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May 9, 2001 - Bill Cooper
58:19
Phone Calls
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Time Text
The End.
Once upon a time in a world, there was a man who had a desire. Once upon a time, little blue bird, he could not
dare to see.
He was a little bird.
He was a little bird.
You're listening to the Hour of the Time.
I'm William Cooper.
Good evening.
You're listening to the Hour of the Time.
I'm William Cooper.
Boy, it sounds like I've got a long mic here.
Let me check some things.
Sounds like the mic's really low.
Let me get it a little closer.
That's better.
That's a little better, I think.
Of course, it could be this cold I have, too.
And I think tonight you're going to, well, I don't know.
I don't know what you're going to think of tonight's broadcast, to tell you the truth.
I hope it does something to you.
Although I don't know what that would be.
I'm going to read something to you.
Now here's the parameter by which you must listen to this.
You've got to be in a dark room because that's the kind of place we're going to visit.
Sort of moody and gloomy.
You've got to be in a dark room.
You should be in a comfortable chair.
You should be able to lean all the way back.
Put your head back.
And close your eyes.
Because I'm going to try and evoke some pictures for you.
I want you to see the place where I'm going to try, I don't know if I can really do this, but I'm going to try to take you somewhere.
And let you see it.
It's an incredible place.
Maybe two or three of you will recognize it.
I don't think it could possibly be more than that.
But maybe two or three of you will recognize it.
And if you do, then you and I are very close, for those of you who recognize this place.
So, turn out the light.
Find a comfortable chair.
Sit back, close your eyes, and listen, and try to see what it is that I'm describing to you.
It should be an interesting evening, to say the least.
I'm going to be a little bit more serious than usual.
It is a lonely, bleak and sandy place.
A group of colorless shanties, placed at odd angles and apart from each other, dot the land.
The shacks are bound together by wooden pallets laid end to end, forming walkways but leading nowhere.
Sandbags are piled high around each hut.
The boundary to the north is a river, and to the east is the sea.
The south and west are bounded by concertina wire, barbed wire, and minefields.
A concrete ramp slopes gently down and into the river.
East of the ramp is a pier made up of anti-barges fastened together.
The barges provide a resting place for six and eight boats, which bob up and down with the barges as the surf rolls into the river mouth.
West of the ramp are two additional piers.
The first is longer and shelters eight PBRs, Patrol Boat River.
They are Mark 1 PBRs of RIVDIV 543, and they bristle with weapons.
Farther west, just inside the wire boundary, is a 75-foot tower.
Where unseen eyes watch expectantly in all directions from this lofty nest.
At the foot of the tower is the last fear, alongside which are moored five LCPL Mark 5 patrol boats of the Dong Ha River Security Group.
Very old, dented with bullet holes providing ventilation here and there.
One new LCPL Mark 12 bobs gently, rolling against its mooring lines.
The groan of mooring lines, the crashing surf, the haunting whisper of the cold sea breeze, are the only sounds that one can hear.
The sandbagged shanty nearest the PBR pier is the medical sickbay, where the ill and wounded are treated by three tired Navy corpsmen.
And just to the south and underground is the command post.
Radio antennas reach up from between sandbags striving to touch the low-lying clouds.
Directly east and three huts down the walkway is a sign nailed over the door of a hooch.
It is black with a full moon in the center and a flying bat outlined against the moon.
Under the emblem it reads, Dong Ha River Security Group Night Fighters.
Two more huts to the east and on the other side of the boardwalk is another sign.
It reads, River Division 543.
It is a lonely outpost on the demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam.
The sole purpose of the camp is to support the patrol boats.
The mission of the boats is to protect convoys of supply boats, LCUs bound for Dong Ha and Quang Tri, and to deny the enemy access to the river.
Across the river on the North Bay is the 3rd Marine Battalion recon camp.
A few tents mark their position in the sand bounded on the east by the South China Sea.
West of the Marine camp is the village of My Loc.
Vietnamese men, women, and children, numbering about 200, live in the impoverished wooden homes which form the bulk of this small village.
Their loyalty is questionable at best.
West of the village is an ARVN, South Vietnamese Army compound.
They're poorly trained and normally retreat when confronted by the enemy.
Essentially, they are useless.
Farther west, about one quarter mile, is the rubble of a French colonial city.
And up from the ruins rise columns attesting the architecture of a forgotten time.
No one knows when the city was destroyed, as history has been lost in the turmoil and misery of war and exploitation.
Immediately to the west of the ruins, a creek runs to the north.
The mouth of this trickle of water is strung with row after row of concertina wire.
The wire denies access to or from the creek by any boat or swimmer.
The mouth of the creek is called Whiskey 2.
On the south bank, across from Whiskey 2, is an old colonial home.
It is the headquarters of Coastal Group 11.
The force consists of three American Navy advisors, 43 men of the South Vietnamese Navy, and seven junk patrol boats.
Each man in the Vietnamese Junk Force has a tattoo on his chest.
It reads, SATKONG.
The tattoo means, Kill Communists.
These men are loyal, dependable, and vicious fighters.
Their mission is to patrol the sea coast from the DMZ south to the Phuket River.
The junk boats in their unit bear witness to the superstitious nature of the men This is denoted by the eyes painted on the bow of each boat.
The Vietnamese believe the eyes guide them and ward off harmful spirits.
It is a common trait of the Vietnamese to belong to and practice several different religions at the same time.
Since death is so near, they reason, it is best to belong to them all.
If they practice only one, it may be the wrong one.
In effect, they believe in covering all the bases.
It is the monsoon season.
The wind courses from the north and east, cursing this place with cold rain and low, black, ominous clouds.
The light filtering through casts its drab finger on the land, striking shadows dead.
It is a perpetual twilight that eats at the soul and spreads the specter of doom.
Sand is everywhere.
Sand is everywhere.
Sand.
It's in the cots.
It's in your clothes.
It's in the food.
It's in the shacks.
It's in the boats.
It's everywhere.
Gritty.
Irritating.
Of course, sand invades all.
There is no escape from it.
It is so much a part of life that if it disappeared, one would miss it dearly.
The Takran River is dark and muddy.
The current is strong, grabbing all things, eating away the banks and plants, and sweeps them down to the sea.
The rain in the mountains swells the river beyond its limits, flooding low-lying areas.
Sandbars lying just below the surface shift and change daily, like a mischievous child playing tag with the boats.
The water is dangerous.
Aside from the normal fish, it harbors sharks near the river mouth and deadly water snakes permeate its entire length.
It conceals mines planted by the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong.
To the Vietnamese, it provides food and travel from dawn until sundown when curfew begins.
To us, it is a mysterious evil monster to be confronted each night, night after night, night upon night, endlessly, without any break, every single night.
The river is strategic to both sides.
It is a natural barrier and an important supply route for Quang Tri and Dong Ha.
The river mouth is three miles south of the DMZ, which is the Demilitarized Zone.
The DMZ is a stretch of land running east and west along the 17th parallel from the sea to the Laotian border.
It is five miles wide and is the most desolate, devastated place on earth.
It is a gloomy, hellish area where nothing grows.
Nothing grows.
It is bombed often and sprayed with defoliants constantly.
No man, no animal, no plant will ever be able to live or travel this killing ground safely.
It is the surface of the moon, pocketed with bomb craters poisoned by chemicals and hiding mines everywhere.
But despite all these dangers, the North Vietnamese cross it as a matter of routine.
We also venture in from time to time, but it is insanity.
One mile west of Whiskey 2, Jones Creek carries the deadly chemicals from North Vietnam and the DMZ and dumps into the river.
The creek was named after an American patrol boat sailor.
The first American killed on the creek.
Jones Creek is narrow and treacherous, but navigable.
Thick vegetation lines the banks, providing convenient cover for sudden and very, very deadly ambushes.
About 400 meters or clicks north of the creek's mouth is another Marine outpost on the east bank.
Again, an old colonial home is utilized.
The outpost consists of one platoon of recon Marines from the 3rd Marine Battalion and their officer, a Green Lieutenant.
Jones Creek is also strategic because it is a favorite infiltration route of the NVA and the Viet Cong.
This creek, Jones Creek, strikes fear.
Cold, numbing fear into the hearts of those who patrol it.
The enemy uses the creek frequently and has the upper hand.
The NVA and VC can pick the spot of confrontation and make good preparations.
The thick vegetation provides them with cover and can hide many things from the men on the boats.
Because the creek is narrow, very narrow, ambush is deadly.
Even though the enemy has the advantage, he fears the boats as much as the men on the boats fear the creek.
The arch-enemy of the men who patrol the Tocon River is the N.B.A.
125th Naval Staffer Regiment.
It is a special unit trained in existing only to destroy the patrol boats and regain control of the river.
80% of all contact with the enemy on the Tocon River involves elements of the North Vietnamese Army's 125th Naval Staffer Regiment.
The remaining 20% involve other units of NBA and BC forces whose mission is unknown.
The headquarters of the NBA 125th Naval Staffer Regiment is on the coast of North Vietnam about 15 miles north of the DMZ.
The Tocon River is divided into five patrol areas.
The first, called One Lima, begins at the river mouth and ends at Whiskey Two.
The second, Two Lima, begins at Whiskey Two and ends at the New Channel.
The New Channel is at the mouth of Jones Creek.
It is a shortcut carved through an island.
It is faster, enabling the boats to patrol the river more efficiently.
Three Lima is the adjacent patrol area running from the new channel to Whiskey One Three.
It is the tip of a triangular island.
A tributary of the river runs behind the island, joining Jones Creek.
Whiskey One Three is the northwestern tip of the triangle.
The island is covered with mounds.
The mounds are graves.
hundreds of graves.
The Vietnamese bury their dead on top of the ground and then cover them with earth and make a huge mound.
you The island beginning on the south bank of the New Channel is also covered with graves.
Some of these have monuments of stone built above or around them.
Some of the graves are flat.
They could be French, Catholic burial places.
In any event, it is a scary, haunted place where strange things happen.
No word is ever spoken of it, but the men on the boats believe it is a bad place to die.
Poor Lima's patrol area begins at Whiskey 1-3 and ends at Whiskey 9, where the river narrows.
Whiskey 9 is a favorite ambush and fording spot for NVA and VC units infiltrating south.
The north bank at the spot is rocky, covered with very large trees and thick vegetation.
Whiskey 9 requires an alert crew.
and an extremely cautious attitude.
From Whiskey Nine to the bridge at the city of Dong Ha is Five Lima's patrol area.
The patrol requires the same caution required of Four Lima.
There are two additional areas which are patrolled infrequently.
The first is Jones Creek.
The second is the river branch running from Whiskey Nine to Quang Tri City.
It is known as the Quang Tri Cut-Off.
During the dry summer months, the Cut-Off is not navigable.
The water level is too low for the draft of the boats.
At the southwest bank, where the quang tree cutoff begins, there's a small sampan city inhabited by boat people.
They are born, live, fish, and to die on their sampans.
Some of them have never stood on solid ground in their entire life.
When daylight fades and night comes, suddenly, up on the river, death begins to reap his harvest.
Gastly stalking those who venture out.
The cards are dealt.
Each man has his hand.
Some will win, some will lose, and some will break even.
The fireworks begin.
In the ghostly light of flares, the shadows dance.
Red tracers light up the sky.
In the distance, the brilliant light of a hundred explosions splash as flying machines let go their lethal load.
It is a million-fourth of July's, all in one night, every night.
Charlie creeps out of hiding to confront the boats.
Men are locked in mortal combat.
It is darker than dark.
The monsoon clouds smother all light from the heavens.
Adrenaline flows, and the specter of fear looms in the hearts of men.
The night passes slowly, oh, so very slowly, as if for eternity there would be no light, no warmth upon the earth.
Men strain to see in the black void which envelops them.
They listen intently for any warning which may save their life.
The sounds of battle are everywhere, some near, some far, but everywhere.
On this night, Tulima ventures into the new channel.
Red streaks of light suddenly cut the night.
The whoosh of rockets are deafening.
The boat responds with only yards between the two antagonists.
A fierce exchange takes place, and blood flows on the deck of the boat.
Blood runs upon the ground.
The cries of the wounded rang upon the air, and courage crumbles for some.
As suddenly as it began, it is finished.
The killing is done, and it is almost morning.
Yet it seems as if morning will never come.
The first thing that is noticed is the fog settling down to rest upon the earth.
As the sun creeps over the horizon, a little light, very little filters through, and the boats begin to work their way home.
The men are weary and spent.
Some are dazed.
Some will sleep today, and some will not.
Some will awaken in a hospital somewhere far away.
Some will go home to their family in body bags.
For those alive will confront the monster again and again and again.
There is no rest.
And there is no reason.
No one in the world knows of this place.
It is only a small part of a large and terrible nightmare.
But it is reality.
Stark, naked, slap-you-in-the-face reality.
And here a hot beer tastes damn good.
Rice and sea rations are a gourmet meal.
Nothing is taken for granted.
For here, every day and every night, every moment, every second, life walks hand-in-hand with death.
Javier, Republic of Vietnam, 1968.
the the
We're open folks, 5 to 0.
520-333-4578.
That's right, folks.
The phones are open.
And you'll be taking your calls for the rest of the broadcast.
The first portion of tonight's show was a rerun, in case you didn't know that.
We're live now.
And I'm still looking for people who may have been in that place with me, or before me, or after me, a long, long time ago, it seems to me.
I mean, it really seems like Another century.
Another time.
But of course it wasn't.
520-333-4578 is the number.
If you'd like to participate in this, if you're a Vietnam veteran and you've got anything to say about what you heard, or about your particular participation in the Vietnam War, then I'm Certainly interested in hearing what you have to say.
The number is 520-333-4578.
I have no idea what music to play after this.
Good evening, you're on the air.
Hello.
I just want to call and tell you that it's very moving what just took place.
I was not in Vietnam.
I missed about two years.
I was going to join up, as stupid as it was.
Before you go any farther, could I get you to put your mouth right in front of the telephone and talk a lot louder, please?
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
I just want to call and tell you I love you, Sherry.
I think you're the greatest man on earth.
Please don't do that to me.
Don't put me up on a big high pedestal because I'm a human being just like everybody else and the first thing I'm going to do is fall off.
Well, I understand that.
I understand that.
I'm an artist.
Okay.
But it's so moving and I just want to say I appreciate everyone who went and served.
I really do.
Even though, I mean, I didn't protest the war.
I was for the war.
You know, I was a kid.
My daddy was in special forces.
He got out before he had to go.
But I just want to tell everybody, I appreciate them going and not running to Canada and doing what their country calls them to do, even though it may have been wrong, but even though fighting communism, I don't believe it's wrong.
But a hypothetical question.
What do you think, or what time do you think, that after seeing your website tonight, first time I hear it tonight, and I'll tell you what, I think it's the best website on the internet.
What's the time frame, do you think?
Time frame for what?
For the trouble to start here.
Well, the trouble actually started many years ago.
Oh yeah, I understand that.
We're already a part of world government.
It's already been formed, and under Article 6 of the Constitution, by misinterpretation, the United States really doesn't exist anymore, except as a vassal state of the United Nations.
Yes, sir.
You know people keep asking me when is it going to start?
It started in 1945 and it's just been getting worse since then.
The question is when are you going to draw the line and say no more as I did a long time ago?
I understand and I tell you what I admire you for that.
I think the problem with Americans today and me personally with four kids sitting here and I have to provide a future for them.
Most of us don't want to be Patrick Henry.
I understand that 100%.
Do you think it was easy for me to send my family out of the country?
Do you think it was easy for me to do what I have done knowing that at some future date it was going to come down to me personally standing my ground on my doorstep And maybe having to sacrifice the lives of my family.
I was lucky that I was able to send them out of the country.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
But you have to go back and read history.
You see, George Washington was faced with the same decision.
So was Benjamin Franklin.
So was Thomas Paine.
We're just not talking about the man that you cite here.
We're talking about an entire generation of men Many of whom died, many of whom lost limbs, many of whom lost family members, lost their property, lost... I mean, they suffered terribly.
Yes, sir.
And for your information, they only represented about 5% or less of the entire population of the 13 colonies at that time.
Most of the population was either on the side of King George or just didn't give a damn.
Yes, sir.
I have read that.
In fact, I told a friend of mine, he said, we may have a chance after all these That's my point, exactly.
And look at the Chechens.
They're fighting one of the largest armies, one of the most ruthless armies, one of the most ruthless nations and military forces on the face of this earth, and they're kicking their ass.
Yes, sir.
And the Afghanistanis did the same thing.
They kicked their butts.
Yes, sir.
It's like, I don't know if you said it up in the right, but it's like, take away their computers and they're lost.
That's right.
These are techno-brats.
The United States military today is an all-volunteer force of socialist techno-brats.
And I'm telling you right now, there's a lot of you out there that may not understand this, may not believe it, but we can kick their ass really easy.
Yes, sir.
I agree with you 100%.
I'm growing up as a kid hunting in the woods in North Carolina and wound up in the deep woods and the sun set on us and we'd get out by moths in the back of the trees and fighting and everything.
We're crawling up against it.
I mean, we can do it.
It can be done.
We just go back to our forefathers who fought the second revolution.
But first you see the only way that we can win is if we're willing to die for what we
believe in.
See because they're not.
They're not willing to die for that because the only reason they're in this all volunteer
force because they're little socialists that want the government to take care of them.
They can't make it out in the real world.
I've got to be a policeman.
I've got to go work for the government.
A lot of people want to just, I got to be in law enforcement, I got to be a sheriff,
you know, I've got to be a policeman, I've got to go to work for the government.
It's like in...
It's socialism.
Yes sir.
They can't make it anywhere else.
That's right.
And they know that once they get hired by any government organization, it is so hard to fire them, it's almost impossible.
Oh, absolutely.
Well, you know what we say around here, the reason why I have so many government employees is because you can't get a job in the real world.
Yes, it's true.
But it's vagitis.
A good friend of mine who's been in New York and Ohio was told it's vagitis.
The only people who have vagitis are insecure children who never really grow up.
And they gotta have that gun on their hip to feel like they're a man, because without it, they're not.
That's right.
And it's the truth.
Now, I'm not talking about every police officer.
Oh, that's right.
I'm not talking about every man in the military.
There are some really good people out there who really do have the best intentions.
But I know from talking to many of them who call me and tell me about their experiences that they are so disillusioned that it's almost impossible to be a good police officer or a good military person in this world today.
Because they are either leaving or being forced out.
That's right.
You're absolutely right.
I come from a long line of law enforcement and everybody asked me.
My granddaddy was a constable here in North Carolina before they had David Shurer.
My daddy was a David Shurer.
My cousin was a David Shurer.
And everybody asked me, with my mentality, why aren't you in law enforcement?
I look at it this way.
If I commit, catch a man committing a crime, I mean, you know, he's gone.
And I know I do not need to be in law enforcement.
Yeah.
And I say, so many kids, all these guys right here in Federal 9 Law Enforcement, they were the punk kids in school that everybody kicked on and they never had any, they weren't the football team.
Yeah, they didn't.
Now they got, they walk around a badge and all puffed up like a little band of merchants.
Yeah, well, that, that, you know, I hate to say this, but it's true, you know, they, they didn't, they never felt like they belonged, they never felt like they were real men, and that gun became their penis.
And now, they're real men!
Woo-hoo!
Look at me, I've got a gun, boy!
Absolutely.
And that's the whole wrong idea of the subject of law enforcement.
Absolutely.
It's absolutely backwards.
It used to, you know, if there was a sheriff that rode around, you know, in your area of the county, you knew him by name.
They came up, they spoke to you.
Nowadays, they ride around.
I know.
But remember now, this doesn't apply to all of them.
I know.
But remember now, this doesn't apply to all of them.
I know some of the best men that I know in this whole world are police officers.
Absolutely.
I agree with you 100%.
One of the best men in the entire state of Arizona is a member of the Department of Public Service, which in Arizona is the Highway Patrol.
He put out a tape that almost every patriot in this country has and listens to.
Jack McGram?
No, not Jack McGram.
Not at all.
Nope.
His name is David Mann.
I've heard it.
He doesn't like it when I say his name on radio but I'm going to do it anyway because he should be very proud of himself and I'm very proud of him and every patriot in this country who's listened to that tape that he has made is proud of him also.
He's a real patriot.
Yes sir.
And you know he's been in the Arizona Department of Public Service for his entire career and never had a promotion.
Not once.
You know why?
Because he's a good man.
Yes, sir.
He should be at the head of the Department of Public Service in Arizona.
He's not threatening anybody's back.
Well, he just does his job properly.
He does it right.
And when you do that, and you do it the way it's supposed to be done, looking out for people's rights rather than infringing on them, not kissing up to the Well, you know what I'm trying to say.
Well, Dave never did any of that.
He just made a butt kisser.
I can't stand him.
I mean, it's ridiculous.
In fact, when I see him, I give him a real butt to kiss.
That's what I do most of the time.
I'm telling folks out here, you know, just kiss my white southern butt.
I'm just tired of it.
It's just that, well, the idiocy of all of us, the way they're pushing this new world
order down our throat and everything.
And I kind of talk to my neighbors and you know the folks, like, you're crazy.
I mean, and you give them proof.
Oh, this is Trump.
And it gets to the point, you know, they call you Chicken Little, you know, the sky is falling,
the sky is falling.
Well, the sky is really falling down.
A lot of people who used to call me names and say I was Chicken Little and I was stupid and I was some freako weirdo right wing conspiracy wacko nut are now calling me up and saying Bill I'm so sorry that I ever thought that way about you because I can see it happening right in front of my face now.
I know, I know.
When I first started listening to you, it's been years ago I talked to you and it was like one o'clock in the morning on the weekend.
And everything you said then has come to pass and that's been a long time ago.
Everything I wrote in my book has come to pass.
Yes sir, I have got to give that to you.
But it's been nice talking to you.
God bless you.
Keep up the good work for us.
Thanks for calling.
God bless you too.
Help all of us people and get up there and take the stand, you know, like Patrick Henry did.
We've got to.
Yeah, and help us fight racism.
Next time you say something like that, bend over and say kiss my black ass.
And you'll help us all out.
Absolutely.
Thanks a lot.
Take care.
Good night.
520-333-4578 is the number.
You know, if you've been to the website lately, which is williamcooper.net, williamcooper.net, it's just in our face now.
I mean, they're not even attempting to hide it.
Just the other day, The Speaker of the House, the Republican Speaker of the House, declared publicly the agenda of the Republican Party.
We want a global world, he said, which means one world government.
Good evening, you're on the air.
Hey Bill, how you doing?
Good.
Hey, the other night you were talking about, you know, what people can do to inform people.
I just want to let you know that there's some guys out here in southwestern Pennsylvania The last five years we've held a U.N.
flag burning.
The last two years.
I used to advertise that on the air.
We had a blue beret practice shoot.
The last one was pretty funny.
Me and my other friends, we would dress up as jack-booted thugs.
Yeah, exactly.
And we've also tried to educate people on the Constitution.
We passed off the Citizens' Rulebook.
We probably went through about 2,000 to 3,000 of those.
Excellent.
with it. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And we've also tried to educate people on the constitution.
We passed out the citizens rule book. We probably went through about two to three thousand of
those. Excellent. That's wonderful. In the area. And also, some of the Y2K expos they
had out in the area.
We didn't push the Y2K part.
By the way, before you go on, I want to stress to people how important the Citizen's Rule book is.
I have a copy right here.
Yeah, it's a great book.
In fact, I carry a copy with me all the time, wherever I go.
I have a copy in the studio.
I have a copy in every car that we have.
I have a copy in my getaway bag.
Really.
We're the same way pretty much here.
Good.
I'm a mail carrier, and I even carry one in my mail sack to argue with some of the college professors in the area.
So I try to educate them.
You know, the lowlife mailman talking to the higher elites.
Yeah, that must really frustrate you.
Yeah, I guess they respect me because I know my material pretty well.
No, they respect you because if they don't, they won't get their mail.
Yeah, I can't piss this guy off.
I'm a little bit of a male.
I gotta listen to it.
No matter what he says, I gotta listen to the dude.
But we've used a lot of your material, your trees and documents, stuff like that, to educate people.
And we get a really good response.
Wonderful.
We get a really good response from people.
I'm so happy to hear that.
I just wanted to call and let you know that there are some people out here that are Oh, I know there are, but the numbers are not large.
I understand that.
And the reason I said what I did earlier is that they don't have to be large.
All we need is 5%.
We were at Lexington last year and I'll tell you what, I got a really good feeling out of it just from being there.
I had like a spiritual connection with the place.
It's kind of like, you know, you hear some of the guys, they go to Gettysburg and they
feel the ghost or you know, whatever, that kind of stuff.
I don't know if that's true, but I just felt really connected with the place.
Well, I've got to tell you, I've been to Gettysburg, and I don't know if I felt ghosts or not, but you certainly feel something.
I feel like a presence or something.
You feel something there.
Yeah.
No doubt about it at all.
Yeah, my friend, we felt that up at Lexington and Concord and all that up there.
We'd just go up there in the evening sometimes, just sit and kind of hang out.
Look around.
It's a really good experience.
But getting back to those Y2K expos.
Like I said, we passed out a lot of your information.
We used a lot of the information from your book.
Yeah, but it doesn't do you good.
These people are still listening to the same people.
I know.
And they still believe every word that's said, doesn't they?
Because here's the reason why.
You're talking to the walking brain-dead.
Yeah.
They are already casualties.
They just don't know it.
Yeah.
They're casualties.
What's it going to take to wake them up?
They should be under a sheet.
What's it going to take to wake these people up, though?
Well, see, that's the problem.
We have to learn a lesson from Jesus.
Jesus never tried to wake anybody up that didn't want to be awakened.
I guess you're true there, yeah.
He stopped trying to wake up the walking brain-dead.
Talk to the ones who want to listen.
Well, I find myself even doing that when I'm out and about, like doing my grocery shopping or something.
It's weird how you get in a conversation about something and where the conversation leads, you know.
That's true.
You don't know how you affect those people.
Yeah.
I mean, you know, like you tell two friends and so on and so on.
You know, like that one commercial.
Well it's true and I talked about that years ago when I started this broadcast.
This is like the 8th year of the hour of the time and a long long time ago when I first began doing this broadcast I told people It's about education, and the biggest job that we have before us is educating vast numbers of people.
So just go out and talk about what you hear after you have verified that it's true, and give people proof if they want it, and it will spread.
And it did!
It really did!
When I started, I couldn't get three people in a living room in Podunk, Iowa to even help me pay for my travel expenses.
But they would sit down and listen to me and look at me like I was crazy.
And before I stopped my speaking tours, I could fill the salt dome.
And you know a few years before you couldn't even get the salt dome to consider even having
you there speaking.
Yeah.
Well we thought you'd speak up in Syracuse when you were in Syracuse.
Uh huh.
Me and Mike.
I don't know if you remember us.
Oh yes I did.
I was in Syracuse.
Yeah, we sat in the lobby of the motel.
A lot of your time in the lobby, we were very pleased with your cordialness.
Well, we hung out for a while.
Yeah, exactly.
We really enjoyed that.
Well, listen, I got to let some more people get in here.
Okay, Bill.
God bless.
Nice to hear from you.
You hang in there, okay?
Thank you.
Okay, God bless.
520-333-4578 is the number.
Thank you for calling.
Yeah, I do certainly do remember hanging out with you guys there in the lobby of the motel for a couple of hours and talking and stuff and you know the people in Syracuse treated us so wonderfully and it was the black student body of Syracuse University who invited me to speak and took care of me and paid for the hotel and You know, showed us around and everything.
They were wonderful, wonderful people.
Good evening, you're on the air.
Yeah, how are you Bill?
Yeah, I enjoyed your little piece on Coivet.
Thank you.
It put me right back there.
I was there in 1969.
You were there in 1969?
I was at Don Hunt, and we used to go up the Coivet to the beach to go swimming with all the sea snakes.
Yeah?
When they pulled the 3rd Marine Division out, They brought us up to that base.
Uh huh.
We spent the night there at the base.
They took our guns away from us.
That's when we were leaving Vietnam.
Uh huh.
Yeah.
Right.
1969.
And I could see it.
So we didn't leave.
You described it.
We didn't leave until later.
I mean that's when you were personally leaving Vietnam.
That's correct.
Well, you know, I'm feeling goosebumps.
I'm getting chills now just talking to you because you were there.
Yeah, I mean, I could see it.
It was just like I was going down the river, up the river again.
Oh, wow.
Well, you know, this is a very important moment for me because you're the first person since I left there that I've ever spoken to who was ever there.
So, um, I'm glad that you, uh, that you turned out the way you did. Well thank you very
much very very much. A wonderful job for for the people of the country whether most of them realize
it or not.
It was four of us in my unit that we were very tight and one of them is dead now and two of them
are on one hundred percent disability but I guess I'm the only one that turned out I'm the vice
president of the Norca company. Well welcome back congratulations.
Have you been to the wall?
Yes, I have.
I carried my family to Washington.
We spent a week up there one time.
What was your reaction when you went up to the wall?
I didn't realize it.
I didn't make the connection.
When we went there, it was Father's Day.
You could just feel the grief.
You could feel the pain and there were all these little pictures and father's day cards.
What you really mean is that you could feel it?
I could feel it.
Yeah.
I could feel it.
Nobody else seems to feel that.
I mean people are sort of stunned by it and they are impressed by it but Vietnam veterans
it's a me.
Well for every Vietnam veteran that I know that was really in Vietnam and really experienced
combat sort of breaks down when they walk up to that wall.
Yeah it just pulls it right out of you.
I cried like a baby.
Like a baby.
And there was nothing I could do about it.
Nothing whatsoever.
It was beyond my control period.
I know exactly what you're talking about.
But I did want to tell you, man, you just really touched me tonight.
My wife brought me a new shortwave radio and I just started listening to it.
I was just flipping around and having to catch the show.
Did you recognize where I was talking about before I said where it was?
Yes, I did.
It's not hard, is it?
Oh, no, no.
We used to cross the DMZ all the time.
Oh, man.
I want to thank you so much for calling.
I want to thank you.
I've often wanted to.
Put my experiences into words.
Oh please do because nobody's ever done about that place.
Nobody's ever, nothing has ever been written about that area of the war except one book that I know of that was written by a bunch of Marines that were up a little bit north of Quaviet and Dong Ha, much closer to the DMZ where the fire bases were.
And that's the only book that I've ever read and it really puts you in their shoes but it doesn't connect with where we were at and what we were doing and somebody needs to do it.
I'm trying but you know every time I get into that book and try doing what I need to do to make it where I can put it out where people could read it.
It just causes me such great pain and so many memories and a lot of tears.
It's really hard for me to deal with it.
Oh I can understand that.
Really difficult.
I can understand it completely.
But I'm going to do it.
Well I hope you do because you have a very good start to it.
Well thank you so much.
And I'm going to get up here and give someone else a chance to talk.
Well, my friend, you know, you're my brother and you brought some tears to my eyes tonight, but good tears, if you know what I mean.
I'm so thankful that you called.
You're the first hand that's reached out to me from that place since I left there so many years ago, and I really appreciate that.
Well, thank you very much for what you do.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
Thanks for calling.
Oh, I hated to hang up on that call.
520-333-4578.
Yeah, my eyes are damp.
No doubt about it.
Good evening, you're on the air.
Hello, Bill.
I'm a brand new listener and how glad I am that I tuned you in tonight.
Well, thank you.
Um, there's no way any of us that were left at home could understand what you guys went through.
But our hearts were breaking too.
I had a good friend that came home that found that his wife was pregnant when he got off the plane.
Um, Senator Max Cleland is a dear friend and of course Max lost both legs and an arm.
And I had a cousin also that came back and just could not adjust to life in America anymore and is now a drug addict.
So we've lost a lot too and our hearts just go out to you.
We're so sorry that so many people didn't seem to understand and just God bless you.
Well thank you so very much.
You know I personally When I went to fight in Vietnam, I believed that I was fighting for this country and for the Constitution and for freedom and all that stuff.
When I got there and I really understood what was happening, it was a civil war between the Vietnamese and we really didn't belong there.
I understand that.
And we all wanted to do something really good and we were really betrayed by our own government.
I mean, we couldn't.
It's such a shame.
I pray never again will we get in a war where we can't go in and fight and win.
And we have one coming up that we are going to fight and win.
Yes, ma'am.
And I know exactly what you're talking about.
Yes, sir.
There's going to be a civil war in this country, and it's not far off.
You are so right.
But God bless you, Bill, and keep up the good work.
People are listening.
I'm a new convert, so you're getting out there.
Well, thank you so much.
All right.
Thank you very much.
520-333-4578 is the number.
Thank you.
And if you'd like to get in here, you're welcome.
Boy, I sure would like to hear from some more people who served in quality air in Vietnam.
Good evening, you're on the air.
Hi, Bill.
Hi.
This is Bruce in Omaha.
Hi, Bruce.
I never made it from there, but as close as I got was to our air base.
I'd sit in the back seat of a B-47 checking out the ARP-65.
If I could get Tonsonute or if I could get Kadena, we'd have a good radio.
Yeah.
Call over there and ask them how the mortar recorder is at Tonsonute, you know, like the variable mortars.
Uh-huh.
That sort of thing.
But, uh, no, I never did make it in country, but I, I, I went to the, moving, the Roving Wall, came to Omaha one time.
Yeah.
And I couldn't help myself either.
I never made it to country, but, but I, I looked, I looked through those names and I just, I just blubbered like a baby.
You had some connection there.
Well, when I was in Clark and working on the WBs, before I go to work in the morning, coming in from the hotel downtown, I'd go down to the base ops and eat breakfast.
Excuse me.
And there'd be these guys coming off the Delta and Branagh and things like that.
On the way in the country, they'd take a section of the lake for the plane to be refueled.
And the cafeteria is still up there at the terminal, and these guys come and sit at my table, and I remember this one army guy in his uniform with a Polish or Czechoslovakian name or something, a very, very unusual name, and he was sitting at my table, and I said a few words to him, and a couple weeks later, in back half stars and stripes, there was a list of KIAs in Yad Ring, up in the valley, and that name just jumped out at me.
Kid hadn't been in the country two weeks.
Well you know it happened to a lot of people.
That's right.
And that sort of started a little myth.
You know you didn't get to know the new guys and you sort of stayed away from the old guys.
Yeah.
Because if anybody's going to get killed it's going to be the new guys or the guys that were just getting ready to go home.
Got it.
But you know that's not really true.
It did happen to a lot of people.
Yeah.
But the myth And it caused a lot of guys to really be in units on sort of a lonely basis for a while until people realized that they weren't going to get them killed.
You didn't want to make a lot of friends.
Yeah.
But everybody there tried not to get to know anybody too well.
Right.
I also had this one Navy troop sitting at my table one morning, and he comes from a family that had been in the Navy for generations.
And he started, he took his wallet out of his pocket and started spreading out all this funny money that his uncle, his grandpa, his dad, his brothers had given him.
He had money, banknotes from China, he had money from Greece, he had money from here and money from there.
All these were good luck pieces.
Yeah.
Listen, I'm going to let you go because we're out of time.
10-4.
Thanks a lot.
Thank you, sir.
Bye-bye.
Good night, folks.
God bless each and every single one of you.
Good night, Andy, Poo, and Allison.
The name of what you're going to hear is the Coivet River.
from born on the fourth of July.
♪♪ ♪♪
♪♪ ♪♪
♪♪ Well, that's it for tonight, folks.
Good night.
God bless each and every single one of you.
Good night.
Well, that's it for tonight, folks.
Good night.
God bless each and every single one of you.
Good night.
Andy Coon, Allison.
I love you.
Good afternoon, city of Maryland.
***** This is a recording.
uh so
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