And that's when they started paying me $1.25 an hour.

I mean, that was, wow. So by today's standards, if that was 1958, today's standards, what would that have been 1960 then? No, I started working up in the late 50s. Okay, so in $58. $50 a week. That's about $15 per hour, or about $14.25. Today?

Yes, sir. So in today's money. Oh, no doubt. That's $50 a week, which is. That is absolutely not $50 a week. $40 a $40. I was like $1.25 times $40. I thought you're talking about a modern dollars.

I was like, Eli, I know we're talking GED territory here, but that was really far off. I was like, that's right. I was making really good money. I was making almost as much money as my daddy was earning. What did he do? He worked at Fishback More Construction. Wow. And did wherever they sent him, did many different jobs.

Dad run bulldozers. drove tractors, whatever was needed. That's what he did. That's the way it was back then. You just did whatever the job was. Now, how did this set you have? You probably got in really good shape doing this and then joining the military.

You were probably ahead of a lot of the individuals you were at basic training with. Definitely. What a lot of the men in basic training, training what they said well I can't do that for 20 minutes I'd been doing it for eight hours a day yeah you're scurrying up trees and down trees all day of yeah sure and so I encouraged them and told them you don't lose to you quit try it and they so all of us started doing pretty good that's in fact our team

was a sought-after team in Southern California because we could really wow go in and do the job and get out then go to the next job. And you joined now, I know you said in the past that you joined the Army just because the line was shorter, but you wanted to go to Navy? I was going to go Navy, yes, because my oldest brother was in the Navy. And I always wanted to join the Navy. Their line was, it wasn't moving.

I was going to join the Marine Corps, actually, and their line was not moving. And so I stepped over when I had to go to work. I kept looking at my watch, looking at my watch, and I just stepped over in the Army line and boom, went in. Marine line, it took them a while to look to spell their name. No, there were just a lot of people doing it. That has been a recurring thing. I mean, all I do is military history videos. So I've covered a lot of Medal of Honor recipients.

And it is for Army Medal of Honor recipients, it is a recurring theme that either they were going to go into the Marine Corps or they got reduced. rejected by the Marine Corps and then went into the Army. You, Audie Murphy, there's like 10 others. So it's interesting over and over and over again. But in your book, you talked about one of your main drill instructors, and you said that he had a, he challenged you guys. Everybody else was running in formation and he was running backwards yelling at you. And he said, if anybody, anybody thinks they're good enough, they can try running backwards with him. And you tried.

And I did it. I believe you, but in your book, all you said was he didn't care for that much. I feel like there's more to that. I feel like there's more to that story. He did not care for it at all the fact that I could run backwards with him. In fact, I could outrun him backwards. And that offended him highly. Gerald Sarin's known for loving when they're getting one up by a private. Can't smoke me, drill sergeant goes over very well.

How did he voice this dismay? Well, I can't say the words here because there's ladies present, but he called me young and stupid because I could run backwards as fast as he could. But you don't lose to, you quit trying. I just... Get your tickets now for the dog stars. It's no surprise how fast civilization can disappear. Go! Out there.

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Okay, tough guy. And Guy Pearce. Arm up. The Dog Stars, directed by Ridley Scott in Theaters Friday. Get tickets now. Looking back on it, it wasn't a hard job for me. Because I'd been working in the oil field, I'd been working in the mountains. I was in pretty good shape.

I was in real good shape, actually. So did... What was the punishment? It was a... reward. Whoa. I love so far the inflection in which you say hooa can mean so many different things. It's either like yeah, hell yeah, no shit.

I feel like after you, you know, going up the trees and down the trees and doing all the things that you've done in the oil fields, you felt like that was, do you think it was kind of a vacation? Just like I got, exactly. It wasn't a hard job. This is easy, easy for me. The other young men that were doing the same jobs as I was doing, they said, man, this is really hard. I didn't think it was hard. I just kept rolling and kept doing better and better and better. So I'm curious, with you making good money very early on, you know, working in the trees and stuff like that, especially you said that you were making, I think, more than your old man, right?

Yes, sir. What inspired you then to take the jump to join the military? Well, I went back to high school. I mean, I was doing this in summer, working in the summertime, and my dad said I've lived in California, as long as I care to live, we're going to move back home.

And the job he got was in Indiana, so that's where we moved, and I went to Mooresville High School. And I loved it. The people were good, the teachers were good. Was it in Indiana? started working in the oil fields then? Illinois.

Illinois. Yeah. Yeah, well, Indiana, Illinois, but we lived right by the border. Oh, I gotcha. So then you went from lumberjack to being a rough neck in oil fields. Yes, sir. Is there anything else that happened work-wise in between there and the military? Work-wise?

No, that's pretty much what I did. Well, when I was in school, I went to work at a bowling alley as a cook. How was that job interview? Looking at your past job experience. Let's see here. You're 17. You've been a lumberjack and an oil rig operator. Two grown-assman careers for years.

For years. A career at this point. Well, I found out, well, I'd been cooking at home. Mama taught me how to cook. So I know how to cook. And evidently, my food was pretty good because they wanted me to be the cook. I said, okay. So while I was in high school, that's what I did.

Well, no wonder you married him, Dixie. He's got the manliest jobs ever, Andy can cook. But every recipe he makes is for a hundred people. So you're eating well. I love him more. Well, you've got these big, that's just what I learned to cook. Everything was in big pots, you know? Well, it's got to come in handy with 16 grandkids?

18 grandkids. 18 grandkids. Wow. Going back to Brandon's question, like, what was? the motivating factor. It was like, I want to, I want to sign up for this and I want to serve the country. The military? Well, my, my mama's daddy, John Haley, had been in World War I, and he lived in Dayton, Ohio, and visited us with us a lot. He had come stay many days with us and then go back to Ohio, and he would talk to me. And when are you going to join the military?

Well, soon, Grandpa, when are you going to join the military? Well, soon, Grandma. I joined. I wanted to join. I just, I want to be like Grandpa Heli. I'm still working on it. That's and it's just amazing seeing like your grandpa was in the army. Yes. No, yes. Grandpa was army. Yeah, and that's during World War I, which is again completely, it's wild looking at the different battles because I, even look at Vietnam, like what you experienced compared to GWAT and what I experienced. I'm like, man, that is crazy. And then when we have these World War II vets on that are like Normandy, Battle of the Bulge, it's insanity to think about that and experience that.

The life they had to live just to survive, most people today have no concept. Nope. No, no concept. They don't appreciate life as much. And I think that's the war is hell. And I think that is a very true statement. But also it does make you appreciate a lot of little things. Freedom is not free.

It has always had to be earned. And my grandpa and my grandpa's grandpa, everybody had to fight for freedom. And they passed it down to me. They made me understand what the value of it was and what you had to do to earn it. And that's, I'm still doing it today. I'm encouraging America to stand up for what you believe is right in your hurt. I don't preach politics. I want every American to stand up duty, honor, country.

That's a good shirt. I'm sure it exists. So when you... That is a T-shirt. Duty, honor, country. And you wanted to go to Vietnam out of the gate because you were, I believe in your book. It was my job. It was because it, obviously, I came well after you did.

But after basic training, to this day, as far as I know, or at least in 2012 when I graduated basic training, they still did the give us the three locations you want to go to and we'll try to station you there. But at the end of the day, they're going to send you wherever they want. And you said a lot of people were asking to go to Europe, Germany, Korea. And your number one pick at the time during the Vietnam War was to go to Vietnam. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Simply because of the stories that I had heard.

I would rather go to Vietnam than go to Korea. What was the reasoning on that? Well, the way the U.S. veterans were treated in Korea was not always honorable. And what they talked about when you're sitting around the table, what do you talk about? Well, if you're a Korean veteran, you talk about all the bad stuff that happened. you know, how they treated you as a U.S. soldier in Korea after the Korean War made me want to do something different. So I joined the military and volunteered to go to Vietnam.

And I'm proud of it. I'm glad I did. The Vietnamese people treated this awesome. Dixie and I got to go back to South Vietnam in 2016, and our State Department worked with their state. department and we got to have a lunch with five of my enemy really from the night that I earned this really and the first hour that we're sitting there just table how many people were there Dixie and the first hour nobody said a

whole lot I mean we talked but we didn't really talk well then started opening up and warming up and it was awesome It was awesome. I'm glad that they came, and I'm glad that we got to spend the time together. What we all found out was that we loved each other, our enemies. We loved each other today, because, wow. And these were five men that were there the night that I earned this, and they started talking about things that happened that night, and I remembered.

And then the more I talked, the more they remember. remembered the more they talked and it was awesome. We came together as former enemies and when we left, we left his brothers. It was wonderful. I would recommend every soldier if they could do that to go back to their people that they do it because it just made my heart better. Seriously. I mean, it just, wow. I love seeing a lot of those videos where you have like the, for example, World War II, like a German fighter pilot.

American fighter pilot. Wow. 70 years later getting to talk to each other and things like that. It's just, it's, it's very, it's very cool to be able to see. Yes, sir. It isn't. You know why we love cash app, Finn? Put your face right here.

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FDIC, and the Ban Corp Bank, N.A. Pursuance to a license from Visa USA, Inc. C, turns and conditions for the Sutton Prepaid card, Sutton Debit Flex card, and Bancoor Debit Flex card, Cash App, Green Features, Savings, Direct Deposit, Roundups, Overdraft Coverage and Discounts provided by Cash App, a Block, Inc. brand. Visit Cash App slash legal slash podcast for full disclosure. Dean. I'm sorry, it's one thing. It's just that level of their perspective is going to be completely different and how they viewed it during that time.

And then seeing what you, and it's, again, it's amazing. You guys broke bread and then you. Well, what we found was that they felt pretty much the same way that I did about what happened that night. What happened here? And you remember this. You remember that. Wow, and the more we talked about it, the more we opened up about what was really in our hearts.

And we all basically felt the same. Now, they were the enemy. I was their enemy. But we were soldiers doing our job. I'm not sure G.WAT's going to have exactly the same experience. Yeah, I don't know. A little bit. There might be a little bit more going on on that one.

It's that, I mean, you're fighting a different force. Man, it's a beautiful thing. is saying the world even the Germans that Christmas that won battle where they stopped the Christmas truce in World War I oh yeah like that one where it's just you're just putting a pause on war and you're ignoring like hey not today especially World War I because World War I was just you know a lot of a lot of waste in that one just because ideologically there really wasn't a difference between anybody on the field it was just you know nations treaties a lot of old men sending young men to die and so you know there's there really wasn't much animosity outside of they didn't want to get killed. Exactly. I mean, getting to go do that dinner and then obviously meeting and getting to talk with some other guys that were there with you that day over the years, what was it like kind

of filling in the blanks? Because like obviously you were there, you lived it, but there's a lot of going on. You didn't catch all of it. So what does it like getting to piece everything together from all these different perspectives? It filled in holes in my heart that had been there for many years that were a created in Vietnam because I found answers and I found out that those my former enemies basically felt the same way that I felt.

And what would that be? I didn't hate you because you were my enemy in Vietnam. We were soldiers doing our job. And that time together in Vietnam in 2016, we got to come together and open up our hearts and we became brothers. It was amazing. I mean, it was just, I found out they were people just like me. They weren't, you know, the badass enemy.

They were brothers just like me. And it made my heart feel better. It's helped me be more open. What do you agree, Dixie? Oh, okay. It was a whole different perspective to take me back. with you because you had described that country before it basically was the same as you described it 50 years ago yeah things had not changed yep and I found the

people to be very nice and still very appreciative of American soldiers the freedom we provided them yes and they taught the little kids that didn't even know probably English at all. But they were taught by the generations before that when you see an American, you know, soldiers just look like only the age is different. They still look the same. Those little kids would run up and grab Sam's hand and say thank you.

And the look in their eye? Thank you. You knew they meant it. They made me feel as they meant it. And it was just awesome, you know. And ironically, it was the Vietnamese were treating you well, and it was the Americans who didn't treat you well. Exactly.

And those... Exactly. The little kids were so great. They did notice that the women did all that work. They were carrying those big things they were over their shoulders and carry all that weight. The women did that while the old men sat around in a circle, squatted down the ground, talking and said.

Proper country. Yeah, Dixie, we've got to teach American women. Joking. They were a hardworking people. Yes, they are. Then they had roadsides where it would be like a rest area for us now. But the roadsides were filled with hallecks, just the sling kind of hallex. So I guess if people got tired while they were going.

somewhere they could just take a nap. Yep. It was the craziest thing I'd ever see. Of course, it was the men napping. Of course, well, no, there's the old men that were sitting around smoking and joking because they had the young men off at 14 cutting down trees.

That's right. That's the way it works. That's crazy. Well, that's a beautiful story. I just, again, a lot of times when you look at when opposing forces, it is, even Iraq, it is, hey, these people are in your country. How would you react?

if an invading force was in America, what would we have done the exact same thing? So it's that weird. It was the beautiful piece of American literature known as Red Dawn from 1984. Red Dawn. When you're a mid-sized business, you need every competitive advantage you can get.

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I had the privilege of General Westmoreland sent me to Iraq, Afghanistan, wherever we were. He wanted me to go talk to the troops. So I got to go over and spend at least three to five days in each location. And I got to talk to her. troops and I got to talk to them and it was amazing heartwarming I mean it's part of the reason why I'm doing much better in my soul today was because of me being able to go back to Vietnam

and then to the other countries and talk to them it was amazing I'm a better person today because I got to do that that's awesome man they didn't bring in to fight any more wars or anything you didn't pick up an M16 that's classified Cody can't talk about it now before getting into your Medal of Honor story you had was it Roger Donlin is the guy that inspired you yes sure because his heroic actions and how he earned his which is again wild you had that story

and then you're and I'm unfamiliar with this story yeah which one Roger Roger Dunlund. You know better than me. He was the first Medal of Honor recipient from Vietnam. He had, his story was, oh man, it was during a giant push. He stood there and fought off like three waves for, it was five or eight hours. And when they actually, and he was injured.

He got hit with a mortar, took trap and was the face, got shot, just riddled with wounds. But he kept doing his job, no matter what. he was the captain that was just in charge and he rallies his troops and be like hey we're getting attacked him this way we need to push this way at the end there was 54 enemies dead did he survive yep yeah very nice he did well for many years very nice and it's the one that inspired you yes and then you did your time in the military and then how long from basic training to deployment for vietnam for vietnam well basic training training, advanced individual training, Vietnam.

And when you first got into country, you kind of got diverted to be in a guard for the compound initially, didn't you? Yeah, a guard for the ammo, the long bend ammunition dump. Yep. When we got there, when our group arrived in Vietnam, they pulled, I don't remember how many of us was now, 20 or 30, and made us guards at the long bin ammo dump. And we thought, oh, wow. But that was because there was a fairly successful attack there, and everybody thought it was not capable of getting attacked, right? Well, it's a big ammunition dump. And they had lots of people, our guys guarding it.

But the enemy knew that. And that was where all the ammunition that was being used in South Vietnam was being stored. That's how big this ammunition dump was, just a big field full of ammo pallets. It's a juicy target. Oh, big, big, big target. Yes. So that was my first job. You said when you were being a guard that you had started to notice that some of the local people that were like allowed to come onto the base for whatever reasons. You started to notice you could tell who they were gathering intel trying to like pass it on.

There were people that were like walking toe to heel measuring distances so they could give. It wasn't noticeable, but it was noticeable because we knew what to look for. You caught on? Yes. And then there was a black panther on top of the ammo, he said. What? Yes, sir. I hate that superhero.

Did you actually see it in person or was that just somebody else? No, we've seen it. No, we saw it. The panther, well, we found out that there were people feeding him and that's what made him come back, come back, come back, come back. And it was cool. I mean, they're a beautiful animal. And I'm still. just picturing Chadwick Bozeman.

That's the most army thing ever. They're much bigger than what you can imagine. It's just like the major caper story about stealing the pythons from the jungle. Yeah. You saw a tiger too, didn't you? We did see a tiger,

yes. That's even bigger than a panther by quite a bit, isn't it? At least half as big. Like an actual orange, like tiger? A real tiger. What was that like being a kid from the country?

growing up in the woods. Well, I was country, boy. I was used to. Well, I know, but I mean, you didn't have the internet or, you know, Discovery Channel back in the day. I mean, obviously, you probably knew what a tiger was, but it's not like you'd seen a bunch of 4K videos of it. When I heard a noise behind me, I was doing my job, on guard.

It's the worst place to hear a tiger. And I heard a noise behind me. Well, it was kind of like, so slowly, slowly, slowly, turned around and when I got turned around there was tiger eyes this close to me. He had got up that close.

Well, what do you do? Shit my pants. Shit, your pants. Well, then he closed his eyes and disappeared, but it was amazing. He was stogging you. Well, he was just checking me out.

He was stalking you and you turn. There are four, I just look, those are 440. hounds. They're big, unbelievable. They're the biggest. This tall monkey smells like shit suddenly. I'm not interested anymore. Food spoiled. That is, and cats

are, they mess you up really quick. I think Kevin talks about that's the most dangerous animal out in Africa. Their hands were so big and their claws were so big. Unfortunately, we had two different times, but We had two guys that got attacked by Tiger, and both of them was on the back.

And their cuts on their back just would look like a big, sharp knife had went in four places. I mean, we got there when it happened, basically just seconds after it happened, and the wounds were laid open. We couldn't believe it. Yeah, like someone just took a big knife and went like that. Yeah, amazing. I mean, that would suck, but also name a cooler scar. Yeah, fair. I mean, how'd you get that?

I got attacked by a tiger. No, no, no, no, don't sew it all the way shut. Leave it open a little. Pour some lime juice in that, actually. Well, I never got to see the guys again. They got sent home, but it was amazing. There was a buddy of mine growing up. Not to derail, but on that, the scar notice or the scar story.

he had the coolest scar ever and it was like he he actually earned it the proper way but you'll hear the story so he he actually got bit by a shark when he was swimming as a kid and it was a perfect row of teeth across his torso like it was very clear like anytime like you know in the locker or whatever he takes off his shirt like you see perfect row of teeth and he was like i don't know 15 16 or whatever so like taller guy like it was a very big looking shark I think it happened when he was like seven. Oh, wow. So it was a much smaller shark.

He's still flat out, shark attack survivor, but the scar grew with him. So it looks like a much more dangerous shark. That's way cooler. You're not convincing me on this whole ocean thing. Yeah. Why do you tell him about the ocean, Brandon?

I think he knows what a shark is. We brought him to the ocean a couple years ago. It sucks. He won't come back. Cat mowing's average. 200 stitches per. Awkwardly enough. the only landlock state to have a shark attack on document is Iowa.

All right, what? What? There was a shark? What the hell is going to attack in Iowa? I'm thinking like Jurassic Park. Shoot. I looked at the story when it happened. It's,

it's all over the internet. It's an actual shark attack. If you look up the map of shark attacks, they have like red dots and it's obviously all around the coastlines. There's one dot. I can't. Did this dumb as shit? Did the shark just get lost?

It was at the blue zoo interactive aquarium and West. line Iowa. We're an 18 inch bamboo shark bit of staff members hand. Oh, come on. It's like a foot and a half. 18 inch bamboo shark bit of a hand. Oh, you got a little fingee, fingee heard. God Lord. Iowans am I right? Yeah, right. He blows everything out of it. But the meme, this is the meme. This is the math. I have seen the name. It's you can see just the one dot for a shark attack in Iowa. Hey, you ever just wake up and felt like your mattress sucks and it beat your ass, punched you in the face? That's crazy. Does the mattress also f*** your mom?

You ever wake up feeling like you slept in a swamp? Cause you're a disgusting nasty ball sweat. I see most of you on Reddit, so I know you have. Time to break up with that mattress. Get divorced from your mattress. Get a ghost bed. You're that ho. You're worth more.

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This is a threat. Dude, okay, right now, we had a... Just for the bit, no joke, I could just buy a shark. And then just have it bite me. Like one of those little bamboo sharks. Now it's Texas. Texas, too. San Antonio Shark attack, man. We have a confirmed barracuda attack in San Antonio.

Because when we're filming Bass Pro Shop, we did that... Oh, yeah. midnight shoot so we had to film a commercial we did two nights in a row and Jake from corridor decided there's the giant aquarium that has like all the big fish in there Jake's like oh oh and he reached his hand in there for some reason barracuda immediately like snap to say it started bleeding like Jake we told you not to read Jake Watson yeah Jake lawyer Jake Jake's been attacked by a barracuda yep are you talking about the old BRCC She shirt.

He got an attack. It was like five years, six years ago. Six, yeah, probably like six years ago. He reached in and got bit on the hand. Blood by a barracuda because he wanted to pet it. It gets worse. The story he told me is he thought he was faster than a barracuda. There.

Pardon me? You're thinking you could pull it out faster than a predatory face. You are not faster than a barracuda. No, he wasn't. In his defense, Jake is fast. Famously slow barracudas. I'm just saying. Nobody told me for the first two years.

Jake is our friend. He lives in town here. Nobody told me for the first three years I knew the guy that he had like records and track. He was like the 13th person to run a sub four minute mile or something crazy. It was like brothers or something like that. Yeah. He was the second set of brothers.

Yeah. To break the four minute barrier. Yeah. Wow. That's cook in four minutes. That's unbelievable. Yeah. Fast.

that is no see I was never good enough that was my one weakness in the army I could max it by two seconds I was dying I want to see you and Jake in a foot race not because I think you'll win but I just want to see the the step counts on how fast how many steps it takes Jake to run a mile and how many steps it takes you to run a mile I'm narrow toe running really quick steps arms back he just does the full Naruto run attacking area 51 so one thing that I want to ask you about was you talked about the first time you went to a a Medal of Honor Society meetup and the first time you walked in the door you saw do little

Jimmy do little Eddie Rickenbocker and Pappy Boyington all sitting there at the same time three of the biggest legends in military aviation ever and you were what 23 year old kid What was that like walking in and coming face to face with those three at the same time? Blew me away. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do.

I just, whoa, you know. And they called me the fucking new kid. I like you've earned a metal of honor and you're the new. Fucking new kid. But I didn't, I wasn't offended by it. That's just the way they saw it. I was the fucking new kid, you know. Come in, sit down, you fucking new kid.

If anybody's going to call you the new guy, they can get away with it. Well, they didn't make it sound negatory. It was, I was the new kid. Welcome to the club. Yeah, it worked with God bless them. What that is?

What are some of their story? You're the historian, so I would love to know more on. Doolittle was like a pioneer in early, early aviation. And have you ever seen the movie Midway? Yes. You know, the guys where they have the bombers on the carriers and the bombers take off and go and bomb Tokyo as revenge for Pearl Harbor, that was Doolittle.

That's the Doolittle raid. You ever watch that Pearl Harbor movie? So they literally took off. He's in there a lot. They took off carriers on bombers on a one-way trip, bombed Tokyo, and then they were trying to have enough fuel to make it into China, who was our allied at the time, but they didn't make it. They had to crash land, and they escaped into China. And he wound up surviving. So, like, that was Doolittle.

Pappy Boington was the leader of the Black Sheep Squadron in World War II. Badass fighter pilot. A lot of people don't know this, but Pappy Boington was also prior to being in the Black Sheep. He was one of the flying tigers that had been sent into China before America was even in World War II. So he was fighting against the Japanese before America was involved. And then he joined the Black Sheep, had the Black Sheep Squadron. They did a bunch of incredible stuff. And then Eddie Rickenbacher was originally a race car driver prior to World War I.

And then got into aviation because the dude just wanted to go fast. And in World War I, he became America's ace of aces with America's highest kill count. And you've done videos on like two of these people. I've done videos on none of them. But they've all been recurring characters. So like Eddie Rickenbocker was there. and he went and saw Frank Luke, the Arizona Balloon Buster. And he was there as like the Ace of Aces at the time that watched the Arizona

Balloon Buster pop two balloons in like five minutes. And he was also there for Dick Bong. And Eddie Rickenbocker had made a bet with all the World War II pilots, anybody that can beat my record, I'm going to buy you a case of champagne. So he was in Dick Bung's story also. It's also a little weird knowing you as a friend because all, I know in my head. Like, it's not a parasycial relationship like the rest of you guys.

All I know is that at some point I'm like, I've heard Nick talk about these men before. And I just assume it's probably in a video, but it could have just were out at like a bar or something like that. Yeah. No, they definitely appeared. And I talk about Pappy Boyington, I think, in my Flying Tigers video. But I definitely need. I think you might have talked about one of them on one of the on sub live shows too.

Probably. Dick wrong, I think. Yeah. So. That's a great, man. And you got to meet all. That would have been wild at that time. I was the new kid and got to be good friends with all those men.

It was just amazing that the Vietnam veterans, they were allowed to set at the same table and talk with all these World War II heroes that we'd read about. Wow. And they made us feel part of them. So it was awesome. Do you feel like that's a lot of what maybe some of the newer GWAT guys feel with guys like you? Well, we try to treat them the same as they treated us. You know, it's, and I think it's working.

You told Clint Romachay to sit the fuck down. I love Clint. He just says hi. Oh, did it? Yeah, he said hi. He's like, hey. He's like, there are the kindest people. Dude, Clint, we love Clint here.

Clint's a homie to all the less. Yeah, sir. Amazing, amazing human. Now, do you want to tell your story or go into your Medal of Honor story? Because I think that's what a lot of the people would love to hear your perspective. I know you've told it a million times. Yes, sure. I think you telling is just a piece of history, especially for this audience and us.

Well, that night, November the 18th, 1967, there were 42 of us and 1,500. of the enemy. They had a heavy weapons, reinforced heavy weapons battalion of NVA. Now, at the time, it was not admitted that there were that many

North Vietnamese fighters in South Vietnam. That was not politically correct to acknowledge that fact. So it wasn't until deep into the night that we discovered that they were NVA, had NVA

uniforms on. Yeah, I mean, wow. And as I told you earlier, in 2016, we got to meet with five of our former enemy, and they had been North Vietnamese regulars, and we got to talk to them and opened up to their questions. They opened up to my questions, and we got to find out things that had been important in our hearts all these years, but didn't talk about it. Well, we talked about it, and it helped my soul and it helped their soul because I answered their questions too. Well, why did this happen? Well, how did you do that? And, you know, just simple questions, but we never talked about it.

It was awesome. And then you did the just kicked it all off. What was the initial point of, okay, the battle's beginning. And then leading to you, I mean, your story again, like that night was. amazing, or above and beyond, not amazing in that term, but what you did, your actions were amazing. It's why you wear that metal. Well, I'm not a brave man, but I'd love my brothers. And the reason why I did what I did was because I loved those men across the river.

They were there doing their job and I had to go get them. So I went and got them, and I did whatever I had to do to do it. When you find the, you had a mattress that you used? An air mattress that you slept that the army had given us to sleep on. That was our bed. The little green ones. Yes. And that was the boat that I used to get across.

And of course, it got holes in it because they were shooting at me. But it still held enough air. Well, I actually, I don't remember if I tied it off or tried a rope around where it was, the holes were. but it got me across and got me and my good brothers the three men that I swam across the river for back across too it worked how long was that swim how long was it dixie do you remember how far it was across that river i think we've stood at that that's all a lower bow wider than it was i mean when you're getting shot at so that is a football field of me and i was wounded i was wounded multiple times

times, but I still did my job. And when we got the meeting with the NBA that were there that night, that was one of the things that did, how did you do that? I said, well, you don't lose to you quit trying. And I just did not quit trying. I just kept swimming. And yeah, it hurt. My back was broken three different spots, my spine, but I didn't quit.

Did any of those men remember seeing you crossing the river? Oh, definitely. If you don't mind, for those that I'm sure there's a lot in the audience who don't know the story. And I only know the cliff notes, to be honest with you. Yes, sir. Do you mind starting from the beginning of the engagement? The beginning? Yes, sir.

That'll take three nights to talk about it. Rough overview. There were 42 GIs artillery and there was 1,500, a reinforced heavy weapons battalion of NBA across the river. And they were attacking part of. our guys our infantry, Jim Deister from Salina, Kansas, one of the three men

that I brought back across the river, he was across the river and he was badly not wounded, he wasn't the man that I seen waving at me and then would hide,

wave at me, and then hide, but I knew I had to go across the river and get us so wow, my brothers are over there. So I made it across the river with the help of that air mattress

and went to where I'd last seen it wasn't Jim Deister. And then. Yes, Windale Holloway from Stockton, California. He was the one that was waving at me. And when I got there, there were three men in that foxhole. Well, I knew I didn't have the strength. I'd been wounded quite a bit.

I knew I didn't have the strength to make three trips back across. So I did my very best to bring all three men at one time. And they could hang on, kind of. We all took care of each other, basically. and came back across the river. We all survived. Gwendoll lived in Stockton, California. Jim Deister lives in Kansas.

Billy Ray Crawford. Yep, yep. He was from Texas, and he took his own life. He just, and I had talked to him not that far, not that long before. He said that you'll go to Texas to Texas. see him. He came from a smaller town and he was

a black man. Yeah. And the country wasn't, even Texas not going to, a disabled black man. He would sandwich to the house but Billy Ray would never let him in the house. We would

talk through the screen door. With never letting him and I think well, who can say what goes to somebody else? his head, but that poor gentleman disabled and probably feeling so alone. Yes. And at some point it was enough.

And when was that? Roughly. Well, he survived for 10 years after the war. Yeah. I was stationed at Fort Hood, and that's when I found out where Billy Ray lived, and it wasn't that far from Fort Hood. So I would drive down. Well, I won't say never,

but usually he did not let me in the house. We talked through the screen door, and he would stand there, and I would talk to him, and he'd say a few words back, and then it was time to leave. So I would turn around, go back to Fort Hood,

and a few days later, well, I'd show up on his doorstep again, and do you, remember if he ever let me in the house? Oh, you said he did. I don't, I don't remember him ever letting me in the house. We talked through the screen door. Well, I got to talk to his neighbors.

And they said, yeah, we see him through the window, but he don't come outside. You know, he was that just, well, now we know it was post-traumatic stress. And he. Connor, when you use nicotine in the past, what have you been your biggest? frustrations. Turns out you can't get as much of a pump going when you're when you got a sig in your mouth at the gym that I go to all the time. Was your recovery time worse on nicotine? Oh, and how? It narrows your blood vessels and restricts oxygen to your muscles. It makes it hard to breathe and your blood doesn't work. Counteracts the pump. Ultra pouches are perfect for

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That's 15% off at take ultra.com when you use code unsubb. Stayed in his house, didn't talk to people. God bless him. It's hard to connect to when he went through that. It is amazing first off. You going out and then seeking him out and talking to him. That was super helpful. because a lot we've talked about it. It is reaching out talking to your friends that have PTSD or struggling with those.

Yes. Just struggling with what was going on or what they experienced in Vietnam was extremely difficult, especially like your perspective, their perspective, and then coming back to the States where there is zero respect and they didn't know PTSD. Zero understanding because even the veterans didn't know what was really happening in our hearts and minds. and, well, it's been 50 years ago, and I'm still learning. You know, it's amazing. What do you think about Vietnam made it different?

You said the veterans didn't even understand? Well, I mean, the World War II veterans, Korean veterans? Well, our war was different than their war. That's what they said. That's what they believed. And it wasn't until years later I understood that, no, our war's pretty much the same as theirs, you know. But you don't lose until you quit trying. That's one of the reasons why I've stayed on the road, traveling, and speaking to our veterans all over America,

trying to encourage them to stand up for what you believe is right. What do you believe happened to you in Vietnam that made you the person you are today? And then go share it with the other person, because whatever good or bad, positive or negative, that person over there needs to know about you and how you feel and how it's affected you. And today now, I have people that come up to me, and say, Sam, when you came to talk to me, it just renewed my soul. Wow. Thank you, sir.

It was so different, though, in our small towns, where if you would go to the VFW for one of the service organizations, the old guys then would say, come sit down beside me, I'm going to tell you about a real war. Yep. And so it was just, or they'd say, it wasn't even a war. It was diminished.

And it had to make them feel so much worse that what they did didn't matter. And there wasn't that far in the future that the same old guys were asking the police come join. Yeah. Otherwise it won't be going anymore. because nobody will do it. But a lot of those old dudes apologize,

but it took a lot of years. Took a long time. And it was like, what you did didn't matter, and I always thought that was so terribly unfair. But what about somebody's son? Did that not matter when they died for their country? That's the second time so far. It's kind of interesting to see that parallel

between the difference, you know, World War II veterans and Vietnam, per se, or Vietnam and G. And just how a lot of those attitudes really are kind of very similar. I also don't think, I don't think civilians at that time had an understanding of like guerrilla warfare of what you guys were dealing with. Because, I mean, World War II Korea. It wasn't a battle. Yeah. Well, I guess the point I'm trying to make is they were.

The norm was just a conflict. Right. But the, it's a lot harder to fight an insurgency instead of a conventional force. You know what I mean? Like when the enemy's all doing military stuff in military uniforms, that's one thing. But when it's an insurgency and it's people in plain clothing that are normal villagers one second. And then now they have AK-40. Like, that's a whole other level of intricacy and problems that I don't think people grasped at the time that made Vietnam way harder.

And yeah, it's a problem, I think, with a lot of soldiers. Even today when you had G-WAT soldiers that didn't deploy or they didn't see combat. Or just because they weren't infantry, you would see people talk down. And that's one thing I always tried to, I was very against. Like, hey, they signed the dotted line just like you. Exactly. They did their job just like you did your job. Yeah. If they didn't get in a firefighter or something, it's so good.

Like they should be happy. You should be happy for them. They didn't experience that. But don't diminish what they have accomplished. Exactly. Because it's one big team, one team, one fight. And it takes all of us working together. doing our job to get the job done.

What was, for that battle, what was one of the scariest moments in your mind? Like, was it during the crossing? I know during, like, I have had my moments where I can reflect and be like, well, that was the moment. I thought, okay, I'm going to, this is it. When I was on our side of the river and I looked over and seen three GIs in a foxhole and they were waving their hats at me. I knew I had to go get them.

Now, I was already wounded, but I knew I just couldn't lay there in my foxhole because the enemy was everywhere. You said you were already wounded. Where were you wounded at the time? Right thigh, AK-47 round. I had, you know what beehive is? Not a top of my head.

Flush that round. Oh, okay. Artillery. You brought it? We both got shot in the right thigh by AKs. Actually, yeah. Okay. That's one B5.

Dear God. Now, this one's gold made out of my V8th. But this was, I had, how many of these have in me? You got a backup on that one. It's made out of gold? 30. 30 of these in me. Wow.

You said that one's gold and made out of your VAT? VAT, yes. Well, I had the original, which I still got the original that they dug out of me. But I thought, well, I want to wear around my neck. Can you tell the story of how you got the one they pulled out of you? Because that's a pretty interesting story in itself. Well, at the moment, I don't remember. Well, seriously.

I think, I believe you sent a bunch of them back home to your mother, and she kept him in a jewelry box. Yes. And then, you said that one of your brothers had acquired them from mom and sold them at school. And then later in life, one of his classmates gave it back to you. And that's how you got it, got it back.

Oh, my God. That thing just kept finding you. Your brother sold your shrapnel? It was just shrapnel. Just shrapnel. Your brother sold? His words, yes. Snickers bar.

He was my little brother. Did you beat his ass after that? No, he was my little brother. Yo, my brothers. He didn't understand the importance of what the, Shratnall. How old was he at the time? Oh.

I was going to say, Dad's. I believe that. That deserves a butt-woom. That deserves a butt-woom. Are you getting your ass kicked? John was 13. He was 10 years younger than me, so. Old enough to start climbing trees and cutting them down.

You were using the chainsaw at that age. You're getting a lot of excuses. So it's also just really crazy. You had all that plus the injury to your right thigh, and then you've seen your brothers across the way. I knew I had to go get my brothers. And I asked the one above. You said you thought everybody else was dead.

You were the only one left to do it. Yeah, basically, yes. So I knew I had to do it. And I did. And when I got over there, well, I didn't know there were three. men still living. And when I got over there, there were three men alive. Well, I knew I didn't have the strength to make three trips back and forth, so I had to carry all three of them at the same

time and get in the river. And that's that piece of air mattress that still held air. That's where I put them. And how do you drag, was it, did you just drag each one to the shore at that time? From their fox. Oh, yes. I just drug them over and then put them on the air mattress and we slipped off into the river and made our way back and put, well, my guys that were still alive on my side of the river could see what I was doing, so they

were taking the enemy. You know, they were helping me. Covering fire. And we met her to cross. We made, I can remember the bullets hitting all around us in the water, you know. And I just kept thinking, well, my job hadn't done yet. Well, my job didn't done yet.

Well, my job didn't done yet. And I just kept doing my job and thank you, sir. I made it. He said the time, when you asked you about being scared, he tried to carry all three a long time back to the river bank, and he put one guy, one under each arm, but Jim Deister, who they thought was dead across his shoulders. Jim Dexter was shot through the head, shot through the chest.

He was one AK or whatever it was. And so to carry that, he strapped it around his head with that strap, and that's how they went. Well, Billy Ray had lost his leg. Yeah. And so he used, was it a stick or was there another long gun that he used as a crutch? And 14, as I remember. And this is what really scared me. That war was still going around.

Oh, yeah. And when he would hear it, they would. coming waves on he would hear a wave coming you're pretty loud there of jungle he would lay those guys down and trying to pull as many leaves or whatever you could by that time over there's a lot of foliage down but then he would lay down face up on top of them with the gun and um if somebody most of them ran over them they didn't physically ran right over focus is so on what your objective is they would run right over him. Sam said if they recognized them for what they were he was just faster with his rifle. Well I could see because I was watching

her eyes and I could see who shit that's a GI and as they were going to shoot me well I would and there was one of the really interesting and there was enough gunfire going they it wasn't. Was it light out dark out of it? No It was night, two o'clock in the morning. So this is, that helped with this, but also just. Lots of, clairs. I was just pitch black and like, you're just waiting there, like, white of their eyes and they're like, please run over, but don't.

There was enough gunfire going off that that's how I could see the white of their eyes. You know, I could see they were looking at me here. Which also, just to have that frame of mind during that stressful situation where you're like, hey, I'm covering my guys. I'm not firing unless I need to. Well, I didn't have that much ammo, so I knew not to just...

That's... The other thing of what you mentioned, actually, Jim Diceer told us this. Dixie, do you want to step up here? Yes, please. I just try to sit back in and tell you how much to do. The audio, it would be better if you were here.

Yeah, absolutely. Give in me. This was, I think, after the stop playing on my phone. Jim told us that there was a question at one time on whether Sam, well, this guy had... Sorry, he's closer. Just so you're nice and beautiful on frame.

Is my hair okay? It looked great. That somebody, one other guy was trying to claim what Sam had done. And they all thought Jim was dead because he was shot through the ears. And then after the reason Sam brought him back, even though they thought he was dead, because they ran up and shot him,

the enemy before he got there. He was laying on the ground. He ran up and shot him in the chest. And then Sam was observing what else they were doing to our guys that were already dead. So he brought him back. And this was in an interview that Jim did in another publication.

And he said they didn't know each other. The infantry didn't know. They were brought in as support. We've seen each other on a regular basis, but we didn't know each other. So Jim, but Jim was laying face up on that little piece of mattress. And he's, everybody thought he was dead. And he said, in my mind, I was screaming, um, okay. Shut the damn lights off.

Somebody's going to get killed here. And he thought he was already dead. And then he said, I looked up and I saw that red-headed kid. It's back when he had like hair with color. I saw that red-headed kid pushing me across that river. And their meeting was, Sam thought Jim was dead. You know, they didn't have that information back then. He didn't even know he survived.

He looked dead. The medic saw... But I wasn't going to leave him because I had seen what the enemy was doing to our dead over there. They were shooting, cutting them up. Never leave a fallen brother. No. The medic saw a little bubble come out of his chest that next morning. Where he'd been shot.

And he had a heartbeat of about 20, 25 beats a minute. Extremely slow, low. He had a very, very long recovery. but Sam did not know that kid recovered. And he ended up working for the Kansas Department of Rehabilitation at the VA. When somebody walked in his room, they knew he knew what he was talking about. Because you can see Jim been shot. And he almost looked like he had a stroke, like one side of his face is kind of pulled down.

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That's unsub at blueprint. Brian Johnson.com. But he, let's see you on, oh, finding each other. Some guy, Jim ended up not hearing, you know, it just got worse and worse and eventually lost his hearing completely. But a friend of his name, Jim Cole, would make his phone calls for him back in the 60s and 70s, because all that stuff wasn't invented yet. Did I offend you?

No, it's the question. The boys are holding it. Yes, you offended him. Nick just left. If you could offend him, I'd be impressed. Everyone in the audience would be like, anyway, this guy said his name was Jim Cole, and he was a friend of Jim Deister's,

and he said Jim wanted to meet Sam, and Sam thought it was a prank. He said, I had no idea. You were going to be speaking in Kansas. Yes. And Jim was going to meet you at the hotel there. So he still thought it was a prank. He said, how could somebody do something that mean and that cruel,

thinking that I had saved someone and they'd come back to life? Sam said, he walked into the lobby, looked across the room, and he said, I knew that was my gym. Deister. They just ran to each other and just hugged and cried and I'm sorry I wasn't there to see that. It was awesome. Yeah, that was awesome. That started up a long friendship over many, many years. Another one was that mean old sergeant of yours, Sergeant Gant from Lansing, Michigan. This was at Kokomo. One of you guys mentioned, Kokomo, Indiana. They had that big reunion. every year. Everybody was

in on this except Sam. They had, everybody stands out in this field and he was on stage talking and he said it was almost like the Red Sea parting. All the people just slowly split in the middle

and this little tiny black man came walking up that aisle. Just casually walking up? And he gets to the stage and Sam looks down. He said Sergeant Cant

and Sergeant Gant said Sam and he went running down Sergeant Gant they got we're still in the front of the stage but they just hugged each other

and dropped to the ground and they were hugging and prying and it was awesome something like that would be just fantastic to witness because here's he

Sam thought Sergeant Gant was a meanest old guy in the world but Sergeant Gant Gantz saved his life. He knew what to teach them on cleaning that rifle. That's what's crazy. He made you polish the bullets, the weapons. Everything, everything. This is before M16 was when they shipped to Vietnam. They didn't even have soldiers thought they were self-cleaning and they would have a whole bunch of issues because they didn't know, oh, clean them. They didn't even have a forward assist at that time.

And Sarn Gantz experienced that at the beginning of the war, correct? Yep. And so he made you guys do all the weapons maintenance. Yes, we had to tear them apart and clean them every little piece. You had to clean it and he would come by and look at it. And if it wasn't totally sparkling clean, you had to do it again. And we thought, well, this old man just messing with us. You know, he's 26 year old man, right? Yeah, he was old. Yeah, grandpa. Yeah, grandpa. The old Well, after a month or so, we got to realizing that, wow, it's hard to get and knows what he's talking about, because our weapons were not jamming the way the infantry guys' weapons were jamming. He made you do that blindfolded. Yes.

Well, after we knew how to do it, yes, we had to do it blindfold, to tear the weapon apart. Without having to do it, without knowing how to do it, that's just mean. that's what they thought and then Sam told me later he said you know I had no clue why I would ever have to know how to clean a weapon blindfolded he said

but then that night because they were always in the swampy area at the Delta and he said that's when I knew why he made us do that we couldn't see we had to clean them like that and so he saved just Sam said well I got to be the

mean old sergeant I at least explained why I was making them do that. Oh, he actually got to tell you. He's like, hey, I had a reason behind it. Yes. You know, he kind of let you learn it for yourself. Yep. Well, and that was the best way. I didn't realize it at a time, but I really understood then. You said, told me, you said, you thought he's making you do that because all the other sergeants went and drank somewhere together, and he didn't have anybody, so he just stayed and messed with you guys. So you took back half the thing. you said about that. Yeah. It's crazy to have that knowledge for the M-16 in that time because they were notorious for just so they didn't know to clean them. There were a lot of issues with their early

adoption. Yes, their early 16s were not one of the better weapons. I have another story about the other guy saved. Gwendole Holloway, Stockton, California. This about a year and a half ago, we dedicated a brand new, a VA facility in French, Camp California where he grew up. And the odd thing about that little time. It was 400 people back then. There were three Vietnam Medal of Honor recipients from that little town. 400 people.

Wow. Population, 400 people. And there were three Vietnam Medal of Honor recipients. We did not know each other. We knew because there was just a few years difference in age, but we knew each other's brothers. And it wasn't until, what, many years later that we sat down and started talking, well, yeah, I'm Bill's, oh, yeah, I'm Bob's brother. Oh, yeah, I'm Bob's brother. Oh, wow, okay. And we did know each other, but we didn't know each other. You understand?

So anyway, this, we're dedicating this, and we were in the one of these big giant tents outside. You know, we got treated better and everybody else than they feel guilty. But we thought, Gwendole had died. We could not find him. Well, even the FBI asked the FBI to help me and let's know we think he's dead. So we're dedicating this and going through all the ceremony. Afterwards, we're all standing around talking. This other, I thought Gwendole was like eight feet tall from the way Sam described me, but this little short, another black gentleman came walking up to Sam. Sam looked over at me as eyes were gigantic. He said, it's Gwendo.

You were dedicating this to this man that was still alive to? Oh, no, no. Oh, I was sorry. Wouldn't it have been funny? Is that his own funeral? But he came to the event and everybody, we thought he was dead. He hid on purpose. He said, I just didn't want to deal with it.

So he just totally... Well, he had had prostate cancer too. Yes. He said the VA took good care of him. but he just couldn't be around people for a long time. We went to American Legion afterward for a little reception. And we were all talking then and laughing and just having a great time. And I was standing next to Sam and Gwendole, he had this other, the other guy was a white guy.

Same size, everything. They came up together. And the other guy took both of Sam's hands and he. He said, I just wanted to thank you for saving my best friend since kindergarten. So it was awesome. We get some of those wonderful, wonderful stories that I hope other people get them to, to find out after all those years. So he had no family, had never married, had no children.

So now I write to him like his sister. And so we just check on him. now. But he's doing much better. He's recovered. And so he's kind of getting back into life again. That's awesome. But you know, these guys, Agent Orange was so horrible. Sam still pays every single day for fighting in that war. And so many of them do. And now the list is so long. Even Parkinson's disease now is attributed to Agent Orange. And one of my, okay, old boyfriend from high school, Scott, he died from Parkinson's, from Agent Orange. Big, solid football player and just devastating what happens.

The other thing, when you guys were talking earlier, when you were talking about people's attitudes back then, I think what a lot of people don't talk about is this was during the 60s and 70s on TV. We didn't have the social media like they have now. So we was glued to our television sets every night to find out what was going on. We were talking today with Aubrey that we didn't have social media. so we didn't have someone telling us what to think. We had Walter Cronkite. He told it like it was.

He didn't have to offer his opinion. I think he thought we were smart enough yet that we could figure it out from the actual truth. Most of our television time was taken up by hippies. That's what was on our TVs, not so much the war. There might be a little clip here and there, but it was what the hippies were doing, what their protesting was, how horrible the Vietnam vets were that actually were fighting their country and fighting these innocent people.

Nothing about communism, nothing about the atrocities of war that was actually happening. It was just how bad these American soldiers were for what their country asked them to do. Back then we had the draft. And it was not unusual to be fighting against someone that had been in jail. A lot of it was you can either go to Vietnam or you can go to jail. What's your choice? And most of the guys were good guys, though. Some were not.

But I suppose that was the same on each side. Of course. We had one nice thing that happened to us. We were talking in Rockford, Illinois, probably 15 years ago maybe. At least, yeah. There was this guy, his name is. Don Andre. He was a teacher. And this was Rockford. And we went, my sister set that up because she still lives there. So Sam talked and students always love it when he talks. They get so involved

and they ask such, they're so smart. They ask such great questions. Well, this man was dressed in Mall Black and as an instructor, he had this big giant piece symbol around his neck on a chain. afterward he came up to Sam and he took hold to Sam's hand and he put that piece symbol in Sam's hand and he said I was wrong and I could see in his eyes he meant what he said he said we were misinformed and I just wanted to apologize I want to give you this I was wrong a couple years later we took him with us to Washington D.C. took him to the wall. To the wall.

And it was so nice for him to be educated from a different point of view other than what he was learning from what the hippies, what the kids were doing at the time. Sam had carried that peace symbol in his Medal of Honor box since he got it. And with the Medal of Honor. And that day he took. took Don's hand and he said, want you to have this back? And Don said, I was hoping I'd see that

again someday. A friend had made it for him. So he got it back. Got to know his son real well and still do, but Don sadly passed away. But he wrote to us quite often about how glad he was to know the truth. And then he spent all his time just telling American soldiers how proud he was. us. So, you know, there's a lot of good things that may not happen to a lot later. Time. People get a little bit more education. That's how it goes. Sam, when you had, how, what was the links between the action and actually the ceremony for the Medal of Honor? Like, when did you find out, oh, I've been awarded this? One year. One year. The action took place on November the 18th, 1967. I received the medal on November the 19th. 19th.

18th. 168. One year, one day. And how was that? That's the one where actually they put Tom Hanks. They actually have the footage and you were superimposed. Or his face was superimposed on you. Yes. When you're a mid-sized business, you need every competitive advantage you can get. Like an AI solution that works for you, not against you.

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Jim Taylor. Taylor, Taylor, not Patterson. And one was the conscientious objector, I guess. He was a minister. He gave his back. Yes, he did. Lickie. Was this last name?

Charles Littkey. Charles Littkey. Yeah, he's the only one. He gave his medal back to the United States government. I did not know that. Yeah. Charles Littke. Before you got awarded the medal, when you were in the hospital recovering,

you said that you called General West Moreland and you actually got a hold of him. Yes. How did you know him at first, or how did you first get to meet him? Because like I said, I... He came to the hospital. came to the hospital in Japan. Okay. And handed me beehive that they took out of me.

So that's where you got the beehives? That's where I got, yeah. And that's how I got to know General Westmoreland. And he was awesome, man. I loved him and he saved my life. He must be because, like I said, all I do is research Medal of Honor winners and, you know, men that have done things like you. And every time it's a Vietnam War hero, somehow or another, that guy. pops up in the story every single time.

He took care of his veterans. He was, he played a big role in, Roy Benavides' story too. Oh, definitely, yes, sir. So it's just like, he's just this character that pops up in every Vietnam story that I go through. So that was really interesting to see.

Williams, Childs, Westmoreland. I don't know. Wife named Kitsy. You want to hear how badass Sammy is? What did you call Westmoreland for? What did you tell him you wanted to do? At the moment, I have a blank. I'm sorry.

He told me he wanted to go back to Vietnam. You didn't want to go home. Oh, okay, yes. He's offered to go home. He says, I don't want to go home. I wanted to go back and be with my brothers. What did he say? Huh?

Yeah. You let him do it. Yeah. He said you had to be able to walk to the colonel, general's office where you were from the hospital. Oh, this is a Fasco. Gwendoel was at the same hospital recovering. Is this when you were in Japan? Yes.

Okay. He had three days in a row. He had to walk down a flight or two stairs, be able to walk to the general's office, clean his rifle. And then if you could do that three days in a row, he could go back to Vietnam. That was the rule. They didn't think he could do it. He was so beat up. And so then he and Gwendole had this great idea.

Gwendole actually saved his life. Everybody got to the hospital because this different story, there was no blood left. And they pushed him out in the hallways. They didn't think he was going to make it. He had too much blood loss. Gwendole said, you do a direct diffusion. You take the blood out of here and put in him.

And he must have been pretty. convincing they did it they knew they did a direct what he said yes direct infusion from body to body saved his life wait they that shit yes did they mention that the book no you got a direct so that was well the thing of it is later we found out that his blood type was not my blood type oh yeah that's not good well it worked yeah you had to then oh negative then i i don't remember God, that's insane because, again, as Nick says, your body, if you get the wrong blood, it's very, very bad for you. It quits. It must have been good enough, though, because, or else you didn't have any of your own blood left, and that just felt jumping new. I was changing types.

Anyway. You're now a diesel car. So in the hospital, Gwendole said, well, you know, my legs work. Your back doesn't work. So why don't you hop on my back and I'll take you down the fire escape so they don't see us. Do this. I'll set you down in the right corridor and then you could just walk over to the colonel's office. Well, they fell down the fire escape.

That didn't go real well. So that took another day off, a couple more of recovery. but on the day that he actually did it he got in the general's office I think it was a colonel anyway he said okay Sam said you can go ahead and call General Westmoreland now

which he did from his office and he let Sam talk to him and General Westmoreland said well son I think this is a bad idea but I'm going to let you you do it because he knew how it was important was to go back and touch survivors and to talk to somebody else that had been at the same place so he saved your life by doing that but definitely then the only thing you could do was be a cook he really couldn't do anything else that's where I learned to cook well his

first job was slicing bread that was pretty exciting wasn't it homemade bread yep well that was all I could do. Back in it. And still, you went right back to Vietnam too. Yes. That's where I was slicing the bread was in Vietnam. They made me a cook in Vietnam in my original unit. And this is after the fact of everything that happened.

Then you're. Yes. But a lot of your guys were gone already. Oh, yeah. Most of the guys were the new guys. But they had heard stories. Oh, bad. And the fact that I was back slicing bread for them.

Cool. And they were told, if Davis wants to sit up and talk, you sit up and talk with him as long as he wants to talk. I like, they were like, nope, we're not going to interrupt. Yeah, yeah, you're fine, go ahead. Also that's got to be wild just to be, you know, getting chow from the chow hall and your cook has a medal of honor dangling. No, no, I didn't know.

That was before. Oh, that's right. Okay. But that would be funny. Pending. Pending. Yeah. Still.

Wow. Guys, I think cook's a badass. Only a little, a lot. That's where he learned to make everything for 100 people. He made the kids eat grass soup one time. My kids. Yeah, because he wanted them. They ate everything.

I mean, he did growing up, but you ate a lot of wildlife. and but you had to eat that grass soup. They didn't ever request that one again. I love how you clarified. You're like, my kids, I would never do that to my soldiers, but my kids, yes, absolutely. Back home. Good one. That's funny.

I don't think I have any more stories to tell. Well, I got one more story, but I don't know if you want to tell it in front of your wife. You've read the book, right? I've got to read that again sometimes. But you've read it? You know everything? I know what it. I know what it is.

Well, we don't got to talk about it if you don't want to. Oh, I don't care. But the funniest part of this, the funniest part of the book for me. He didn't know me, was why you're still scared of pencils.

I think that's the funniest story ever. The nurse. You're the nurse with the catheter during your recovery with the pencil. I don't remember. Okay. Oh, good. Tell it. Oh, boy.

Yeah, Nick, tell it. I don't know if I want to tell it. We can, well, Well, we'll edit it out if you don't want it in. But you had said that during your recovery, obviously, you know, you had a lot of drugs and everything going on. But you had to have a catheter put in. And there was a very attractive nurse that was coming in to put your catheter. And every time you, the nurse came in.

He'd have an erection. And you can't give somebody with an erection a catheter. And she whacked it with a pencil to go. rid of that problem and then every time she came to show up and to change the catheter she stuck the pencil behind her ear and he never had that problem ever again and he said still to this

day he's a little bit leery of pencils he said I have an unnatural fear of pencils so he's like thank you for bringing that up why did I write that in my book number two type ED yeah

no wonder we just have pens in her house. I never thought of that. I didn't mean to make you spit. Oh, no, that's very funny. I love it. It's been an absolute pleasure. I'm glad you joined us. Well, thank you. I pre-ish. Well, no, I love tell stories on him. I bet I have more.

You got to brag on your man a little bit. She is the reason why I'm alive today. Yeah. She gave me the reason to live. Seriously. Actually, when did you all meet? Well, her husband was Vietnam vet and played in a band. And his band played a lot of places that I would go speak.

So we seen each other. We weren't friends, but I recognized her. That's Tim's wife. And Tim passed away first, and then my wife passed away. And I better give Dixie a call. She lived in Texas. I lived in Illinois. So I gave her a call, how you doing?

I'd wish I started talking and then a lot more phone calls. And then I thought, well, I need to go down to see Dixie. And I did. That's not right. No? No, I knew anybody you to write. It was beautiful the way you told it, though. I thought you were stalking me, actually.

That face is like, oh. I went through war and this hurt more than that. Sliding in that mailbox. I just like being able to break Nick. Slighting in the mailbox is diabolical. Yes. In real letters. You literally slid in the mailbox.

It's... Dan, um, you ask me if... Oh, if I was going to Skidmore, Missouri, there's also a big reunion, used to be a big reunion there every year. And I said, no, they were doing a dedication for Tim. And his singing partner still put up his microphone even after he had been five years after he had died. It was just hard because they would do their music and it was hard to go listen. And finally, and the other reason was I was working three jobs because I had a lot of medical

bills for him to pay. So I really couldn't have just afford to do it. And finally, kind of kept my agony, really, Sam. He finally said, okay, if I pay your way, will you go? And I said, okay, see how easy now? So we remet each other there after probably 15 years. 12. They've both been sick for so long.

So that's not where you want to meet each other with all the families there. All of our friends were there, both couples. And everybody knew my wife and everybody knew Dixie's husband. So then was on stage playing with the band. And there was this big grassy area out front of the store. stage and then all our friends were sitting around here in tents and I was sitting with friends Sam the gig guitar harmonica then I don't know why you were but he laid it down the band kept playing and he walked across this great big field where nobody was out and he um bows

who bows anymore he was nervous he didn't I was paying my respect And he said, can I have this dance? And I said, no. Just shot down. Our friends were all doing. Oh, go, go to join. And then everybody started applauding, so I had to enjoy it. So that was how we remet each other after all met.

So a year later, we got married there on stage, all those same friends and family. And that was 21, almost 20. years ago. See, it started with a little coercion, but it all worked out. Yes. Hey, you don't lose till you quit trying, right? There you go.

That's right. You don't lose to you quit. And I still haven't quit. A blues harp. Wow. You're going to tell the story. I learned how to play the harmonica in Vietnam. No doubt.

My mother sent me a harmonica because she thought I was bored. She had written a letter to my captain because I had not been writing to her often enough that she knew that I was okay. So the captain came to me and said you will write home to your mother every day, at least three sentences every day. Well, you're in a combat situation.

What do you write home to your mama about? Well, I wrote home to mama about we had ducks, wild ducks. But we had ducks everywhere because we were in the water all the time. And I wrote about what this little duck would do and what this little duck would do and what this little duck would say to that little duck. And three sentences, every day had to write a letter. Well, after a month of mom getting a letter every day talking about ducks and birds and blah, blah, blah,

she thought, he must be really bored. So she sent me a harmonica. He said, son, I hope this helps you be not quite so bored. Well, I didn't know how to play it. I just put up my pocket and went back to my fox hole and one of my sergeants. Johnston Dunlap came to, he heard that

my mom had sent me a harmonica and he came out. He thought that I knew how to play and she sent me harmonica. He said, Sam, play it for me. Well, I didn't. Now I've always been kind of musical, but I'd never really played. My daddy played the harmonica, so yes, I'd blowed on it.

But Johnston Dunlap wanted to to play Shannon Doa for him. That was his favorite song. That's where he was from. So I started picking it out. Now, we were artillery. It was okay that I would sit in my foxhole and play the harmonica. That was another cool thing about 2016 beating with my former enemy.

One of the first things they asked, do you still have it? Why? You're harmonica. You guys were way too close. Exactly. Oh, stop. He's playing. It's so beautiful.

Oh, my gosh. And I said, well, yeah. They said, would you play it for us? So I played Shannon Doa. Now imagine this come floating through the jungle at 2 o'clock in the morning. We were artillery, and I played it. What do you do in a combat situation? Well, I played the harmonica.

If I were NBA, I would much rather hear that than fortunate son. Well, that's sitting there at that table in Vietnam day, and they asked me, well, do you still have it? You know, what's you talking about? Your harmonica. Well, how do these people know about my harmonica? Well, they listened to me because I played it often, a lot, all night. It helped me be awake, and all the rest of the guys,

and talking to my brothers, they knew that if they could hear me play the harmonica, that everything was okay and that I was okay. So it gave them peace of heart, peace of mind when they could hear me play. I didn't play just Shannon Doa, but that was their favorite song with Shannon Doa. And I still play it for my brothers today, Shannon Doa. It's true same word. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, kind of. But we didn't know for sure they were there until I talked to them in 2016. And they, well, they talked about conversations that they could hear us having. That's how close they were. But, yeah, they didn't speak English. Is that, yes. Well, they actually spoke better English than I did. Just hearing that, though, it would have been a moment when you're,

because it's like in a foxhole looking up, especially in Vietnam. You actually see all the stars if it's not storming. Oh, definitely. That's just... Yes, definitely. It's kind of like when the guy in the urinal next to you says, nice watch. Whoa.

Oh, I got, Sam. A little close for comfort. Gosh. Thank you for playing. Holy moly. That was awesome. That was something really cool. Sam, thank you so much for your time.

Like, thank you for everything. Oh, before actually, before we close this out, You have cudgel movie coming out. Or they're working on it right now. They're working on it, yes. They're putting it together. Dixie, would you want to help talk about that? The cudgel movie?

Okay. They're not filmy yet. No, they're not. But they're putting it together. I had no idea how much money it took to create a film. And Todd and Nathan are working on it and doing the best thing. written it's kind of fun yes

they did it's called people can check at cudgelmovie com yes and there is a short doc

I'm learning Hollywood talk now a documentary that it's called for my brothers and that has won several film awards

already what we say that was called when you go around to these different it's like the film festival yes yeah yeah cool they won best director and best movie and for veteran related documentaries

and I guess it's kind of just something they do before they put together the actual movie so we've seen that a few times and so they people what they're finding is that A lot of the support is coming grassroots that regular people are donating to this because movies, it'll be about how Sam earned the Medal of Honor, but the perspective will be from how the soldiers cared for each other.

Cudgill.com. C-U-D-G-E-L-M-O-V-I-E. So cudgelmovie.com for it. And then Sam, Sammy is going to send an actual Medal of Honor coin for any. anyone that donates. Yes. His face is like, am I? That's a lot.

This audience will get out of control. I have to have more coins, mate. Yeah, this audience will get out of control fact. Cudgel is the name of the Firebase will return the metal of honor. Yes. Okay. Firebase Cudule.

So it's kind of like the outpost. Yeah. Like that. It's a man. And they can go to Cudgelmovie.com in order to donate to help. Appreciate it. Yes, sir. grassroots this movie.

because, as you said, movies cost a lot of people don't realize millions of dollars, and that's on the low end. They get up to $100 to $500 to really quick. Especially a story like this that you want to tell right. Exactly. And if they're in control, that means the world, because they can tell it properly without anyone ruining it. Exactly.

Well, who did you say you want to play you? Denzel, Washington. Oh, Denzel. As you were saying, Brandon. The cudgel movie. Brought to you by Netflix. No one's going to, if Sam's like, I want Denzel Washington planning, he's like, okay, we're fine with that. This is A-OK.

We're going to have to donate more. He's expensive. Yeah, we're going to make this happen. The Viacong ain't got nothing on me. Training Day 2 looks awesome. And then, Sammy, where can the people find you for if they're looking for any information on you or even this movie? Do you have any social media or is there any? good outreach?

Yeah, we don't. Nothing. Everybody finds us anyway. We're everywhere. You can just pull up his name on YouTube. If you want to find me, go to the middle of honor website. Sam has been an absolute pleasure. Dixie, Sam.

You guys are amazing humans. Thank you for everything you've done for the country, for us, for veterans. Well, thank you all. This has been an honor for us. It's all over the job, the job gets done, right? Oh, absolute pleasure. Do you have any words of wisdom

for the young individuals out there or veterans that might just be... You don't lose until you quit trying. Amen. That is the secret to life. No matter what you're faced with, you don't lose until you quit trying. Cody, you want to close us out, brother?

Thank you guys for joining the unsuscribed podcast. I was joined today by Eli Double Tap, Nick the Fat Electrician, Sammy Davis, Brandon Herrera, myself Donald Operator, and Dixie, of course. Thank you for being here today. We love you.