The Ben Maynard Program
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The Ben Maynard Program
EP. 111 Valor And Faith: Mel Borden’s Journey
A firefight in a jungle clearing. A river turned to splinters by a Browning Automatic Rifle. A mountain trail threaded through rocks and rigged with explosives. Then months of hospitals, traction, and quiet miracles. That’s the terrain of our time with Mel Borden—101st Airborne veteran, Purple Heart recipient, husband, father, and man of unwavering faith—who finally tells the story he resisted for decades.
We trace the path from jump school to an ill-fated ceremonial drop in Iran, then into Vietnam’s humidity where Mel carried an M16 and a radio he never officially trained for. He walks us through ambushes, punji stakes, and the blast on March 22, 1966 that tore through his leg and scattered his unit. What follows isn’t just medical detail; it’s providence in motion—an unexpected monsoon that saved lives, a young intern who changed dressings nightly, and a long sleep that let healing begin. Mel doesn’t romanticize combat or pain. He shows how suffering can deepen conviction, and how the hardest questions—Why him? Why me?—can become an invitation to purpose.
The story widens into love and legacy. Mel meets Cher at a tiny Bible college, fights through uncertainty, and learns to listen when the Holy Spirit won’t stop nudging. That same nudge sends him years later to an old friend from the 101st—Jim—on the very night Jim is baptized. It’s a full-circle moment that ties foxholes to faith and friendship to redemption. Along the way, Mel shares the quiet work of rebuilding a life: study at Biola, a job under the basket at Phoenix Suns games, and the everyday choices that make a home where children and grandchildren thrive.
This episode is for anyone who wants a fuller picture of service, sacrifice, and the grace that threads through both. We honor veterans by listening carefully and by letting their stories shape the way we live—grateful, grounded, and committed to doing right by the freedoms we enjoy. If this moved you, subscribe, leave a five-star review, and share it with someone who could use hope today.
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All good. Hey there. Welcome into the Ben Maynard program. Thanks for being here. As you can see, I have a guest today, and we're gonna get into it. We're gonna have a lot of fun, a lot of discussion. Uh, it's Veterans Day weekend, right? So that's what this is all about. We're celebrating our veterans. I love our veterans, you guys know that. Uh, but before we get into it, um, I just need you guys to know that this program is available wherever you get your podcasts, wherever you stream them, just search the Ben Maynard program. Boom, it's right there. Subscribe to it though, okay? Subscribe to it and download it. All right, downloads are important. I I know and I I don't know what it is, but they're important. Okay, so download it. And then you guys can also leave me a five-star review because I deserve it. All right. Next, if you can't resist this right here, and today, maybe even some of that over there too, and you guys are watching on YouTube, then again, subscribe to the channel, give me a thumbs up, uh, and leave a comment because I like your comments. I reply to all of your comments. You guys know that I do that, and I greatly appreciate it. And then after that, you have to go out and tell a thousand of your family and friends about the Ben Maynard program. Okay, you got to share it with everyone. Okay. Last but not least, follow me on Instagram, simply the Ben Maynard program. Uh, I'm sorry, Ben Maynard program, all one word. Or this is where it gets tricky. You can follow me on the TikTok. Yeah, the TikTok. And it's the Ben Maynard program. All right. So as you know, plenty of ways to take in this show for your dancing and listening pleasure. And with that, I'm gonna introduce a great American to you guys right here, a great patriot. Okay. You know that I love our veterans, I I support our veterans. Um, I come from uh military background. I have a lot of military uh veterans, people that have served in my family, police, fire, first responders, all of them. I love them all. Okay. And I want to celebrate them at every turn. And this morning, this afternoon, today, whatever it is, uh I have the absolute pleasure to have in my studio. Um, and he's here to talk about his book, too, Mel Borden. And Mel, thank you so much for taking the time to do this.
SPEAKER_00:You're welcome. I'm glad to do it.
SPEAKER_02:I'm I'm glad you're doing it too. And a little background, Mel, Mel and I, we we go to the same church. So I know Mel from church, and Mel's a great Mel's a great member of our church, um, very well respected as well. And when uh I obviously did this last year, I've been chasing Mel for a year. I just want you guys to know that. All right. And I I went to Mel last year, and you guys know if if you've been around for a little bit that that I had my whole Veterans Day weekend celebration. Uh, be you know, not like because look, the bottom line in all this, Mel, is you deserve every bit of praise that is heaped upon you, and every bit of thanks that is is is given you for the sacrifice that you made, just like so many others that came before you. And I know that through your humility, you don't like that. I know you don't like to have the spotlight shined on you. I know that, and and and it's hard to believe, but I'm pretty much the same way. I know you're right here in front of me, but I am. I'm the but see, but see, here's the difference, though I'm in control of this. Yeah, so I can clown around and goof around and do whatever it is that I want. And I like I said, I shine the spotlight on myself and all that, and that's great. But when someone else is doing it or someone else is is praising me for something or whatever it is, oh, it's like, no, no, I don't, I'm uncomfortable with that. So I understand where you're coming from, but you deserve it, Mel. So thank you very much for everything that you have personally sacrificed for for our country and for guys like me. So, where was I going with that? This is where I was going with it. Um I I was chasing Mel for a year now, and and last year I came up to him and said, Mel, hey, listen, you know, I got this podcast and I want to celebrate veterans and and I want to uh I'd like you to come on come on the podcast. And we talk about stuff, you know, stuff and talk about the time that you served and all this. And he looks at me and he kind of puts his head down and he and he does one of these things, you know, and he's I don't know about that, Ben. I'm not sure if I really want to do that. You know, I've got some stuff. And I said, Look, I I I understand. And then what did he do? He almost took me by the shirt and he walked me over and introduced me to his beautiful wife, Cher. And he says, Ben, I want you to meet my wife, Cher. And uh, and he says to her, he says, Yeah, you know, Ben's got a podcast, wants me to come on the podcast, and I don't really know. And Cher says, Well, what's your podcast about? So I kind of explained it and explained what I was gonna do. And then um she says, Well, you know, Mel's writing a book. And I was like, Oh joy, you shouldn't have told me that one. And so so uh I said, Okay, all right, you basically you get a pass this year, Mel. And uh, you know, and we didn't talk about it a whole bunch, but then a few months ago, you came up to me at church, and what happened?
SPEAKER_00:I said, uh, well, Ben, I think I'm willing to do it because God is telling me to do it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's that's what you said. And you said, and my book is done and it's it's at the printer. Yes, yeah, it's at the printer. And uh, and I was just like, yes, all right. And and even at that, though, even at that, uh uh uh um a couple weeks ago or so when we were talking about this, you started doing this Hemin and Han thing again, you know. And I was like, no, don't don't do this to me, Mel. Honest. I'm a nice guy here. I'm a nice guy, and I mean well. But it's so great to have you here. That is true. And and look, uh, you know, some guys or some people will say whatever, whether it's uh having discussions with veterans, uh, who actually went out there and fought. And I appreciate anybody who signs on the dotted line and is willing to put a uniform on and serve for our country, regardless of whether they actually see these they see combat or not. It's it's still there's always that chance. But some people try to who want to talk to our veterans and have them share their experiences. It almost seems as though they're trying to exploit them, and that is not what I'm about. You your story itself, Mel, and it's it's in this book right here, people. Okay, a veteran soldier story. All right, it's by Mel Borden. And uh I told you before, your your story just deserves to be told because there's so many different facets of it from your service in the military, and we're gonna get into some of that. We're gonna get into before your time in the military because there's one constant through your whole um what are you like 29 years old now?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, something like that.
SPEAKER_02:Um, but through your whole entire life, there's been one constant, and that is love of Jesus. There you go. There you go. I didn't even I didn't even have to prep him on that one. I didn't. And that is that is the one constant, and that is the one stable force in this entire story here. And it look, there's a bunch of little anecdotes and stories in here. It's not Mel's complete story. It probably would be three times as thick as if if he recorded uh uh uh written all that stuff, and um, yeah, it's just it's too much. But what I've gotten into on this is tremendous, it's wonderful, and people need to hear it because with that, I think Mel also comes more appreciation for what you have done for our country.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you.
SPEAKER_02:No, absolutely. So, so let me start with this. Let me just start with this one, okay? I've done a lot of talking here, and people probably watching this are probably shut up, man. Just shut up already, okay? Um why did you write the book?
SPEAKER_00:I uh resisted writing it for like 40 years.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Part of it, I think, was because of how we were uh accepted when we came back from Vietnam.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Uh that kind of put me in a point where I didn't want anything to do with the military either, because of that. Uh however, my God has been so good to me that uh after 40 years, he said, Mel, this is not about you. Yeah, this is about what I have done for you. And that just broke my heart. And uh so I decided, okay, then Lord, I'm gonna do that.
SPEAKER_02:There you go. There you go. And and I can understand from your perspective. And look, I mean, I am an old guy, I'm 60 years old, but I'm still 25 years your junior. So at the time you're coming back, I'm like in kindergarten, you know. But but during it's hard to believe. God, it's crazy, crazy to think about that. But but the 70s, even into the 80s, it was a hard, hard time for guys who served in Vietnam, was it not? Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:We were called baby killers and all kinds of things.
SPEAKER_02:Spit on, had things thrown at, um, probably the largest um the largest number of homeless vets uh in our in our society probably served Vietnam. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I would think so.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, definitely. I I would think so, unless unless, of course, now they, you know, a lot of those guys have died off and they just been um they they've just been replaced by guys who fought in uh the Middle East. But um, yeah, it was a really, really tough time for guys that fought. I mean, you almost you didn't want to tell anybody you served, right? You almost almost wanted to keep it a secret.
SPEAKER_00:Actually, uh part of it was that uh my family, uh friends, and others would try to encourage me to write the book. Yeah, yeah, and I just I just refused. I said, Nah, I don't want to do something like that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, I I I I I can understand it, and I think I think culturally once uh what was it called, uh Operation Desert Shield back in 9091, 9091, somewhere around there, that's when that's when kind of we were told as Americans, no, let's stand behind our soldiers. And I think our our our perspective of it changed a little bit, and we started to appreciate again what it what it is and what it was that our that our men and women in the military do, go through, suffer, sacrifice, all those things. Um and and then especially uh 24 years ago after 9-11, then it really ramped up. And we were, you know, we were all on board and we all became patriots, and and you saw a huge rise in in uh in you know men and women joining the military and and all those kind of things. And I'll tell you, it's certainly from my side of it, that appreciation has never stopped. And I could never um I could never say thank you enough to to men just like you. I I never served in the military, and like I've said, and so I don't I don't want to claim anything, uh, but I have so much love, admiration, and appreciation for brave uh men like you that that just I mean let me ask this, Mel. Why what is it that made you sign on that dotted line?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I was uh spraying paint at uh manufacturing uh furniture in Doll Gardens, and we had a Sunday school teacher that was just uh Mr. Gensler, that was just wonderful. And uh while I was sitting there were 12 of us in that room, and I can think of all of the each one of us and the things that we did, but me personally, I had the feeling that the Lord wanted me to grow to uh a Bible college.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00:Actually, it was uh I can't think of it in Riverside. Oh, was that uh Cal Baptist?
SPEAKER_02:Cal Baptist, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And it scared me to death. I was done with school. I had just graduated from high school and playing ball and loving my church and stuff. And so I did a Jonah. I said, okay, I'm out of here. I ran down and I joined the army. Yeah. Uh sometimes we have an awful lot to learn to go through before God really gets our attention. That's exactly what happened to me.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, let's us get to the end of our rope, you know, when we think there's nothing left, and then all of a sudden he'll come and swoop in and you know, bring us back. Yeah. And and uh growing up, I remember reading in the book, growing up, you were a ball player, loved baseball.
SPEAKER_00:I played baseball in high school. I was looking forward to playing baseball in college, but yeah, never did happen.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, well, that's because the army came calling. But uh, you know, uh I had kind of a similar path. I was an athlete, you know, at 60 years old. I still think I'm an athlete. That's a joke. But but I was a huge baseball player, and my my goal, my dream as a kid, I was gonna play third base for the Dodgers. That was all I wanted to do. And uh instead I'm doing a podcast. But but I get to meet I get to meet beautiful people like you through church and have you sit in that chair right there and and and do this. And so I love it. But what could I mean we have well now? I think we have like five or six branches of military, but you know, what made you choose the army over the marines or the navy or even the air force?
SPEAKER_00:Well, there were I had five four brothers, four sisters growing up.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, my three older brothers were all in the air force, seven of nine. Seven of my if you see me looking over a little bit, yeah, yeah. I told I told Mel it was perfectly okay for him to have his beautiful. We have an in-studio audience, okay, and that's his beautiful wife, Cher. And uh, I said, look, if you need her for moral support, it's all good, no problem. She she makes the studio look a little better anyway. So yes, it is for sure. So so the army. So why why the army?
SPEAKER_00:Uh army because my older brothers were all in there, and I'm a stubborn guy. And I said, Okay, I'm gonna do something different, and so I ran off, and that uh October 15th of 63, I joined the army, yeah, which and just really was the right from the start was simply amazing. I met a guy from Anaheim that turned out to be my best friend.
SPEAKER_02:Jim.
SPEAKER_00:Jim. Yeah, and uh, we went through everything together. We went through basic, we went through advanced infantry training, we went to jump school. We actually went to the first same company at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the 101st Airborne.
SPEAKER_02:Was that by chance, or was that were you guys able to kind of go in on a buddy, buddy kind of program?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I I I have to say that was God's will. I have to say that because that's before since then they have a buddy system that they can go together. Right, that's what I was that one going on. Oh, okay. So this was all God's will.
SPEAKER_02:So it's just divine intervention, then yeah, okay, okay. So yeah, so you met Jim and you guys just went through everything together. That's you know, and that that's actually really good because you create a bond with you know, whether it's one or two people, and if you're able to sh have these experiences together, you there's there's a big comfort in that. Yeah, yeah. So um, so then you so you you you you you enlisted in '63. And uh how long afterwards did you get shipped off to uh to Vietnam?
SPEAKER_00:Uh we were on maneuvers in uh Tennessee, just below Fort Campbell, Kentucky. And we were supposed to, we were told we're gonna be there three weeks on tactical maneuvers. Yeah. And we were only there a week. And the commander said, nope, we're going home. I mean, we're going back to Fort Campbell.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:And of course, then they said, we're gonna send you on leave. Well, guess what? We all knew what was gonna happen. Uh, because President Johnson was going to add many more troops to the Vietnam conflict. So that's what happened. Okay. I was fortunate because a couple of weeks later, the whole brigade flew to uh I don't remember the name of Oakland.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And they got out of troop carriage. Oh, yeah, yeah. Jim. Jim was one of them. Yeah. And I was again fortunate because God held me back for post-support for a week. Yeah. And after that week, uh we flew to Vietnam. And uh, so that was quite an interesting thing. But Jim told me later that 18 days in that everybody was throwing up. Yeah, we were we were air uh uh airborne, we weren't we weren't naves.
SPEAKER_02:You weren't yeah, you weren't yeah, you weren't sailors. Well, you had well you you initially uh upon uh enlisting in the army too, because you talked about going to jump school and all that, you wanted to be a pilot, right? Uh I was thinking about that, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And interesting that uh if it had not if had worked out a little different, I might have been a helicopter pilot because I had put in when I was at Fort Campbell for that, and they were working on it. I had taken a bunch of physicals and my eyes were great and all this, but uh then we got orders for Vietnam, so that blew that away.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah. How is that? How how and we'll get back to this, but jump school, how is that? I mean, I it was great, it was great. Come on.
SPEAKER_00:Well, yeah. But uh in jump school, they found out well the my records indicated that I sprayed paint. Okay. On off hours, they had me fill uh spraying paint lockers. Anyway, uh besides that, uh we had done extra PT when we were at Fort Campbell because our particular squad was the whole group that was going airborne. We were promised airborne, so when we got there, uh we didn't have to do the ground week. It's normally a month. We only did three weeks. We went right into to uh uh 250 well uh four 45 uh tower where we learned how to fall and so forth.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Then we went to 250 uh foot tower, which the parishes already open, and we dropped that, and then it came time we had to take six jumps out of an airplane to graduate from jump school. Right. So that's that's what jump school was all about.
SPEAKER_02:And didn't I didn't I read it was it wasn't, I mean, now like if you go uh uh uh skydiving, they have to take you up like 10,000 feet or whatever. But you're I mean you're a control of your own canopy and all that stuff, but but uh you guys were jumping from like 1200 feet, 1250. 1250, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:1250 was a normal, yeah, normal jump. If it was a combat jump, fortunately, I didn't have to do is uh usually about 800 feet.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, yeah, you know, you don't need a soldier up in the air too long. I mean you're just a target right there. I mean, come on.
SPEAKER_00:A lot of the 101st in uh World War II were up way too long, and they you could read stories about how bad that was.
SPEAKER_02:No good. Okay, so uh so your your um your trip to Vietnam is delayed by a week, and uh so then what happened what happened after that?
SPEAKER_00:Well, actually, before that, when we got to Fort Campbell, uh we were going to Iran to meet the Shah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:And so we marched, we went to Spain, spent the night, and then we went to Turkey, stayed there, and then we flew from Turkey, uh, Istanbul to uh to Iran to oppress the Shah. Well, the first time we went up to 2,500 feet. The sandstorm was so bad that you couldn't do it. And so after that, uh about a week, no, about three days later, we flew back over there. And uh we jumped at 2,000 feet because there's still sandstorm. The sad thing was we never saw anybody, anybody we the wind just blew us clear off.
SPEAKER_02:Because your appearance there was it was you were supposed to put on like a military show, basically military show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, this is on radar.
SPEAKER_00:We never got there. So next three weeks we spent training with the per uh Persian soldiers before we came home.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Let me ask you this though, about about Iran, because this is what 66, 67? 64, early 64. Oh, 60. That's right, because you you you enlisted in 63, yeah. I was at 65 in my in my head. Um how different in 64, how different was Iran then than obviously than it is now, culture-wise.
SPEAKER_00:I think culture, I really can't say because I don't we didn't really get into any towns or anything. We were out in the desert, but I would imagine it's uh totally different. Kind of more westernized than it is. It is, yes. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Now it's is what it is. Um okay. So uh if I remember correctly, um you had a you were well, you were delayed in Iran because didn't you get food poisoning?
SPEAKER_00:I did. I didn't get delayed, but okay. I was ready to stay there, or I don't care what I can't.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So my sergeant turned to a couple of guys and said, throw him on the plane, we're going home.
SPEAKER_02:Right. That's right. It was like a 19-hour flight or something like that. That's right.
SPEAKER_00:That was pretty miserable. Oh, that's bad. One more, one more thing that God had to tell me to earn some patience. Earn a few patience.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Um, all right. So uh so then uh you uh you end up in Vietnam.
SPEAKER_00:Enter Vietnam. Yeah and uh I was uh there a week early. There was Cameron Bay, where pretty much most of the troops came in from off the ships, but there was nothing there. There was nothing there, and uh so I was put in a special forces compound for that week. I was filling sandbags for three days, and it was like 120 to 133 degrees. Holy Toledo. And I grew up in the Arizona desert. I loved the heat. Yeah, this just whipped me. In three days, I had heat exhaustion. He's I was just a mess. I spent the rest of the week in the in the tent.
SPEAKER_02:It was just the humidity that was that was getting you, right?
SPEAKER_00:It was both, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And uh, but then after the week, I my my unit came in, so I was able to join them after that.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, all right. Um and uh were you were you were radio radio man, right?
SPEAKER_00:At that point I was not. Oh, okay. Uh when we got there, I was just I was carrying an M16 along with everybody else. Yeah, to tell you the truth, I don't know how it became because I don't know who the radio guy was before me. All of a sudden, actually, you're supposed to get training to be a radio guy. No, they just gave me a radio. I said, go for it. Just put a pack on your back and say, so anyway, yeah, I was the radio guy. We were there. Uh we made a couple of jumps, which were pretty silly in September and October. You had to jump for jump pay at least once. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so after that, that was 30 and uh 30 and 31 jumps. That's I made 31 jumps all together.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And after that, uh our mission was sweep and clear. We'd go through villages, we'd do different kinds of things, uh trying to find the Viet Cong uh sympathizers and all the real enemy and so forth.
SPEAKER_02:And uh so you were clearing you're clearing fields, right? Like mine mine fields or no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00:We were sweeping clear, finding looking, looking, you know, uh foxholes, gotcha, places they were hiding and so forth.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So just before Thanksgiving, it's the first time something really happened. Uh, we were on a sweep and clear mission and through the jungle and uh came up to this big meadow opening about the size of a football field. And of course, the enemy's on the other side. And so they waited till we got about halfway through it on the 50 yard line or something, and uh Automatic rifle opened up and cut down the first two guys. Once again, God is with me because by then I had the radio and I was back in the ranks. And of course, then uh the idea was them for us to dive off of that. And they had bungee sticks that sticking up. Oh, yes. And those had feces and poisons and stuff, and they wanted you to land on them. So that was our first deal. That sounds like a real party. Uh it was not too, it wasn't real great, no.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But fortunately, I most of us survived that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. That's bad. Um, okay. Can you take us to uh March 22nd?
SPEAKER_00:Uh 1966? Yeah. Uh it was interesting because when you're in combat and we were almost like a separate group. There were there were 12, 4, 15 of us, something like that, in our unit.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Uh, we were never in one place very long. Always moving all over the place, just constant walking. And uh fortunately, uh all we had was sea races. You're supposed to have a hot meal at least once a month. Okay, yeah. Uh-huh. I was there seven months. I never had a hot meal except for uh a truce, a ceasefire for Christmas Day. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And I'm looking through the book, there's a picture I'm gonna show you.
SPEAKER_00:And so uh we we got to go to the beach and actually had a real meal.
SPEAKER_02:Wait, if you can see there, uh this this one right, where's my finger? There it is. That one there. That's the sea ration right there. And let me describe what's in it. It's about four four tin cans. Yeah, tin. Okay, because everything was tin back then. We didn't have aluminum cans. Um, and I if I remember correctly, and I'll get into why I know this, those are pop tops. But uh then it looks like there's a bag which would maybe equate to like a an MRE or something like that. I I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:No, we those were those were a long time after us. Okay, those are actually better than then.
SPEAKER_02:There's all kinds of other stuff in here, and and I don't have my glasses on, and and yeah, there's that I can't really see, but well, there's some a package of cigarettes and so forth. Yeah, you were using that for money though. I was you were using that for money when you would play poker. So that was your that was you you bet with cigarettes, and then you uh you you actually you described in the book that you were a pretty good poker player.
SPEAKER_00:So you sent my money home.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's it. That's right, that's right. Well, you know, it's funny. I see that the little the little tiny can there. Yeah. Now, when I was, I don't know, I was probably about 12, 13 years old. I'm over at a friend's house. Uh I have this is what this is my recollection. I'm over at a buddy's house and and across the street from where we're hanging out, there's an apartment building. And this guy comes out on his on his on his his porch. He's upstairs, he's on the second floor, and he hollers at me and he says, Hey, younger generation. That's what that's what he what he hollered to me, hey, younger generation, catch. And he flings this thing. I don't know what it is at the time. And so I actually I caught it. Oh, it hit my hand. He's talking a tin can now, hit my hand and it fell to the ground. And then I picked it up. And son of a gun, it was a can of peanut butter. It was it was one of these, one of these C rations.
SPEAKER_00:Uh, I don't remember any peanut butter, but they did have some smaller cans that I don't know had wafers or bread or something in them.
SPEAKER_02:So I never opened it up because I thought, oh, this is cool. This is, you know, this is military, this is from the war, whatever, you know, whatever it was. And so I never opened it up because I I I maybe because I didn't want to uh I didn't want to see how bad the peanut butter maybe tasted. I I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:But uh but anyway, so right after Christmas, yeah, or actually it was probably before Christmas, probably early uh December. We were honor guard for General Westmoreland. General Westmoreland was the head that was the commander of the uh Pacific. Okay. Uh he was before me, he was the the commander at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Oh, okay. And he came through, and because we were Fort Campbell, Kentucky soldiers, we had uh held an honor he honor guard for him. Gotcha. And uh me being the radio operator, I'm standing right next to my commander, and he says, he comes through the ranks and he says, Sergeant Moots, what's going on? What can we do for you? He said, Well, sir, if I could get my cigarette rations, everything would be good. You should have seen the battalion commander behind us. You don't tell a four-star general that stuff, and oh my goodness. Another blessing, I have to tell you, another blessing. Because of our punishment, we got put up on a hill, and that hill it started the monsoon. I mean, it was constant wet raining all the time. We were up there a week, and our you had to stay up there, yeah. Uh huh. They couldn't get us off, they were sucked in. Uh, and our uh 1st Battalion at that same time had walked into a VC training compound and they just got destroyed. We needed to be there, but we couldn't get there. You couldn't get off the hill. So that was there. You go again. Yeah, that was just an amazing thing.
SPEAKER_02:Well, before we get to before we get to that date in March, there's a there's something, it's kind of a light-hearted story that I enjoy. Uh uh. Yeah, you know where I'm going. But but also, again, divine intervention at the same time. Oh, yeah, definitely. So so so so tell that one.
SPEAKER_00:So okay. We uh we've been on a long uh sweep and clear for longest than I can remember, probably two weeks.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And we were just worn out. And so we got to this river. The river's about 200 yards, 100 yards wide. Oh, wow. Another hundred yards behind that on the sand, and then bamboo, 100 feet tall there. And I couldn't wait to get in the water. So me and a couple other guys got down the slope of of the river and got in the water, and a guy, Viet Cong, I would assume, opened up with a BAR, Ben Browning Automatic Right, was just chopping up the water right in front of us. There's no way he can miss us. Yeah, but and I don't know what happened. Yeah, uh, he quit. So I said, Okay, Eddie, I'm coming up. I grandma's 16. I'm running up the hill just bare naked.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, these guys are looking like he said, they were out for a while, so not only were they tired, but they were smelly too. So they're just trying to take a bath in the river here. And yeah, and yeah. Somebody I wish somebody had a camera. I wish there was a picture of that in the book. That'd have been great.
SPEAKER_00:No, that's what Eddie wanted. I said, Eddie, start shooting. He was the R he was our M60 gun uh machine gunner, yeah, yeah. And I got up there and he just fell back laughing. He's laughing, oh, I wish I had a camera. I said, Oh my gosh. So I was the laughing stock for the whole outfit for about I don't know, several weeks, anyways.
SPEAKER_02:The butt of everyone's jokes, yeah. Yeah, no pun intended. But uh, yeah, that's I I like I said, it's it's a light-hearted one. It's it's it's it's a little funny, but yeah, I mean, it's a little scary at the same time, too. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I'm that there's still no other excuse.
SPEAKER_02:God was watching over me. Did did did that gunman did he get taken out? Does anybody know?
SPEAKER_00:Or did he just I mean I we I don't know. So nobody ever even saw or it might have been just that he was there and he gonna see who he could get, and then he blew it blew out of the city.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, gotcha, gotcha. So um all right. So can you can you take us to March 22nd of 66?
SPEAKER_00:A couple other things that happened uh was we were just doing the sweep and clear stuff, and uh we'd find some some Viet Cong, we'd send them back or or some others uh members uh that we'd find in foxholes and in villages and so forth, and send them back to a holding camp. And uh so about March, first first part of March, I guess, uh probably middle of March, we were assigned to go up on this hill, and uh it was more of a mountain, huge rocks the size of buildings and and uh just jungle all over. All right. Well, we got close to the base of the mountain and they started firing on us, so we had to back off about 500 yards and wound up in a in a swamp. Oh wow, we were pinned down in that swamp for probably three days. Wow, that long oh the lint leeches and snakes and stuff, and there's one thing I never mentioned in the book, but Jim got malaria and he was a mess. So anyway, uh we had the artillery came in, put 155s, 105s online, uh right on right thousand yards from the hill, shooting all over the place, eight-inch gun of a cruiser. What is so special about this mountain? Uh so anyway, because of that, we were able to get back to command. Okay, and uh we were there about three days, and they finally put up some 106 straight fire into the rocks and stuff, which convinced them that we were serious, I guess. And uh so uh a week later, we're at the base of the hill. We're gonna climb up there about six o'clock in the morning. Yeah, and uh it was actually just one trail. I mean, I didn't find we didn't find any other trails. It was obvious the ones that Viet Cong used. Okay, and so we were six o'clock, found a few IEDs along the way, we disposed of them by about noon. We got real close to the top. At the top of the there, the trail went right into a doorway of rocks, about 18 inches wide.
SPEAKER_02:Oh wow, that's nice.
SPEAKER_00:And there were four guys that had already gone up. You had to go inside, and then you had to crawl up the top to continue the uh on the trail. Yeah, I never got that far. So uh in the meantime, a friend of mine, the medic, was behind me, and we did five of us went by there, we didn't see anything. He slipped off the rock and hit an IED. And the concussion pulled me out of there, and because I was kind of stuck with the radio on my back, and I landed 10 feet from it, and smoke and everything going all crazy. I just what's going on? I don't even know, I don't even know what had happened. And smoke cleared and so forth. I looked down on my leg, it's going down behind me, and it had five holes in it. Two in the top, two in the bottom, and one in the front and my shin. Yeah, but I didn't know it was that bad. All I thought was, oh good, I'm going home. I got a broken leg, no big deal. Yeah. Uh it uh Jim got blown up into a tree, and he, if he had to caught that limb, it was like a hundred yards down, a hundred feet down, he would have never made it.
SPEAKER_02:He would have gotten killed from the fall.
SPEAKER_00:Uh so anyway, I hear my buddy Ed or Michael, a couple of people behind me screaming. So I turned to look, and Bruce, who was the medic, was laying right next to me, and it was pretty gruesome, but the gruesome part was he was still, you know, got anyway. Then Jim came down, he's working on putting a turnip on Eddie, and he comes up and he sees me. I called on command uh the radio, got my senses together, said we need help. And uh so when Jim finished with a couple other guys, he came up to me, and you could see he was just physically couldn't believe it.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Because I was a mess. I didn't know I was so bad.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Anyway, uh an important part that I totally forgot. I would go through rice patties and other places, and I sang out loud, which I don't do, which is had to be a God thing, there's no doubt about that. Uh, old hymns that I had learned. And so they knew I was a Christian. And uh, so anyway, at that point, uh Jim comes up to me visibly shaken. He says, Oh my god, Mel, if I hadn't known you were this bad, I would have been here first. I said, No, Jim, you had to do what you you needed to do, yeah, yeah. And uh so he said, How come God let this happen to you and to Eddie? And you guys were Christians, and it didn't happen to me. And I said, Well, Jim, I think God has something for you, and He's given you a second chance.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, and uh uh look, I I know that's you know, that's kind of a disturbing story, and I know that from that moment on you had a lot of damage done to your leg and uh you went through multiple surgeries, multiple surgeries, not just like three or four, no, multiple surgeries. And you've had, I mean, and that was for a few years you were you were dealing with that for several years.
SPEAKER_00:Well, at least, yes, I was, but yeah, the major part was uh about six months.
SPEAKER_02:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00:I was in traction for yeah five and a half months. Nice little picture of the book and that most yeah, I well, I had four at the field hospital in Vietnam, yeah, where they were trying to clean it up and keep it halfway good. Then I got a body cast when we went to uh Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines and then flew back to uh Travis Air Force Base up in uh Oakland. And uh my brother, my four three older brothers came up to see me, which was really wonderful.
SPEAKER_02:Sure.
SPEAKER_00:And I had a surgery there, yeah, and then went to uh uh Fort Benning, not Fort Benning, Fort Bliss in uh Albuquerque, no, no, was it no El Paso? Okay, and uh when I got there, I was in and out, but I had a team of doctors around me, and I thought, oh good, um they're not gonna seduce me. Uh I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna maybe see what's going on because I did it'd been two weeks. I don't know what's going on. I want to see what happened with my leg.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it was a good thing I didn't, but anyway, they started taking the took the cast off and so forth. One of the doctors was taking all the gauze out, and he hit a nerve. Oh, and it totally knocked me out. I woke up the next day in traction. And uh so good thing though. It was a good thing I didn't see it at that point. Another amazing thing was uh through that traction, and I slept for like 45 days at least. At least get some good sleep. I felt some more sorry for her than me because she had nowhere to poke anymore.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, running out of places.
SPEAKER_00:And the other marvelous thing was I had an intern come in after hours. He took an interest in me and he changed my wound, my uh dressings and everything every night for like three weeks. Wow. And so it was uh probably another month. The doc my my our infection was really bad. Yeah, and they were thinking about ticking off my leg.
SPEAKER_02:And uh just so you know, they didn't. No, no, Mel was able to make it up the stairs, yeah. No problem, no problem.
SPEAKER_00:Anyway, so uh that was that was truly a blessing there, and uh so uh finally I got out of traction and uh after five and a half months and did a lot of other silly things.
SPEAKER_02:But you know, getting back to what Jim had asked you, you know, yeah, you know, he's like, Mel, you're a Christian, and who uh who was it? Bruce, right? Yeah, he's a Christian. Why did you let this happen to you guys? Yeah. And I know from from reading the book that that Jim was kind of on the fence about Christianity and faith, you know. I mean, he I mean he wasn't he wasn't an atheist or anything, but he just, you know, yeah, like I said, on the fence. And it's not why does God let this happen to you or this bad thing happened to you over here or that kind of thing. It's it's he doesn't let it happen to you, but he does it's hard to explain, people, but because of the evil in the world, and because we are such a broken people, he he's not gonna stop bad things from happening. However, he wants to see what our response is to it and how we handle it. And and and does it bring us closer to him? Does it strengthen our faith? And that's why you see these things happen. Um it's terrible, but it it but it is one of those things, and it's a growing thing. And and and some folks will think that, oh, you're a Christian, life must be just peaches and cream every day. And and I say that living a Christian life is probably one of the hardest things to do because there is an once one one thing, there's an expectation of us as Christians, but not not from not from our father, but from society others, yeah, from society itself, you know, so there's an expectation there, and then it it is life, especially a Christian life, is just full of ups and downs, trials and tribulations, and they are people might think it's a cruel test. They're not cruel tests, but they are designed to test your faith.
SPEAKER_00:And and all of that has made my faith grow tremendously.
SPEAKER_02:There you go. There you go. That's the key. When you understand what it's about, once you I'm such a professional, I'm not trying to, I knock my microphone over all the time. But once once you you understand that, and you get through you get through this trial, everything is, I mean you you see the light, everything is so much better on the other side, and then the next one comes, and the next one comes. And you know what? It's just you get through each one, yeah. You know, you and and that's what it's all about. But in the end, it's it's it's all gonna be good. It's all gonna be good in the end. It is, yeah. So so you you you ultimately you get sent home from from um from Vietnam. You come home, and um then uh you're still you're not discharged uh from from the army, but but you're doing other things.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I was uh actually sent home. I w I was at uh William Beaumont there for uh Fort Bliss for probably a year and a half. And then they said, well, you're okay, you could go home on leave.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:And uh so I was there. I had to go back once in a while to get an update and so forth. But uh that's okay.
SPEAKER_02:I'll I'll come in. So the time on Fort Bliss, was that just you you were there just doing your physical therapy and doing all your recovery and that kind of stuff, trying to get trying to get back to where they could say, okay, you know what, Mel, you got to leave now later. We'll see you later.
SPEAKER_00:So I was home on leave and uh did uh a lot of silly things.
SPEAKER_02:I know you tried to play softball and baseball still. You thought you you thought you were gonna go back and start doing all that stuff too.
SPEAKER_00:Uh that's was my hope, yes. I know. And actually, when I did see when I was in traction, I said, oh that I don't see that happening. Actually, something else that wasn't even in the is not in the book, and I haven't thought about it. I was laying there in traction, woe is me, uh because I had written to American Airlines about going to pilot school.
SPEAKER_02:Gotcha.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm laying there, oh my gosh, they're never gonna let me do it now. So that's that that took care of that.
SPEAKER_02:So that's right.
SPEAKER_00:Our dreams, and and once again, it's truly amazing that God has been. I I I wrote this book and I look back at it, it's just amazing what had God has done for me.
SPEAKER_02:You know, and it is, and this is where we're gonna we're gonna fast forward a little bit here, but the best thing in your life crossed your path, and we actually we talked about this last Sunday in church a little bit, you and I did, and uh you were, you know, you were kind of getting pursued a little bit by Cher. You met Cher.
SPEAKER_00:You met she didn't pursue me, I pursued.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, but well, but but my point is is that it got to a point that she wanted, she was like, hey, you know, we're going on dates. We're that she she wanted to settle down, and you didn't feel that you were ready for that.
SPEAKER_00:So well, that that's way, way in the future.
SPEAKER_02:Well, we're gonna we're gonna skip ahead a little bit. Look, I don't want to keep you guys here all afternoon and into the evening. I mean, pretty soon we'll have to holler at Catherine to bring us dinner, you know. But but but and not only that, but people, if you want to know the story, you can get the book too, and I will get into that later. But but um yeah, so so you meet Cher and and uh then you kind of didn't know what it was that you wanted.
SPEAKER_00:I I want to interrupt there.
SPEAKER_02:You can interrupt anytime you feel like it.
SPEAKER_00:Say that if I can do this and I'll start crying.
SPEAKER_02:Hey, I got a box of tissue right over there because I cry in here too, so it's all right.
SPEAKER_00:I had been a di uh dating this girl from my sister's church and I failed terribly. Yes, yes, yeah, yeah. And when I was at the military at the Veterans Hospital in Tucson, she came to see me, and she said I found the answer. I joined the Mormon church. Right. That just destroyed me. I mean, I can't even say what. I spent three weeks that weekend I got out, three weeks in front of my parents' house where I lived, reading the Bible, going through missionary books and so forth. That point was, all right, I'm completely done with the females. I'm going to listen to you, Lord. I'm going to a Bible study, Bible study, uh, Bible college, and I'm going to learn about your book.
SPEAKER_02:Did you feel like a uh like you had failed her because you had met her? Obviously, she saw something in you, she knew, she knew about your faith, and and and she felt within you that you could help provide a foundation and a direction in her life as well.
SPEAKER_00:That should have been the case.
SPEAKER_02:Right. That was it right there. And then you you didn't see the sign. I didn't. And and here's the thing. I I was talking about this with a a pastor friend of mine a couple weeks ago. And and you know, when it comes to our our faith, and you know, we're we're on this path, and and and when you're younger, and I and I'll tell you what, you know, I'll stop myself. I love the fact that you grew up in a church-going home, you you were in church every Sunday, you were already a man of God when you were a boy, and I love that. I love that so much. And and a lot of times when you're younger in your teen years or even in your young adult years, people they always feel as though it's like, hey, you know, somebody will say, Hey, you want you want to come to church, you want to come to Bible study? And they, no, no, I'm really not, uh, you know, I got time. I'm I'll do that later. I when I have more time in my life, you know, that kind of thing. Not realizing that they're they're not seeing the signs along the way.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And we only have so much time, and we honestly don't know how much time that is. Only only God knows our timeline and how much time we have. And then, you know, if something tragic happens, like like your buddy Bruce, he dies that day in the battlefield. If he wasn't a man of God then, that's his time's up. That's it, it's done. There's he doesn't get that second chance. And and and and that's what I hate so much. And and a lot of times we do, we miss those signs. And so it's so it's so important to to just be present and and and when you're more rooted and grounded in your faith. You don't miss those signs, but you did miss that one. I won, yeah. One. But uh and I took us off track.
SPEAKER_00:I I I totally forgot a rather important part of that situation on the 22nd of March.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Uh I found out it killed three and wounded at least four more. Right.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:I found out later the reason that was so important to the Viet Cong was the it was a big cavern in that mountain that left on wounded, supplies, all kinds of weapons, munitions, and everything. That's why they didn't want to let it go.
SPEAKER_02:So but you guys were finally able to overtake that.
SPEAKER_00:Finally they yeah, they were able to get it done.
SPEAKER_02:So when was it that you um I I want to get I want I want to get back to your beautiful wife, Cher. When was it that that that you you had your you kind of had your V8 moment? Yeah that that was sorry all you younger ones out there, we're you know, we're old, we understand what that means.
SPEAKER_00:And because of what happened, like I said, I didn't want anything to do with anybody, any any women anymore. You felt like a failure, right? I'm going to Bible school and I'm gonna learn that. Uh my parents had a friend named Joe Mason. My parents wanted me to go to Biola. Right. I wanted to go to Grand Canyon because they had such a great baseball team. Always comes back to baseball. Joe Mason says, What about Arizona Bible College? I said, Never heard. What in the world is that? I've been here 20 years, I've never even heard of it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And so my brother and I come out here to California looking for a car. It's 113 degrees in Burbank. Forget it, we're going home. So I told him on the way home, I'll stop at AB, Arizona Bible College. Yeah. I got out of the car, and I I cannot explain it. It's unexplainable. It's a total God Holy Spirit thing that said, Mel, this is where you're going to school. What are you talking about? I mean, this pitiful little campus is so bad. They don't have a field, they don't have any basketball, any of that stuff.
SPEAKER_02:Like two portable trailers sitting on an open lot.
SPEAKER_00:But but God's will is too, you can't, you can't deny to listen. You gotta listen. Exactly. And so when I uh that first uh night was our uh uh orientation, the Holy Spirit says, I want you to get up and talk. I it's just like right now, I don't like to be in front, I don't like to do stuff like that. It's like I had to twist your arm to get it. How the spirit says, get up and give your testimony. There you go. And so I'm talking, and I look over there, and that I mean I I know what she was wearing. I still know what she was wearing. All right. To me, she's just as beautiful as she was how 60 years ago. Uh yeah, good. And I said, I gotta get to know this girl. I mean, obviously I didn't know where it was going, sure, but it has been the most to me, that's the biggest deal in my life. To me, all that other stuff was wonderful, God's direction and so forth, but him giving her to me is just hard to believe because I'm a I'm a simpleton, I don't know what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_02:No, I I I I I completely hear you there. Um so Cher, okay. He all right, look, he's missing out. All right, he there were some times when he was unsure what it was he wanted. Am I right? Yeah, yeah, okay. I know you probably can't hear, but you know, she's she agreed with me. And and but every time you turned around, Mel, there's Cher right in your path. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Right in your path.
SPEAKER_02:And again, there's another sign. You it would come on, we're guys, okay? You can be honest with me, all right. There was a couple of times you missed that sign, and and but there she was again. The signpost up ahead said share, you know, and uh and it and then again you had that v8 moment, and there it was, and that that's when you knew this this is it, this has got to be it. There, this is you know, God has put me this put put this woman in my path for a reason. Yeah, she's here for a reason, and you know the rest is history, you know, and I I love it. I I love it. I um it's just it's it's tremendous. So you both start well, you were working at the phone company, Cher, and and then Mel, you were going to school, you're working, and uh, you know, working because I didn't have to, but trying to make trying to make a go of it.
SPEAKER_00:But well, uh I got a job uh at the what was called Madhouse on McDowell, where the Phoenix Suns played basketball. Okay, yeah. And I was security, that's right, among other things, and I got to be right under the basket during the games. And uh I got to meet all the players and everything, so that was pretty cool.
SPEAKER_02:Is this uh is this in the early 70s at this point or is this late 60s?
SPEAKER_00:This is uh probably the year that Cherry didn't make it back to bio to uh ABC. Yeah, and uh then the next year that was the third year, uh we got news that ABC was closing.
SPEAKER_02:Right, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And uh I did I I didn't know what to do. I thought, okay, good, then I can go to Grand Canyon and play ball.
SPEAKER_02:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00:Well, once again, I'm running from too many decisions that I have to make that I don't want to make. A friend of mine is getting married in New Jersey, so I says, Okay, I'm gonna run away. I'm going east. Of course you are. I get there and I watched their ceremony. Holy Spirit says, What is the matter with you? The girl that you love is in Anaheim. That was the moment right there. That was the moment. That was it. That was the moment. Yeah, I I made it back and I said, Hey, can I come over and talk to you? And and we finally got it together.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I know. When I read that in the book, and you said, Hey, can I come over? And Cher was like, Yeah, sure, come over and talk. I was like, Ain't no way it went down like that. Cher was probably like, dude, get away. Go away, go wash your car or something, you know, go fly a kite with a hole in it. You know, that's what I'm thinking. So, oh Cher, you're the best. You're the best. But uh, yeah, that was wonderful. And then you you did end up going to Viola, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yeah. My uh I had 96 credits through the three years, and I wanted to go to Grand Canyon and a couple other schools. No, they were only gonna take 35. Right, right. So I've always said that God had to close a college to get me back out here to school. Myola was gonna take all of them, yeah, which again turned out to be a huge blessing. All the things that that happened were just wonderful. You had a ball team as well. Yeah, well, I tried that. Yeah, I was there uh spring of 71, yeah, and I was out there running around, running bases, hitting baseballs, yeah. You were bad air fielding, and uh had to get a physical. A doctor said, you're not gonna make it, which was another blessing because I wouldn't have made I couldn't have been on a traveling team and done my studies. I I've never been much of a student. All I got a degree in BA, I got a uh master's at Cal State Fullerton, I love it, and that all is for me personally is just perseverance. Yeah, that's what it would turn out to be. But again, God's just showed me his will in so many different ways that like and only praise him.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, life becomes uh a little bit easier when you when you see that and you submit, you know. It's just it's one of those things. So the two of you, you get married in uh 1972, and uh during yeah, during that time we got reacquainted.
SPEAKER_00:Well, actually, even before when we was at ABC that last year, yeah, we would come over and be with Jim and Georgia and go out. They were pretty wild, they did crazy all kinds of stuff, but we'd go to ball games and we'd go to uh to uh out to dinner and so forth. Now, is this is this your buddy Jim from Okay, same Jim, good. And uh yeah, so I'm in my last year at Biola, and it's uh April, no May. And I've got finals next week. And this is a Sunday afternoon, yeah. And Holy Spirit says, What about Jim? Hmm, what about Jim? We hadn't seen him for close to a year, probably, because so much else going on. What do you mean, what about Jim? I gotta study. I'm trying to get back to studying. What about Jim? Okay, what about Jim? I want you to go see him. I said, Okay, I'll go after the after finals next week. He said, No, the Holy Spirit said, Go now.
SPEAKER_02:Thunder started to crash. Yeah, uh huh.
SPEAKER_00:No, I said, Okay, Lord, I'm listening. So I had share a call call him. So they said, Yeah, we'll come over. Yeah, you can come over. We knock on the door, Jim opens the door, we look at each other, and we're just tingling. What in the world's going on? We both look, we both feel it. And look inside, the house is filled with the Holy Spirit. That's the only thing I can say. And uh, so they invite us in, and their story is that the kids started going to school, church, Sunday school, uh, to church with uh neighborhood kids, and they were there for about six months. They came home and said, We're not going anymore if you're not going with us. Yeah, and so they went with us a couple of weeks ago. Jim accepted Jesus as his savior, and that night he was being baptized.
SPEAKER_02:And you were supposed to be there to see it.
SPEAKER_00:I was there to see it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_00:It was just too amazing, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Hallelujah. That's great. That's uh see, it's just again, it's just seeing those signs and then not missing them. And and you know, I mean may hey it may take rolling thunder, it's you know, to wake you up a little bit, but uh, you know, it got you there.
SPEAKER_00:That's just yeah. So that was just tremendous blessing. We uh built an all-time relationship from before Vietnam right the whole time. Right, the whole time.
SPEAKER_02:You you didn't know it at that time. But but you know what? That's right, this inseparable bond, just like God put this woman in your path. God put Jim in your past. Yep. Way back when. Yeah, and that's how it was supposed to be. And uh that's beautiful, that's great. Yeah, you know, um, you guys have three kids, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Uh five grandkids. Uh I love it. But you've got Beth, she's the oldest, right? And then and then Lisa or Melissa.
SPEAKER_00:And does she like to go by Lisa more than she gets lots of it? She calls her Lisa, I call her Peach. That was my nickname for her. Bethany was the princess, yeah, that I called. And then Josh came about five years later. Yeah. And he is just one special boy. Just I you can't ask for a better son. It's just, I should have brought something he wrote to me last year at uh at uh Father's Day. Oh wow.
SPEAKER_02:He said, Dad, you're better get that box.
SPEAKER_00:He said, Dad, you're the reason that everything has been so good. Everything that's done for me, uh the reason I do what I do of a living, yeah, and uh especially for leading me to the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_02:I mean that that is priceless. Doesn't get any better than that. No, I think that's just how do I say this? I've I I I felt that you know it's our responsibility as men to to be not just the head of household, but to be the spiritual leader in the house, to be the rock in the house, the one that lays that that that spiritual foundation, that foundation of faith in the house. And um look, I'm still learning to do that myself. I try to do that through my actions, the way I live my life. And um I'm hoping that there's a payoff for this in the end. And I know there will be. Um, but I have so much admiration for you and and being that leader in your house. And it's not, it's not a leader by by um you know, ruling with an iron fist so much. And we all have to be tough as parents, you know, to our kids when they're growing up, but it's it's saying, no, you're coming with me, we're going to church, we're gonna lay this foundation for you, and we're gonna show you the right way to conduct your life as a young person into young adulthood, into adulthood and being parents themselves. And it's just a it's like a generational thing, and that's what we all want. We want it to just carry on for you know as long as we're here. Yeah, I just I love that. I love it, love it, love it, love it. Um, so you have five grandkids. Yeah, that's the best. Grandkids are great, they really are. Yeah, you know, they really are really good. That's good, that's good. Um, you know, I I I shared with you a little bit um I think before, yeah, off camera before we were we started recording, you know, that I just have this admiration for our our our servicemen and women. And and um look, I I I have uh you know people in my family that have served in the military. I have a lot of police law enforcement in my family, uh, first responders, firefighters in my family as well. So I have so much admiration for all that and respect for that. I I like to I like to call myself you know uh first a Christian, second a patriot, and third a conservative. And um and I and I am, I just I I I love, and that's why I wanted John. Um, you know, I I I told you that, you know, my dad had served in World War II, and he served on a destroyer in the Pacific. And, you know, just because it's just because it's Veterans Day, folks, I just want to break these pictures out a little bit. Um those are my dad. Let me see. I have two I have two of my grandfathers as well. Um uh my mother's dad and then her stepdad. Her her biological father served in the army. He was uh he was an MP. His name is Donald, was Donald. He was actually killed um before my mother was born. Uh there was uh there was an um an accident with a fuel tanker, and he was killed in that accident. And so my grandmother, she ended up marrying another military man. He served in the Navy. And um, so um, you know, so I mean my you know, the the military background of my family goes back a long ways. And and then so I've got you know photos of my my dad. And there's there's my father, you know, Huntington, West Virginia. That's where he was, that's where he was raised. And uh that's him. Uh then there's there's also there's there's well, there's this one here. I think this is a little bit later. One, he looks a little bit older, but he served in World War II, and then he served in the Korean War as well. Or during the I don't think he actually fought in the Korean War, but he did serve during the during the Korean War. And um, and then and then the the last one here. And uh, yeah, so I always like to pay tribute and salute, you know, not only just all of our all of our service members, all of our veterans. Um and we talked a little bit about, you know, I think I don't remember if it was if it was you, Cher or you, Mel, you'd asked me about um, you know, have I had an opportunity to have a World War II veteran on, and and of course I haven't, but we talked about that moving forward, and we got to make it happen. We have to make it happen because we're losing them, not because we're just losing them because of time. Okay, I mean, you know, World War II was a long time ago, and and we're losing them because of that. But for many years though, Mel, I didn't understand the military so much, or or or or I shouldn't say I didn't understand it. I didn't have just this great appreciation for what our our servicemen and women um did and obviously continue to do. And I I've been to Pearl Harbor two times. I'll try to keep this short, but I've been to Pearl Harbor twice, once when I was a much younger man. And it's it's it's great. It's it's beautiful. The Arizona Memorial is absolutely wonderful. It's just uh it's very uh very somber feeling when you're there, you know, and it's it's it's you're just very quiet, you know. Nobody talks when you're at the Arizona Memorial, and you understand why. Um and then, you know, and that was all great, but the the second time I was there was back in 2012. And I picked up this book, and it's uh it's called From From Fish Ponds to Warships, Pearl Harbor. And the author was there with a World War II veteran. And I thought, oh, I got first I got to get this book just to because the the not only was he a World War II veteran, he was a survivor of Pearl Harbor. So he was there and they were, you know, talking about the book and they were signing copies of it, and and um, so I met the author and the the the veteran that was there, his his his name's um I should put my glasses on. Uh Albo Denlos. He was from the 804th engineer 12741 is the date he put on this. And uh, and then the author was not, he was um who's the author of this? Um oh Alan Sidon Siden. And so I guess I had told him I must honestly, I didn't I didn't realize that the author signed my book. I don't know if I read it until today. I I got this book because I knew you were coming in and I wanted to kind of share it with you a little bit. And I and I opened up the book and was looking, and I thought the the the the veteran had signed it, but I don't remember the author signing because I didn't even remember what he wrote. And I opened it up and it was from November 24th, 2012, and it said to Ben, Aloha, and in honor of your dad and his service to our country in the United States Navy in World War II. And I thought, whoa, I don't remember that at all. That's cool. Yeah, I thought that was just very, very cool, but I remember that that was my the day I was there at Pearl Harbor in 2012. That was like my aha moment, my V8 moment in respect to our veterans in the military. That was it there. I mean, I'm standing there in front of sitting down in front of me, I mean, five, six feet in front of me, just or even closer on the other side of a folding table, is a hero from World War II surviving surviving that major attack on Pearl Harbor. And and it's like, I mean, I I I mean, I probably owe my existence to this guy, owe my existence to the guys who fought at the sands of Normandy, owe my existence to guys like you because of the sacrifices that you made in your life. And Mel, I can't thank you enough. Thank you so much for your service. You are even uh, I mean, you're a purple heart recipient as well. You know, you didn't bring it. You have a purple heart pin on your hat, but I was hoping he was gonna bring us purple heart medal. Um, I just could play with it a little bit. But uh, but but thank you so much. Thank you for what you the sacrifice you made for our country. But thank you so much for being a tremendous uh Christian and man of faith, and somebody that actually now that I know you have a master's and all this stuff, and you're like a theologian, I'm gonna come to you with everything. But thank you so much for all that.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, glory to God.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I always I always look forward to seeing you in in um in church on Sundays, but I we met at a men's breakfast. Yeah, we sat at the same table. I was trying to figure that back when, but we sat at the same table, and uh, and that's when we met, and I knew you were special then, and you're still special now. And yeah, I can't thank you enough for just taking the time. It took a year, it did take a year, people, but you know, we got him here, and uh, you know, I told him I was gonna be pretty harmless, and and I am. Um but uh God bless you and again, thank you so much. And I hope, I hope that on the 11th, Veterans Day. I hope that wherever it is that you may travel, if you're out and about on the streets or whatever, that wear that hat proudly, and I hope that people will pay you the same love and respect that that I do. Thank you very much. Absolutely, absolutely. Um I could keep you here all day talking about this stuff, really honestly, because this is this is a great story here. This is a great, great story. And like I said before, it's not even all the stories. It's not, it's not all the stories. But but um it's it's not for retail sale, unfortunately. But if you want this book, um Mel and Cher said that they would give, they would uh leave me a link to where if you want one, you can leave uh in the comments um your your want for the book, and I can send you a PDF. And it will have it'll it's it'll be the book itself. So it'll be almost like an e-book, it'll have the photographs in there and all that good stuff. And you know what? You think Mel's good looking right now? Mel is like lady killer in the oh my goodness. Yeah, he's lost a couple inches now, but we all do as we get older. Mel is six one. I'm six foot, and Mel was taller than me. So uh anyway, but but you can uh yeah, just leave it in the comments um that you'd like a copy, and I'll, you know, and leave me your email, whatever it is, and I'll send it to you. I'll forward it to you. Um just so that you can check it out, you can read it yourself. Um, but look, we're gonna wrap it up here. I cannot thank Mel enough for doing this. This is so great. And for me, what a great way to celebrate Veterans Day and celebrate our veterans and and and just pay them the love and respect and honor them the way that they deserve to be honored. Um, so look, I'm gonna cut you guys loose. And as you know, this program is available wherever you get your podcasts. Just search the Ben Maynard program. Boom, it's right there. Go with it. Uh, but subscribe to it and download it as well. Downloads are important. And uh, you know what? Share it too. Share it with your people, okay? You guys can share it. That that's the way we spread the word, okay? Um, and then leave me a five-star rating too, because I deserve it. Well, Mel, today Mel deserves it way more than I do, but but do that. Uh, and then, but if you're watching on YouTube because you love this and you love that right there, then uh again, subscribe to it because when you subscribe, you get notified every time a new episode drops. All right. And then you have to leave a thumbs up because you got to give me a thumbs up. And then you got to leave a comment, all right? Because I love your comments and I reply to all of them as well. And again, I know it's just all this stuff, right? You got to tell a thousand of your family and friends, all right? You got to tell a thousand of your family and friends about the Ben Maynard program, all right, but you can share it too. There's a there's a uh uh place to share the video as well. So share it with all your people, all right. Um last but not least, follow me on Instagram, Ben Maynard, all one word, or on the TikTok at the Ben Maynard program. So that's it. We're done. Thanks to Mel so much, thanks to his beautiful wife over here, our in studio audience. Share. And uh, you guys just have a great one. Celebrate our veterans, celebrate our service people. They're so precious and uh mean so much to us. And we have and enjoy the freedoms that we that we do because of people like Mel. So just love on them. All right. Happy Veterans Day. We need to actually be Veterans Month, but we'll get into that some other time. So, with that, we're out of here. This is the Ben Maynard program. Tell a friend.