WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Major General William M. Matz: My Toughest Battle

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

Major General William M. Matz, Jr is a highly decorated combat veteran of the United States Army with a distinguished military career spanning four decades. His book, My Toughest Battle: A Soldier's Lifelong Struggle with Polio, is the inspiring life story of a young boy stricken with polio who, through sheer grit, the drive to achieve, and love of the military, overcomes childhood paralysis, takes up the physical challenges of an infantry career and joins the elite airborne forces.He talks with Lauren Bixler of WRFH.

This is Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Lauren Bixler. With me today is retired Major General U.S. Army, William Matz. He will be speaking on his memoir, My Toughest Battle, One Soldier's Lifelong struggle with polio. Major General Mats' memoir is, in biographical form, a military history of U.S. war and foreign policy since 1961. He served in every major conflict from Vietnam to Iraq, receiving the Distinguished Service Cross for Valor, and served from presidents Kennedy to Trump. He is also 86 years old and still going. Major General Mets, thank you for joining us today. Well, nice to be here. Thank you for inviting me. Yes, thank you. So you wrote this book. When did your book come out?

The book, My Toughest Battle, was officially released by Case Mate Publishing Company on 15 January of this year. Wonderful. So what's the main thesis of your book? Well, when I left the Trump administration, back in March of 2021, I thought this would be a good time to sit down and put my notes together for my grandsons. I have seven grandsons, no granddaughters. And, of course, all the years they've been asking Grandpa what he did. So I thought it would be good to record that. So I started to sit down and write about that. I wish my dad had done this for me.

and I got into all of my past histories and what I did, and actually those notes turned into a book, so that's how I came about writing the book. It took about three years to write it, but my wife would call me a pack rat, so I had saved through the years almost every citation or letter or operations order I ever had. So it was fairly easy,

going back and pulling those documents when I wrote the book. And I wrote the book as an autobiography. So it starts from the womb until today and chronicle it in chronological order. And of course, most of it, a good bit of it, is my 33 years in the Army. And then after retiring from the Army, of course, I write quite a bit about the defense industry and the other jobs that I had up to and including the job as Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission in the First Trump administration. But writing the book was something else. I really had never written a major paper other than my thesis for my master's degree when I was a lot younger.

So it wasn't an easy chore because I was a lot. I didn't do it on a computer. I did an old-fashioned way. I'm showing my age now. I use a pencil to paper, would write it, handed to my wife, who's an excellent typist, and she would pull out the Apple Mac and double-space it and then give it back to me, and I could edit it.

So that's how we wrote it. It ended up 12 chapters. And as I say, it was picked up by CaseMate Publishing Company, which is a large international publisher. they specialize in military memoirs, military autobiographies, et cetera. And as I say, it was published then officially in this past January. So you said initially it was a project that you wanted to do for your grandchildren and maybe to establish this legacy and trace your life.

Have you gotten any feedback from your grandchildren about it? Oh, I sure have. I sure have. In fact, the publisher actually had some. copies printed before January 15th, and they shipped them to me prior to Christmas. So each of my grandchildren got, as a gift, a copy of the book. And when they opened them there on Christmas Day, a couple of them there were with us. They started reading it. And I've heard from, let's see, three, I think, three of the seven have completely read it now. And my grandchildren, incidentally,

their ages are, what, 19 through 25. So some are out of college and some are still. in school. They've enjoyed it. And they said, you know, geez, we found out things about this and that that we didn't know. And, well, of course they would, you know. Yeah, naturally. And yeah, so, so they've, they've enjoyed it so far. This is Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Lauren Bixler. With me today is retired Major General U.S. Army, William Mats. He will be speaking on his memoir, My Toughest Battle, One Soldier's Lifelong Struggle with Polio. Polio specifically is something very unheard of nowadays. We just, I personally don't know that much about it.

I think most people my age would probably say that as well. So what has your life looked like because of polio and if you could kind of outline those steps? Sure. What I can do is I'll tell you how I contracted polio. And you're right. This generation today doesn't understand, doesn't know what polio is. It's actually the clinical term is polio myelitis, which is a virus, often referred to as infantile paralysis because it struck mostly young children. I was struck with it in 1944, and at that time, there was a terrible epidemic of polio going through the eastern cities of the United States.

I was living in Philadelphia. My father was overseas in the Pacific, and I came down with polio one day. I tried to walk across the room. We were visiting my grandmother. I was not quite six years old. And I fell. I tried to get up, fell again. Try to get up, fell again.

My leg was paralyzed. They took me to the hospital, gave me a spinal tap, and I was diagnosed as having polio myelitis. And at that time, they quarantined. As soon as you got polio, you were put into a quarantine ward there because it could spread. It was the most feared disease at that time in the 19, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s in the United States, of all childhood diseases, mothers fretted, you know,

that their child might come down with polio because it could cripple you and cripple you for life. So I was paralyzed from the hip to the toe in my right leg. And they put me in a hospital, home the merciful savior, hospital in Philadelphia, which was set aside for just polio kids at the time. It was so bad in Philadelphia. And I was very, very fortunate to get what They called a Sister Kenny treatment. Sister Kenny was an Australian nurse. She had nursed the soldiers during World War I and then came to the United States around 1939 or 40 when the polio epidemics were gone on because she had experienced treating polio in Australia. And she came to the United States and had an unorthodox way of treating polio.

Most polio patients, they would brace you right away, put you in steel braces and stop them. mobility. You know, you couldn't move the leg or the arm, whatever part was paralyzed. They thought that was the way to treat it. She came and in her own unorthodox way said, no, you don't brace. We're going to use these warm, moist hot pack treatments. So followed by gentle therapy. So that's what they did with me. I was very fortunate to get her treatment. Not every child in the hospital got that. I was fortunate, as I say, to get her. get that and that was the treatment and the therapy that I had then up until about 1953 when I was finally released from my in and outpatient polio treatment. But at

polio, as I say, is a virus, it strikes your anterior horn cells that go down the legs and the arm. Your interior horn cells are what spark the muscle and grow the muscle. So the polio virus affects those anterior horn cells and stops the muscle from growing. And my leg was atrophying, and my right foot wasn't growing like my left foot. And as of today, I have a size 12 left foot, size nine right foot, so I've had split-sized shoes all my life. And my right leg is a little shorter than the left leg. I have what they call drop foot, a weak foot, and a more atrophied leg. But those, those Sister Kenny treatments reinvigorated those anterior horn cells as I was growing. And just gradually up through high school and adolescence and so forth, my leg got stronger

and stronger and I was able to pretty much totally recover from it. But that's why I cite in my book, my toughest battle, even though I'm a soldier, and experienced ground combat in Vietnam and a number of other places during my 33 Army career, my toughest battle has been overcoming polio and and working with the after effects of polio. What would you say characterizes that battle? What about, you know, this disease has been your greatest battle to fight? Yeah. No, no, it has been because ever since a child, when I was in the hospital,

as a young boy recovering from it, they actually had the ward doctors, superintendents, had a little contest. They would line the kids up who had polio, take the brace off, and they would see how far you could walk before you fell, you know, trying to measure hopefully each week you'd progress. And I developed in me a very competitive spirit there. I didn't want any other child to beat me. And I think I won almost every race.

You would walk until you fell. And they let you fall on the floor. They put an X on the floor where you fell. I don't put your name down so you know how far you got. But I developed a real competitive, real competitive spirit there. He said, that was a young child. You just didn't want anybody to beat me. And I wanted to almost from day one not be a cripple.

Because in the polio wards that were next to mine, a lot of the kids were crippled. And they did not get treatment quick enough. So they were permanently paralyzed. and crippled. I didn't want that. So I fought it all my life and worked hard. I wanted to be a normal boy again. This is Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Lauren Bixler. With me today is retired Major General U.S. Army, William Matz. He will be speaking on his memoir, My Toughest Battle, one soldier's lifelong struggle with polio. So did your parents play any strong role in helping you overcome the mentality of I'm a victim or I'm a cripple.

Very good question, because my parents were dominant in it, absolutely, especially my father. When he came back from the Navy after the war was over and was discharged, we were up in my bedroom putting together a new bunk bed and I was about seven years old. And he said to me, take that crutch and that brace and throw it under the bed. I don't ever want to see it again. And I write about that specific moment in my book that we talked about that was just published. You'd have to understand my dad. He was a real fine man, but he was tough.

And he wanted you to stand on your own two feet and play the hand that you were dealt. But he did not want his son to be a cripple. So he didn't feel I needed that brace or crutch. My poor mother said, no, the doctor said he needs that. And after two days of arguing why my dad won the bracelet and crotch. crutch went under the bed. And other than one or two times when I went on a long walk or something, did I ever use that brace or crutch again? So to get to your point, my dad was very instrumental. That was a seminal moment in my recovery period of polio. And then he worked with me for the next

few years. He became one of the, what they called the polio dads in the county. And they would take the polio children who were recovering to the pools in the summer and let them exercise their legs and things like that. So he was very instrumental. Of course, as was my mother, too, who was a great woman of faith. So the two of them, with the doctor and with the sister Kenny treatment and the good Lord above, I was able to recover to the point that I did recover and was able to have the career in the Army and the life that I've had. This is Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Lauren Bixler. With me today is retired Major General U.S. Army William Mattz. He will be speaking on his memoir, My Toughest Battle, One Soldier's Lifelong Struggle with Polio.

So with polio growing up, you've walked through some of those physical challenges. But in addition to that, what are some of the more psychological challenges you had to face, especially as a child growing up in a social atmosphere? What did that look like for you? First of all, you're right. As a child, polio not only affected me physically, but psychologically. You know, you're a young boy growing up. And so once I was released from the hospital and an outpatient clinic started to go back to school,

why the kids, you know, boys could be tough on each other. And they bullied me. I talk about that in my book. I had to walk to school each day. And once I got to a certain block, why there were always a bunch of kids that would bully me or hit me or something and say, here comes the polio kid. Look how he's limping, you know, things like that. So I had to overcome that. I had to work through that.

But it just, I think it made me tougher. It made me tougher. And also, there was a certain shame that I carried with me through life having polio. I wanted to hide it. I didn't want to talk about it. And in fact, a lot of people who are reading my book now who have known me for life never knew I had polio. I've always tried to hide it as best I could, even though I had a slight limp.

Yeah. So it has, you had to overcome that terrible psychological aspect of it. And later on in life, your question, how did it affect you? So I did go into the Army. And I was very, very lucky to get through the ROTC physical examination at the time in college. They had to bring a specialist up from the Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in Philadelphia to give me a full evaluation because polio infantile paralysis was a disqualifier for ROT. Yet I wanted it so much because all the other guys were doing it. And he reluctantly approved me and I was able to get into the ROTC program.

My leg all the time was getting stronger. But at the same time, I had to be very careful as I was going through high school and college. You know, at times it would weaken and give out and I might fall. But I just worked with it constantly until I learned how to cope with it. This is Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Lauren Bixler. With me today is retired Major General U.S. Army, William Mats. He will be speaking on his memoir, My Toughest Battle, One Soldier's Lifelong Struggle with Polio.

So once you were in the Army, what did that look like for you as a soldier with polio? Were there any moments where it got in your way? No, it really didn't get in my way. But in fact, it was the Army then, and I went into the infantry in the Army, which is one of the more rugged, physically demanding branches within the Army. And then I went into the Airboard paratrooper, so I was a paratrooper, which took more physical. But I kept testing myself. I kept pushing myself, knowing that my leg was getting stronger and I knew I could do this. I knew I could complete Ranger school, which I did, and a complete airborne school.

So I was constantly pushing myself and trying to keep up with my fellow officers and just push in my leg. There were times when it would tire, but I wouldn't let it stop me. I wouldn't fall out of a run. But believe me, the leg was tired. I can imagine. Do you or have you ever seen yourself as a victim of polio? No. I don't like that word.

I'm not a victim. What do you see yourself then? Well, I see myself as a young man who fought hard, overcame polio, had a parent who, as I say, didn't jump every time I cried or something, but pushed me out and made me do it, never lowered the bar. No safe spaces to run to. There was no victim stuff when I grew up. Yeah, and you were held accountable in my day for your actions. Yeah, so all those things. But, you know, just your line of questioning is very good because it causes me to think, really, it's amazing what polio did for me and for my psyche and for my, you know, ability to overcome it.

Yeah. And that's really sort of the theme and the essence of the book. This is Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Lauren Bixler. With me today is retired Major General U.S. Army, William Mats. He will be speaking on his memoir, My Toughest Battle, One Soldier's Lifelong Struggle with Polio. Your response is so impressive because it is so easy to label yourself a victim. You could have so easily, like you said, to come to the shame and victimhood that comes with polio.

But instead, you had people around you who told you that doesn't have to be who you are. You are exactly right. I had my teachers, my coaches, and, Of course, again, my strong father. And I, you know, in my day as a kid growing up, and I grew up in a diversified neighborhood, went to the public school system, people weren't offended in those days. You didn't get offended. Somebody said something to you. You said it back. Somebody hit you.

You hit them back. If you fell, you got up. Your teachers didn't lower the bar. Again, no safe spaces. No. I never heard the word victim. And there's a difference between having empathy and the people around you who loved you taking care of you to help you get stronger.

Yes. Instead of saying, you are tainted with us and everyone must bow down to serve you at every waking moment. I think there's a distinction there. Well, there is. A very good distinction. That's a very good point because I did have an aunt that was always felt sorry for little Billy. And even when I was in college, you know, she's like,

lovely, but, you know, it's just, I guess it's that motherhood that comes out. You feel sorry for the child, whereas my father was just pushing me to the opposite end, which had he not, I would have able to do what I did, what I did through life. Did it ever get on your nerves or push your buttons when people would speak that way to you? No, you know, it didn't, because I knew that they were doing it out of familial love. And no, no, it never did. For everyone, like, listening, what would be your kind of closing point for us to take away from your journey and your battle? Yeah, well, I wrote the book the way I wrote it, hoping also that readers, people reading it, we all have some kind of an adverse situation. I mean, every human being is coping with

something in life, you know, whether it's a death or a divorce or I can't pay my bill or whatever. But I'm hoping that the readers, as they turn the pages, if they have an adversity or a downside in life right now, reading my book going through the pages and seeing how I was seeing the grit and the perseverance that I had in overcoming this very terrible disease, if that can help them in overcoming any adversity or setbacks they're having, then I'll be very, very happy. Today, our guest has been Major General Willie Mets, and I'm Lauren Bixler on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.