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Dec. 9, 1998 - Bill Cooper
59:41
Your Best Memory
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the world. The Earth's power will improve the universe and build a more sustainable world.
Thank you.
I'm William Cooper.
Good evening, folks.
You're listening to the Hour of the Time.
I'm William Cooper.
Good evening, folks.
Well, it's really cold here.
I don't know how it is where you live, but it's really cold here.
Snow began to fall about 30 minutes ago.
And it's just a light snowfall.
And I expect it will get worse through the night.
I don't know why I said worse.
Because I love snow.
I'm looking forward to snowfall.
I hope it's the white Christmas.
We live at about 7,500 feet up in the mountains.
One of the most, if not the most, Beautiful spots upon this earth.
And I love it here.
I really love it.
First I'm going to read you this bit of news.
It seems that the General Accounting Office has discovered that just in a little over a year's time, Employees at the Internal Revenue Service stole a little over 5.3 million dollars.
Oh brother.
I wonder how much they stole the year before.
And the year before that.
And the year before that.
And that.
And that.
I wonder how many people got in trouble and went to jail because the IRS accused them of not paying their income tax.
Just when one of the employees stole the money.
You see they do all kinds of strange things with checks.
For instance, one check was made out to the IRS and one IR, Internal Revenue employee, altered the check and made it payable to IR Smith and then deposited it in his personal checking account.
I Chihuahua.
We're going to do something a little different tonight, ladies and gentlemen.
And I hope you like it.
I think I'm going to like it.
What we're going to do is I've selected the music that will set the theme of tonight's broadcast.
I think you're really going to enjoy the music.
Especially those of you who were alive during the World War II years.
And what I'd like to do is take your calls and I'd like for you to tell me The best memory that you have.
If you'd all just take some time to think about that.
I'd really like to do something nice and pleasant tonight.
And when you call, please don't try to change the subject.
Please stay on the subject and tell me and our listening audience your very best memory.
The best memory that you You know, it doesn't have to be something marvelous.
It doesn't have to be anything spectacular that happened.
It can be something just as simple as some of the memories that I have.
Folks, I'll start it off.
I'll tell you some of my best memories tonight.
I'll start it off with the very best one that I can remember.
I'll do that.
Right after this.
This is going to sort of set the stage.
I'm going to play a little bit of the opening.
the the
the well the stage is set
We've got a lot more of that fantastic music to come during the evening.
But I promised I'd tell you my very best memory in my whole life.
And so here it is.
When I was a boy, sometimes I would go to spend the summer with my grandmother.
It only happened a couple of times because we were usually living in some foreign country somewhere.
Once my grandmother even came and stayed with us while we lived in the Azor Islands, which are a group of islands that belong to Portugal in the Atlantic Ocean.
I remember in the afternoon my grandmother used to take me to her big bed, wherever it was, either her house or our house, wherever she was sleeping.
And I would curl up with her and she would read to me.
And while she was reading, sometime during that marvelous, wonderful trip in my imagination into whatever world was in the book from which she was reading to me, I would fall asleep.
It was as if I had not fallen asleep, I was a part of the story.
And she would read the classics to me.
Black Beauty, Treasure Island, Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, all of these marvelous, wonderful books.
She taught me how to read, literally.
And then sometimes later, Sometime later, not sometimes, I always did wake up.
Sometime later in the afternoon, I would wake up, and she would be gone.
And the book would be lying closed on the bed with a bookmark in it, and the room would be not dark, but with the dim light of late afternoon, and the sun low would be streaming in through a lace-curtained window.
And I remember the most wonderful sense of security and warmth and love.
And then I would begin to notice her alarm clock, her mechanical big alarm clock sitting beside the bed ticking loudly.
I would just lay there and just soak it in.
Just enjoy the unbelievable feeling that that gave me.
But I've never forgotten it and I never will.
Good evening, you're on the air.
Hello.
Hello Bill.
Yes.
Hi, this is Bob from New York.
Hello Bob.
Hi.
I thought I'd drop a line here and tell you about my wife and I going on our second honeymoon.
Well actually it's a little bit of a surprise.
We went on a vacation the year after our anniversary in Montana, one of the most beautiful places
on the face of the earth.
They call it the Big Sky.
And we went to a fantastic place there, Glacier National Park.
It was near a town called Pembroke, Pulbridge, and we went to a lake.
Bob, do you live in New York City?
No, I'm right outside on the south shore, Bill.
and tissue with the beautiful background of the water and the mountains all converging
together and the beautiful ice caps.
Oh, it was so beautiful, Bill.
Bob, do you live in New York City?
No, I'm right outside on the south shore, Bill.
But is it a really very thickly populated area?
Yes, absolutely.
I can see how that could be one of your most wonderful memories.
Oh, it definitely is, Bill.
We enjoyed it because we camped out there and we pitched a tent.
after putting our deposit in an envelope, I think it was like $3 a night back in 1990,
and the deer came up in the morning all around the different areas where people had put tents.
Of course they have signs there saying, you know, don't feed the animals.
But they were so friendly and curious and just, you know, the blending and the atmosphere, it was so beautiful.
And we always remember that as one of the most beautiful places on the face of the earth,
even though I've been around all over the place, and especially meeting you down there during that seminar.
In the White Mountains.
Yeah, the White Mountains, which was fantastically beautiful there, too.
Well, I thank you for sharing that with us, Bob.
Sure, I'm glad.
Always glad to talk to you when we get a chance.
Usually we never, we try, but we're always required to hear with atmospheric noise.
Well, how are you doing tonight?
It's absolutely clear.
Perfectly clear.
Good.
And I mean we're enjoying it really, and I hear you, you know, we're just a hop skip and a jump from Maine, but we do get bombarded from, you know, Africa down there.
Yeah.
Okay, well let's not venture too far off the subject here.
Yeah, I understand.
Okay.
Well listen, I want to thank you very much, and Debbie wants to say hello to you.
Okay.
Hi, we're enjoying your program.
Wonderful, Debbie.
What's your best memory?
I would say it's probably the same trip.
Uh huh.
Actually I have a couple but it's probably that same trip because that was really the first time I went camping and the first time I was totally out in the wilderness and I was in awe because I had never been in an area like that before.
The first time you do something like that it's like being a child again isn't it?
It was incredible.
Everything is new and wonderful.
And you know, they're things you've never seen before.
It was absolutely incredible.
When I got up in the morning, the dew, you know how sometimes when you're in a mountainous area, the dew was over, and there was sort of a fog over the lake?
Oh yes.
It was sort of a magical experience as the fog started to lift.
And it was, I couldn't believe I was standing there.
I really couldn't believe I was standing there.
You wake up, you're in the tent, and you can hear the hooves of animals like walking around outside the tent.
Yeah.
It was just incredible.
I was in awe because it was the first time I had ever done anything like that.
Well, that's wonderful.
Bob has been, you know, canned out.
He's been to Alaska.
He's been all over the place, but that was the first time I had ever seen anything like that.
Well, I'm certainly glad that you shared it with us.
I think it's a great memory.
It is.
It is.
Thank you.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you guys for calling.
Okay.
Bye bye.
520-333-4578.
I was laughing there because she reminded me of a time when she was talking about the fog over the water.
She reminded me of a time when we went to Hot Springs, Arkansas.
I was a boy then too.
We had a little cabin by the lake.
I got up one morning before everybody else and there was a fog all over the lake.
So I went outside and got in a rowboat and I rowed out onto the lake.
I couldn't see anything.
Couldn't see the other shore and as soon as I left the shore where we were, where our cabin was, then I couldn't see that shore either.
And I got out in the middle of the lake and then I thought, oh my gosh, what am I going to do?
I don't know where I'm at.
And I stood up in the rowboat and my head, just the top, just my head from my neck up Poked out of the fog and it was just as clear and sunshiny day and there were people on the shore looking out over the fog and they saw my head just sticking up from the fog and they all began to point and laugh.
And that's what it reminded me of and that's why I was laughing.
Good evening, you're on the air.
Hey Bill, this is Blair Ingram in beautiful Ocean Isle, North Carolina.
Hi Blair, what's your best memory?
Well one, I've got two.
One was my father bouncing me on his knee.
To the team of Bonanza many, many, many years ago.
That was very special.
The other one is when I started to wake up reading your book called The Pale Horse and then getting a shortwave radio and listening to all these various people talking about all of these crazy things that are going on.
And finally realizing what the Federal Reserve is and just starting to understand because I was so confused.
Most people are in that same state most of the time and don't realize it.
Exactly.
And that's a shame.
Absolute shame.
But we choose our own lives.
That's true.
We do.
Thank you, Bill.
Well, thank you for sharing that with us.
You too, and thank you for calling.
520-333-4578 is the number.
What is your very best memory?
What really, really makes you smile when you sit down and close your eyes and remember that very special time in your life that comes back to you every once in a while?
You know, sometimes it's really strange what brings the memories on.
If I'm in someone's home, And I walk past a door of a room and I just glance in and it has that sun coming in at that angle and there's a lace curtain on the window.
Or there's a big clock ticking by the bed.
It will always trigger that memory of my grandmother reading to me and then drifting off to sleep.
Still in the story.
Still very much in the story because when she read to me I used to close my eyes and I used to become a part of the story.
And then when I went to sleep My dreams would just continue on.
And sometimes I would wake up and be surprised because my grandmother wasn't still there reading because in my dream it would be no different than when I was awake and she was reading and I was imagining these things in my mind.
And sometimes just a smell that reminds me of the smell of her room.
And I have other wonderful memories and I'll tell you about them too a little later On in the broadcast.
but right now while we're waiting for the next call the
the the
the the
And the other two shadows looked like one.
Dass wir so lieb uns hatten, das sah man gleich darauf.
Und alle Leute sollen es sehen, wenn wir bei der Laterne stehen.
Wie Eis, wie Limali.
Wie Eis, wie Eis, wie Limali.
For the old lady my dear.
The old lady my dear.
Schon rief der Popf, wenn die Blütentafe schrei'n, Ich kann drei Tage in der Nacht.
It can take three days, comrades, I'll be right there.
Then we'll meet again.
I'd like to go with you.
Oh, I'll never forget you, Lili Maul.
Oh, I'll never forget you, Lili Maul.
Your voice is like your beautiful face, Every evening it burns, but I never forget the length.
Deine Stimme kennt wie deinen schönen Gang Alle Abend brennt sie, doch ich vergab sie lang
Und sollte mir ein Leid geschickt, der wird bei der Laterne stehen
And if a light were to shine on me, It would be standing by the lantern,
Mit dir, Lili Marlene, mit dir, Lili Marlene Mit dir, Lili Marlene
Lili Maul, Lili Maul.
That's a great song.
Aus dem schwillen Raume, aus der Erde grund Stimmt nicht wie im Traume, sein verliebter Mund
Wenn sich die späten Nebel drehn' Werd' ich bei der Laterne sehn
Wie ein Lili Marlene, wie ein Lili Marlene Wenn du zu weit hast, die Welt schwingt, der Mond hat's gehn'
Wie ein Lili Marlene, wie ein Lili Marlene Wie ein Lili Marlene, wie ein Lili Marlene
In case you're wondering, ladies and gentlemen, these are the original recordings.
That was Marlene Dietrich with Lili Marlene, which was a very favorite song of the soldiers in World War I. Good evening, you're on the air.
Oh, hi, Mr. Cooper.
Hello.
That song, Lily Marlene, was also adopted by the Allies in World War II as one of their favorite songs.
Yes, it was.
Yeah, it's a great song.
Were you around during that time?
I was born in 1944.
Well, I'm just a year older than you.
We heard all these songs, but we were just little fellas, huh?
Yeah, me too.
Well, what's your best memory, the best memory that you can remember?
Philadelphia the best.
Not that there are so many.
I spun the wheel of fortune here.
There are so many good memories.
But I came up with one that kind of sticks in my mind.
When my uncle back in 1950 took me to the public auditorium and I met Hopalong Cassidy.
Oh boy.
I wish I could have been with you.
And I was wearing my Roy Rogers cowboy suit at the time.
Uh-oh.
And Hopalong Cassidy was there, dressed all in black with a big black hat, two shiny nickel-plated Coke 45s on his hip.
Wasn't he marvelous?
Oh, he was wonderful.
William Boyd, remember?
Yes, I certainly do.
And his horse, I can't remember the name of his horse now.
I remember all of them, as a matter of fact.
I can't remember the name of his horse either, but I'll bet it'll come to me before this broadcast is over.
It was a big, beautiful white horse.
Yes, it was.
And he extended his hand and he said, Howdy, partner.
I said, Hi.
That was just a little favor at the time.
Yeah, I bet you were beaming from ear to ear.
He was our hero.
Yes, he was.
He was our hero.
You know, this is a good program we have tonight.
This is a good idea.
You know what I like to see on the Hour of the Kind?
I can remember this when the family used to crowd around the old Crosley or the Hillco and listen to the old programs.
Well, I've got a special announcement that I'm going to make here in a few minutes, but go ahead.
I think it's going to have something to do with what you're going to say.
Well, you know what?
You have a gift of speaking.
Not all of us are born with that.
Ronald Coleman was one.
James Earl Jones was another one.
Alexander Squirky was another one.
Yeah, but I wish James Earl Jones had not done the Yeah.
I would like to hear Bill Cooper read a Christmas carol by Dickens over the year.
I'd like to hear Bill Cooper read Robert Service.
You know, I did that last year here on our radio station in the Round Valley.
I read, uh, I read, uh, I read Christmas stories and I played Christmas carols.
Oh, that'd be nice.
On Christmas Eve.
Oh, that'd be nice.
Well, we'll see about doing that.
That would really be nice.
I'd like to hear that.
Well, we'll see if we can do that.
Well, that would be great, sir.
Well, thanks a lot.
You're welcome.
Bye-bye.
And thank you for calling.
And that was a wonderful memory.
I wish I could have been with him.
I idolized Hopalong Cassidy and Gene Autry and Tom Mix and all of them.
I remember all of those guys.
Buck Jones.
They were wonderful.
Hopalong Cassidy was my favorite, too.
He was my hero.
Boy, I wouldn't miss a Hopalong Cassidy movie for anything.
You know, if I could get there, I was going.
And on the base, the movie was only ten cents and a box of popcorn was a nickel.
And off base, on Saturday mornings when they showed all of these things, the movie for children was twenty-five cents and a box of popcorn was a nickel.
And Coke was a nickel, and a candy bar was a nickel, and Mom used to give us 50 cents apiece and send us to the movies.
And we'd be there all day on Saturday.
And it was wonderful.
There were two full-length features, you know, children's kind of movies.
And then in between, there would be just serial after serial after serial after serial.
I remember Spider-Woman and Superman, and Flash Gordon, and all of them.
That's another one of my best memories was going to the Saturday matinee with my friends and my brother and sister.
Of course, I never sat with my brother and sister.
They were two years younger than me, you understand, and so I had to go sit somewhere else.
But I would keep an eye on them, make sure that they were okay.
You know, if somebody hit them too hard with a fistful of popcorn, they'd come running over to me crying or something, and I'd have to go and make sure that didn't happen again.
In the process, get myself punched in the nose, but they were marvelous times, marvelous times.
Children who lived during the time that I grew up, lived a much safer, much more secure, much happier life, and there wasn't all of this, this terribleness, this vulgarity, this violence, this This plethora of unloved people who have to go find love in a gang somewhere.
And that's why they do it.
It really is, folks.
Okay, we'll be back in just a moment while we're waiting for the next marvelous memory
to come rushing out of whenever minds are out there listening.
♪♪♪ ♪♪♪
A lot of you will remember that.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Yeah, this is Ken.
I remember when my parents had the old 78 RPM record of Stardust.
Can you talk a little louder, Ken?
Yeah, I remember when my parents had the big 78 RPM record.
It was called Stardust.
In the 1950s when I was a boy, I used to remember playing it.
Also, there was another record I used to like to play.
It was called Country Boy Boy by Little Jimmy Dickens.
That was also on an old 78 RPM record, came out in 1949.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I like the old country music and they also had, well you had the early, you know
the hit ballad with Presley in the 1950s that came out in 45s.
Mm-hmm.
And those were great tunes.
Yeah, what's your best memory, Ken?
One of my best memories is listening to amateur radio back in 1959 when I was about 10 years
old, getting stations all over the world and all over the country.
By amateur radio you mean like ham radio?
Yeah, ham radio.
Okay.
And it was a thrill listening to the other people talking and giving their QTH.
You're fading on me Ken, you've got to keep your voice loud please.
Okay, yeah, giving their QTH, that means where they were talking from.
Uh-huh.
It was just a thrill listening to them.
Thank you, Andy.
And it was, I used to, it was a thrill listening to Radio Havana, Cuba, and other stations doing it all over the world, showing radio.
Now that would be very special for you.
Yeah, yeah, it would be, you know, because, you know, I can't see, and also the space shots in the early 1960s of John Glenn, you know.
I bet that was very exciting for you, even though what we know now tells us that That that never really happened.
No, it didn't and that's kind of surprising.
It's amazing, isn't it?
Yes, it is.
But I believed it for years and so did everybody else until we really started looking at it really close and then it all fell apart.
Uh-oh.
How disappointing.
Yeah.
But I can understand how those could be some of your most precious and most wonderful memories.
Yeah.
Took you out of that dark world and And put you up there with them, didn't it?
Yes, it did.
Well, that's great.
Hey, Ken, I want you to send me your new address, wherever you're at.
Oh, okay, I will.
Would you do that?
Yes, I will.
I've got a Christmas present for you.
Okay.
Okay?
Alright.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks for calling.
Thanks for sharing your memory with us.
us. 520-333-4578 is the number. And we'd like to hear from you and hear what your most wonderful
memory is.
The best thing that you can remember in your life.
It doesn't have to be what most people think of.
It can be anything.
It can be just sitting on a warm bench in the sunshine.
Because I know for some people that can be a wonderful thing
5 2 0 3 3 3 4 5 7 8 7-8.
While I'm thinking of it here, I want to thank Tim and Pauline for running in errand for us today.
I know they're listening.
So thank you both.
I really appreciate it.
When you were here, I was busy getting the music ready for the broadcast, and I was not able to thank you personally, so I'm doing it now.
Thank you very much.
Well, I told you I would tell you another one of my best memories, and I will right after we take this next phone call.
Got tongue-tied there.
And he brought me a fresh cup of her jasmine tea with that real good honey in it.
Oh, I love it.
Good evening, you're on the air.
Good evening, Mr. Cooper.
My name's Acy from North Carolina.
Acy, can you talk a little bit louder, please?
How's this?
That's much better, yes.
I think one of my fondest memories would have to be, I've got a lot of them, but I think one of my fondest would have to be when I used to give my baby son, he was about maybe three months old, his last bottle before putting him to bed, he would always fall asleep about halfway through the bottle.
I warned him to take the whole bottle or otherwise he'd be back up in two hours hungry again.
And he'd be laying in my lap and his little head would just kind of roll over to the side.
And it's just whenever I think about it, it's funny.
Yeah.
Well, I certainly understand why that's one of your most precious memories.
Those memories of my two little daughters hold a place right up there with the best of them.
Oh yeah.
I'm enjoying your show tonight.
Well, thank you very much.
I appreciate it.
Thank you for sharing that with us and thank you for your call.
520-333-4578 is the number.
I told you I would tell you another one of my very best memories, but first I'm going to make a special announcement.
Beginning Monday, the hour of the time, we'll go back to a two-hour format.
Beginning Monday, the hour of the time, we'll go back to a two-hour format.
We will be broadcasting beginning Monday.
Make sure you tell all your friends who aren't listening.
We'll repeat this again tomorrow night.
And Monday we will begin broadcasting at 8 p.m.
Eastern, 7 p.m.
Central, 6 p.m.
Mountain Standard Time, and 5 p.m.
Pacific Standard Time.
Once again, beginning Monday, the hour of the time goes back to a two-hour format.
We will begin broadcasting at 8 p.m.
Eastern, 7 p.m.
Central, 6 p.m.
Mountain, and 5 p.m.
Pacific.
And we will be on the air for two hours, one hour of which will be educational, research, things that we've discovered.
And the second hour will be a completely different format and subject matter.
A lot of it's going to have to do with health matters and things of that nature.
So you can look forward to that.
Mark it on your calendar.
Make sure you tell all your friends who may not be listening tonight.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Yeah, good evening, Bill.
This is Mike from LaBelle, Florida.
Hi, Mike.
And if I don't get a hold of you, Merry Christmas to you.
Well, thank you very much.
Merry Christmas to you, too.
Thank you.
My fondest memories when I was a child is I used to do lots of dreaming and I liked radio catalogs and Lafayette catalogs.
You know, building things.
I couldn't hardly afford a lot of the things.
I used to just browse through it.
One night I got an idea and I took a simple clock radio and I must have put a half a dozen speakers throughout my bedroom through some simple plans when I was a child.
I also want to commend you on this collodial minerals even though we haven't gotten any, I see a real need for it.
And it's probably time to get us all in the shape for what's coming.
Yes.
We can't survive it.
We can't fight a battle on any level.
Whether it's with words or whatever it happens to be with, if we're not in good shape and our minds aren't sharp and operating well, and if our bodies fail us, then we're not going to get through Yeah, I know.
And I also want to commend Clay Douglas and a few others.
You included an effectively nullifying Beau Bryson.
I look at just one less and that's Mr. Valentine out here in Collier County and the medicine that Thank you for sharing your memory and thank you for the compliment.
Thank you for calling.
520-333-4578 is the number.
Here's another one of my best memories, folks.
OK?
Thank you for sharing your memory and thank you for the compliment.
Thank you for calling.
520-333-4578 is the number.
And here's one of my, another one of my best memories, folks.
I remember in Vietnam when we would set out up the river at sunset and, you know, we'd
spend a lot of time reaching our patrol area and trying to get a good look at everything
before all of the light faded and then we would watch all night with starlight scopes
and it never failed that we would get in some kind of a skirmish, sometimes minor, sometimes
very dangerous and very major.
And terrible firefights through the night.
And then in the morning, I can remember when we would leave our station, just as the sun was coming up and there would be a thick fog on the river.
And then somewhere toward about the middle of what we call the Two Lima patrol area, going toward the One Lima, which then took us to the mouth of the river in our base camp.
I can remember coming out of the fog And the rising sun over the Gulf of Tonkin hitting me in the face and then turning back to watch the fog bank recede and the terror of the night would just flow off of my body and away from me and I would see that flag fluttering in the breeze and blowing out straight and beautiful on the fantail and I would just
I feel so alive and so thankful and so grateful that I had made it through another night.
And I think we all felt that way.
And then I would see another boat from the upper patrol area coming out of the fog.
And then as we proceeded down the river, up on step at full speed, then another, and then another.
And we made quite a beautiful sight.
And what was such a wonderful memory for me was was that the the the stark terror the absolute I don't even know how to describe it but during the night that would come over all of us and we all knew that our lives were just hanging by a very small thread and that thread was held by God and when we came out of that fog and the sun hit us in the face it would just roll off of us and what a what a wonderful
Tremendous relief and what a wonderful memory that was to know that we were safe until the sun set again that night because there were no holidays.
No such thing.
Then we would have to go and do it all over again.
That's another one of my favorite, most wonderful memories.
I've got to tell you that it really gave me an appreciation for life that a lot of people don't have.
that are bogged down in complaining and griping and stuff all the time and whining and
That's one reason why you never hear me Whine about anything that's wrong with me. I'm thankful to
be alive. I Know what it means and so that's one of my
very best wonderful memories
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She's making history, working for victory.
Rosie!
Rosie, the visitor, keeps a sharp lookout for sabotage Sitting up there holds a fuselage
That little craven do more than a maverick can do Rosie, the visitor, Rosie's got a boyfriend, Charlie
Charlie, he's the Marine Rosie is protecting Charlie
Working overtime on the visiting machine When they gave her a production knee
She was as proud as a girl could be There's something true about red, white and blue
About Rosie, the visitor Rosie, the visitor, Rosie's got a boyfriend, Charlie
Charlie, he's the Marine Rosie, the visitor, Rosie's got a boyfriend, Charlie
Rosie, the visitor, Rosie, Rosie, Rosie Working on the assembly line
Rosie, the visitor, Rosie's got a boyfriend, Charlie Charlie, he's the Marine
Bubble singer, bubble singer, bubble Sweet, sweet, sweet little fat singer
She's breathing for her, he's been born, he's a Charlie, he's the Marine
Rosie, Rosie, Rosie, the visitor On the assembly line
Oh, I bet that brought back some memories for some of you grandmothers or great-grandmothers out there.
My grandmother worked as a welder and a riveter in the Long Beach Naval Shipyard during World War II.
I didn't know that for many years later, but one day I asked her how she got the scars on her arms and hands.
They were burn scars, and that's where she got them.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Good evening, Bill.
Yes.
This is Bill from East Greenville.
Hi, Bill.
Some of the things of your childhood and how simple things were in those days, you know, we didn't really have to worry about the things kids do today.
That's true.
Could you speak louder, Bill?
Sure, yeah.
Some of the fondest things I can remember, you know, were like my friends and I would get on our bicycles, and we were about 13, 14, go away for the weekend.
So we'd go camp, pack our bags, get on our 22's and go up in the mountain.
We'd camp at a place called White Mountain and fish and shoot and have a good time and
then come back home.
Nobody bothered us.
It was really great.
We'd get on a raft and go up down the creek.
It was just amazing.
Wasn't that wonderful?
I'll tell you, it's just so beautiful.
I wish I could get today to have a chance to do things like that, but it's just not
It's not possible at all.
Even if you could trust the three or four that were going up camping with their 22s, and even if they were good children, they might run into some people who are not.
Right, that's true.
Yeah, and you know, like the police never bothers with me shooting along the creeks and stuff, and they never even bother stopping.
Well, thank you.
Thank you for sharing that with us and thank you for calling.
Oh yeah, confiscate your 22's and they'd probably throw the father in jail for letting the boys
go hunting.
Amazing, yeah.
Well, I've been enjoying your show, so thanks a million.
Well thank you.
Thank you for sharing that with us and thank you for calling.
One other, another one of my most wonderful memories, it's actually two memories in one,
and I think you'll appreciate why I put them into one, really, because when I think of
the one, I also think of the other.
And I was present when both of my daughters were born, and that's one of the very best of the very best memories that I have, is watching my daughters come into the world and taking them into my arms and letting them know that they had a father and that their father Really, really loves them.
Would never, ever leave them, or cast them out, or desert them, or anything like that.
And, you know, I've had relationships in the past, and I've had children from previous marriage.
And I never left those children.
The woman took the children and left me.
And as women will always do.
I've never seen it fail.
If there's a woman who won't do it, I don't know about her yet.
But they use the children as weapons to get what they want.
And so, I just have never had any contact with those children and I missed them terribly all my life.
And I wish there was some way to remedy that, but there just isn't.
And so, these two daughters that I have are so much more, that much more precious to me because, you know, I can be a part of their life, a very important part of their life, which is very important to me and I know it's very important to them.
And, you know, in this politically correct world, I think it's a terrible thing.
It's a terrible thing.
That when marriages go on the rocks, and people have to separate, that the children are used by the mother as a weapon, and that the father generally has no rights with those children after that.
And the children suffer terribly, I know.
And so do a lot of fathers out there.
Suffer terribly over the years because of the estrangement with their children.
And I think that's got to be corrected.
The children belong to the mother and the father.
And I just, you know, sometimes when I hear these feminists talk and these things about terrible fathers and the children belong with the mother and all of these kinds of things, it enrages me because it's wrong and it's not true.
And I know just As many or more terrible, absolutely terrible, despicable mothers as I do terrible, despicable fathers.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Bill, how are you doing tonight?
I'm doing fine.
I've got a memory to share with you.
It's Matt here in Madison, Wisconsin.
It goes back to when I was in my early teens in Central Florida.
Surfing and beach action at New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County.
And we went out there before dawn one day.
A lot of us long hair surfer kids hanging out.
This was around 74.
And we had our guest records on the 8-track and all that good stuff.
And the sun was coming up and the waves were breaking nicely.
They were about 6 or 8 footers.
And I will never forget this one incident.
The sun was transilluminating one of these waves, you follow me?
The wave was between me and the sun and I was looking through it.
I bet I know what you're going to say because I saw the same thing.
The school of fish.
Fish, yeah.
Come through this wave and you could just see them going across there, you know, like
birds flying across a picture window.
Yes, I've seen the same thing many times.
I've seen sharks in waves.
I've seen schools of fish.
It's beautiful.
And it happens just at a certain time of the morning or evening when the sun is behind
the waves.
And there were all these long-haired blond surfers.
Oh, I was a water person.
In fact, I probably should have been a fish.
I surfed.
I body surfed.
I scuba dived.
I swam.
I did diving as a business for many years.
I did not make a regular thing of the surfing.
Oh, I was a water person.
In fact, I probably should have been a fish.
I surfed.
I body surfed.
I scuba dived.
I swam.
I did diving as a business for many years.
I taught diving at the College of Oceaneering and the Coastal School of Deep Sea Diving.
And those are some other wonderful memories.
It was the era, you know, of beer and girls and, you know, trips up there for that sort of thing.
Innocent, wonderful times.
Precisely so.
That innocence is gone.
I hate that for the children of today.
They have no innocence.
They have no childhood.
Oh, sure.
you know about that era, you know there was a bit of libertine behavior among the kids,
and you know there was some beer and maybe some pot and whatnot, but there wasn't violence. I mean
there might have been some, you know, occasional schoolyard fights or that sort of thing, but
oh sure, then in that area you wouldn't hear about people keeps carving each other with knives or
shooting each other up or something like that. No, no you didn't. Things have changed. Very much.
That was a wonderful memory.
As soon as you said that, I knew exactly what it was that you saw.
And it is beautiful.
It's one of the most beautiful things.
But sunrise over the archipelago.
I could go on with a lot of others about amateur radio and any number of things, but I'm going to turn it loose.
Okay.
Good to talk to you, fella.
Happy holidays to you and yours.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
Same to you.
Thank you for calling.
Speaking of sunrise or sunset behind a wave, where you can see through the wave, it becomes translucent.
Those are just fantastically beautiful.
But one of the things I want to tell you is how you can tell when scenes supposedly shot in Vietnam are fake or false, or when they've got it all wrong in some of these movies and things.
When you see the sunset over the Gulf of Tonkin or the South China Sea, you know that that was not shot in Vietnam.
Because the sun rose over the South China Sea and set over the mountains.
So those of you who like trivia when you watch movies and TV shows and things like that, that's a little bit of trivia that you can use and make some money on.
Because it's true, I was there.
Oh yes, I know.
That about does it, folks.
We might be able to take one more call.
We'll try it if anybody calls.
If not, then we'll just... Well, we do have a call, so we'll pick that up.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Yes, hello, Bill.
This is Mike.
I'd just like to say hello.
Hello to you.
Well, thank you.
What's your favorite memory?
I really don't have a memory.
I just wanted to say hello and just... This is Mike from Philadelphia.
You don't have a memory?
Well, I have memories, but...
Oh, come on, Mike.
You gotta have a memory.
Didn't it feel good when your mom cleaned your ears?
I have good memories, but right now, I'm a little down right now.
I just wanted to say hello from Philadelphia.
Well, I'm sorry you're down.
I hope maybe this broadcast helped pick you up a little bit.
We're going into Christmas, so you gotta get that spirit.
Yeah, I just wanted to say mega travelers from Philadelphia.
Alright, thank you, Bill.
You're welcome.
Thanks for calling.
Well, that does it, folks.
I hope you enjoyed tonight's broadcast.
God bless each and every single one of you.
God bless you.
Please leave me in the blue, and here I stay, within my lonely room,
cause I don't wanna walk without you.
Baby, walk without my eye look down to me.
I thought the day you left me behind I'd take a stride and get you right off my mind
But now that I'm alive I don't wanna walk without the sunshine
Why'd you have to turn off all that sunshine?
Oh baby, please come back or you'll break my heart for me Oh, I don't wanna walk without you, no, darling
Thank you.
You're listening to 98.5 FM Eager.
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