History and preserving the history of our veterans. The podium is yours. Please welcome owen. Owen i am a liasion specialist with the u. S. Congress veterans history project. That is just a fancy name for what i think is the best job in the world and, to be honest, a labor of love. We find ways for American Veterans to find their stories to share their stories. So far, the American History project has collected over 2000 veteran stories. To be honest, there are over 21 million living wartime veterans and to this is the largest collection of veterans World History in the United States. It is estimated that 51 of americans have an immediate Family Member who served the United States since world war ii. Or the legend in your life, please take the time to record their stories for the permanent record at the library of congress. And children can read letters and their look through pictures and read records from the passed. When i was a boy, my father was laid off, and he worked very hard. He started me out on nighttime stories. Day, he brought home a classic model of a b 27 war hawk. As i scraped together my history, he told me the story of the fighting tigers. I remember him telling me the story of the dolittle raid and they flew the bombers off the air craft carrier. I like to think those stories was the catalyst for me being here today. It is a personal honor to host these veterans. Today our experience is real. If i have learned anything from that it is veterans tell their story better than we do. It is special stories. Our final panelist is an army aviator who participated in the last missions during world war ii. I would like to give an opportunity for each of the panelist to introduce yourself and tell us about yourself and the legendary qualities that have you sitting here before us today. If we could start with you, mr. Cole . [laughter] automatically assemble . You are almost alphabetical. Mr. Cole my name is richard dick cole. In january of 1942, i was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Group at oregon. A few days afterwards, we got instructions that we were moving to columbia, South Carolina. We had up to that point in time, i had very few hours as a Second Lieutenant in the 34th bomb group. We moved to columbia, South Carolina and were there for 23 weeks and the word moved fast that they were looking for people to volunteer for a dangerous mission. It was assigned on the trip from pendleton to columbia. There was a nice gentleman and a good pilot and we teamed up and decided to go on the mission. A few days into the training, however, he became ill and had to be disqualified. So i was elected by the crew to go and talk to the Operations Officer about the mission, which we wanted to go. The Operations Officer was in his office and i reported to him and told him the crew wanted to go. He said i will match you up with the old man and he can be your pilot. If you do ok, you got yourself a pilot. And i thought to myself, this maybe not be a good idea, to fly with an old man. [laughter] mr. Cole in the meantime, colonel doolittle had arrived and he came in the office. We did not get to meet him at that time but the ops officer said, now you know who you are going to be hooked up with and what you are going to do. Dolittle probably had another copilot that he was going to use and i think he was a friend of the boss. That gentleman had some kind of a misfortune and couldnt show up, so thats how we ended up with the boss. We called him several names. He right away introduced himself and about 45 minutes after that we were on our way to lakeland, florida. We went to florida with him and he spent some time talking to the people at the airport. The next morning, we were on our way to wright field. He did some business there. The next morning we were back. People asked how we got to be on his crew and the answer to that was all he did was take the seat of the gentleman we recruited originally and we were the excess baggage. That just went along with it. [laughter] owen so each of the three of you share a common bond of aviation. For my next question i would love it if you would tell me about when he realized you you wanted to be a pilot . If we could start with mr. Vargel. He looked upt when to the sky and wanted to be a pilot. [laughter] mr. Vargel i was a kid born and raised in dayton, ohio. I was very interested in aviation. I belonged to the Airplane Model League of america. We made airplanes powered by rubber bands. I used to ride from my house, which was, well i never measured it, but about four miles from mccook field, which is the army test air force base. I could ride my bike over there and watch what was going on at the airfield. Consequentially, during that time period, there was a lot going on. They jumped from one plane flying to another. There was a lot of stuff flying, and so forth. From that period of time, i was pretty much hooked on aviation. I made up my mind i would either be an Army Air Corps pilot or a forest ranger. I tried to direct my forward speed to that. Owen mr. Vargel, what was it like to be surrounded by all those roaring engines on the flight deck. I would love to hear your experience from a sailors perspective. Mr. Vargel my name is lewis vargel. I was born january 9, 1924 and graduated high school in 1941 on may 27. Volunteered for the navy on june 10. My mother would not sign because i was a minor, but daddy signed. [laughter] mr. Vargel i think just to get rid of me. I went to boot camp down in san diego and they sent me to detroit. School. S a machinist got out of that about the third of december in 1941 and took me over to the receiving station and pearl harbor was on the seventh and i was flying to a dive bombing squadron. It was on the uss hornet. It was a new carrier. Bb8 was the squadron number. I went aboard the hornet and we were on the shakedown cruise we went down to the gulf because we could hear dallas on the radio well. When we got back to norfolk, there were two b25s sitting. There was a big crane on the carrier, and they hosted these b25s up on the flight deck and took them back to see to see if they could fly them off. We stayed there in norfolk and while and went down through the panama canal and went up the pacific coast. The destroyer it had something to do with a torpedo and the torpedo slid back out of propeller cut a sailors stomach out. They took him over to the hornet because we had a hospital. He died and we buried him at sea. My first funeral at sea. We put him in a white canvas bag and with artillery shells we had a service and dropped them in the ocean. From there, we went up to san diego and got new dive bombers, the old ones we had must have come over from columbus. From there, we went up to San Francisco across of the bay, when we got there, you had all the plane all the cars off the street. These b25s came down the street and we hoisted them up to the flight deck. They had spaces parked out for them they had lines out on the fight deck. They put some cork or something in the front of each wheel so it would not take off. It was brand new. We left out of San Francisco and got out past alcatraz and the golden gate bridge. We got out to see and it came on the loudspeakers that this ship is now en route to bomb tokyo. Kind of surprising. Anyway, after 78 days, we got northwest of hawaii and met up with the enterprise. Think thereisers, i were 810 ships in the bunch, destroyers and air craft carriers. And one oiler. We kept heading west. On april 18, i finished breakfast and walked out on the flight deck with the national cruiser off our poor to be. All of a sudden there was shooting all over the horizon. The enterprise launched fighter pilots, five fighter planes and you could not see it was so far over there. Anyhow, we turned that way too and we got over there and they had sunk this jap ship that yamamoto, the jap general or navy guy had them all stationed to catch guys like us. We sank it, but we were still about 150 miles east of where we were supposed to go. We were getting into that area where japans land planes could reach us. Theyd so few carriers didnt want them to jeopardize them. We took everything out of the b25s and got gas to put in gas cans. It was like roman candles in a bundle, took some of them. And they had 500 pound bombs already on the planes. Of all the time i was in the navy, it was the roughest seas. We were taking green water on the flight deck. Some said they had never seen that. The army pilots, we started launching them and to the ship was going up and down so that when the bow started down, and they started these bombers down and they went down hill. By the way it was a 30 knot wind. When they got up, that flight deck threw them up in the air also. All of them got off. One of them forgot, i think it was the second to last, to put his flaps down and when he got to the end of the ship, he got out of sight. When we bow came back down, he was sucked down. Landing gear, and all of that, almost hitting the tips of the water. But they all got off all right. Owen that is an incredible memory. The way he tell the story is just like we were there. Now, captain yellin, you also served in the pacific theater. Could you describe your road to becoming an aviator. And some of your experiences . Question washe when did i decide to become a pilot . At 12 30 on december 7 i went out to buy a paper in newark, new jersey and found out about pearl harbor. I was 17 years old and decided i made up my mind i was going to fly fighter planes against the japanese. When i turned 18, i convinced my mother and father to sign the papers. I enlisted in the air corps. There are not too many people are going to say they did what they wanted to do in the military. I graduated from flying school in 1943, was sent to hawaii and then on march 7, i landed on iwo jima, eight squire miles of land in the pacific where 90,000 soldiers were fighting. They were in the first thirty days. I think it is more important to speak about you than it is about me. When i put the uniform on of the United States military, i made a commitment to my country. I made a commitment to the guys who i served with and they made a commitment to me. You made that same commitment. Planningiform, or to be. When i was living in new work, newark, new jersey, we had terrible racial problems in the United States of america. We had religious problems around the world. People were willing to kill other people for what they believe. Now it is 2016, 80 years later. We have terrible racial problems in america and people in other countries who are willing to kill for what they believe. But you are here serving your country, our country, my country in an age that science has created weapons of mass destruction. The smallest Nuclear Weapon in the american arsenal today is a thousand times larger than the bomb dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki. If these bombs ever go to war we will destroy the earths ability to sustain life. We as americans are the only nation in the world that can protect the world from nuclear warfare. And you have taken that job on, so it is your life that is more important than the history of what we did. I was one of 16 million of us who served. I hated the japanese all of my life until 1988, my young daughter married the son of a, kamakaze pilot. We became family. I have three chinese grandchildren. I have leared in my 92 years we are not the color of our skin, or what language we talk, but we are all human beings all together. And if we dont learn that and use that knowledge, we are going to destroy the earth. You are the ones who can protect us. That is your job. You are more important now than i ever way. I humbly congratulate you for doing what you are doing. Thank you. [applause] owen with that, i would like to ask anyone if you do speak up and say, is there a particular message that you would like to leave to your grandchildrens generation and the next generation of americans . Anyone of you can step up. I didnt understand. Owen is there a current message that you can leave to your grandchildrens generation that can help them solve the problems of the 21st century. Mr. Vargel the best thing is to not ever have a war. It is a total loss of everything. Human life, property, and no one even wants a war except a few idiots who want power over everybody. We should get rid of those people so the rest of us can have a good life. The bible says there will be wars and rumors of war, the we have to be prepared. World war ii to me was before better than four years of college. The theot otu i had g. I. Bill was the best thing the government ever have done. We had a chance to do what we needed to do to make a living. I look back on world war ii and in a way it was one of the most exciting times of my life. I got to see things that i wouldnt have seen otherwise. Some of the people i met after we had launched the planes and they landed and i was running of the catwalk on the port side, the admiral stepped out of the admirals cabin onto the catwalk and i ran over him. [laughter] mr. Varvel that was the case of the highest officer in the navy being run over by the lowest peon there ever was. He got up and said, sorry, son, i should have watched where i was going. [laughter] mr. Varvel we were friends after that. Mr. Yellin at the inauguration of the president , president roosevelt, he spoke about the four freedoms of america, the freedom of expression to say anything you need to say without the fear of retribution. The freedom of worship for any god or no god. For all people, all over the world. Everyoneom from want, food, shelter, and something to do all over the world. We are going to elect another president who has his hand on a nuclear war. That scares teh devil out of me. I fear for my grandchildren in japan and my grandchildren in america. You are the front line. You in this audience have a responsibility to protect our world now. That is my message. That is what i have learned in my 92 years of life. I live my life today like a banker looks at my banking account. Yesterday was a canceled check. Today is money in the bank and i can spend what i have today. Tomorrow is a promissory note. I dont know if im going to get tomorrow. Nor do we. But you have a responsibility and i know you will fulfill it well. Owen that is beautiful. Mr. Cole . What message would you like to leave for future generations . What message would you like to leave for future generations . Mr. Cole well, i have thought like these gentlemen have and so forth. In my mind it all boils down to much better. Mr. Cole it all boils down to the fact that, number one, i achieved what i wanted to do in my life because uncle sam started what they call the civilian Pilot Training program. He paid for my flying lessons and i was able to become a bona fide pilot. But to do that, there was a sign of commitment that if there was a transgression against the United States of america, you would make yourself available. And when the japanese attacked pearl harbor, most of the population had no idea why they did it. It became another mystery. I figured, and not knowing really where japan was at the time, they broached the problem and took the initiative to attack. We were going to finish it. That was my feeling about it. Owen thank you. I believe we have time for two questions. You in the back . Wait for the mic, please. You said that your son married a japanese woman. How did you overcome years of hatred of the japanese to accept your japanese and daughterinlaw and love her as well as her family . Mr. Varvel i was in japan in 1987. My son had asked us to come to japan and he told my wife and i that he and a young lady that we had met wanted to get married. I saw the faces of the 16 guys that i flew with that were killed. But i had the presence of mind to ask him, what did her father say . And he said, he wont meet me. And i said, will you get married if you dont get the familys permission . He said, we havent reached that point yet. It took seven months for the father to come with her brothers and to meet my son. The father asked my son five questions. He asked, how old is your father . He said, 63. He said, was he in the war . He said, yes. He said, what did he fly . Where . Over japan. He had three hours and a zero and was shipped to china. He was one of 500 kamakaze pilots. 498 of them killed themselves. He was one of the only ones who lived. He went home and told his wife to make the wedding. She went ballistic. She said you hated the americans. Daughter to our marry this guy. He said yes. She said why . He said any man who would fly a plane against the japanese and live must be a brave man and i want the blood of that man to flow through the veins of our grandchildren. That is how the wedding came about. Two days shy of the 44th anniversary of when i landed on japanese soil, i watched a wedding in japan. Three days after that, my daughterinlaws father and i went to a fancy meeting where we spoke three hours through a translator. We discovered that everything we love about life, spiritual, education, spiritual things, is as important to the americans as it is to the japanese. That is how that came about. [applause] owen one more question, please . Another question from the audience . Thank you very much. It is been an enlightening experience. [applause] if our next panelist would come forward and while theyre doing that i would like to say a few words about dick cole and the doolittle raid. I hope you have studied some military history about world war ii. If you have or dont know about it, the doolittle raiders changed the history of world war ii. As it was mentioned, they had to launch about 200 miles further out from japan than planned. They bombed their sites in japan and because they were low on fuel, they couldnt reach landing strips in china. They reached the coast of china and had to bail out in the middle of a fierce thunderstorm. Hugh had never parachuted out of a plane before and he was so nervous that he pulled the ripcord and gave himself a black eye. Most of them were picked up by chinese who got into chongqing. The japanese retaliated and swept the whole area where the raiders had been and killed about 250,000 chinese for helping them. Colonel doolittle thought the raid was a failure. He thought he would be courtmartialed. He got home to the United States found out they were treated as heroes. They boosted the morale of the American People so much that he got the medal of honor. The aftermath of the story is the japanese were so shaken up by this raid. It didnt do much damage but they thought they were invincible and couldnt be reached by american forces. They changed their whole Defense Strategy and concluded they had to take the island of midway to prevent this thing from happening again. That brought on the battle of midway, which turned out to be a cataclysmic disaster for the japanese. They lost four aircraft carriers and because of that the force of because of that, the course of the pacific war changed and that was all done by the 80 men of the raiders. Dick is the only one left. He is a young 102yearsold. He gets around the speaking engagement and all kind of charitable events. Truly one of the greatest heroes ive ever had the pleasure to meet as are all these gentlemen here. Lets give them all a round of applause. [applause] next panelist, please. After the boys left the ship, they bombed tokyo. Two of the planes did not get in to china. Two of them were captured. Of eight people captured, they shot three in the head, burned one to death and the ones who , all for the it war, neither one of them weighed over 100 pounds. The war took a lot of life. There was a cruiser with us and the japanese torpedoed it and 700 men went down with that ship. I was on the uss hornet and it was built in a way that some compartments were not tight and when we got sunk, we couldnt take it under tell anymore. Finally they got the thing sunk. There is a high price paid for the freedom we had. I did not think i would ever think anything of a jap. They came outut of it worse than what we did. They had no Natural Resources to fight a war, really. They had to import everything. Thank you very much. [applause] you can get up now that would be good. Interested in American History tv . You can seebsite our Upcoming Schedule or watch recent programs. American artifacts, wrote to the white house rewind and lectures in history and more at cspan. Org history. Next week, washington journal devotes the entire program each day to the key issues featuring facing the new truck administration. At nationalok security and defense issues including challenges facing National Security team and a closer look at the career of the secretary of defense nominee james mattis. That it is trade in the job issues helping congress and the Company Administration could change current trade laws in an effort to save jobs. Topic isday, our issue energy and environmental policy. We discuss energy and climate issues. In the Incoming Trump administration. But immigration and how trump and the new Congress Might change immigration policy. On friday, december 30 we take a look at the future. Administration will bring peel and replace the aca in the key players to watch in the months ahead. Be sure to watch washington journal. Up next on the presidency, a professor talks about the persuasive rhetoric of eight of adolf hitler and Franklin D Roosevelt in the 1930s and 40s. He argues that both men led nations that had to be convinced to go to war. The new York Military symposium hosted this hour and 45 minute event. Tonights speaker is randall bytwerk, who did his phd at northwestern university, has taught at the university of