The Ben Maynard Program
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The Ben Maynard Program
EP. 70 Honoring Heroes: Veteran Tales, Patriotic Reflections, and Entrepreneurial Triumphs!
Larry Reidy, a distinguished veteran and passionate advocate, joins us for a captivating conversation this Veterans Day weekend. From his mischievous youth to his transformative military service, Larry's journey is a testament to resilience and dedication, as chronicled in his book, "My Quest for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." Initially intended for his family, Larry's memoir evolved into a public work, and he shares gripping tales from his military years that are sure to engage and inspire.
Our discussion takes an intriguing turn as we navigate my own podcasting journey, sparked by an unexpected moment at a whiskey tasting event, leading to over 350 episodes filled with diverse insights. We delve into the political landscape, exploring the legacies and controversies of U.S. presidents from Washington to Trump. Throughout, we address media biases, societal debates, and the importance of informed voting, weaving in personal anecdotes about family military history and the sacrifices made by veterans across generations.
As our episode draws to a close, Larry shares his entrepreneurial successes post-military, including the creation of multiple businesses and his continued support for veterans through book donations. We touch upon the art of podcasting, the joy of preserving stories, and a heartfelt call to support the veteran community and our nation. Join us for an episode rich with patriotism, gratitude, and compelling stories that honor those who've served our country.
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Hey there, welcome into the Ben Maynard program. Thanks for being here. Before we get started, I'll let everyone know and remind you that this program is available wherever podcasts are streaming. So just simply search the Ben Maynard program. You'll see all the different options to choose from all the different platforms out there. Choose your favorite and just go with it. And, you know, interact too. I think all of these streaming platforms have a way to. You can send an email, you can contact the show host, that kind of stuff. So interact, that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1:Secondly, if you can't resist all this right here and you're watching on YouTube, then thank you so much for doing so. Please subscribe to the channel, give me a thumbs up and leave a comment, because I read all your comments. I love comments. I just like the interaction with the audience. Let's see. Last but not least, follow me on Instagram. Ben Maynard Program all one word. Okay. So with that, there are plenty of ways to take in this show for your dancing and listening pleasure. And with that, you can see I've got the studio arranged a little bit differently. I'm looking straight at you instead of on an angle. There's a reason for that, okay, you'll see, right here in front of me, I've got a book right here in front of the camera and I've got someone on the phone. Right now we're going old school with this one and I'm bringing on to help complete the Veterans Day weekend portion of what I do here at the Ben Maynard Program. My guest today is Larry Reedy. Thank you so much, larry, for being here.
Speaker 2:It's a real pleasure, Ben. I'm enjoying your show.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you, you and I, we were put in touch with one another through a previous guest that I had on the podcast, pepper Ann.
Speaker 2:That's her pseudonym, but she's a great lady yeah, exactly I.
Speaker 1:I don't know she really wants her name out there, so we just stay with pepper and but but yeah, she's a great woman. Um, she wrote a great book and she just reached out to me she said, hey, there's this guy, larry reedy. I think he'd be great for your show, so on and so on. And then you know, it was I don't know a couple three weeks ago. You and I we talked on the phone. You are just. You know, I listened to a couple episodes of your podcast as well. We're going to plug it here for everybody at home too. Okay, so don't, we're not going to get away from that. Going to get away from that. But I listened to a couple episodes and we talked on the phone and you're just a patriot through and through and I love it, larry, and yeah, I just thought that you and I would have some fun here on the show. So thanks again.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I hope Pepper Ann wasn't delusional when she mentioned that about me and I hope Pepper Ann wasn't delusional when she mentioned that about me.
Speaker 1:Hey, you know, if she was, she was, you know. Whatever, it's okay. So before we get into it, though, I've got here on my table on a stand facing the camera, I've got one of your books. Larry has authored two books. I've got the of your books. Larry has authored two books. I've got the first one here. It's titled my Quest for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, and one. I love the title and I've been able to get into it a little bit. Larry, we're gonna talk about this book here, and what I like about it is, you know, as I was kind of thumbing through the pages, I noticed there were no chapters. It was all written like in journal form.
Speaker 2:Am I right? Well, what I tried to do you know, I'm by no means a talented author or anything but what I wanted to do I wanted to just tell a story. Originally it was for children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a close friend of mine who's authored and published like 10 books. He read it and he said, yeah, you've got to go public with this. So I did that and the main thing I wanted to do and I think I accomplished that because so many people told me that I wanted people not to be reading a book. I wanted them to think they were sitting at a table with me and we were talking and we were talking and accomplishing that instead of just reading and just taking it as a journal. I thought I left out a lot of things that I didn't want anybody to know about me. I really felt that between I had an interesting life, my service, I've had lifelong friends, I've been all in for veterans. I went into the service as kind of maybe smartiest kid, so to speak.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And I came out as a reasonably respectful adult and I wouldn't change. I spent three years in National Guard and then I joined the Army. Three years in the Army and I wouldn't change a thing. The career wasn't a career for me. But I would never trade that time for anything and over the years I've tried to just do everything I could for veterans. But if you skim the book, if you go through it, you're going to find that I've had a pretty interesting life and I'm very grateful for it.
Speaker 1:Well, I did start reading it and it is great. I'm about, I'm almost a quarter of the way through it, so I'm still in your military years. I'm still actually, I think I, uh, let me see where I am. I think I just kind of got past the um, your story about, uh, about baby Huey, Huey yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he was a piece of work.
Speaker 1:But you know, there's, you know, in the back of the book here, there's some great pictures, some great photographs of you and your family and some of your buddies, and it's just so good. But but you know, this one thing is is is is awesome. Here too, larry, um Final. It's on page 218. Final thoughts Faith, family, friends, country Everything else is background music, and I love those words.
Speaker 2:I love those words. I've been saying that for about 50 years.
Speaker 1:I love it. I love it, you know, because I think without faith it's tough to have family, without faith, it's tough to have good friends Without faith. What are you doing in your country, what are you doing for your country, you know? And, uh, I love it, but I love the fact that it starts with faith.
Speaker 2:Um, oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's uh, you know, we've uh, my, my wife and I've been married 62 years.
Speaker 1:God bless you. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Seven children, 18 grandchildren, yeah, and the eighth great grandchild coming up. Wow, that's great.
Speaker 1:And here I pound my chest because I have six grandkids, and that's it.
Speaker 2:Well, the thing is, some of my children are older than you.
Speaker 1:Well, larry, let me see, I think you're 84, right.
Speaker 2:No, I'll be 86 in January 86.
Speaker 1:So, honestly, I was trying to give you a couple of years. Come on, you know, 20th of January 86. So, honestly, I was trying to give you a couple years. Come on, the 20th of January, I'm 86. Oh, I'm writing that down. Hold on a second. I'm writing. I got my notes here, so I'm writing the January.
Speaker 2:Inauguration day.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, what was that? Inauguration day oh yes, happy birthday to Larry. Inauguration day. Yeah, let's see Larry's 86. That's what I just wrote on my notebook. I have my show log here on the table your Quest for Life, liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Why that title?
Speaker 2:Well, I'll tell you when you're looking. Life is what it's all about.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Liberty. You can't have life without liberty, and if you're not a happy person, you're a waste of oxygen. 1939 to 1980, I'm sorry, 1939 to 2009 were 80 years of my life. Yeah, and I figured that. Somebody asked me are you going to do a sequel? And I'm telling you, between that and the second book, the hardest thing I've ever done in my life wow, it is. And because I started out with that as a 500 page outline and I thought nobody's gonna read that, you know. So I hit a, cut a lot of it out you're, you're telling me you edited half of it.
Speaker 2:No, no, it was an outline, but then, before I start, putting it on paper.
Speaker 2:I start cutting out segments that I had in my mind and I made some of the businesses shorter than it should have been, Some of the military and some of my early life. But the thing is, I also recognize the fact that at my age and a lot of people even in their 50s, the standard 9-inch font is too small, so I went with a size 14 font. Yes, and then on my second book, that was really difficult because I did all the photography and I was dealing with you. I was dealing with a gun book and I was dealing with four editors at Orange Razor Press who never published a gun book before and I said you have to submit text separately, photos separately and sometimes they'd mix them up. Yeah, the thing about that one was nice is I discovered Grammarly Pro, my first one. There's some grammatical errors in there, but I don't feel bad because you can go to Wikipedia or any website. I went to one on Wikipedia on a 10 page thing. There was 70 years on it and it's like primarily correct all that so.
Speaker 2:I hid that for my second book, but you know it's. I'm glad that I did it. If COVID wouldn't have come along I was so bored I probably wouldn't have come along. I was so bored I probably wouldn't have written anything.
Speaker 1:Wow Okay.
Speaker 2:But anyway, that's the story of the book.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, actually, and because you mentioned the font size and I did, I noticed, as soon as I opened up the first book, I noticed the font size and I was like, yes, book, I noticed the font size and I was like, yes, I put my glasses on to read it anyway, but I really didn't need to wear my glasses to read it, so it was great. I thought I was back in like the second grade because the font size was so large. But yeah, I did notice. Yeah, the second book, and I'll talk about that in a minute, but I'm, I'm, I'm kind of flipping through the pages and, yeah, the font size is just a little bit smaller, um, but um, you know, to what you said regarding regarding the title, you know, uh, I was looking these up and and it's really pretty much what you said, though, life is the present state of existence, you know, as in, as in um, a manner of living, uh, or conduct, as it relates to morals.
Speaker 1:Think that's something that, wow, just a tremendous number of people within our country have really lost sight of, and that's morality. Liberty, freedom from restraint. A man enjoys liberty when no physical force operates to restrain his actions or volitions. So, like you said without liberty you don't have life. And the pursuit of happiness the primary method by which men can know and then apply the law as it pertains to humans. Without the last two, you can't maintain the first one.
Speaker 2:I totally agree.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so they all fall right in line and it's a great title for your book, larry in line, and it's a great title for your book, larry, and that tells me, really honestly, it tells me almost everything I need to know about you as a man, as an American, as a patriot. I know that you and I fall on the same side of the aisle. I know we're both conservative men when it comes to our political view. I know we're both religious men and so I know that we align in a lot of that. And I guess, you know, getting back to you know your birthday coming up on January 20th, back to you know, your birthday coming up on January 20th. Well, just this past Tuesday, we had our, you know, we had our presidential election and, um, if you want to say that it, you know the good guys won, well then great. If you want to say sanity prevailed, if you want to say that, to me it was more like rational thought and common sense won out. I agree 100%.
Speaker 2:I think the divisiveness in this country has really been brought about not by Democrats, by Democrat politicians, and not all of them, but they're so in step with this foolishness, with this woke generation. I mean, it's just, it's a sad state of affair. I mean, this is not Harry Truman's party, harry Truman, and honestly, I've only voted for one Democrat. I voted for JFK, ok, strictly, because I've watched that convention and Nixon made me uncomfortable, perspiring like that.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:JFK was calm, cool and collected and I honestly think if he would have lived out his term he would have been better than every president, because I think he was a good, rational person and kind of not that far leaning left, and after JFK, with the democrat presidents, it was all downhill for me right, you know that was, and obviously you know me being born in 1965, that was almost two years before I was born.
Speaker 1:But just listening to folks that certainly are my senior and that are old enough to know, when it came to JFK he came off more. His policies and his platform was more Republican than some Republicans and um. So I think that's why, like you know, I mean you, you know, you, you, um, you believe in that, you believe in that. I think that you liked what he had to say because it aligned with what your beliefs were, your, your conservative beliefs, and and so you're like, well, I just yeah, I, I gotta go this way.
Speaker 2:And so you're like well, I just yeah, I got to go this way. You could almost say that JFK was a Jeffersonian.
Speaker 1:Democrat. Okay, right, and you know what? Okay you brought up. You have brought up three past presidents right now in JFK, in Harry Truman and Thomas Jefferson, and I want to touch on this. Thomas Jefferson, and I want to touch on this you do something on your podcast that I think is so cool when it comes to our past presidents. So here, larry, I want you to talk about your podcast. I don't want to be the pitch man for you. I want you to talk about your podcast and some of the stuff that you do on there, especially in regards to our presidents. Can you do that?
Speaker 2:Sure, well, let me start at the beginning. First of all, I have no, I, several years ago. I've never listened to a podcast. So anyway, my favorite candy store in Batesville, batesville Liquor Company, had a whiskey tasting one evening and I usually would go in there. So I walked in the door and Mike and Terry Gardner owned the place and Mike said well, I'm glad you're here. I said well, I'm glad to be here, mike. He said you know we got a podcast tonight. I said oh, that's nice. He said yeah, it's across the line 1524, they're all set up. I said that's good. He said you're the guest. I said what he said you're the guest. I said what he said you're the guest. He said I forgot to call you. I came up there and it coincided with a book, my book signing on my quest for life, liberty and pursuitursuit of Happiness. Yeah, and anyway, we hit it off really good. So there's four of them and I said you know, we've got to have you back on another one. I said really, yeah, I said we've got to have you back. So they had me back on.
Speaker 2:I was having a lot of fun and I thought you know, I can do this. I don't know if anybody's going to listen. But I can do this so without all good equipment, trial and errors. You know, like right now we're in my dining room and I have two microphones in here. I have a Rodecaster Pro and then I have the Duo and in my Morton building I have four microphones that are condenser phones. They're omnidirectionals where this is a direct thing, so any noise in the background we're not picking up. So anyway, and that's what I did, where this is a direct thing, so any noise in the background we're not picking up, you know. So anyway, and that's what I did, and it was. I started out with just a weekly and, you know, not getting many listeners. And then I said well, I'm going to hit 350 podcasts, probably in the next week or 10 days 350?.
Speaker 2:I'm just going to say you know it started out with. It was like pulling teeth to get somebody to be a guest on the show. And then after a while, I was in doctor's office one day and he said when are you going to get me on your podcast? And this went on and on. I've had mayor, chief, police chief, lawyers, doctors you know industry, the whole bit.
Speaker 2:But then and this is from my I've always been kind of a history buff. Getting back to the presidents and I thought you know, I want to grade these people, I want to find out about them, and so I have recorded my debate on all 46 presidents. The last one comes out in June. I did Donald Trump's early. He's still coming back in June, but I put him on last Sunday before the election because a lot of information I get is historycom and it's very good for another podcast I use to stay in history.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:The thing is they lean left, so I'm looking at what their take is on Donald Trump's presidency. And they had Donald Trump's impeachment hearings and they had Russia interference with the election. I'm thinking these guys aren't going to mention any of this accomplishment. So I went to another favorite site, whitehousegov, and this is interesting because I did this on Barack Obama and there was six pages about his administration and that's kind of standard for most of them, except for Lincoln and Washington. Donald Trump, his accomplishments on Whitehouseousegov 136 pages in one term. He accomplished more in four years than any other president in history. Now that doesn't include, like Louisiana purchase or getting Texas from Mexico like Louisiana Purchase or getting Texas from Mexico.
Speaker 2:These were monumental things but they were singular things. But I forgot about a lot of his accomplishments and when I did the podcast on him I had to just highlight everything. The guy did wonders for this country and he's going to do it again and I hope these whiny Democrat politicians get their act together, because it's not. If you get further into my book, I wrote four things about people voting for Democrats. First, they're misinformed and I think that covers the majority, because they listen to the crazy news that we have on the network. Second, they're delusional. Third, this doesn't cover too many, but cover some simple minded Right.
Speaker 2:Fourth is they're just evil prick. That is my take on why people vote for Democrats, and I think most of the time it's because they don't have time on a busy schedule or they don't have the inclination to really investigate. They listen to ABC, cnn, nbc, all of the lefty stations.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And take it for gospel, and that's a sad thing and I mean. But Trump's accomplishments have been amazing. And you know, people might not like Trump. I don't think I could sit and talk to him for an hour because all he does is talk about himself. I don't. I think I get the job done. He surrounds himself with good people, he listens to consensus of opinions, but he's smart enough to make the right decision and this is what we need in this country. Forget these boys pretending to be women, playing women's sports, I mean, and and that uh idiot waltz putting tampons on boys restrooms in schools, what, what is? What is wrong with some of these people? And and it's not the average person in your community, it's Democrat politicians have gone out of their mind. I mean, joe Manchin couldn't take any more of it.
Speaker 1:That's right. But, larry, when it comes to just the absolute bizarreness in some of the stuff that's going on you mentioned here just right now I mean boys, men in girls or women's sports in their locker rooms, tampons in boys' restrooms, larry, that stuff is absolutely insane to even think about, to even have the words come out of your mouth. But the thing is, larry, we are told, we are told the entire nation is told, if you don't accept this, there's something wrong with you. We're told that's supposed to be normal.
Speaker 2:It's communist indoctrination. That's what they've done, Absolutely. They've been using this slogan for quite a while and they backed off of it because too many people found out about it. They were saying forward Well, that's been a communist. They've been using that in ads for 50 years. Communists have always said forward, and it's just. It's a shame and I think it's veterans' battle.
Speaker 2:I don't want to continue about politics, but the thing that I couldn't understand some of these presidents after reviewing all 46 of them, I'll tell you on a scale of 1 to 10, George Washington didn't get to 10. He did more for this country and there was no precedent. He established everything. Abraham Lincoln was the number 10. And when I got done with those two, I thought I gave Reagan a number 9 and I'm the 10th, but I thought there's nobody else to be a 10. After I read WhiteHousegov about Trump, I gave him a 10. He did more for this country, from prosperity, for morality, for taking care of he made things easier for women, the salary level. He just did so much for this country in four years and he's like the Energizer bunny. He's in his 70s and the guy just is on the move, Keeps going, just doesn't stop.
Speaker 2:And he eats Big Macs and diet toast.
Speaker 1:Larry, now Larry hold on.
Speaker 2:He'll never be accused of being a health bug, right which?
Speaker 1:is a good reason for him to bring RFK Jr into his administration. I think that's a great move.
Speaker 2:And Elon Musk is so smart, he's from another planet, I'd say. And you know the guy, just he gets the right people and like again, I just say it's great. But the thing that bothered me, some of these presidents, like you know they're a one and even though there's character flaws, I still could never understand why anyone at any time in history thought it was okay to own somebody.
Speaker 1:That's slavery I agree.
Speaker 2:And the Civil War was so stupid. And then, the top of all, when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. And free 3 million slaves basically, and they championed this and still they were having trouble. They were free people and they kept getting them to vote and they ensured their safety and everything. And then I'm thinking you know, that is wonderful, and that is wonderful.
Speaker 2:But now the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920, allowing women to vote. Now you talk about some male chauvinist pigs. How, in the name of God, could they ever think women didn't have the intelligence to vote? And even in the early days of the Revolutionary War, when George Washington became president to vote, the first people who were allowed to vote they had owned property, so a guy that worked for a printing shop or something he couldn't be in, voting and owning property. And then they changed that. And but I'm thinking you know at all Jefferson, he's probably the smartest guy that's ever been president of the United States, but how could he, you know, just think it was okay to own slaves? Again, character flaw. I look at JFK and Clinton.
Speaker 2:They got a woman flaw. Absolutely, Larry.
Speaker 1:And as men, as human beings, period. We are all flawed. It's an unfortunate thing that we're not perfect like our Lord and Savior. We're all flawed, we, you know it's an unfortunate thing that we're not perfect like our Lord and Savior, and we're all flawed, and but, but it's. It's how you overcome those flaws, how you handle those flaws, and, you know, sometimes we're able to deal, deal with them and overcome that, and sometimes we're not. But, you know, to something that you're saying and I, I didn't mean to cut you off here, but you said something and I don't want it and it's, it's stuck in my head and I don't want to forget this. But we're, you know, you're talking about precedents here and everybody down look at the bottom of the screen and if you're, if you're on YouTube, you see who my guest is. It's Larry Reedy.
Speaker 1:And if you're listening, my guest is Larry Reedy. He's an Army vet, a National Guard vet. We're getting a history lesson right now too. He's an author and an historian, as you can tell if you're listening in on this conversation. But, larry, I have thought about this over time. You know the greatest I shouldn't say the great, but the great ones that held the office of president and the ones that were willing to go against the grain, stand on their own and their own principle. Not every single one of them, but the primary ones throughout, throughout our nation's history Abraham Lincoln, jfk, president, reagan, Donald Trump. And then I'm going to throw in uh, rfk and martin luther king.
Speaker 1:Okay, these oh yeah, these presidents, I agree, these political figures and and and and. In martin luther king's uh, uh case, civil rights leader, these people stood against everything else, that that was wrong, and and and said they tried to show no, there's principle here, here's the right way to go through life, or you know, or run our country here. And what happened was they got taken out, yep. So somebody didn't want them standing up For what was right and standing up for America. And even in the case of civil rights, you're not standing up for one class of people over another, one race over another. You're standing up for humanity, period, absolutely. And what happened? They were murdered.
Speaker 1:And fortunately, in the case of Reagan, they came close, but they couldn't get him. In the case of Donald Trump, they came close, but they couldn't get him. In the case of Donald Trump, they came close, but they couldn't get him. So we have to celebrate that, that we've got now a man who's going to take office again on your birthday. And he's not going to be perfect, but and I've said it before he is not perfect, but he is the perfect man for the job absolutely.
Speaker 2:I think we're going to have the next four years. The prosperity is going to be unbelievable. He it's going to cost a lot to deport the illegal immigrants and he'll start with the gangs, the terrorists and everything, and we know where they're all at. It's just a question of rounding them up and shipping them out. And the thing is, if you look at just look at statistics, as far as they always, the Democrats always talk about gun violence. You know, I've never heard of an NRA member shooting anyone.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And we're ranked. I believe we're second or third in the world of gun violence. But if you take out the big Democrat cities New York, la, detroit, chicago, baltimore, st Louis, if you take out those seven cities, we're number two in the West, number two as far as least gun crimes in the world.
Speaker 1:Yes, but there's a certain party that doesn't want the population of this nation to know that.
Speaker 2:Oh, I know they don't want to know anything.
Speaker 1:No, no.
Speaker 2:If they knew everything, democrats would never be in power. That, oh, I know they don't want to know anything. No, no, that's if they knew everything, democrats would never get in power.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it's absolutely right and um it and it's a shame, but um, you know, we have to, we have to stand on the constitution and we have to stand firm on that Second Amendment, because without that Second Amendment, that Second Amendment assures you, me and everybody else that our First Amendment rights are upheld.
Speaker 2:Well, you know the reason that we will never be invaded. I mean by troops, I'm not talking about whether it be another war or anything, but is there are 330 known, 330 million guns that are known about. It's not bought at gun shows but are registered in families. The average right now it's, I think, 52% of the home owners have at least one or more guns in their house. So when you hit, if somebody would try to invade this country, you know the soldiers would do the job. Everybody's going to do the job, but so will the normal citizen and the veterans that you know. I don't know of any veteran that doesn't have a gun in their house.
Speaker 1:Right, if somebody's got really bad PTSD, they're not going to lie, sure sure, well, wasn't it somebody maybe it was after World War II, maybe it was even during World War II, maybe it was a Japanese leader was asked about invading America and they said there's no way we'd invade America. And it was kind of like, well why? And it was put to him well, because behind every blade of grass is a gun.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, yeah, you're right and it's. You know. The thing is, if the guy, if they made certain guns illegal, if it was like Canada right now, all that does is somebody that wants a handgun will just pay more for it on the black market, right, that's all? Or an AR or whatever. That's all, or an AR or whatever. The crazies are out there and there's telltale signs that they haven't acted on because they might have a problem, but they don't really act upon it. Most of these guys that have committed mass murders have been warned about them a year or two years ahead of time. Yeah, and nothing has happened. So you know, it's just like that guy should have never, ever, been on the room to shoot President Trump. Ever been on the roof to shoot president trump? That? That was so mind-boggling. That secret service, let let that happen.
Speaker 1:It's just beyond me. Yes, absolutely could have never happened, and I'm hoping I know there's been some some investigation into it. I'm hoping that the whole truth will come out, whether it was just if it was just ineptness or it was something a little on the nefarious side.
Speaker 2:What worries me?
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's. You know. There are people. Bad people were always afraid, and I'm talking about bad Democrat politicians were always afraid if Trump got elected again, they're in deep trouble and they're not going to maintain power. They realize what he did in office. That's why they've gone all out against him in this past election. You know where? Where the vegetable was elected by. Yeah, it's just. It's just. You know if, if the democrats can't maintain power, then they have nothing to go on. They love to spend money on stupid things and this is all going to come to a screeching halt and eventually, when that wall is built and the pipeline is built, the money that you know. We're always going to import oil from Canada. There's no question about it. But when Trump was in office, we were selling more oil than we were importing, so we were not dependent on oil. Not at all. We're not dependent on oil.
Speaker 2:Not at all. I just think we're going to have a great four years, and I hope I will for the ride.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you will, I know it, you know, ok, so let's, let's move on. You know we'll stop boring. We'll stop boring everyone with our political views right now, okay, so, so, so, getting back to the book, I want to get into your. I want to start with your service time, which is at the beginning of the book, and talk about, talk about how you um, you're going to talk about how, how it was that that you got into the army okay.
Speaker 2:well, first of all, I knew that I was going to serve I. I just didn't know when my brother ron, my brother Ron, when he graduated from high school he was on a troop ship on his way to Germany, and before he got to Germany they surrendered. My brother Bill was in the Navy four years in Korea on an aircraft carrier. Then he got out for about 30 days. He got married and he wanted to go to Alaska City. He joined the Coast Guard, was there four years and he spent 28 years in the Naval Reserve.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:I knew that I was going to go, I just didn't know when. So when I was in high school, one of my buddies said hey, Red, that's why I have red hair.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes he said hey, red, how about joining the National Guard? I joined a few months ago. I said, yeah, that sounds good. So I went out there and the first sergeant talked to me and he took me in the company commander, introduced me in the company commander and said how old are you? I said I'm 16. He said, hey, pop, take Larry outside and find out how old he is. I walked outside the office. He said you're 17. I opened the door and went back in. How old are you, larry, 17. Oh, you're just a bright age.
Speaker 2:Yep, that's right, I joined the National Guard at 16. We had two weeks at Fort Knox every year. We were an armored recon company, which is tanks, and my weapon was a 22-pound BAR Browning Automatic Rifle. We had a good time. Are Browning?
Speaker 1:Automatic Rifle had a good time. Now, Larry, what's the timeframe on this?
Speaker 2:Okay, this was let's see in 19,. When I was 16, that would have been 1955.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we are National Guard. Okay so we're post-World War II but we're during the Korean conflict and stuff, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah right, my brother was in the Navy. Let's see, I'm trying to think I'd have to check my records. But after that, a real close friend of mine well, two of them. We decided we were going to join the Army and so that would have been 1957 and we had this big, big party. Back then, you know, the police were more worried about you having a record for underage drinking. But we had three, two beer in Ohio and 6% beer if you're 21. But anyway, to make a long story short, we had this party and there must have been 300 people there. But afterwards my two buddies said why don't we wait a year? I said, okay, we'll wait a year. So I worked at a supermarket and a year came by and we all decided we were going to join the Army Security Agency, which is cryptograph operators and other things. Which is cryptograph operators and other things. And my buddy, will. He didn't pass the test. So Will and I went in on the buddy plan and joined the MPs. My other buddy who had something happen. He had to wait two months. He thought we were already an Army security agency, so he went that route.
Speaker 2:So in 58, I was in Fort Knopf basic training.
Speaker 2:I was acting platoon sergeant because of my time in the National Guard Right platoon sergeant because of my time in the National Guard and my regular platoon sergeant, whose name was Alvin York no relation to the World War I hero but he told me he says you're acting platoon sergeant, but you screw up, you're not going to be it. So I was a platoon sergeant for eight weeks and we had some interesting things happen, which you've read in the book already about basic training and such. But one of the neat things was I took my platoon and we trained after hours to compete on Fort Knox all regular Army, everybody had platoons in there to win a trophy and we'd be all the regular army guys, every everybody and we got this trophy and I wound up with a three-day ps, which you're never supposed to get that and, uh, you know, in your basic training that's right after that I also had a chance to get accommodation from the company commander and also the post commander, and with one other gentleman we performed maneuvers for an hour and real hot Took a break.
Speaker 2:I was right where Alvin York fixed my hat. 10 minutes later my hat fell off my head, so my buddy, jack Webb, won that and from there I went to Fort Gordon, georgia MP school. We graduated from there. There was four of us that were given the MOS, which is basically your job, and so I hit a 951, which was the same as a regular policeman, and the rest of the company either had security, which would be like prison guards or combat MPs, and they went to Fort Campbell. And that was a very interesting thing because at the end of my MP school we had to take an eye test and before I had my cataract without my glasses, I needed a dog.
Speaker 1:So I remember this story in the book.
Speaker 2:Yeah, anyway, I wanted to go airborne and I couldn't see the big E on the eye chart. It looked like a big black blob, so I memorized.
Speaker 1:Yes, you did, yes, you did 2015.
Speaker 2:Then the guy did on my driver's license it showed glasses and he said I mean, this refraction, there's no way. He said what do you care? And he said, yeah, this refraction, there's no way. It's a test. I said what do you care? He said yeah, what do I care if somebody wants to jump out of a? Perfectly good airplane.
Speaker 2:Yep, that's right. So I went to Fort Campbell and the day before I was supposed to start jump school I to the uh airborne mt detachment and this captain interviewed me and he said well, you're too short, seven, six foot one, one too short for. He said, oh, for basketball. He said what I want you to do. He said I see your baseball player picture, so I want you to go infantry. Now this was freezing cold, you know, really, really cold. So I want you to go to go to infantry until baseball season comes and then I'm going to bring you back from the airport and have you to touch me. He said so you have your jump score and everything out of the way. I said there's no way I'm calling infantry. I said I watched this guy sleeping out in his tents. That's not why I'm in the Army. And he said well, do you want to be airborne or a leg MP? I said I can always jump out of the airplane. He said get your ass out of here.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I went to the leg MP detachment and I was at Fort Campbell maybe seven months and I really wanted to go overseas for my two years. So a buddy of mine that I met in special services, he said there's nothing for Germany. The only thing that's open is Korea. I said, well, send me to Korea. My first sergeant got orders for me to go to Korea. He called me in the office. Never heard him cuss before. He was using vile language, told me I was too good with soldiering or something wrong with my in my mind. So he tore up the oars in front of me and said if you want to go someplace, I'll get you some good duty. So then in December I was off and running to the canal zone. We had more canals. Yeah yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:That's right. In December I was off and running to the Canals. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right and I played.
Speaker 2:I played baseball six months out of two years. So I was TVY, I had a great time. I was MP was great for me. I just I love my time in Panama Lifelong friends. I'm still in touch with four guys that I was in a canals with.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful and I was discharged in 1961.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's beautiful there. You know, while you were talking and talking about your service, you know it was Friday, yeah, friday you had texted me some photos and so I actually took those photos and I had copies made and so I was showing those photos on camera while you were telling your story and I was trying to point out I would zoom in the camera as much as I could anyway and I was trying to point you out in those photos, so I know I got them right. But you know, there's a great couple pictures here at the back of the book and I'm showing my viewers at home. There's one of your beautiful bride, nancy it was the engagement announcement and then there's the two of you walking down the aisle on your wedding day. And great, great, great photos. Just great stuff. How have you been so lucky to hang on to your wife all these years?
Speaker 2:I don't know she has a good sense of humor but it's. You know the thing is during the service it's totally different. You know we still have eighth grade reunions, high school reunions. That's beautiful, the service. When you're 24-7 with people in the service, whatever branch you're in, there's a camaraderie that never changes and every vet that I've met it's the same thing. You might have been in a different time.
Speaker 2:One thing that I'm really grateful. Besides, you know family and everything. You know I have friends from in their twenties and their eighties and you know, it's just it's, it's just great. It keeps it kind of keeps me young. But the veterans I have never. If I'm in a restaurant and if I see somebody with a veteran hat on or if I see a couple of policemen or firemen, I pay for their meal. I would never want to buy a meal follows around and I have more respect. As I've interviewed different veterans. I told you about the one gentleman who, uh, still has 36 pieces of shrapnel and his name's fred hellman, and terrific interview. I had to kind of go in a different direction towards the end because I felt he was in a bad place, getting a little emotional.
Speaker 2:I would start talking about other things. Another one that was really interesting retired from the Air Force and he does some consulting work now and he's president of a local country club. But he did everything, including espionage, and his last tour of duty he was with the group that planned the bin Laden raid. He was still a young guy, wow, I told him. I said no, look, I know how you are. Keep your potty mouth to yourself, because I don't get it. He said don't worry, I won't. And I said about five minutes. But I just said everything that we can do I can do for veterans.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Some of the nonprofits I do. I've been fortunate in life. It has to be more by pleasure than by actions, because I've got a bad knee and I can't do the things I could do five or 10 years ago.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 1:Well come on, larry. That's understandable. But you know, um, just uh, you mentioned, you know, the, the, the one vet who you had to kind of go a different direction. At the end there I invited another vet to come on the podcast. I had talked to him probably four or five months ago when I first thought about doing this and I thought, you know what Veterans Day is. I mean, before I know it, it's going to be here. So I wanted to make sure I planned and I knew we had some vets in the church and so obviously you saw Ronnie and I invited him and he was just gung ho right from the beginning. But there was another gentleman that I had talked to and he also served in Vietnam and when I mentioned it to him, I, you know, I said, hey, you know, I'd love to have you come on my podcast and when it gets closer to Veterans Day, I want to celebrate, you know, veterans and, and you know, say thanks and bring recognition to your service. And he kind of like, looked at me and he's like whoa Ben I don't know about that, you know, I still I'm dealing with a lot of stuff and he's, like you know, 82 years old, and and he said but I'm writing a book and you know I'm trying to document all this stuff and I'm trying to get it out later in this year. And I said, ok, that's, look, that's fine Understandable, I'm not going to ask you again. I said just know, the offer is still there, the offer stands, but I don't want to, I don't want you to feel any pressure coming from me. I want the decision to be wholly yours.
Speaker 1:And the following week, he, he, you know, he sees me at church. He calls me over. He says hey, have you met my wife? Nope, he introduces me to his wife. She says oh yeah, mel was telling me about your podcast. So what, what is it exactly you want to do?
Speaker 1:And I explained it to her and and she said yeah, you know he's dealing with a lot and I just had to tell her the same thing. Listen, that's fine, I understand it. I said, if he gets the book out, that'd be even better to come on, we can talk about the book, we can. You know, he can talk about his experience, whatever he wants to do. But listen again, this is, I'm not asking again. Again, you guys will have to come to me and I he either forgot because he's 82 years old or um, or he just, you know, just hasn't been able been able to kind of come to terms with that and and you have to, maybe, I guess, talk about it in little dribs and drabs maybe and not kind of, you know, spill your guts all at one time.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure well, you know, fred hellman, the guy told you that still has 36 pieces of shrapnel. Yeah, it's, it's therapeutic for him, right, he's talked to library and everything and it. It keeps his mind off of it. But I had of it. But I had. Several of my uncles were in World War II and several of Nancy's uncles were in World War II, right, but back in the 70s my uncle Art. Have you heard of the bridge at Vermagen?
Speaker 1:I don't believe so.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, anyway, this was a bridge that the Germans were trying to keep open to transport troops and tanks and such, and the US and Brits were trying to just blow it off the map. So this bridge at Narangan. My uncle was a medic and they were for the Germans. They wanted to shoot the medics so they couldn't give aid. But then they found out they were giving aid to the Germans too. So he got through all this and it was a terrible experience. It was a bloodbath. So in the 70s my uncle lived in Cincinnati. He was still alive and I had ants. So I had a couple of offals and a couple of ants.
Speaker 2:Come down to Batesville, our home, and I got Art aside. He was drinking a beer and I said Art, let me ask you something. You never, ever talked about World War II. I said I was a little kid, we were at my grandmother's house and you got out of a cab with a duffel bag over your shoulder. Gotta have your war, war too. He said I can't talk about it, I still have my ear. Wow, yeah. So then my.
Speaker 2:When he died he was a. When he died he had this little apartment. My one cousin went down to check out anything and if there was anything that they wanted to salvage or give to the Salvation Army or St Vincent de Paul, and he found this box, or the Salvation Army or St Vincent de Paul or anybody, and he found this box. And since World War II every president sent him a Christmas card. Wow, he never I mean George Bush and Trump sent me Christmas cards because they gave money to our children. He never gave a dime to a political party and I just find that remarkable. But he did something extraordinary for him to get from 1945 to when he died in the late 70s.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. The Christmas part over here, that's great, that is, that's beautiful, you know. Going back to what you're talking about, you know World War II, you know it must have really, really just been something. And before I get into it, I you know, before we started I sent you some photographs as well. I told you I'd discuss them a little bit, and those photographs I'll put them on the screen here as well. The very first one, that is my mother's biological father. He served in the army. He was an MP, just like you, larry and he was in an accident and he died while on duty, and that happened before my mother was born. So my grandmother was still pregnant with my mom when that happened, so she never got to even meet her dad biological one anyway. And then my grandmother married this gentleman right here who served in the Navy. So I guess you could see where my grandmother was going. She liked a man in a uniform, you know. So, um, so he served in the Navy. And then, um, I don't know if I ever shared this one with you before, but my dad, he served in World War II. My dad would have been 101 this year and he served on a destroyer in the Pacific. And so that's the, the.
Speaker 1:The next photo I'm showing on the screen is the third one I sent you. It's my dad in his blues and it says Huntington, west Virginia, above his head. And yeah, there's a second. This other one here, another larger photo. That's kind of it almost looks like a Navy mug shot, but you know there's there's dad right there as well, and sorry, I'm a professional broadcaster, I just knocked over my microphone, anyway. So then the uh, the third one I sent you. It's a much smaller photo. I'll try to zoom in my camera here for the people at home. It's a picture of my dad in his blues and he loved photography, so he's holding a camera right there.
Speaker 1:I just wanted to show you these because, again, I'm celebrating veterans. Whether they are my family, your family or anyone else's family, I'm celebrating them. But you brought something up that has really just made me think over the years, larry. World War II was something else. It didn't matter, because we were fighting on two fronts the Pacific, and then we were fighting in Europe as well, and there was a lot of stuff that went down. And you, you know we bring up PTSD a lot when we talk about our veterans and it's a serious thing. And back then you know it wasn't called PTSD, it was called shell shock or something you know, shell shock, right. And back then you know it wasn't called PTSD, it was called a shell shock or something you know.
Speaker 1:And so my, my, my dad, um, he, um was, was, I guess, you know, guys from that generation men didn't talk about their feelings, they didn't talk about things that they were going through, dealing with or whatever, and I believe that I don't know it for a fact. But you just have to kind of look back and analyze things. And I think my dad found solace in the bottom of an alcohol bottle and he was an incredible belligerent alcoholic. And when I was growing up, I mean, I'll be honest, the only thing I really ever heard my dad talk about when it came to serving in World War II was he served on a destroyer I loved. Actually, I loved his.
Speaker 1:He had the, the, the Navy tattoo on his forearm, just like Popeye.
Speaker 1:So I always, I always, I always dug that and I and and I wear, I wear his ring, I wear his Navy ring on on Navy ring on my finger.
Speaker 1:I don't do it all the time, but I am doing it this week and I'm showing it to the camera. But I've got my dad's Navy ring that I'm proud to own it. I'm proud that he served, but I always wonder why it was he. He couldn't cope with the things that happened is like, like I said, the only thing I ever remember him mentioning was he served on a destroyer, obviously during world war two, and that he saw some of his buddies die, you know, standing right next to him. That stuff like that, and that was basically it. And, like you had said, talking about this stuff, you know some men don't realize it, but talking about your stuff, getting it out is it can be quite therapeutic and it's just the guys, guys, back then, you know, even really until recently, until probably the last 40 to 50 years, guys didn't talk about what they were thinking, no matter what it was you know.
Speaker 2:Well, you know something that I have said, I guess, since, maybe in my twenties, I've always said George Washington and his ragtag troops, that he got from farmers and shop owners and everything. Yeah, if it wasn't for them, we would be having tea and crumpets and happy hour. I mean he saved the country. And we would but the greatest, the greatest generation saved the world.
Speaker 1:And we would be bowing before a king.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but they saved the world. And that's not only the ones in the service. I'm talking about women working in factories and keeping the home front running and everything. But there has never, ever been, and we will probably never see, a generation like this again.
Speaker 1:And it's just and there, yeah, and it's unfortunate. I mean, you know, my, my dad, passed away at 75, but you know, I thought it was just a beautiful thing at the we're not going to get political here, but I thought it was a beautiful thing at the, the NRC, when that that World War II vet, 98 years old, stood in front of that microphone and said his piece. And the one thing I loved most about it is that, you know, he said America is. I'm sorry, I'm getting, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm good, I'm just getting emotional here, I'm sorry. He said no, I apologize, I don't mean to be a ball bag here, but he said you know, america is our home. When he finished his speech he said God bless our home. Those words.
Speaker 2:Yeah, those words, those words. You know the sales thing. You mentioned World War II, this I went on an honor flight seven or eight years ago and there were eight World War II vets Wow. And I spent seven or eight years ago and there were eight World War II vets Wow. Now some of them have won or not.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you know, in another few years nobody's going to be left. I know For World.
Speaker 1:War.
Speaker 2:II, I know, and the problem is I don't think the younger people understand what an impact that that generation you know. When World War II was over they had to come back and adjust to civilian life and General well, dwight D Eisenhower was probably the most underrated president in history and besides establishing 45,000 miles of interstate highway, 5,000 miles of interstate highway?
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:It was a calming effect on veterans. You saw homeowner growth that people never dreamed that they could own a home and that was tough to come back from because you know we lost a half million people.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And when Harry Truman dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima and then on Nagasaki, that was a tremendous decision that he had to make because there was so much collateral damage. But he was advised by generals that if they would have invaded Japan it would extend the war for another seven to 12 months and a half a million more troops would bite the dust. Wow, wow. And a half million more troops would bite the dust, Wow. And you know a lot of people thought that was terrible. But can you imagine if he had to make that decision to go and kill an innocent people to keep more of our people from dying?
Speaker 1:I mean't just yeah, no, it's a decision that I'm sure you or I are happy will never be in that position to have to make. But see, going back to something we talked about very early on in our conversation, we were talking about president Trump and the stuff that that the media, the leftist media, just never wants the American people to know. But you know, there was that, um, there was one of our, one of our drones that was shot down by Iran I don't recall what year it was and he had his staff I think at the time was John Kelly still and advising him, you know, giving him all of his plan Okay, we're going to attack here, we're going to do this, we're going to do that, we're going to drop a bomb here. And what did?
Speaker 1:What did president Trump do? He asked what is the what's the collateral damage in this and how much is it going to cost in lives? And they came back and said this is how much it's going to cost in lives. There's going to be collateral damage, innocent people. And he said you know what? One of our stinking drones isn't worth that. We will handle it in another manner.
Speaker 2:And he doesn't get credit for that.
Speaker 1:But he's a warmonger though, Of course.
Speaker 2:You know A lot of politicians are because you know, you know how many. When you look at Washington, there's so much corruption going on. And when you've got people in big pharma and any of the weapons ammo companies, all this other stuff, they just keep. They shouldn't be allowed to even hear anyone talking to anyone in Congress or anyone connected, right?
Speaker 1:right.
Speaker 2:As far as a quid pro thing, you know, just it's all but the lobbyists. There are 2,000 lobbyists in Washington Now. I think there should be a law, I think it should be a felony if anyone in Congress or connected with Congress or the administration to ever speak to a lobbyist. And I think lobbyists should be born from Washington.
Speaker 1:Amen to that. Okay, larry, I want to move on a little bit more in your story. You were a small business owner. You no longer own your small business, and so why don't you share with us what that was?
Speaker 2:okay, what would happen? I, when I came out of the army, I sold life insurance. Met the call life insurance, metropolitan life insurance.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay.
Speaker 2:And we started raising a family and I'm thinking you know most of my work is done at night. I set up appointments during the day. The husband has to be there working days, so selling insurance, and I thought I've got to get away from this. So I went to work for Sun Oil Company and I was the first non-college graduate that they hired in 16 years throughout the company and I had a good run there and I did some things for Sun Oil Company. But they were this conservative Philadelphia company and you know there were some guys that were territory managers. They would pull me out of my territory and send somebody else in so I would lease service stations for these guys, making three times the amount of money that I was making.
Speaker 2:And I did a couple of neat things that made Sun and Will Company a lot of money and I thought I just can't live with this. What they're paying me and what they're paying people, not for performance but for longevity. So I eventually. I came home one night we had a daughter that was let's see, she was two years old. We had another daughter that was 12 months old and then we had an infant that was two weeks old. Wow, we had Irish twins One was born in January, one was born in December.
Speaker 1:Anyhow, Irish twins yes.
Speaker 2:I came home one evening and I said hey, nancy, I'm going in business. And she said what I'm going in business? She said my guy has to go back to work. She's an RN. Yeah, I said that won't happen. So anyway, we had just bought a home, put $1,500 down on a house and I had about 500500 in a bank account.
Speaker 2:But my time with Sun Oil Company, I had a good relationship with a loan officer at a local bank out in Cincinnati. It was called Central Trust and he eventually became president of the bank. So I got this performance statement on how much money I was going to make. This was back in 1965. Or 6065. So I sat down with him and told him what I was going to do and I handed him this maybe 20-page reform, a thing that I've written up, and he said I'm not going to look at that. He said I want to know two things I want to know number one, how much money are you going to make? Number two at the time I went for $5,000. And number two, how are you going to pay me back?
Speaker 2:So I'm going to pay you back within a year. And I said I'm going to make $36,000 my first year. Well, the average wage in 1965 was $6,900 a year. And he looked at me and he said if you can make that kind of money, I'll go to work for you. I said no thanks. I said I'll tell you what if I make that money, you can buy me a steak dinner at the Masonette, which was a real high-end restaurant in Cincinnati. So the first year I made $39,000. Whoa, I paid him off in five months.
Speaker 2:A oil company I borrowed $5,000 from. I borrowed enough money for a 10,000 gallon load of gas. I think it was about $4,500 or something like that. At the time Gas was cheap and I paid them off at a penny a gallon. I think I paid them off in six months or something like that. Them off in six months or something like that. So after that, uh, I I figured standard oil had so high on the stations in ohio. Yeah, they had about I don't know, maybe four or five hundred. I thought, geez, I can. I think if they can do that, I could then maybe tell them or something. But anyway, to make a long story short, I went to business in 65. I think the year might have been 1970, 69 or 70. And then I hit 17 different businesses and 200 people working for me.
Speaker 1:Now, all these businesses were not in the same field. No, okay.
Speaker 2:I had service stations. I was in the parts business. In fact I designed a franchise. I sold three franchises one in Cleveland, one in Indianapolis, one in Cincinnati. I had budget rent a car. Oh, wow A lot of different things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my dad was an auto mechanic by trade and at one time he was in the late 60s he was a union Oil franchisee and then by 75, yeah, by 75, he became a and it was. It was Standard Oil at the time. Now it's Chevron, but he became a Standard Oil franchisee then. And I like to tell people, this is when they were service stations, they weren't gas stations. You went in and you got gas, you got your car worked on.
Speaker 2:You didn't go get gas and go get a soda. Yeah Right, that's what my thing was. Yeah, and you know the thing is, once you get into that part of the book I met some terrific interesting people and anyway, after I guess it was, we decided we're outgrowing our home, and Cincinnati wasn't a real problem. But I didn't want to get a postage stamp lot for a bigger house. So what we decided to do? I had bought 41 acres in Batesville in 1970. Oh wow. So I thought, well, let's build a house. We built this home, came a year to build it and once we moved to Batesville, one thing led to another and I started investing in businesses in Cincinnati. One was over a big disagreement with Shell Oil Company that I sued him under the robinson patent act for any trust violation and the judge came back with such a favorable opinion they negotiated a settlement with me and anyway that. But it goes on and on. But eventually, when we I wound up with going into the motorcycle business in Batesville, a friend of mine that had a Honda dealership in Greensburg wound up with terminal cancer. He asked me if he wanted to buy a business. So I bought that business, consolidated everything Greensboro's, 15 miles from Batesville and anyway we had a good ride at that.
Speaker 2:I've done a lot of things in business over the years. I met some tremendous people. Business over the years. I met some tremendous people. One of my favorites was called by the name of Roy Weingartner and Roy was a customer of mine and he had a company with Weingartner and Hammonds and Roy was a plumbing contractor in St Louis building a holiday inn. His partner they had came in insurance. His partner dropped dead. Roy took that money to buy the holiday inn and he wound up with I think he had 37 on his own and with his partner Hammonds they had another 19.
Speaker 2:And Roy came over to me one day and he said and he was a southern guy and he said hey, red. He said you won't go on the holiday inn for Christmas. And I said get out of your mind. I said you don't have to. He said I'll help you don't have to. I said I'll help you. He said you see that big holiday inn across the street from you. Yeah, he says you know how much money I've got in that? I said how much? Roy, $10,000. He said the bank owns the rest of it. He says we're partners. He said the day I opened I made money. I said, roy, I've got a fairly large family. I'm content. He said, if you change your mind, let me know. Well, roy Weingartner went on not only getting all these Holiday Inns of America, and he was named president of the company and retained the labor contract for management of all the Holiday Inns. Oh my gosh, maybe I should have listened to that guy.
Speaker 1:I don't know. Larry Sounds like you've done pretty well for yourself. I mean, come on, Do you still live on the same 41-acre lot you bought way back then?
Speaker 2:Well, no, because two of my sons built homes on part of it and in fact, what I did years ago I took a tractor and I built a motorcross tractor in the back, and the boys and I used to ride dirt bikes back there, and so what I did, and so I never go in the back fields anymore. I think I've got 11 acres left and my two sons got the rest of it. They use the back, they want it, and over the years I've hammered enough good wood, good trees also, and you have to do that to keep sunlight from keeping other trees from growing.
Speaker 2:You have to do that to keep sunlight from keeping other trees from growing. I've paid for the property that I bought by three times over.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, it's good and I wouldn't change a thing. We love Cincinnati, but I'm telling you what? When you get in this town, they still have 7,800 people, and this is people are the salt of the earth. I mean, this is just a great community. The only drawback is you can never talk about anybody, because most of these people are all related don't say anything bad because it's going to get back to you real quick, but it's uh it has really been a great ride for me and uh, and for my wife and the family.
Speaker 2:And uh, you know, when I was 80 years old, I threw a party for myself. Uh, as he's a restaurant in the country club. Yeah, when I was 80 years old, I threw a party for myself at Izzy's Restaurant and Country Club and we had 207 people there, holy Toledo. So when I turned 85, this was kind of funny. I'm sitting there watching football and my son Matt we were thinking about going out, just have a nice dinner or something. So my son Matt, who lives next door, he said hey, why don't Jill and I bring over a pizza and we'll watch the football games?
Speaker 2:I said, okay, so anyway, I'm sitting there watching football and I heard my wife talking to my daughter-in-law, jill, and she said they all call me Poppy. She said, hey, poppy, can you come here a minute? So I walk in the kitchen. There's 41 people standing there, all relatives, okay. There's 41 people standing there, all relatives, okay, wishing me a happy birthday. And I said, yeah, I'm looking at them. My fiance said my wife said didn't you hear anything? I said I was watching football. Did you hear anybody come in? I said no, I was watching football and they still can't understand. And then there was little kids that were being quiet and everything. So, anyway, they had a surprise birthday party on me and my wife said yeah, you're really gullible, you don't?
Speaker 2:know anything that's going on. You might know a lot about business, but you don't know anything about personalities and what things are going on around you. You're just in the dark.
Speaker 1:So, larry, look, I could do this the rest of the afternoon over here. I really honestly could, but at some point we have to let our listeners and our viewers get on with their day. Too right? Oh, absolutely, because we're in an hour. And too right? Oh, absolutely, yeah, we are. So. So, but listen, this is what I want to do. I, I don't want to let you go without mentioning your second book here. Okay, it's called, uh, it's called batesville shooter and and Friends, and I'll let everybody in on it. It's Larry and all kinds of his buddies, and they give their personal review on certain firearms, specific ones. I mean, this book is bigger than your first book and so it's just got just all kinds of stuff in here. And, um, just let me know that I got that right. Everyone's given their own little review on on.
Speaker 2:Well, I did most of the reviews are on my gun collection. I had, I think, 20 different people or 22, I can't remember how many and it was a lot of fun. It's a lot of work because I had to take all the photos, I had to send in the script separate than the photos, and dealing with four female authors that have never published a gun book before. So it was more work than the first one, but it also I ordered a lot of books because, again, I told you, with veterans that's my thing. So what I did I guess two years ago it might have been three, but I had Honor Flight Tri-State with Dallas, cincinnati and Honor Flight Columbus, ohio I donated 1100 books.
Speaker 2:So every member that went out on a flight that year, every veteran, got a free book and I dedicated you know thanks for your service and all that and just signed my name to them and I got so many thank you notes and stuff from people that you know I never will meet. But I've never met a veteran that didn't like a gun and I've got a little arthritis in my hands, so I haven't been shooting a lot lately, but I've built a 200-yard range and I've got shooting a lot lately, but I've built a 200-yard range and I've got 125 guns, rifles, ars, pistols, revolvers, gotcha, and I've told my kids you can do what you want with this gun collection. But if you start selling them and not keeping them among yourselves, if it's not raining and you feel some liquid hitting you on the head from the heavens, guess what's happening.
Speaker 1:So, larry, you have a website. It's simply Larry Reedynet, that's L A R R Y R E I D Ynet, and if people go on to your website, they that'll link them to your podcast. It'll link them to where they can buy your books, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, or they can. You know my, my phone number. They can text me and I've done this before for people and it's if somebody wants a book, I'll send it to them, I'll send them a bill with a return envelope and they can send me a check. You know, I mean it's not, I've never been stiffed yet. It's yeah, and the thing is on the website.
Speaker 2:I don't know who your host is, but Podbean's, mine and every one of my podcasts is on site. And if somebody is in the veteran mood, what I would recommend I recommend all the veterans, but I think it's Fred Hellman, the guy with the 36 um, 36 strap strap in the system would be a good one to go to. So if they go to listen and it comes up and they'll see several of my podcasts, if they go up into the search thing you know with the little round ball, yep, and if they type in fred hellman, uh, or episode 24, that pulled Fred Hellman up. And if they want to type in Seth Shields, or or wait a minute, I'm sorry, not, it's episode V5, v for veterans, or Fred Hellman, and on Seth Shields it's episode V8, or just type in Seth Shields and it'll come up.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And all the veterans are good ones, but if somebody doesn't want to scroll 300 and some podcast to pick something out, I really you might appreciate this one too. I borrowed this from another podcast and you know there's evil in the world and I've always been kind of skeptical, even after seeing the movie the Exorcist.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Okay, there's a Roman Catholic. There's a Roman Catholic person, parish priest in Brookville, indiana, who is also the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, the exorcist, and he trained in Rome and everything and the guy's a great speaker and such. But I'll tell you I was spellbound for about a half hour and 45 minutes, whatever it was, and he was talking about witnessing this priest. He said most of the people are crazy and he said there's no doubt about it. He said there's evil in the world. He said there's evil in the world and he said he was witnessing this one. And this priest is bringing prayers over the demon inside this person.
Speaker 2:And the chair started going up in the air and he said he was ready to run out of the room and he said the exorcist doing the prayers, he didn't miss a beat. He grabbed the guy by the head and slammed him, slammed the chair back on the floor and I've hit so many interesting people on something I knew but I really didn't know. And the funny thing is, and I'm sure you're aware of this, when you start interviewing some people, some people, like Seth Shields' wife, said oh, glennie did that podcast. You know more about him than I do. They tend to open up and I'm sure you found that too. That people will open up once they're comfortable with you.
Speaker 1:And that's. I think that's the for me, that's the bottom line in doing this. I don't consider any anyone that has come in studio or streamed or been over the phone like you and I. I don't consider any of this to be interviews. They're just conversations and I feel like I never want to ask a question. That can be answered yes or no. I always want to leave it open-ended so that the guest can really express themselves, and in some cases I don't even pose a question, and in some cases I don't even pose a question. I'll just I'll, I'll just say something, uh, on a particular subject and then kind of lead them into it and just let them go well, one thing too you know when you're interviewing a person, he's actually doing a mini autobiography of himself.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, and I think it was September of 2022,. One of my best friends did a podcast with him. Two months later he dropped dead, did?
Speaker 2:a podcast with him. Two months later he dropped dead. So I'm at his celebration of life and his daughter, missy, came up to me and thanked me for him on the podcast. Yeah, and I noticed that she had a laptop computer on a table and I showed her how to bring up the podcast and to you know, there's a little thing that you can just copy it and she could put it on her computer or put it in a thumb drive or whatever. I said just stop and sing. My mother died when I was nine years old. I have no idea what her voice sounded like Now.
Speaker 2:Won't it be nice that, years from now, somebody can look at old pictures of great-great-grandpa Jack and listen to his life? Yeah, and listen to his life. Yeah, and I am proud to get everyone that I've interviewed to make them aware that this is available. And it's very important that you, part of your legacy that you leave behind, leave a voice to people who never, ever had a chance to know you or to know about things during your time. That's very important and that's that's one of the reasons I keep doing this yeah I, I want people.
Speaker 2:This isn't. There's 3 million podcasters in the world. There might be 3 billion, larry, but you know the thing is, you're like me there's no editing, I don't have any advertisers. I don't want any advertisers, yeah, and this is not aprofit, it's a negative profit.
Speaker 1:I hear that one, Larry. This costs me every month to do this. I have yet to see a return on my investment. I continue to invest on this.
Speaker 2:I told my wife. I said will you just stop thinking?
Speaker 1:because she got a bar. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:But we're going to wind up but we might have the longest podcast yet. I think we're about pushing an hour and 15 minutes yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, listen, like I said, I could go for another hour and a half here, but but I'll tell you what, larry, this has been an absolute joy to to do this and and uh, I wish I was looking at your face right now. I wish we were, I was able to stream you in. But I understand the wifi situation way out there in Batesville, but you know what this has been. Just I'm tickled to do this. It's a great way to wrap up my celebration of veterans. This will post and I'll give everybody a peek behind the curtain.
Speaker 1:I have to be at work at 10 o'clock tonight, so I probably will not be posting this tonight. Yeah, I just found out while I was in church. Yeah, I was in church and I'm getting text messages. Hey, we need you to come in. Can you come in? Like, oh gosh, great, I said so. You know it's fine. It's fine. It's not a big deal, but here's the thing. So it will get posted by tomorrow, which is fine because it's still veterans day. I will make sure that this is out in the uh. Uh, it'll be out on YouTube. It'll be out on. I'll have posted on my Facebook. It's going to post on Buzzsprout, which is the service I use, larry, that distributes everything.
Speaker 2:That's a good one. Yeah yeah, Buzzsprout's a good one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they distribute to a lot of the streaming platforms for me, so that's great. So it's available everywhere and I'll make sure it gets out there Again. It's just been an absolute pleasure. Here's the deal, larry. I don't know how much you travel anymore, but if you, yeah, okay. So, look, I don't have a problem, I'm going to be coming to you, okay, I'm going to be coming to you and you and I we're going to go out and we are going to, we're going to have some pizza and we're going to have a bourbon or a barrel aged stout, and then we're going to give our review on these things, okay, I know you like to do.
Speaker 1:You like to do food. Yeah, you like to do your food and drink reviews, and so we're going to do that. I love it and I thank you for having me on your show. Your podcast is actually my first time being a guest on anyone's show, so thank you.
Speaker 2:Well, this is going to be fun and I'm going to post this tonight online and the reason?
Speaker 2:because I'm going to be at this restaurant tomorrow signing books and little Charlies and we did free drinks every year, and so I'm going to be. I'm by the time I'm done with that, I won't have time to post it in the morning. I've got to load up the books, take the books in, get ready, because he opens up at 11. And I'm usually up at 6.30 or 7 in the morning, and so when you're going to close out and when you're closing out, I'm going to listen to that, keep that recording, and then, when you're off air, I'm going to close out with the national anthem.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's beautiful. I'm going to let it play. I'll let it play through, let me put in my clothes, hang with me, and we'll play the national anthem. It'll be a great way for me to close out my portion of Veterans Day weekend. Okay, sound good.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's great.
Speaker 1:All right, larry. So, folks, yes, I know you can wipe your brow. You can go to the restroom. We're wrapping it here. Okay, thanks for being here. Just to remind everyone, this program is available on all the streaming platforms. Just search the Ben Maynard program. You'll see all the options you have to choose from. If you want to go to Buzzsprout, please do so. That's where my website is okay. However, if you're watching on YouTube and you have endured this, god bless you and thank you for doing it. All right, larry's been great. But if you're watching on YouTube, then please subscribe to the channel. Okay, give me a thumbs up and leave a comment, all right? Last but not least, follow me on Instagram. Simply, ben Maynard program. All one word. All right. So again, I'm. I'm letting you people go. All right, I'm going to. I'm just going to say my goodbye and we're going to let the national anthem play. Okay, so listen up, folks. All right, god bless you. This is the Ben Maynard program. Tell a friend.
Speaker 2:I want to thank everybody for listening. I want to especially thank Ben for the honor of being a guest on his program. God bless you, god bless the United States of America, and we're going out with the national anthem and I will talk to you on the next podcast. Thanks again, and I can't thank Ben enough for honoring me and being on this program.