A Special Memorial Day Broadcast: Remembering the Fallen

On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom, we have made Memorial Day and July 4th into, uh, picnics and banquets, and that's lovely, but it's not enough. And I would ask all of you listening anywhere to just take a minute of silence today if you're having a picnic or a barbecue and think about the people who died, almost all of them very young, for the cause of keeping a free America and keeping a better world. Remember, a lot of Americans have died for others. I always make that point.

That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. One nation under God. Here's Franklin Graham.

I'm inviting you to join with us and to pray for America. Pray that we as individuals and as a nation turn to the God of our fathers, the God of the Bible, As we approach America's 250th, join Franklin in praying for our nation every day.

A new prayer is posted daily at OneNationUnderGod.com. Invite your friends and family to pray too. OneNationUnderGod.com. Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Hear thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, Go to DennisPrager.com. In honor of the brave men men and women that died serving this great country.

Broadcasting live from the World War II battleship the USS Iowa, this is the Dennis Prager Show. Happy Memorial Day. Hello everybody, welcome to the Dennis Prager Show on Memorial Day. Hi everybody. I have the chills and it's not because it's cold, it's actually the weather is perfect. For all of you across the country and wherever you're listening on the internet around the world, I am broadcasting from San Pedro, California, right by the Pacific, right next to, a few feet away really, from a battleship, the USS Iowa. When I think about what went on there, I think we have some veterans here, is that correct, who served on the USS Iowa? I know we have veterans, and now we're gonna, we're gonna honor you a little later. Uh, your presence is very important to us. Did anybody here serve on the USS Iowa? I had heard that somebody had. I, I didn't expect that to happen because the coincidence would be obviously too great. But it's an amazing thing to think as you look at this, what, what men endured on the high seas in the war. I, I broadcast on national holidays because I think that they have to be more than a day off. And we have made Memorial Day and July 4th into picnics and banquets, and that's lovely, but it's not enough. And I would ask all of you listening anywhere to just take a minute of silence today, if you're having a picnic or a barbecue, and think about the people who died, almost all of them very young, for the cause of keeping a free America and keeping a better world. Remember, a lot of Americans have died for others. I always make that point, and it is a point that shouldn't be lost, because if we retreat from the world, the world will descend into chaos. What keeps more peace and prosperity on Earth is the United States military, more than the United Nations, more than any peace council, peace conference, peace group, pacifist group. The concentration camps were liberated by soldiers, not peace activists. Japan was liberated from the horrific racist regime by the American military and other military. The, uh, this notion that you get in graduate school that peace activism leads to peace is and should be confined to graduate school, because there where you live in a sort of bubble, intellectual bubble, you can believe that sort of thing. And I think of the people who died so that I could enjoy this extraordinary life as an American, and it overwhelms me. 21 years old, 20 years old, 22 years old, 19 years old, 23 years old, 30 years old. Uh, my father fought, and, uh, but for him there's Veterans Day, and there's a difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day. And I, I think that that distinction needs to be honored, even though we honor veterans today. But a veteran is living, or lived, beyond the war, and we memorialize on this day the people who died. What I do on Memorial Day for you, my listeners— and we have many, many hundreds of people here, and you're invited if you're in the Southern California area to come by. Thus far, you're not standing in the sun. So I, you're very fortunate in that way. I'm protected, right? Yes, okay. That was— I'm not a Sun fan, as you can see. I don't recall the last time I had a tan. I don't think I ever had a tan, now that I think of it. But if you are in the vicinity, you are welcome to come here in San Pedro. You'll just see the signs to the USS Iowa. There are a lot of things for kids to do, a lot of things for adults, and you can take a tour I believe you can get a tour of the battleship. 1-800-PRAGER-776. What I like to do on Memorial Day is take it so seriously that I'm asking you who are listening to call in and tell me the name of somebody who died during a war, who died fighting. I'd like the full name of the person. I'd like you to say a few words about the person. It is a, it is a great thing. If you've done it in the past year, Please don't do it this year. If you did it 5 years ago, that's fine, but I'd like to allow people to call in, uh, with names of people who have not yet had the ability to be announced to the country in this way. 1-800-DENNIS-PRAGER, 776-877-243. 776 is the number to get in. A lot of wonderful people. Thank you all for coming, by the way. It's very touching to see you. I, I, you have no idea. I'm very open, as you know. I had this, not nightmare, but I had this slightly dark vision that I would show up and 6 people would be here. I would, and I would still do the broadcast fine, but it would have been a disconcerting moment given all the ads, so all the advertising. So I'm very touched to see all of you, though I know you came for the earlier show and for Michael Medved, who will be following me as well. And I, and I think that's great. You should. So if you want to call in with the name of, of somebody— we live in an age that doesn't teach the young that there are things worth sacrificing for. It's a, it's a, uh, I use this phrase a lot, it's a big problem. And I, I remember when I was a kid, I learned I learned that Nathan Hale, when hanged by the British, said, "I regret that I have but one life to give to my country." And I wonder how many kids today have ever heard of Nathan Hale or heard that phrase, which every single kid in my class knew by heart, just as I still do. And my answer, I have to believe, is very small. We don't understand. Let me read to you something. It's a very powerful, uh, uh, here, this is a piece in, let's see, May 20th, this Friday, in the Wall Street Journal by a SEAL, a Navy SEAL who was in Ramadi, Iraq, in the terrible battle in Iraq. Let's remember on Memorial Day, and every other day for that matter, that America did not become a nation without a fight. Very little good is achieved without a fight. Not, not always is it a physical fight, but I'd like to know what good is achieved in life without a fight. It doesn't exist. That's why, uh, that you have that great phrase— I think it's the Psalms— those who sow in tears will reap in joy. Am I right? It's Psalms. Okay, just want to check here. It's not Habakkuk, is it? Ah, you don't know who Habakkuk is, do you? I got you. One of the prophets, one of the— you know, you better brush up if you don't know who Habakkuk is. Actually played third base for the Pirates. Okay, Matt, can you imagine that? Habakkuk over to Amos to Isaiah, he's out. You have some prophetic team here. That, that would be adorable, actually. So I, uh, I, I want to remind people that these things are won through battle. While the calls are coming in, and they, they— we already have a full board, so it's tough to get in. Because I love the fact that you want to honor, because it's such a big deal. Everyone who died had a name. Everybody who died had a dream. I never— I don't think that I am unique in this way. I, I mean, I forget it. I know I'm not unique, but I don't know how common it is to fully relate to what others have gone through. Now, you can't fully— no one who's not been in war can fully relate. I acknowledge that. But I can fully relate to one thing, that every guy— and it's usually a guy— every guy who died in battle had just as many hopes and loves and dreams as I did. There's no difference. These guys wanted to, uh, get a job and live a life and travel and get married and have children just as much as I did. And then it snuffed out on the beach of Normandy, or it snuffed out in Iraq, or it snuffed out in Vietnam. And I have a lot to say about these battles because we, we live in an age that doesn't appreciate what America did, especially in Vietnam, where we fought the great post-Nazi evil called communism. But it is not taught as the evil it is. That— do you know that communism killed far more people than Nazism? Far more in China alone. But this is not taught. There was a book that came out everybody should have. I think you have a moral duty to read it. It's called The Black Book of Communism, and believe it or not, it was published by Harvard University Press. Hardly a right-wing press, but it is a book compiled by, believe it or not again, French académiciens, French university professors, about the record of communism in slaughter. The numbers in each country that the communists took over. The people who died fighting communism in Vietnam were as noble a battle as the people who died fighting fascism, Nazism, and Japanese imperialism. I'm Dennis Prager. We return.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this. One Nation Under God. Here's Franklin Graham.

I'm inviting you to join with us and I want you to pray for America. Pray that we as individuals and as a nation turn to the God of our fathers, the God of the Bible.

As we approach America's 250th, join Franklin in praying for our nation every day. A new prayer is posted daily at OneNationUnderGod.com. Invite your friends and family to pray too. OneNationUnderGod.com. Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.

Hello everybody, and welcome back to the The Dennis Prager Show on this Memorial Day, where they got hundreds of people here by the USS Iowa battleship, uh, from my— from, I presume, World War II. Is that right? Is that when the battleship is from? But served there, but served afterwards as well. And I take these holidays seriously. We have a problem in the U.S. in not taking our national holidays seriously. A day off is actually the secondary purpose of a holiday. The primary purpose is the holiday, and we have lost that, and we are paying a terrible price because we're not communicating through ritual what matters to continue the American identity. If July 4th becomes Frankfurters and Memorial Day is just a day off, and then again another, another picnic or whatever, barbecue. It's not right, and it's not right to those who died, who have to be in our memories and be cherished. So I'm asking you to call in from anywhere with the actual name of somebody who died in combat and whom we memorialize today. So why don't we go to Burrell in Spring, Texas? Hi, Burrell. Dennis Prager, happy Memorial Day, if indeed happy is the proper word.

Yeah, thank you, Dennis Prager, my call. I just called to honor my son. My wife and I just are calling for Mark Christopher Wells, Staff Sergeant, killed March 5th, 2011 in Afghanistan by an IED. And I would also like to just send our prayers to all the EOD techs in Afghanistan His two, two of his best friends are back there now serving.

May I have your son's name?

Yes, Mark Christopher Wells.

And that was in Afghanistan on, in, in 2011?

Yes.

So just two years ago?

Yes.

Sir, I, I don't have profound words to say to you. I, the only The only profundity I can come up with, and I know you didn't call for one, you called to honor him and he is honored deeply, uh, is that I, I want to say something to you that may, may be of meaning. The, uh, who wrote, uh, Herman Wouk, the one of the greatest American novelists named Herman Wouk. He wrote Winds of War and many other phenomenal novels, and he's still with us, and he's in his late 90s, I believe. Herman Wouk wrote the foreword to a book about, uh, a book of, uh, the— I think it was the diaries. You may find this of interest. The current Prime Minister of Israel is Benjamin Netanyahu. His older brother led the raid on Entebbe. Yoni, Jonathan Netanyahu, and he was the only Israeli killed in saving the hostages against Islamic terrorists who had hijacked the plane to, uh, to Uganda in Africa. It was an amazing thing. If you recall, it was July 4th, 1976, and he wrote as follows: I envy Jonathan Netanyahu's father. Now, why would anybody envy the father of a son who died? There is no pain quite like the pain of the loss of a child. And he said, I believe he said this, he lost a son, and I think it was in an accident. And he said, there is a very big difference in losing your child in something like an auto accident than in their giving their lives for a good cause. And that has to mean something to a parent. So I, I hope that does, Burl, and I, I hope that you and your wife— or his mom— are strong. God bless you. I thank you, uh, I thank you very much for calling, sir.

Thank you, Dennis. God bless you too for what you do.

Yeah, thank you. Thank you very much. It's tough to talk to the parent because I'm a parent, you know, and you— so you have this sort of bond with other parents when you unders— when you think about the pain of the loss of a child. But there is a very big difference in life how you die. There is a big difference. And there are parents of children who are living but have done nothing with their lives. So life is very complex. So Stephen— Mark Christopher Wells in Afghanistan. A word about Afghanistan. My column this week is actually about Afghanistan because That butcher who, uh, who carved up the army drummer in Britain last week, he stood there boasting with his hands filled with the blood of the man he had carved up alive. Well, this is an eye for an eye because of what the British Army does in Afghanistan. You kill Muslims, so we kill you. The point, of course, is the, the upside-down nature of everything that this man said. And the only reason I'm reacting is that a lot of the world believes that. They don't condone terror. I'm not saying people condone it, although there are people who do, obviously, but they buy the argument that, well, hey, we in the West are killing Muslims, so that's why some of them are killing Western civilians. But that's not the point. It's the opposite. We are dying for Muslims in Afghanistan. If we leave, and we are going to, then the Taliban might take over. And the Taliban kill Muslims. The Taliban throw acid in Muslim girls' eyes if they go to school. They murder Western nurses who inoculate Muslim children against polio. That's what his son died for. As much as for American freedom, he died for Muslims. That's the lie that you're— by the way, your kids are taught at college. Your kids are taught this lie. They're not taught to support terrorism. But they are taught the lie that the terrorist is reacting to Americans or Brits or anyone else killing Muslims. We are killing Taliban. Now, if Taliban is the same as Muslims, then we have been lied to. We have been told the whole time that the Taliban represent a perversion of Islam, right? You can't have it both ways. Muslims ought to be sending Mr. Wells in Texas a thank you note. Afghans ought to be having a Memorial Day for their own and for us, as unfortunately you may come to see if the United States pulls out and the Afghan government cannot sustain itself against the Taliban. The people who throw acid in girls' eyes who go to school. I'm Dennis Prager. This is Memorial Day. We continue.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this. One nation under God. Here's Franklin Graham.

I'm inviting you to join with us and to pray for America. Pray that we as individuals and as a nation Turn to the God of our fathers, the God of the Bible.

As we approach America's 250th, join Franklin in praying for our nation every day. A new prayer is posted daily at OneNationUnderGod.com. Invite your friends and family to pray too. OneNationUnderGod.com. Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.

Hello everybody, welcome back to the Dennis Prager Show live on this Memorial Day. I brought— do that every year on Memorial Day. And most other holidays, because it's important to honor the holiday, not just take a day off. 1-800-PRAGER-776. I'm asking people who have not called in in the recent past to call in with— to honor an American who died and whom we memorialize, who died in war, in combat. A woman just walked over to me. There are hundreds of people here. By the battleship USS Iowa here in San Pedro, California. Her brother William Ailes, A-Y-L-E-S, was shot down in World War II. He was 21 years old. And I asked her if she'd want to come on, and she said she's not a speaker. You don't, you don't have to be one, but I fully understand. But I did want to mention his name as well as the others of folks calling in. I remember the scene in Saving Private Ryan of the automobile driving up to the parents' home, and I think about what a, what a line of work that must have been to inform parents your son was killed in Italy, in Germany, on Okinawa. I, I would— I wish I could have met some of those people who'd had that work. I don't know how they did it. I don't know how they did it. The— they're unsung heroes in my opinion, the people who had to drive up to some people's home, and as soon as they drove up, of course, you knew why they were there. There's a lot of pain That's the way God made this world. Why he did, I will ask when we meet. I hope the meeting is delayed for a while. Personally, I can wait for the answer. I'm happy to be alive, but life is painful. All right, let's go to some more calls and honor some of those who have fallen. And let's go to Lisa in Los Angeles, California. Hello, Lisa. Dennis Prager.

Hi Dennis, how are you?

Hi, thank you for calling.

I'm here and my husband just gave you a cigar.

Oh, you're here? You're calling from here? Your husband gave me the cigar? By the way, it's a little disappointing only 2 people have given me cigars. Can you hear me?

I don't know if you can see me, but anyway.

Yes, I can hear you, I can hear you. Anyway, thank you for that. I'm fine, thank you. Go ahead.

He said thank you for the cigar, honey. You're welcome. Um, I just want to tell you, my son just got back from Afghanistan, so I praise God every day that he's home safe.

You know what, it is a little hard here. Can you folks make out the words? Is that— it is tough. You know, tell me who it is. You know how actually, if you You came here, I put you on, so you might want to walk around. Who was Greg Keller?

He was my neighbor.

I was a young girl when he died, so I don't remember. Your neighbor Greg— I'm writing these names down. Greg Keller, and he was killed in Vietnam?

Yes.

Well, thank you, thank you. I'm only going to let you go because of the— it's hard to hear you, but— I wanted that name. And about each war, I have tried to give meaning, to explain to people that, you know, people are still not aware of the immense moral significance of fighting communism in Vietnam. It's ironic because today— I was in Vietnam 2 years ago with listeners— they have rejected everything about communism, everything. In other words, every Vietnamese who fought Americans died in vain, died for a fraud. And nobody talks about this. It's a fraud. Communism was a fraud. The only people who believed in it in the West were intellectuals. No, I'm serious. Nobody else did. Everybody knew that if you mass murder people and take away all liberty, there's something wrong with your idea. But not at the universities. There, there are a lot of people who had a lot of sympathy. Now, maybe they're not doing it exactly right, but Hey, the, uh, the war in Vietnam, and then when I think of every Vietnamese death for a bunch of criminals led by Ho Chi Minh, I get angry. I'm angry over every American who died, but yes, I'm angry over every Vietnamese who died for that fraud. And today, it's— everybody knows it was a fraud. The only thing that's left of communism is a dictatorship. That's what's still left in Vietnam. But every moral and economic idea has been abandoned because it was— it's a sick, despicable system. Marxism, communism, and the like, just as fascism and Nazism are. Back in a moment, Memorial Day, Dennis Prager.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this. One Nation Under God. Here's Franklin Graham.

I'm inviting you to join with us and to pray for America. Pray that we as individuals and as a nation turn to the God of our fathers, the God of the Bible.

As we approach America's 250th, join Franklin in praying for our nation every day. A new prayer is posted daily at OneNationUnderGod.com. Invite your friends and family to pray too.

OneNationUnderGod.com.

Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Hello everyone. Let's keep the music. This is Memorial Day 2013. Dennis Prager broadcasting from right next to the USS Iowa battleship. And many people who have come out, and I thank you all for coming. This is our way of honoring those who have served, but most of all, of course, Memorial Day is about those who were killed in service to this country and to the cause of freedom. Never forget that dying for America is dying for the cause of freedom. It transcends dying for America. Every country has had people that died for their country, but there's, there's a difference. Our country is— has been overwhelmingly identified with freedom, with liberty. When America invades your country, and if it is allowed to stay, You become freer. Ask the Japanese. Ask the Germans. But we were not allowed to stay in Vietnam, so they didn't become free. We pulled out of Iraq. They're killing each other in mass numbers. The United States— ask Korea. That's my favorite war to talk about because people— you were— you served in it, sir? God bless you. You know that that's the war I most talk about. And the reason, too, one, it's forgotten, and that's a crime. It is unbelievable. Well, I don't know what is taught at schools. I really don't. It's a puzzle to me. Well, condom placement, now that I think of it, that is one of the important things that is taught. Let's not forget the important— and I know that a lot of kids are studying global warming. Climate change, but they don't know that we fought in Korea. And that war is so dramatic because it was solely for liberty. What did we have that we wanted in Korea? Nothing. Nothing. Kimchi, as I always point out. I still have the taste of kimchi in my mouth from my visit to Korea 30 years ago. It's, it's still there. And that is a war that proves the point about why we die for liberty. Never forget that. Not just for America, which is enough, but it's a, it's a cause. Now, people here who are here, if you have someone that you knew and you would like me to announce their name who died in a war? You tell me. Here is Sergeant— uh, not here, he is— he was killed in, in Iraq. Sergeant Gabriel Derue. And, uh, I thank you. In August, uh, killed in action, 20 August 2006. Can I keep this little bracelet? You sure? And are you in the military now? Or you are? You are? Thank you so much. Also, somebody gave me a note of Bill Perkins, a Medal of Honor winner. Threw himself on a grenade in Vietnam to protect his fellow soldiers, and this was given to me by a high school friend. You know, we always think of the family of people who have died, been killed, and so on. But if you are close to somebody as a friend, the loss is as deep. In fact, it can be deeper. It's, uh, it— we correctly think of family as soon as we think of somebody being killed, but I always think of the friends too, because if one of my friends were killed, it would be a hole in my life that would never be fillable. Friends are— friends are powerful. All right, let's go to some more of your calls. Go to state of Washington. And in— is that Clinton, Washington? And Ken, hi Ken, Dennis Prager.

Hi Dennis, uh, yes, my son-in-law Glenn Watkins was killed in Iraq in April of 2005, and it leaves a hole.

Can I have his— can I have his name again?

Glenn Watkins.

Glenn Watkins. And where was he from, Glenn?

Uh, well in California at the time and then, uh, moved up here to Washington.

And he, and he was killed in which war?

In Iraq.

In Iraq. And he was your son-in-law? Yes, your son-in-law. Wow.

And my grandson was also wounded over there.

Wow.

I have a granddaughter who is a an officer in the Navy, and I have a grandson who, if I may say, my favorite— if I have a favorite— but he's a brilliant young man, is one of the elite of United States SEALs, Navy SEALs.

Huh. And well, you have a—

yep, it, it, it is something you cannot forget. When you go to the cemetery as we did and have to see and be there with the funeral and the emotional part of it, it grabs you to a point to where you— it's just not easy. No. It's indescribable.

It is indescribable. Sir, I, I just, uh, I bless you. I hope that you find happiness in any way possible. I hope that for your daughter. And, uh, we join you in honoring the memory of Glenn Watkins. Someone here, by the way, gave me the name. She only knew him as Buddy. He was in the Medical Corps. Dennis Prager got killed in Vietnam, left a pregnant wife behind, and before he left, apparently he thought that he would not see the child that would be born to him. He had a sort of premonition. But before you ever get carried away with premonitions, because it could be very scary, like if you have a dream, please know they usually don't come true. So I just, I just Need to say that lest anybody recently had a bad premonition. All right, we continue Memorial Day. I'm doing what I think you're supposed to do on Memorial Day, memorializing those who died for this country and for liberty. Then you can have as good a time as you want. You can sleep in, you can have a barbecue. There's nothing wrong with that. But you gotta take time out to bless these souls. I'm Dennis Prager, and we continue. Hello everybody, welcome back. Memorial Day 2013. This is the Dennis Prager Show. I'm Dennis Prager broadcasting live to a very large audience here by the USS Iowa, San Pedro California. And if anybody would like to come by, you're more than welcome. We are— I am doing what I know the day is supposed to do. I'm honoring those who were killed in battle or during a war. By the way, any, any way you were killed, you know, people make this silly. It drives me crazy. Let me, let me get this off my chest. There is this notion that the press has that if you're killed by friendly fire, it's somehow different in war than if you're killed by enemy fire. There's no difference because friendly fire will always have fatalities and casualties. That's part of what the war— it's like, it's whose bullet is secondary. If they weren't fighting, they wouldn't have died. Friendly— that it only means that there are casualties the casualties that are taken in so many ways in war. It's, it's, it's— drives me nuts when people try to make this somehow significance distinction. Were you killed by a bullet from your side or their side? In war, those bullets are going and something is going to happen. You try to minimize friendly fire casualties, but it is impossible In real war, it's possible in practice to avoid shooting your buddy, but it is not possible to never— to always avoid that in real battle. Just thought I'd add that. All right, let's, let's get some more names here. Yucaipa, California. Patty, hello Patty, Dennis Prager.

Hi, how are you?

I'm well, thank you.

Um, yes, I grew up always with a picture of my uncle in our house, and he was— um, he was 19 when he was killed, and he was with his brother, um, who actually saw him killed.

And, and where was that, do you know?

Yes, that was in the New Georgia Island. The Solomon Islands.

And oh God, the Solomon Islands, the hottest, stinkiest place on Earth. God Almighty, what we— what they suffered there. What's his name? Quickly.

I really understood until I saw that.

So yeah, what— quickly, what is his name? Huh? What was his name, please? All right, I'll get the name. We'll get it off air, I guess. Back in a moment. In honor of the brave men and women that died serving this great country. Broadcasting live from the World War II battleship the USS Iowa, this is the Dennis Prager Show. Happy Memorial Day. Actually, meaningful Memorial Day is what I wish you, and that's what I'm trying to do, hence broadcasting live as I do on many national holidays. And we are doing so from right by a battleship the USS Iowa stationed here, if that's the appropriate term, docked here at by San Pedro, California. And on Memorial Day a number of years ago, I decided that the best thing I could do was to have you call in and tell me who died killed in a war serving this country and the cause of liberty. So that's what we do. And those of you who are here, and there are hundreds of folks here, uh, you are invited to give me the names of anybody. And I would like to give one. The uncle of a gentleman who came here was his wife's uncle, Robert Hazel Moss of Campbellsville, Kentucky. Survived Bataan and Corregidor death marches, and then he was killed in an unmarked POW death ship. What that man went through is not even possible for us to imagine, and we bless his memory. By chance, I believe it is by chance, we have somebody who actually has served on the USS Iowa with us and who is actually running the IT here. Is that correct?

That's right.

David Canfield. Would you give David a hand here? Yep, uh, David was in charge of, uh, taking care of these other 70 guys he slept with. Uh, I, I asked David what it was like on here and how was his cabin. You're allowed to laugh at me. And, uh, David, to his great credit, did not laugh at me but did smirk. Since, uh, I, I had a feeling it wasn't the— it wasn't quite like a cruise ship. Well, why don't you describe what it was actually like when you were on this battleship? You got— you slept with how many other guys in a room?

No, we slept by ourselves, but we had other people in the room.

Okay, all right, very nice, very nice. Wise guy. I gotta get a— I have my luck, I get a wise guy.

So Basically, I was in a berthing compartment with about 59 of my closest friends. There were 60 of us in a space that, um, a similar officer's cabin would have housed maybe 6 or 8 officers.

Is that right?

Yes.

Now, after how many days did you get used to it, or did you never?

It didn't take very long to get used to it. I was young and impressionable. I reported on board just after my 18th birthday, and so this was sort of, I guess this is what growing up is all about.

Was there— were any of the other 59 guys obnoxious?

Several.

What, what would being obnoxious constitute? And I'm not joking. What would that mean? They talked at night, they snored, they, they made animal noises. What did they do?

There's an unspeakable cacophony of noises that occurs inside an enlisted birthing space. Snoring is just the beginning. If there's a bodily noise, you get to deal with that when you're in the, in the berthing space. But really, that also fades into the background over time. The most annoying thing are people that won't get up for watch.

And what do you do then?

So the, the one thing that I did was I, um, I took one of the emergency firefighting pieces of equipment and I put it on and I turned out all the lights in the space. And I went up to the guy's rack and I shined a flashlight in his face and jerked the rack curtains open and screamed, "There's one still alive!" And, uh, it was easier to wake people up after that.

What time would that be?

It was about 3 o'clock in the morning, 3:45.

You were in charge of that?

I was not in charge. I just wanted to go to bed, and this was my relief, so I had to go wake him up.

Well, I can't blame him, Frank. Exactly. And that's when I go to bed. I don't want to get up at 3:45. I, I'm a night person. So where did you— where did the ship go when I was on board?

We did, uh, I actually met the ship in Marseille, France, and we finished out a Mediterranean cruise. So we saw Italy and Germany and Great Britain.

What a life, man, you know? Come on. Did you get it? Did you get to go to those countries?

I did. Um, I, I got to take tours into the Vatican and a number of places that you only dream about going. I do count other places, like we pulled into Haifa at one point, and I tell people I've been to Israel, but it was only to walk off the ship and put garbage in the dumpster.

Yeah, I don't even know if that counts in the Dennis Prager count of countries. I think you have to do more than some— throw something in a garbage can.

I walked on dirt.

Well, all right, it's not exactly, but I understand. Give David Canfield a hand, everybody. Thank you, sir. Thank you for your service. What a coincidence that the guy in charge of IT here did serve on board the ship. And I hope you'll all get to be able to get a tour of the ship. All right, let's go to some more folks around the country who are memorializing people that they knew and/or loved. Well, no, not and/or. If they knew, they might know but not love. But if they love, they knew. Love, they knew. In Massachusetts, it's Steve. Hello, Steve. Dennis Prager.

Yes, thank you, Dennis, for doing this. This is wonderful. A young woman I had worked with, I had seen her last about 2 months before 9/11. She was a Navy civilian working at the Pentagon, and she had just turned 27 and had a party at her family's home in in Maryland, and then she had worked at the Pentagon on 9/11, and she was crushed by one of the beams. And thank God she burned to death, as many of the individuals there were burned. And I knew some of the people in the basement area that I had worked with about a month or so before.

So is she still amongst us?

No, Angie House is dead. She died that day.

She was killed, I see, but she didn't die being burned, you're saying?

That's correct. That's correct.

What is her name? Angie House?

Angie Houtz. She lived in—

H-O-U-S-E?

H-O-U-T-Z.

Houtz.

Houtz. She was from Maryland.

And how did you know her?

I had worked with her over the years with the Navy. I was in the Navy and I had worked at one of the agencies where she worked with and then when I was assigned to the Pentagon in July-August of just before 9/11. I had seen her there. She had worked there. She had been transferred. Once in a while they rotate people around different agencies from, you know, working with Navy-type stuff. So she was a sweetheart, very professional, a lot of fun. A lot of people just loved her.

Well, she would be very touched that you honored her on a national radio show. Thank you very much, Steve. Thank you on her behalf. All right, let's go to San Fernando, California. John, hello, John. Dennis Prager on this Memorial Day.

Hi, Dennis, thanks a lot. Uh, I wanted to remember two of my uncles, my, my mom's brother and my dad's brother. My mom's brother was James Dinsmore And he died in July of 1944 in Burma as one of Merrill's Marauders. And my dad's brother was Buddy Goodrow, Lionel Buddy Goodrow. And he died in June of the same year. Was actually, they never recovered his body. He was lost in the English Channel during the Normandy invasion. Wow. So I never had the privilege of meeting these guys, and yet I'm grateful to my parents for having kept their memories alive with us.

Well, so wait, so they were brothers?

No, no, no. One was my mom's brother and the other was my dad's brother.

Oh, how, how, oh my God. So they each suffered the same loss of a sibling within a month.

Yes, and, and my, my grandmothers, Anita Goodrow and, uh, Gertrude Dinsmore, were the last two World War II Gold Star mothers in, uh, in their hometown. And we have a nice little photograph. They were honored every year on Memorial Day at the town square, uh, the last two moms who had lost a son during World War II.

Well, thank you for calling in with their names. James Dinsmore, Burma. Buddy Goodrow, whose body never been found. It is somewhere on the bottom of the English Channel. God, uh, the, uh, I often think of that, and I think there was a real service done in Saving Private Ryan in giving an idea of what it was like to invade Normandy. And the fear in those young men, you know, you take a kid from Nebraska, New Jersey, Texas, you know, and then in a few months he's crossing the English Channel where the fatality rate would be so, so high, and they, they knew it in advance.

It's—

thank God that there are such human beings and that they were— they did it, fighting this unbelievable evil. Okay, my friends, more names, more stories, more meaning on this Memorial Day. I'm Dennis Prager at the USS Iowa in California. Hello, my friends, on this Memorial Day. Dennis Prager broadcasting live to honor those who died for this country and for liberty. And remember that Most of the time, I would say 95% of the time, that has been synonymous. And those who are here with me, those listeners who have come out on this beautiful day in Southern California to be by the USS Iowa, I've asked if they have names, just as you across the country will have names that I will proudly announce on the air when you tell me a little about them. Curtis Duarte died in Afghan— killed in Afghanistan last year. The mother was— the mother of the gentleman who gave me his name is a friend of the family. San Antonio, Texas, and Elizabeth. Hello, Elizabeth. Dennis Prager.

Hi, I'd like to honor Luis Castillo. He was a— Luis Castillo, fourth class, in the Vietnam War. He He was killed in action.

How do you know him?

He is my brother-in-law.

Oh, so, so meaning that your sister was married to him?

No, my— it's my husband's brother.

I use my—

I use my birth name now.

Okay, that's fine. So you're, uh, your husband's brother?

Yes.

Was killed in Vietnam.

Yes.

Did you— so I assume that you personally never got to meet him?

No, I never did.

Right. Does your husband talk about him?

Yes, he does.

Well, I thank you, and I'm glad you waited as long as you did for us to honor Luis Castillo. And I said a lot about Vietnam earlier. I— it's worth repeating just in in, uh, in brief, that that war was fought against the great evil, post-Nazi evil of communism. Communist parties murdered more people, more civilians— forget war— more civilians than any doctrine in the history of the world. And fighting communism in Vietnam, as the Vietnamese people will one day understand, was the most noble thing we could do. Every Vietnamese who died fighting for Ho Chi Minh and his thugs— and that's all they were, were thugs, plain and simple thugs— and the only people who didn't realize they were thugs were intellectuals in the United States, like the people I studied under at Columbia University, and the students that chanted Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh as if they were celebrating anybody but a Stalinist The man was infatuated with himself and believed that if you disagreed with him, you deserve to die. Why he would be celebrated at Columbia University by students is one of the sick moments of Western history, of which there are many. And there is, uh, moral clarity on that issue. We were taught, of course, that he was just a Vietnamese patriot fighting the Americans because he wanted an independent Vietnam. You think the United States didn't want an independent Vietnam? Isn't that an idiocy? What did we want to do, make it the 51st state? Or, or then it would have— whatever, it would have been the 49th or 50th. It's just— it's the lie. It was just a lie. We wanted to stop communism from taking over another country, as we had done in Korea. Listen, it's very clear. If Vietnam was a mistake, then Korea was a mistake. So what wasn't a mistake? Is the only noble battle fighting the Nazis? That was it? That was it? Nothing else? All other evils are allowed to metastasize? That's what you learn at university, if not in high school today. Today. Luis Castillo. All right, that name is on my list here. Now let's go. I'll try to take the people who've waited the longest. El Segundo, California, and Bob. Hello, Bob. Dennis Prager.

Hello, Dennis. How are you?

I'm well, thank you.

Dennis, I'd like to honor, uh, from my hometown of Linden, New Jersey, PFC George Farewell, United States Army, who was killed in action on March 18th, 1969. He was my high school teammate growing up in school.

And what was George's last name?

Farwell.

You want to spell it?

F-A-R-A-W-E-L-L.

F-A-R-A-W-E-L-L. Farwell.

Correct.

Now, he was, he was your teammate in high school?

He was— I grew up with George and he was my high school teammate on the baseball team. He was one heck of a pitcher and he had a great sense of humor.

How did you find out that he had been killed?

Um, I was in college at the time and, uh, my parents called me up and I, uh, I went to the wake, um, where they had it back in my hometown in Linden.

How did you react when you first heard it? Was there a sense of disbelief?

You know, uh, yes, it was, because I was only, uh, I think I was 19 at the time. George was 20. Uh, unfortunately for my hometown, um, he was one of 13 that were killed during the Vietnam War. Wow.

Well, you've really honored him today. He, he would be very, very touched to know that all these years later you had waited an hour to say his name on radio. Thank you for doing that.

Thank you, Dennis. Well, you know, I don't think too many days go by when I don't think of George.

And, uh, really?

Yeah.

Wow.

Yep.

Let me say another word about, uh, murder. Uh, for those of you, uh, who, uh, have not been convinced by high schools and colleges that the Bible is an irrelevant text and understand it's the wisest book ever written— when Cain killed Abel, uh, Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve— when Cain killed Abel, God said to Cain The blood of your brother cries out to me from the ground. But it's not the actual original Hebrew, doesn't say the blood, it says the bloods in plural. It's, it's always mistranslated. It should be the bloods of your brother are crying out to me. And the understanding in the Jewish tradition has always been, and I don't even, you don't have to be a Jew to hold this tradition, Why does it say bloods and not blood? Because of all the blood of those who would have been born in the future from this man Abel who was killed. Not only is that individual killed, but all those who might have come from him or her, they're also killed. They'll, they'll never be, they'll never be here. The loss in, in one of these deaths is incalculable, obviously to those who loved him, but also to those who never were, as it were. They don't feel it, but it is something for us to reflect on. George probably would have had kids and grandkids and great-grandkids. You're listening to Welcome to The Dennis Prager Show, coming to you from the USS Iowa off the coast of California on this Memorial Day 2013. We return in a moment. Yes, let's keep that music going, Sean. This is Memorial Day 2013, broadcasting live. Dennis Prager here. And there are hundreds of you, many hundreds have come here to be present at our Memorial Day show by the USS Iowa off the coast of San Pedro, California. And what I'm doing is what I have inaugurated on Memorial Day on my show, is to do exactly That's exactly what the day is for, to remember those who were killed and died for our country and for liberty. It's very important. We should always add that. America is more than America. America is liberty. We are not just a place. There's a Memorial Day, I'm sure, in Germany, and there's a Memorial Day, I'm sure, in Italy, and there's a Memorial Day, I am sure, in every country. And I understand that. But our Memorial Day is different. Not— and by the way, I will acknowledge that Canadians' Memorial Day and Australians' Memorial Day and the English Memorial Day have also been for freedom. But our country has been the leader. But I don't want to say that it's the only one. The Canadians who died in the invasion of Normandy are as precious souls as anybody else. But we are here to honor those who have died for this country and liberty, and it's important to remember that the two have been essentially the same. All right, let me go to some more of your calls. We have here, let's see, Maryland, Ohio, Texas, California, and let's go to Maryland. Rocky Ridge, Maryland. And Sylvia Hite.

Hi, Dennis. Um, I wanted to remember, uh, two young— well, two young men. One was Sergeant Clifford Jones of the Green Berets, and he was from Hackettstown, New Jersey. And the other was Kenneth Crum, and he was in the Army, and he was from Maryland.

And how do you know them?

Maryland.

How do you know them? How do you know Clifford Jones?

Well, I was in, um, I grew up in Hackettstown, and, um, Clifford Jones Dennis's, uh, family moved there when, um, I was in the—

so, so you knew— all right, you knew the family. And what, what war did he die in?

Well, Clifford, Clifford had a crush on me from the time they moved there.

All right, it finally comes out. Okay.

Yes.

And, and he, he, um, after we met, after after my family moved down here to Maryland, he even came down here when he was graduating from high school and he asked me to marry him and I told him no. And I've thought about that because he— I got married in March of 1967 and in November of '67. He was killed in Vietnam.

Oh wow.

And believe me, I've thought about that a lot because he was such a wonderful, a wonderful man, young man. And, and, um, I've thought about that a lot. And then Kenneth from, um, he was in, uh, He was the same age as Clifford, but I went to— his brother was in my class when I was a senior down here. And then Kenny was 2 years younger, and he delivered bread all around. That was what he did to earn the extra pin money that, uh, that he needed to, uh, buy a car and everything.

Well, well, listen, you have honored both of them, and the story with Clifford is very touching. See what I was saying earlier about every one of them having their hopes and their dreams, no different from every one of you and me, and snuffed out? Why people choose evil is quite a dilemma, isn't it? Why would anybody choose communism or Nazism or fascism or Islamism over liberty. Maybe the human being doesn't crave liberty. Maybe some do and some don't. I don't know. I don't know. It seems a puzzle, doesn't it? We'll be back in a moment. Memorial Day, Dennis Prager. Hello everybody, Dennis Prager. Welcome back to the show and welcome to all of you who have come to stand in— or sit in the sun by the USS Iowa. This is Memorial Day and we're doing exactly what Memorial Day should be, and that is memorializing those killed in service in wartime. And I was just given a card by a gentleman here who lists the following members of the Bravo Company, 287th Infantry, 10th Mountain. 2009, all of these were killed in Afghanistan. Justin Pellerin, Jeffrey Hall, Matthew Ogden, Joshua Farris, Matthew Wilson. And we have, let's see, Cox, but I don't see a last name or a first name for Cox. And Jasper Obakere, if I have pronounced that correctly. Is that right? And what is your name? Christopher Soufflet. Thank you, sir. Thank you for honoring them. Let me take more of your calls and the people in your lives who you would like to memorialize on this Memorial Day. Philip has been holding on the longest in California. Hi, Philip, Dennis Prager.

Hi, uh, hi, Dennis. Uh, thanks Thank you for taking my call, and I want to just salute you for the memorial shows or any holiday shows that you play live.

Thank you.

I want to honor my father-in-law, who I've never met, James Allen Gretzky, who lost his life on his first helicopter flight.

I'm sorry, James what? James what? I'm outdoors, so.

Sure, it's James Allen Gretzky.

Goretzky. Okay.

Yeah.

And he was your father-in-law. And what, what war was that?

Vietnam. Vietnam.

So, so that, that's your wife's dad, and whom you never met because you met your wife after he had died?

That's correct. And my wife never met him either. He was 2 years old.

Oh, how interesting. Wow.

Well, she's here standing next to me saying, well, I've met him, I just don't remember him.

That's right, that's fair, that's fair. But he, he was alive and still is alive. And I'm not being, uh, just, you know, romantic or anything. She's alive, he's alive in her heart.

Amen.

Amen is right. Thank you. Yeah, go on.

I also want to salute my mother-in-law who who single-handedly raised my wife from that point forward by herself. And she—

yes, that's right. You know, thank you for saying that. You know, for every killed person, there is this whole world of pain that have to be saluted. They don't get a day. This, this mom, his wife's mother, who raised his wife to be, I assume, the wonderful woman she is. There's no day for, you know, Widow's Day, Military Widow's Day, or Military Fatherless Children's Day, or Military Lost My Best Friend Day, you know, because you, you obviously you can't. I mean, every month we would have another day of pain. So, uh, but nevertheless, they are very important to mention. I was given another name here, and Sakatis Limbrabolos, who was killed at the age of 22 in World War II in the, in, uh, in Saipan, an uncle of the man who had come here. And Donald Ward Evans Army medic and received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his service in Vietnam. Oh yes, I didn't read the one from that. Thank you for reminding me. And in loving memory of Anthony Malia, United States Marine Corps, killed in 2007. Was that Afghanistan or Iraq?

Iraq.

In Iraq. Well, he fought the successor to the Nazis and the communists, the Islamists. A lot of bad people in the world, folks. A lot of bad ideas. Bad ideas are often what make bad people. That's why you have to fight bad ideas. All right, let's go to, uh, where are we? Let's see here. Okay, let's go to Cleveland and Tony. Hello, Tony. Dennis Prager.

Dennis, God bless you for what you're doing. You're, you're a great mouthpiece, a great, um, a great person that can articulate your ideas of what we, the general populace in general. So thank you for that.

Thank you, sir.

I'd like to honor Major John P. John Patrick, who was killed in Vietnam in the late '60s, I believe '67 or '68.

How do you spell Patrick?

P-E-T-R-I-C.

And that was in Vietnam. How did you know, how did you know John?

Well, John and his family were parishioners at the parish and at the school where I had grown up. So I was in, uh, like 6th or 7th grade, and I remember the whole community was really hit by his death. So that was, that left an imprint on me. He was a catalyst as well as some other individuals who ultimately helped me decide to enlist in the Army some years later. But bringing this around to more recently, I had the good fortune to run for public office. And when I was doing so, I was knocking on the doors in our community and I saw a woman who was walking up the driveway to her house. I stopped and had a conversation with her. We started talking and, "Oh, I was in such and such a church, St. Mary's in Collinwood." "So what was your last name? What was your name?" She said it was Pietrek. And that was fully— oh, I'd say 40 years after his passing. I had to— this— to this woman, I really didn't know her that well.

Well, you know what? You know what his call proves? We don't forget them. We don't forget them. And that's why we have a Memorial Day, so as not to forget them. We continue. I'm Dennis Prager. All right, everybody. Hello. Let's have an applause so people know you're here. It's not for me. You're applauding to let people know that we have this wonderful— Sir, thank you for your service. God bless you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. We're by a battleship, the USS Iowa, off the coast of California at the beautiful Pacific. It's a gorgeous day, truly. It is one of the— it's one of the reasons people stay in California despite the taxes. Really, Jerry Brown is so lucky the weather is great. I tell you, there would be no one here. It would just— I don't want to get political. This is not a political day. We are simply honoring those who have died for our country and for liberty, and always put those two together. And, uh, that's right. So what I do is I get you to call in, and every one of you just talking about a whole universe. Remember, every human being is a whole world. We are, we're all a whole world. We're infinitely precious. And every one of these deaths is a monumental tragedy. Greenville, South Carolina. And Jim— hello, Jim. Dennis Prager, who would you like to honor?

I would like to honor Dennis Anderson, Lieutenant Junior Grade, United States Navy. Uh, he was one of 9 in an airplane that was shot down on January 11th, 1968, and they later found his— of his comrades remained 2001, and, uh, he was interred at Arlington Cemetery on June 19th, 2003.

Now give me, give me his name again, please.

Dennis with one N Anderson.

And how did you know Dennis?

He and my father were best friends in college.

Oh, so you grew up knowing him?

No, sir, I never met him. I met his, uh, his wife several times.

I see. Uh-huh.

She kept his memory alive and was, uh, a part of my family. Got to go to the service in Arlington.

How old was he?

He was in his mid-20s. I don't remember his exact age, sir.

Do you know if his wife ever remarried?

She She did, and she had 3 daughters, but she always kept his memory alive, and her husband was very gracious in that endeavor.

Well, thank you. Thank you very much, Jim. It's a beautiful thing that you would call, and I will have— I have one more hour of the show to do the thing that we should be doing. Those of you who don't have a name those of you listening who don't have a name, you just take a minute out from whatever celebratory event you are participating in. It means a great deal, and they deserve it. This day doesn't know politics, it just knows memory. I'm Dennis Prager. We continue. In honor of the brave men and women that died serving this great country, broadcasting live from the World WWII battleship, the USS Iowa. This is The Dennis Prager Show. Happy Memorial Day. Hello everybody. Yeah, you can have an applause here. We're talking to a very large audience. It's a very special Memorial Day. Thank you all for coming. I appreciate it. I want to especially thank those of you who've come and brought me a cigar. It's a completely selfish Utterly, totally narcissistic moment on a day that should be devoted to something much higher than that. But how can I not say that? See, the trick in life, if I may just get off on a tangent for a moment, is to be real. And I would not be real if I did not note that that brought me great satisfaction. In fact, I could even smoke it here because we're not indoors. During my show. I used to do that. I used to do that in studio. Do you know that I was looking through my— my father has written his autobiography. You get a big kick out of it. It's maxprager.com. It's a really terrific book, and he's got pictures from his time in the Navy in World War II and, and us growing up. There is a picture of my brother and me at Harvard, and my brother was at Harvard Medical School, smoking a cigar in the hospital. Those— and by the way, I believe that there is medicinal benefit to cigar smoke in hospital wards. I know it's not widely believed, but I just thought I would throw that out. I am devoting Memorial Day to broadcasting live because it's such an important day. Look at that, a lot of folks— look at this, look at how many folks are on the battleship. That is so exciting. Look at that. This is a very special— I want to, I want to salute our stations, The Answers at AM 590 and AM 870. Give them a hand, will you? Because they, uh, it took a lot of work. Where's Pamela? Pamela gets a big, big— where's Pamela Tias? Where is she? Pam, come over here when you get a chance. I want everybody to give you an applause because, uh, she worked so hard on putting this together, and this is a very meaningful thing. I am asking you to call in with the names of people you knew who have been killed in a war. And if any of you just tuning in, I have made the case, and I wish you could have heard it because I made it, I thought, fairly powerfully, that dying for the United States and dying for liberty have been in American and world history virtually synonymous. And so let's see, some of you have been handing me names. We have had so many names and it's been so touching to hear from you. Let's see here now, write very clearly folks when you give me this. Now Dale Way, Chuck Brea, and Carl Lavallee all killed in Vietnam for Groton, from Groton, Connecticut. Who gave that? Is there— is the person here who gave that name? Is— are you around? All right. Sidney Haken, let's see, captain in World War II. He had a lot to do with the breaking of the Japanese code, and he is buried in Arlington. Jerry Shoemaker in the Vietnam War, died in the late '60s. Smart, funny, handsome, a great individual. Went to Newport Harbor High in Newport Beach. Oh, how touching. The woman who gave me this name dated him in high school. That's you?

He was so funny, he was so smart.

He was so funny and so smart. So it's a, it's a horrific loss. The loss of Jerry Shoemaker was a horrific loss. That's the point, folks. They're all horrific losses. They all have whole worlds of love and hopes and pain and joy, just like you and me. That's why Memorial Day is important, especially if you do something like this. Somebody's been holding on a long time. I don't know why, but I should have gotten to him. Paul, thank you for holding on in Dublin, California. Where is Dublin?

Dublin, California is about 20 minutes east of San Francisco. You can get there through the BART. You can get there through the BART. It's a BART right away.

Ah, you can get there through with the BART. I got you. Okay, thank you for calling.

Well, you're welcome. So I'm going to honor our grandfather, Joseph Ambrose Flynn. Joseph Ambrose Flynn.

Quinn, Q-U-I-N-N?

No, Flynn. F-L-Y-N-N. Flynn.

Okay, I'm sorry. Thank you. Joseph Ambrose Flynn was your grandfather?

Yes, sir.

And he was killed in which war?

World War II.

Do you know where?

Yes, he was the executive officer of the USS Indianapolis when it was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine.

Oh, wow. What a sad story. Yes, I do. I actually— yes, I, I spoke about it on the air.

Okay, so that people who don't know, that was the last ship in World War II to be sunk. He was the executive officer, so he was the one who gave the abandon ship call. And on a side story, I was at a junior college in 1994, parked behind a man who was in a yellow Toyota truck, and the license plate said, USS Indianapolis survivor. So I get out of my car, knock on this man's window. He rolls it down. He says, yes. I said, is this license plate frame yours? He said, yes. I said, well, my grandfather was Commander Flynn. Dennis, he gets out of the car, he gives me a hug, and he says, I was your grandfather's driver at Mare Island in Vallejo. I have stories to tell you. About your grandmother. And so he said, Paul, would you please go to the 50th anniversary? And I did. I went to the 50th anniversary and there were still about 100 or so men survived. Again, people don't know these men were in the Pacific Ocean for 5 days. And that's the story that the fisherman in Jaws tells about the sharks swimming around.

That's why I know.

Yeah, I went to that reunion and I said, my name is Paul. And my grandfather was Commander Flynn. Dennis, standing ovation. The ship's doctor comes up to me and said, I want to tell you how your grandfather died. I said, okay. My grandfather gives the abandon ship call, goes to the hull of the ship, Dennis, and he commands the crew to close the hull with him in it. The other tragic story about this is that Captain McVay was the only captain to be court-martialed in World War II. And you know about that because the Japanese—

yeah, that was a terrible thing, terrible thing.

And the Japanese commander was the chief— was the prosecution witness, Dennis. It's a horrible, horrible thing the United States had done to that man. So that's my grandfather again, Joseph Ambrose Lynn, the executive officer.

Wow, I'm really— I'm very touched that I got your call. Thank you. I'm sorry. Oh, thank you. That's very kind. His grandfather is proud of his grandson. It's a terrible story with, with the men in the ocean for how long that they were there and the, the sharks. And one by one, what people have suffered is It's just, we can't even imagine, you know. We can't. It's not— it's not— if we could imagine it, I don't think we could survive. I think we'd go out of our minds. I think God built in us an ability to shut off because pure empathy, we would die. We would. Our minds would get literally blown. But anyway, we at least know it intellectually, and that's the reason before Memorial Day. And if, if you don't go, as people used to do, and still some do, to military cemeteries, then at least take a minute out today at whatever celebration you have. It would change everything if some one of you, just one of you, at some barbecue you'll be at today, just one says, hey folks, one sec, let's just take one minute of silence on this Memorial Day for those who died. I can't imagine, I just can't imagine anybody being opposed to that on religious or moral grounds. It's inconceivable to me. Every— nobody would— I can't imagine anybody objecting. And so all it does is take one of you listening one of you at your event to just say that. And I think it changes everything, and it's a very powerful statement to any young people who are there. You too, take a minute from— you know, don't text for one minute. A text-free minute on Memorial Day. I don't know if they could do it, but it's worth, it's worth, it's worth giving it a try. All right, we will return for more of your calls. To mention every one of these, I just imagine them, and they're all— remember the prime of these lives of these overwhelmingly young men, overwhelmingly men and overwhelmingly young. And look at that, the woman who gave me— who was, uh, what was it Well, she was either boyfriend— I forgot what was that. Yeah, huh, they were dating. Yeah, yeah. Okay, we return in a moment. I'm Dennis Prager and this is Memorial Day. Hello everybody, you can applaud, you can let everybody know that you're here. That is very nice, thank you all, thank you for coming. We are at the battleship USS Iowa. Boy, it's really, it's very touching. Hello everybody on the USS Iowa, how you doing? It's a very nice thing that was arranged here by the, uh, the Answers 590 and 870 in Southern California stations, uh, in the Inland Empire in LA. And for all of you around the country listening, I devote Memorial Day each year to broadcasting live to make Memorial Day meaningful by having you call and give me the names of people who were killed, uh, serving this country. That's what the day is for. What else would I be doing? So let's go to some more of your calls. Did, did I not read anything that was given to me?

I—

because a lot of you standing here— oh, I didn't read this one, did I? Well, this man didn't actually die then, but he was terribly wounded, and that's His father, the man's father, Willie— is that Cecil Hardin? Willie Cecil Hardin, who helped— Cecil, thank you— who helped liberate a death camp in Germany during World War II. What that man saw, we can't— that man liberated hell. Willie Cecil Hardin of Camden, South Carolina. He lost part of his face. But came home to us. Yes, indeed. See, that's another day we could have, right? How about Wounded Day, Injured Day, Paralyzed Day, Blinded Day, Deafened Day, Brain Damage Day? See what I mean? The, the number of people who deserve their day. But we have Halloween. It doesn't quite strike me as meaningful. Yeah, yeah. All right, let's go to— oh good, I wanted to get a Korea. I wanted one from Korea. Alhambra, California. Theodore. Hello, Theodore. Dennis Prager.

Good afternoon, Mr. Prager.

Thank you, sir.

Excuse me, I'm calling you about my older brother. Edward Magaña.

Your older brother, hold on, Edward Magaña, right?

He was killed November 5th, 1950. And the sad thing about it was I wasn't too far from— I wasn't too far away from where he was killed because I was also in Korea. And, uh, We have— today, my daughter and I are going to go visit him at the cemetery, and, uh, I just want to call and have his name announced on the radio.

Well, I am announcing it. Edward Magaña, your brother, and in Korea. And I used Korea as the example, as I do frequently on my radio show, for anybody who wonders why America has fought or who claims we did for, which is so vile, American imperialism, which is what your kid will learn at college. And it is, it is a horrific lie. What did we want in Korea? That's always the example I give, and I said it to you earlier. Forgive me for repeating myself, but now that we have someone honored who had died there, the Koreans should have a Thank You America Day. They should have one every day, actually, because there is no more dramatic example on earth of the benefits of America than the difference between North Korea and South Korea. South Korea— listen, I mean, this is the, this is the great difference between liberty and non-liberty, between America having troops in your country and America not having troops in your country. American troops have been in Korea since the Korean War. 60 years ago, right? And what do they have? One of the most prosperous free countries in the world. Many of you have, uh, carrying with you a Korean phone, Samsung. Many of you are, uh, driving a Korean car. Many of you have a Korean television. And look at what comes from North Korea. People are still eating tree bark. Those who are still living, because millions have died under that regime. That's what I mean, that they should have a thank you. They should have a thank you Edward McGonigal Day. They should take another one of the 37,000 Americans who died in Korea and give them each a day in Korea. I mean it, they really should. I would do that. Somebody died for this country and made it different different from North Korea? All right, let's go to more here. Who's been holding on the most? Ah, San Antonio has. Jim in San Antonio, Texas. Dennis Prager, hi.

Hello, Dennis, how are you doing today?

Very well, sir, thank you.

No, thank you for what you do, and God bless you for what you do. I'm very grateful for everything that you do. Good.

Thank you for that.

I would like to honor, uh, several of my comrades who have died, uh, not only in wartime but in peacetime as well.

You forget that. That is correct. That's why I'm very happy. I'm taking it. Forgive me for interrupting you. It's very important what you're saying, because if you serve in the military and die in peacetime, I have the same exact thing to say as if you were killed by friendly fire. It doesn't matter. You're still dying to protect the country.

Absolutely. So let me run through these names and you— I will respond to your questions as I go through. Dave Gordon, go ahead, class of Air Force Academy, died in a UH-1 crash in 1988 in muscle spinal support in North Dakota. PJ Weaver, died. Actually, he was in combat in the Battle of Khafji in Iraq, AC-130 pilot in the Battle of Khafji in 1991. 1989, Tom Bauer, Mike Griffith died in a helicopter crash off the coast of Okinawa. 1990, Gabby McGrane, C-130 crash North Carolina along with all of his crew. My great—

Thank you.

Yes, go ahead.

Oh, you have more? You have more? Go ahead.

Only two more. Uh, Dylan McFarland in an F-16 crash, great friend of mine, F-16 crash in 2004 in Utah. And then my great instructor, Major Wayne Figueroa, in Baguio, the Philippines, in 1990, uh, in the back of your building. So now, 4 fighter pilots. Go ahead.

That's it. That's it. Look, I, I wish I could hear a story about everyone, but obviously the time is a huge factor.

I—

you have raised a very important point. I honor them as much as if they had been shot down by enemy fire. There is no difference. You are part of the military and you die, uh, because, uh, of something that went wrong in that airplane. What's the difference? Without you, we couldn't fight anywhere. God bless all these people. God bless their memories. We will continue. This is Memorial Day at the USS Iowa off the coast, the Pacific Coast, San Pedro, California. Hello, my friends. Dennis Prager Memorial Day show coming to you live. You can hear the audience in the background. And this is a very beautiful day here by this battleship. It's really a mind-blowing thing to sit next to a battleship on Memorial Day. It's a pretty powerful combination. We had a man who actually served on the USS Iowa, and he told us his sleeping quarters were with 59 of his best friends. Not quite a cruise ship for the average sailor on board. God bless them all. Uh, people, uh, people are calling in, and that's what I've asked for, is your name, the names of those who have died in, in service to the country. Someone gave me his cousin James Haddad, the United States Army, died in the Battle of the Bulge. Wow. Man's uncle, the uncle was Norman Dick. Died June 1944 on the Normandy D-Day, in the Normandy D-Day invasion, 101st Airborne. To, uh, to die liberating Europe is a more meaningful death than most people have a meaningful life. Gilbert Kenny, Pearl Harbor. From Pasadena, the Pearl Harbor, on the board the USS Arizona, bombed by the Japanese that day. He was from Pasadena, California, which is 38 minutes from here. All right, let me go to some more of your calls around the US of A, and let's, uh, let's see here. Let's return to Texas. Cameron, Texas, and Brad. Hello, Brad. Dennis Prager.

Hello, sir. How are you today?

I'm well, very well actually.

Great. Well, thank you for giving us a chance to honor, um, I wanted to honor my, one of my best friends. His name is Darren Andrews.

That was one of your best friends, Derek Andrews? And where did he die?

Yes, sir. Uh, actually his first name is Darren.

I'm sorry, it's hard here. Darren, D-A-R-R-E-N?

Yes, sir.

And where did—

yeah, I'm sorry, he died in Afghanistan 4 years ago. He was the commanding officer on a mission to recover a broken down Humvee, and it was booby-trapped, and they were in a firefight, and he was the commanding officer. Or two of his newer soldiers in the theater with him, um, he saw that a rocket-propelled grenade was shot at them and he ran and shoved them out of the way and took a direct hit and saved both of their lives.

Huh.

And he left behind a, uh, a new son. And, uh, two weeks before he gave his life, he and his wife found out they were pregnant Oh boy.

Oh God, it gets, it gets worse as the story goes on, I have to say.

But today, uh, at our small town gathering, uh, every year they honor the veterans from our small town of Cameron. But, uh, today they, they dedicated a main highway in our county to Darren's memory.

And, uh, so it was a, you know, a bittersweet day, but Obviously, but I'd like you to take a look at my column that comes out tomorrow, and it is about what we are fighting for in Afghanistan and this terrible lie that the monster in London who carved up a human being, the off-duty British Army officer, well, this is an eye for an eye because you, the Brits are killing Muslims in Afghanistan. Uh, the man is not only evil, but it is evil that is rooted in, in a 100% lie. The Brits and the Americans and other nations are defending Muslims in Afghanistan, not killing Muslims in Afghanistan. You might as well say the United States was killing French in the Normandy invasion and leading up to, uh, to Germany, right? Would anybody have said that? Well, you're killing the French. Everybody knew we were liberating the French. We're liberating Afghanistan from people who throw acid in little girls' faces if they go to school, from people who murder nurses giving polio vaccines to kids and other vaccines to kids. That's who the Taliban are. That's who we're fighting, you liars. You're listening to the Dennis Prager Show on Memorial Day.

Dennis Prager here.

Let's hear— I'll let everybody know you're here. We got a huge turnout here. It's really something. We filled a battleship with listeners. We filled the side of the battleship with listeners. And this is a very moving day. Now, is this a beautiful Memorial Day? Seriously, I, I, this is what it should be. We, it's really, I wish this were happening all over. It's happening in place. I'm not saying only here, but folks, a holiday is meant to be significant, not just a day off. They, they ruined this. The, it was terrible. The Congress ruined Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays just ruined. It is now nothing. Presidents' Day is a department store sale day. It's meaningless. It's completely— people think you're honoring all presidents. They think that Millard Fillmore— and I have nothing against Millard Fillmore, or James Knox Polk, nothing against him either, or Jimmy Carter, who I do have something against— but nevertheless, but that's not who was being honored on President's Day. It was a bad idea, bad idea. But Memorial Day is to memorialize those who died in service to this country and to freedom. I was— I'm told here, I got an article up here, so any of you who are Korean War veterans should know that there is subsidized travel available this year for Korean War veterans. So look that up in case you needed to know. Thank you, Sean. That is very kind of you. Not very kind, but somewhat kind. Thank you for letting us know. All right, let's, uh, let's go to some more here. We have so many, and it's just, it's very powerful stuff. All right, so now in Sacramento, California— is it Maryland or Maryland? What's your name? Mary Lynn. Mary Lynn, hi. And you want to tell us about your uncle.

My uncle, that's correct.

And his name?

His name is Johnny Hofsto, H-O-F-T-O.

Go on, and what war did he get killed?

He was in the Second World War, and it was just before before he went over to battle. He was a pilot, and he was to, uh, they were to fix his instruments. They did not fix them. He thought they did. He went up and he went down in Monterey Bay here in the USA. That's California.

Well, as you, as you know, thank you for calling in with his name, and as you know, I need— it needs to be said Every death in the service is the same, in the sense of it is a death in fighting for freedom and for America. If there had been a good world, then he wouldn't have been in that airplane, and we wouldn't need the military, right? In a good world, you don't need the U.S. military. But you and I are not going to live to the day when that will— that world will exist, nor will your children, nor will your grandchildren. That day will come, unfortunately, when the lion and the lamb lie down together, and as Woody Allen said, the lamb gets up in the morning. Just in case the, uh, the biblical imagery is not clear, the lion did not eat the lamb. That is the point. But the lions do eat lambs, and that is, uh, that is the way it is in this world in, in our time and the foreseeable future. Some of you have given me names who were here. First Lieutenant Sam Cordova, or Cordova, first fighter pilot who died in Vietnam. If you do give me a name, please tell your relationship to the person. It makes it that much more real. Raul Lozano, who died in June '44 in the Normandy invasion. Whoever gave me that card, it would be very hard to read about that invasion and not weep. It's hard for those of us who didn't lose someone there. My father was on the other side of the world in a transport, and those were the types of ships that the kamikazes tried to destroy because they— my father was bringing over guys in the Marines and in the Army. That was what a transport did. It transported our fighters over there, and he was an officer on board that ship. And if you go to MaxPrager.com, you will see a very handsome young Max Prager along with other Navy men in San Francisco and in Los Angeles. There's very touching pictures for me to see. My dad is— will be on the show hopefully July 18th on his 95th birthday. So Dad, if you're listening, there are a lot of people counting on your, uh, on your coming on the show. And, uh, let's hope that that does materialize. Did any of you happen to hear my nephew who was on, on, uh, on Friday on the show? That was a special Happiness Hour, talked about the power of aunts and uncles. And, uh, I had him on the show. He was a big hit. Got a lot of— he's here too. He's— I think he's on the battleship right now. He's 12. He's my— actually my grandnephew. Is he behind me? Noah, you're here? Hi, Uncle Dennis! Hi! Here he is.

I just ate an ice cream sandwich. Do I have anything on my mouth?

You just ate an ice cream sandwich? Do you have anything on your mouth? No, no, no.

You—

did you use a napkin? Yes, I believe I did. So tell me, you're going back to New Jersey later today. Are you happy to go back?

Uh, no.

No, no, that's an honest answer. So was this as heavenly as you said it was upon arrival? It was even more than I thought it was going to be. So you understand why people move to California? How could I not? I feel like a straight man when I talk. I really do. So, uh, what have been some of the highlights? Six Flags, your pets, Shabbos, um, kind of everything. Well, that's pretty good. Six Flags, the pets, our bulldog and, uh, and, and basset hound. Chabbos is the Sabbath. Your turtles, your— and your turtles, tortoises, very important.

I fed them.

You fed them, that is true. No, we had a great time. We'll be back in a moment. Memorial Day final segment coming up. Dennis Prager here, final segment. And it's hard to say that 3 hours went so fast when we're talking such serious stuff, but it did go fast. And I am very touched by all of you who are here. I'm looking at hundreds of faces and, and it's very, very moving to me. Thank you. You're all looking at one and I'm looking at hundreds. I have the advantage, I promise. And it's just been so powerful to hear you all call in. I want to read every name off the— off, so don't hang up, anybody. Janet is in Rosemead, California. Gerald, uh, Whitfee who died in the Battle of the Bulge at 21 years of age, her uncle. The 5 Sullivan brothers who died together from her hometown in Waterloo, Iowa. Yes, that's right. How to— what a terrible story. Joanne in Waterloo, Iowa is calling in. Thank you for that. Joseph, Francis, Albert, Addison, and George. Brian in Burbank, California, his uncle Orville Cook Jr., U.S. Marine Corps. John, his wife's uncle, Irvin Bender. Mike in Phoenix, Arizona, his father died in Vietnam. Philippe Bonilla, Sergeant First Class. You do your father honor, Mike. And Greg also in Phoenix has people stretching back to the Civil War. William Wingfield, Arthur Connor, World War I. Adrian Edwards, World War II. Bob Marschinger, Pearl Harbor. Father-in-law, First Lieutenant Jarl Carlson, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam, Purple Heart. And finally, I want to just read from Donna Johnson. My wife just handed this to me. Gordon Scott Wilson, high school friend, Hobart, Indiana, Air Force Major, shot down over Vietnam in 1966, declared missing in action until 1974, remained His remains were brought home 20 years later. Donna writes, for years I dreamed they found him alive, only to awaken and find the dream shattered. He was a fine young man. I named my son Scott after him. My friends, the only way we can really honor them— there are two ways— is to remember them by name and as collectively, and to make this country as good a place as they wanted it to be and for which they died. God bless you all. God bless our country. Thank you for coming. Thank you. Tomorrow on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager: America was founded on the insignificance of blood. That is why this country— it is one of the major reasons that America has succeeded beyond the wildest imagination of human beings. It is that America, as one writer put it, Lawrence Harrison, coined the term familism. He asked a very simple question: how come the United States thrived far more than Latin America did? They value blood so much in Latin America that unless you were blood, they didn't trust you.

Join us tomorrow to hear more on timeless wisdom. With Dennis Prager. Are you enjoying Timeless Wisdom? We'd love to hear from you. Call 877-243-7776 and leave a review, share your thoughts, or just even an encouraging word for Dennis. Your voicemail might just make it on the show. That's 877-243-7776. That's 877-243-7776. Thanks for listening. And for your support. This has been Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles.

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