Transcripts For CSPAN Remembering The Vietnam War 20171110

35thniversary anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans memorial. Learn more about these and all our Public Programs and exhibits by consulting our monthly calendar of events online. Or, check our website and sign up for email updates. You will also find information about other National Archives and activities. Another way to get more involved in the National Archives is to become a member of the National Archives foundation. The Foundation Supports our education and outreach activities and there are applications for membership in the lobby. And a littleknown secret i keep telling people about, no one has ever been turned down for membership in the National Archives foundation. [laughter] as i mentioned earlier, todays program is one of a series of events we will be presenting in conjunction with our new exhibit, remembering vietnam. The exhibit is a mediarich exploration of the vietnam war, featuring interviews with americans and the enemies veterans, civilians, and firsthand experiences of the events, as well as historic analysis. The fascinating collection of newly discovered and i collect film footageludes and artifacts that illuminate 12 critical episodes in the war that divided peoples of both the United States and vietnam. Remembering vietnam draws on National Archives records, federal and civilian military records, president ial libraries, still photography and motion recordings. Ound i ask all Vietnam Veterans and any United States veterans who served during the vietnam november 1, 1950 fivemay 15, 1975, to stand and be recognized. [laughter] [applause] thank you, for your service. And, welcome home. As you exit the make gallon mcgowan theater, volunteers will present each of you with a vietnam veteran pin. On the back of the pen is an boss, a grateful nation thanks and honors you. The lapel pin is the nations lasting memento of thanks. From we have come to hear a very particular group of Vietnam Veterans. We estimate 1000 women from the army, marine corps, navy and air flightserved as controllers, typists, physical therapists, dietitians, communications specialist, nurses and much more. In her book, women vietnam major donnaergeant lowery tells their overlooked story. In her 26 years of service, Sergeant Major donna lowery served for overseas tours. In 1967 she was in the initial group of armyenlisted women to serve in the and him. After her retirement from the army she worked with the Washington State department of veterans affairs. Since her retirement she has been active in her community and received one of the governors 50 volunteer awards for her work with the homeless, and also received Washington States outstanding Women Veterans award for 2011. Please welcome Sergeant Major donna lowery. [applause] donna good afternoon, everybody. Im so excited about being here because im going to tell you about a fantastic group of women that, in this country have been. Verlooked until this time when i speak of the vietnam war, i am talking about a time in our country when women were segregated. Armyhe army, we had the nurse corps and the Womens Army Corps. For the air force we had the womens air force, the navy, we. Ad the navy women and the marines, we had the marine women. Each of our groups was led by a colonel there was only one director for each of the womens and thats the woman who made the decisions for those of us who served under them. In this, we were meantgreen uniform with a beret ntg uniform. The colonel told me shend thought this green uniform was as cute as could become after shopping at saks fifth avenue. Another time she was shopping at sex fifth avenue and i asked her where we got our drill sergeant cap. And she said to me, well, first said there is this fascinating display, and i saw this. It looks like a safari had. Is a wide brim, it comes with mosquito netting, you can just imagine yourself out with the elephants. And that is how we got our drillsergeant hats. Services, we had one woman and thats the woman who made the decisions for each of us. Colonel. Would be a later, we were permitted to have one woman general in charge of each of our women corps. The women im going to talk to you about today, these women are not nurses. I tell you, as a retired Sergeant Major, from the time that i left vietnam as a staff sergeant, to the time i retired as a Sergeant Major, i must have had at least 1000 people come up to me, whatever my rank was and say, Sergeant Major, so you were a nurse in vietnam . I didnt know that. The nurses did an incredible job. We are really, really proud of them. Of this is a Group Approximately 1000 women that have never received any recognition, and that is my purpose here today. Phyllis k miller is a Master Sergeant who lives in north carolina. She is in fact, one of my very closest friends and she has put together every powerpoint whichtation i have given, is a lot because im always changing what i want to say. So, this is the front end back of our book. Haved 20 women, and we two of the bookteam members here today, but we had 20 women around the country, and some of them put in excessive hours. We were working 6070 hours and we were working for two and a half years to get this book published. I paid extra for the design of the cover because i wanted a really nice one that would stand out. And you can see that the women uniforms and that is because we went to vietnam in our class b uniform. It is a skirt and a top with our heels, with our puffy hair. Untilat was our uniform and then weed changed into the fatigues. Only put 10 women on the back, that i wanted to recognize, but truthfully i wish i had more room to recognize all 20 of them, because without them there would be no book. The number of women that served in vietnam, we dont know. Honestly, we dont know. It is a disgrace for this country that we do not know that. I put in a freedom of information act request after asked,k came out, and i one,ou give me the number 2, 3, four. This is the number we have been hearing since 1997, since a group of women got together at the vietnam wall and then, they started the vietnam womens vets , an organization we are apart of. What happened to them was that, they said ok, there is approximately 1234 over, we really dont know. But we really do know, and now the figure is 1230 four. So we went on like that for years and i cant tell you had disappointing it is to the women, to know that they served and did a tremendous job, but that they were not recognized. When i talked to freedom of information, they said to me, ok, here is what we can do for you. We can element the nurses from our database for you, and then we continue everybody that was in all of the services, but we cant give you any names. And i said, thats useless. What am i going to do with this piece of information . Then they said, heres the truth. We dont know who served over in vietnam. That is the truth. And i am ok with that. Im ok that people dont know those of us who served in vietnam. Im not ok if people go around the world telling people like, they know something and they really dont. Im going to tell you in a few minutes about my new hero, the person who told us the truth. Team by knowing who had the greatest number of and i started by having the women commanders. But most of our women commanders are deceased and we only have one First Sergeant that is li alive, and that is marion crawford. Dy, who was my first commander, was ill. I will introduce you to her in a little while, she took several roles because the commanders were deceased and we needed somebody who would take over that. Of 20built a Team Incredible women that were really committed to having this history. Here are the numbers. We found 863. There is probably more than 1000 but we dont know. We have our database administrator here today and her name is marcia cricket kohler. She is from mississippi and she is the one who is taking care of our women. I was really concerned about, what were we going to do with the deceased . We didnt know who died, or when they died, and they got no recognition for their service whatsoever. Has taken on that task. In his are calling it she will be working on taking care of us until the very last, i can just see her at the grave telling someone, this is very important. We want to make sure we have our database right. So she has found 288 of our women. Weav stories. So we have stories like pat jernigans, who is here. She woed with the family of a major who was the first woman went to vietnam. And we have other family members whateverorked with, connection we could make so that we could recognize as many of these women as possible. 460 images, old black and whites, they are grainy. We have 460 of them. The chapters are that list the women individually, and it starts from the beginning when major dohring was there in 1962, 2 when the last women left, which was in 1973. My newto read you from hero. This is colonel mark franklin, chief history and legacy branch, United States army, american war commemoration. And he says, when i first came on board with the commemoration in 2011 on the one of the first dongs might team tried to was determine an accurate number of women who served in vietnam, both nurses and nonmedical, because i wanted to do a series on both. Women veterans, we were able to get pretty solid eta from each of the Services Except for the army. And that is pretty sad, to have that told to you when we have the Largest Group over there. They were a challenge, according to colonel franklin during and after some pretty expensive research, we were able to find accurate data that would provide something more than round formates or guesstimates, army Women Veterans who served in vietnam. Left. Imately 700 but again, this is a very rough estimate because, by their own admission, the United States army did not keep good records of vietnam veteran women. If someone has that information, and is willing to share it with us, i would be most grateful. But i just dont think it is out there, and that is what i got from him earlier this week. We have 35. We know there are 35 of them. I have got to quantico. Mary is our marine representative and did an excellent job. I have given her permission show on so that she and the quantico people can do a report on the women marines by themselves. I hope that happens. The navy, the navy identified eight women. We found for other women thanks to penny adams, who was on the im not sure if she was on the sanctuary but she was on one of those two ships, the republic or the sanctuary. A were hospital ships off of da nang. So we count 12 now, instead of the eighth. We have approximately 200 air force women. We dont have a good count on them, at all, and we are working on it. As you can see from the numbers that the army has the greatest majority over there. So, this is me. And this is to show you our uniform that we wore. And i said, can you guys find somebody who has got this big puffy hairstyle . Find out who has got the worst one, and lets put it up. And they said, that would be you, donna. [laughter] donna so, here we have our colonel who felt that this was appropriate that we dress like this in a war zone. The next photo, you are really going to like. This is our beautician. We had a beautician in the so he coulderre, always keep our hair nice and flopped like this. They put in the compound a permanent trailer so we could go to the beautician and have a manicure or pedicure at anytime. Very important, im sure. To whom, i dont know. So this is the start. In 1962, she served by herself. In 1965, about the same time general west moreland was interested in advisers to the ,omens Armed Forces Corps they were vietnamese, and in having stenographers come over. The military stenographers came over in vietnam for the first time in 1965, and they went to stay at hotels. They never became part of the wac veterans. Of hotels a number where the women were billeted, because later we had specialties. Thethe women advisers to the inorces corps, visor from south vietnam, he decided he was going to have a ,omens Armed Forces Corps made up of exclusively vietnamese women. So he said well, when the president asked general west moreland he said i will send you to wacs. Officerend you a wac and i will send you an enlisted woman. So, that was very well accepted. Later we had the air force, they were sent over and they had a womens air force that was made up of the aetna my is that was made up of vietnamese women. Was theemily gorman director of the Womens Army Corps in november, 1964. She received a letter from Brigadier General been sternberg , directing the assignment of the women and offering friendly advice. Officer should be a captain or major, fully knowledgeable of all the operations of the wac school and the training conducted darian. She should be extremely intelligent, and extrovert, and beautiful. Haveac sergeant should some of the same qualities and she should be able to type, as well. Colonel gorman replied to the general, they would certainly and then added that the combination of brains and beauty is, of course, common in the wac. So that is where we were at that particular time in our history. See theou can vietnamese women, and they are in their traditional dress. On the left inside is major wilkes. On the righthand side is Sergeant First Class adams. You can see they are in the class b uniform and that they have heels on. And here they were. Whenou imagine, 1965 is our women started. And this is from 1971. And it was really a tremendous time for a connection with our country because 51 of those fortamese officers went to mcclellan, alabama, 50 of them went to the basic class. Them went to the basic class and also, the advanced officers training. B. This is tent city this is where it all began for some of us. Tent city b, this is the wac detachment. We had quonset huts, those metal ones. Deere, friend donna we were in this one. And the bullet came at it, in donnas bed. And had she been there, she would have died. You would have been the first casualty. This here is our patio area. You would come to the wac detachment, to the building, which had been a French Building before. Men or would go and the not permitted in, unless we were at a party. If we were at a party, then they could come. Otherwise, they would come and check us out, just like you would check something out, they would check us out. And this year, you see a little umbrella thing . Big enough so that one couple could sit on it. One male, one female, sitting out there. That was the dating area. If he didnt get there quickly, then we had our teaching here, in the gravel. Be one man, one woman, one man, one woman, just sitting there for hours after we got off of work. Then we had the road, here. Roads, those were engineered and then we had the permit or. And this is avian and then we had the perimeter. This is a vietnamese golf course. This entire area was destroyed, so we moved in july, 1967. At the biggest, tet offensive, and had we not moved, the entire base would have been destroyed. Everything. The monsoon season was really outrageous. I walked from out here in the orderly room, walked over here, and im dry. I get to this point, one day, and im soaking wet. Here is the monsoon. By the time he gets my office, over here, im try again. Dry again. Im going to show you a picture of the monsoon. Here is the monsoon. The reason i selected this is ok, good. Ere maybe i pushed it too hard. Ok. You can see that these are sandbags. And these are sandbags at one of the Office Buildings but this is the way they were, backed up detachment. The wac we didnt have bunkers for wouldody so some women just go behind one of these sandbags and stay there. The other reason i selected this picture is because this is a wig. Hair in thoselong days and as long as her hair did not exceed the bottom edge of your collar, you were fine. So i put all my hair under it, i had on my weight and i was perfectly fine. Bathroom, and outdoor outhouse. And what would happen every day as we would use it, and a vietnamese man would come over and he would learn all of the feces. So, if you had an office next to there, like me, it was a terrible place to be. [laughter] this other side, theres another building and that is the mens showers. How this works is, i would walk around in this sidewalk, say hi to whoever was in the shower that morning, and then come down this way and go to my office over here. Shaving,body would be it was just from the waist up, but everybody would be used to me because i was the only woman there at that time. And they would go, hi, donna. See you at work. This is the monsoon. This is in front of my office. Im about five foot four inches, i guess i have shrunk now and i am about 52. But in vietnam at five foot four inches, this would have covered me. It is one of the benches. So, just terrible, the monsoons. This is a poncho that we were given but none of us were dry. Thead awful things where, bunks would go floating down the aisle in the middle of the barracks because the rain was so who, and we had somebody was the Second Company commander and what happened to her all of the time was that the rain would go to the Company Commanders floor, right on her head. So she would sleep during the monsoon season with a poncho over her. Relatives. We have something that i think is really interesting. Oh, there it is a again. Ok. I dont know why i am helping problems. This is soon, and this is her father, and they were in the anomalous the same time. And then what happened was, when her father went to take her to dinner downtown, he had to go through a checkout by the Second Company commander to make sure he was not just flirting with this young woman, and that he actually was her father. We had some women who served with their husbands. We had some women who served with their brother, like donna deere. We had some who served in place of their brother, and we believe we had the only set of identical twins that served in vietnam at the same time, and that would be charlie and kathy call. And i was a drill sergeant with them. But when they were in vietnam, major browning was in charge of that office and she said that she could not tell them apart. She said charlie, you go on the lefthand side of this office and kathy, you go to the right hand. To hear of want you guys changing sides, to confuse me. [applause] 1968. T offensive was the biggest offensive of the war. The ammunition dump about three miles away from us went off for three days and three nights. So what happened was, we had a payday formation and we have here with us today and she was really brave because down, sheo went jumped on summary to save them. Somebody to save them. We were not used to being that close. And it was so bad the Company Commander tried to run away, and she went under her desk and a red cross worker was already under there, so she couldnt get under there. I had yellow paint on my room. The paint came off the room. People fell downstairs. We had a number of injuries that day. Ourkeep in mind, we had bouffant hairstyles or whatever but we were in fatigues at that were able to fall on the ground. We werent supposed to, of course. We were supposed to stay nice and neat, but we did. If you are in the wac attachments, you have bunkers but we didnt have bunkers for everybody. Was, we hadpened bec some people in bunkers and some people behind those of sandbags i showed you before, and that was the only protection. Life at the hotels was really something. We had a number of hotels and during the tet offensive of 1968, the marines were at a mps, died. 27 men, ree days they were there, and they had to stay. And what they did was, they went up to the kitchen because the vietnamese were not there. There was a restaurant in their hotel. And they fixed sandwiches for everybody that they while the everybody that day while the firing was going on. And when they were finally released days later, they were released to buses that had barbed wire that had men with guns in them, to take them to us. It was really a scary, scary time for us. Tell you about the defense played for the women, csecifically the wa detachment. I started the book when i was at and i did the interviews while i was there and we were talking about the defense plan. And i talked to betty morton who was our historian, much like david, but she was for the Womens Army Corps. And she sent me some information, and my question was, what was the defense land detachment. And she sent me this conversation that had come on with a number of people after they came back from vietnam and they were talking about it. And the defense plan for mary and me and cricket, was that we were supposed to go in a particular ditch. We were supposed to jump up and we were supposed to kill , andie, which were the vc had an ak47. So for years i thought, i guess we were supposed to throw our heels at them. [laughter] i really couldnt think of any other plausible idea. And it wasnt until a couple of years ago that mary said to me, dont you remember . And i said honestly, i dont. And she said, we were supposed to jump up and use our hairspray on them. [laughter] a youngimagine being woman, no weapons because it when look appropriate for americans back home to see that, that the defense plan would be for you to jump up with no weapon and have your hairspray ready, and kill the enemy . Plan. As our defense should the women get weapons now . Keep in mind, we are segregated, and it was a general who made the decision for us, and she decided we should not have any. So, we didnt have any. I want to tell you about some extraordinary bravery. This is mary bender. She was a warrant officer and she saved women that were in a hotel. There were a number of hotels, we are talking about 1968. And it marys job was, they gave her a couple of grenades, the gave world, a revolver and an and he wanted her to protect the area on one of the stairwells, up to the third floor. Mary was there for three days. She killed some of the viet cong. When she was put in for a silver star for her heroism, she was told that she was a woman and she couldnt get it. Mary bender touches my heart because she did a very brave thing. She died homeless, on the streets, because when she received a discharge when she was pregnant, she got a dishonorable discharge. It was through the bravery of her son and some friends that she is now buried in arlington. Ut. Have karen off she is alive and well it is going to be on the radio this week and we are very happy about that. She lived in a hotel and she was sick. So she was homesick that they and she thought there was a fire in the hotel. But there was not a fire in the hotel, it was next door. You know, you see those pictures were there are hamlets, three sided Little Things were coke cans are melted down, and they are just shacks. That was her hamlet. It was just a Little Village just a few feet from the hotel. And so what happens is that and savedout there that village. There were 80 people. She saved them. And when she was to get the soldiers award, they said to her, we do not give that to our women. 30 years later, in florida, got the soldiers award, and we are very, very proud of that. One major ended up retiring as a Brigadier General. She worked with the mps when we were first there and she was familiar with weapons. And then she became the protocol. Fficer in the north part so when generals and other she would become, the one responsible for providing safety. So she had a weapon and she would be out there with her weapon, leading the convoy or whatever. And her general said that she was so great that this, that she scared the very important at were coming, more than the vc. [laughter] colonel pat p was a pilot buta when itt came toe vietnamm, she was not alloweda to fly. She was in intelligence. Intel about the ho chi minh trail and how they could target people. That was her job in the. Of mywen is one favorites. She was the first black physician to hold a military commission, and she entered the army in 1955. And it was 1970 and she was still the only black woman physician in the army. She became the chief psychiatrist in vietnam. She was the chief psychiatrist at two v. A. Hospitals and to army medical centers. Her, did she asked have difficulty because she was black, and she said no. We are not where we are supposed to be but that not it but that is not an issue for me. What is an issue for me is that imo women, and they see me as incompetent and i have a really hard time dealing with that on a daily basis. Ian last person is mary an crawford, the only First Sergeant who is still living. She just sold her home in georgia and is moving to florida. And we love her. Wilson, crickets, and i could list all of the other women. Was our First Sergeant. She was our mother. Witzcilla landry wilco says, i came over as a scatterbrained kid, i had just turned 21, and i left committed to the army. I served 26 years. And that is because of Marian Crawford and betty benson who absolutely extraordinary role models. The men did not need this, but they were women needed parental consent to enlist. We had to have both mother and father. Also, the men did not need this, but if you reenlisted, us women would need to make sure we had our mother and father sign the papers. I was able to reenlisted just before i turned 21. Fathers of that, i world war ii veterans and he did not want me to stay in vietnam. Not want toally sign the papers. But i convinced him that in two weeks i would be on my own, and i could sign at 21 but i would lose the 5,000 reenlistment. So he begrudgingly signed those papers. So, pregnancies. If you got pregnant at that time you received a dishonorable discharge. Can you imagine that . Our women came back, they didnt say thank you for your service and they discharged them. Something that is really neat is the adoptions. Atman was there for many years, and many of our women were involved with orphanages and the kids. Had come in during my time, they had a party over at the wac detachment for the kids. Fell in love with a little boy named kevin and had detachment for a month before she left. And she said everybody wanted to be a mother. You need to put this code on. You need to take this coat off. And so she says there were many, many mothers to kevin. She decided she couldnt just take kevin home, just having one tile. So she took kevin and kimi home. And then we had him in 1971, howard, and what happened was that was a new adoption policy in the United States army. The rest to have that policy, there was a loophole because of until that time, single women were not to be adopting children. So for me, maryland, took the meade, maryland, took a stand. They had the authority to approve adoptions and both of those women, in their 50s, adopted. It was a great day for people who wanted to do that. The consequences of war. It was quite a thing and we have people that are dealing with ptsd. We have people that are not sleeping through the night, that are still crying when they see that still, 50 years later, is touching them. One of the reasons is, when we came back there were no services. Bushw guys who went to the in a little town near me in olympia, washington, and they stayed there for years. There was no ptsd. There was nothing. People didnt discuss it. They kept to themselves. And so i am now proud that those young veterans, i mean they say to everybody, i have ptsd. Good for you. Good that you can put it out there because our generation did not have the ability to do that. The 24th of back you wish and. That is where all the women eight, except for me. I was a personnel person when i went there and never but he also clerktypist. I came from new jersey and i was a typist, too, but personnel found out i had gone to Personnel School and suggested that i ask for a job over there, and i did and they gave it to me. Experiencedr women so much, like they had to eat at the 24th either back hospital. And we had cricket here yesterday and she was crying because theyts brought day and night, the many edivacs, they brought the dead. And we have women that have lost a lot of weight. We have women that have lost their hair. We have women who thought the vac was more than they could handle. And, its a sad place. Everybody considers it. So some people just stopped eating. They couldnt go to the 24th. They had to go to the px and by, and they didnt even have good protein bars in those days, so candy bars. And that is what they lived on. Evacuation plan. On pla we were noncombatants so, for those of you who are not military, that is like a family member. Thatw, all of the women served in vietnam were like family members. There were noncombatants. Nobody was a combatant. So when our unit was determined to have no evacuation plan for especially on a woman who has been a recluse for 50 years because she cannot believe her Country Center to a war zone and had no plan for her to leave. Welcome home, vietnam vets. Vietnam that who came back to the state knows how awful it is. Again, i was saved. I became the youngest First Sergeant in the army, outside of combat, at 21. And i went from vietnam to germany. But for the rest of our women, they came back, they were spit on, they were called baby killers just like the men. They were treated just awful, and in addition, they were ores. D wh a terrible time in our country, for all of those people. These are three people that worked on the book. Who is hereer, today. She was, from the beginning, from the beginning when i wondered about the people that are deceased, she has been there way, from day one to the end. The second one is my friend phyllis miller. She is not a vietnam that but she wanted to honor everybody. Truthfully, without her we would have no book because i dont have the skills that are necessary to put this together. Ridgeway starnes and she is the cofounder of vietnam women vets, the organization we belong to and she joined us after the first first draftht and she was a photojournalist in vietnam so she was able to contribute quite a bit. But its not an exaggeration to stay without these women we would not have a book. And without phyllis, no doubt, there would be no book. I want to tell you about some other books from our women. The first one is three days. St yesterday this is a sad story. Lucky allen was in the intelligence field and she saw what she calls the 50,000 chinese. She first saw the tet offensive and lucky went from her headquarters to saigon to those headquarters and she told them that we were going to have a huge offensive. And she says the men didnt believe her, not because shes black but because shes a woman. And it is so painful for her to look at eyewall, for her to look at that wall, when she believes that she could saved some of those lives if only people had seen her as an intelligence person as opposed to a woman intelligence person. And then we have linda earle. Linda is a country girl and wrote to her mother all the time she was in vietnam and her mother wrote her back. This is her book. Lettersled with all the she wrote and all the letters that were written back to her. Is ahe third book that she puttory into a historical perspective. All three of them are written very well and i suggest that you get those books. They will help you. So today, and i would like her to stand up. Wilson, the hay person i told you was our hero during the tet offensive of 1968. I were there together and she worked, i had this wrong and im going to correct it now, she worked for the United States Army Engineer command provisional. [applause] donna the second person id like to introduce to you is colo nel pat jernigan. Shes a Book Team Member and she was in the intelligence field in vietnam. [applause] donna i want to introduce you andarcia cricket holder, she really has done an extraordinary job. [applause] and hasBook Team Member a virtual cemetery for all the women we have. She is our database administrator so when we have somebody who is interested in interviewing one of our women, she is the one who has the information on everybody. That i tell you, today, toe that you will each talk one person and let the person know the amazing story of these incredible women, because they certainly are. Twohour, graduatelevel presentation at the Freedom Foundation last year. Plan, a 38page lesson sorry, 38page powerpoint with with a 48page lesson plan. I will give it to you, and ask you to give it to the teachers of our country and share it with organizations. If you need anything we are there to provide you with the best information we can on this group of women. This is our email. Im not really good at this, as you can tell. Phyllis will be the one responding to you. And we will give you that lesson plan. It will be on the commemoration site as soon as we get some things done on that site. I was contacted by a producer, everybody doesnt know this yet, and i signed us shopping that shopping signed a agreement and he wants to do a tv series or movie on these women. [applause] excited. M so so if anybody is in that use that email and we will refer you to the producer. I want to thank the National Archives. I want to thank susan clifton, up here. She set everything up for me. I want to thank david, thank you very much, our archivist of the United States. What a privilege to have him here today. Patrick madden, the head of the National Archives. And, oh, i dont have the right paper here. I want to thank my old boss and he is in the front row. He came from maryland, today to be with us. He was the Commanding Officer comm in 1982, when i was there. This is terrible. I wrote it down, and i left it. Its really embarrassing. But he has a hawaiian name and i had to write down phonetically and now, oh, wait a minute, i have got it. Im very happy. Warren keelaihula. Colonel. , and kelsey, would you stand up, anne . Shewas the librarian and even wrote something about the women in our book. It was a pleasure meeting her in her today. I want to thank you all, for coming. Im open to questions for the next couple of minutes if anyone wants to come down and ask them. Booksigningving a ceremony outside and you will have me, and pat jernigan, and , and cricket. N so, thank you so much for coming and we really appreciate your time. [applause] crowd noise] ne we will be returning to the National Archives in about an hour and a half at 4 30 eastern time to hear about some of the hardware, to commemorate the 50th anniversary year of the u. S. Entering the work. Again, back at 4 30 for the discussion, continuing live. Tomorrow is veterans day. Senator Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell put out a video he says is his favorite veteran. Veteran in important my life was my father. He was as tom brokaw said, one of the greatest generation. He felt compelled to serve. He had two different exemptions and would not have had to serve in world war ii, but he chose to do so. If that wasnt a difficult had justcision, he left when i came down with polio as a kid, as a twoyearold, which of course was a scary time. And so he went off to war and left my mother and i, and she worked on my recovery for the next two years. He got there in march of 1945. This was after the battle of the untiland he was there may, 1945, ve day. Two thirds of his company got wiped out one night, so it was a vicious conflict. I have a letter he wrote to my ej, maynd he wrote, the 8, 1945. Greatest generation fought a war that had to be fought and had they not won it, we have today. Service members now are volunteers. They volunteered to put their lives in danger and need to be want taken care of. Day,appy veterans particularly to all of those in tomorrow, mike pence will wreathlaying ceremony at Arlington National ceremony cemetery. You can watch that live here on cspan and stream it live online , or use the cspan radio app. Years ago the night of states war in vietnam. This Veterans Day Weekend American History tv looks back with 48 hours of coverage starting saturday, live from the National Archives among the backdrop of three vietnam level flyers. Ers lawrence speaks about the war in 1957. From the Vietnam Veterans memorial a ceremony each remarks myelin mya and len. Whether it is due to clever tactics or bad fighting conditions, it seems clear the American Military along the dmz has bogged down like the marines in the mud. , the national0 archive exhibit remembering vietnam. 1967 president Lyndon Johnson press conference. We made our statement to the world of what we would do if we had communist aggression in that part of the world in 1954. We said we would stand with those people in the face of common danger and the time came when we had to put up or shut up. We are there. Watch the vietnam war 50 years later. We are back on this friday morning. Our cameras are over at the Washington Examiner, and online and print organization here in washington dc. We will be talking about their mission as well as news of the day. You can call in with your questions about journalism and the topics they are reporting. Joining us first is the editorial director. We will talk about the role of journalism today. Lets begin with what is the Washington Examiner . Guest