1963. Welcome back. Thank you. What are you in town for . For the funeral of a , art ryan. We interviewed him, fortunately. And are sorry to hear about his passing, but we are glad to see you in town. Tell us a little bit about your time with us, where did you grow . P wrecks i was born in 1939. I grew up in the mountains of tennessee and North Carolina come together. West of chattanooga. Or east. What did your parents do . My daddy was an engineer. Civil engineer. He built dams. My mother was a schoolteacher. Did you have any siblings . Brother, have an older two years older, and an older sister, three years older. I was and groups. An oops. Tell us what it was like growing up. Farm ind a seven acre the mountains. Very poor, very role. Nearby had more money than we did. I felt bad. Why dont we make more money . He said i would but your mother wont let me. When i was in high school i rode the school bus for 25 miles 20 day twice a day. Wow. Yeah it was pretty remote. , that mustve take
He was awarded three silver stars for his actions in vietnam. At westrview was held point center for oral history and is about 70 minutes. Good morning. The west point center for oral history, today is the 20th of june 2017. I am here with richard b cole. Class of 1963. What are you in town for . For a funeral of a classmate. Him, interviewed fortunately. That you areo see in town. Tommy about your childhood. I was born in 1939. And grew up in the mountains of north georgia. Right where georgia, tennessee, and carolina come together. Is that close to chattanooga . It is west of chattanooga. What do your parents do . They built dams. My mother was a schoolteacher. I have an older brother. Two years older than me. An older sister, three years older than me. Ops. S an o to me what it was like growing up. A little seven acre farm in the mountains. Rural, very poor, but a big bootlegging county. My best friend had a lot more money than we did. Thand they have more money we do, why dont you
Reporter what are you in town for . Richard for the funeral of a classmate, art ryan. Reporter right. We interviewed him, fortunately. And are sorry to hear about his passing, but we are glad to see you in town. Tell me about your childhood, where did you grow up . Richard i was born in 1939. I grew up in the mountains of georgia where tennessee and North Carolina come together. Reporter is that fairly close to chattanooga . Richard it is southwest of chattanooga. Or east. Reporter what did your parents do . Richard my daddy was an engineer. Civil engineer. He built dams. My mother was a schoolteacher. Reporter siblings, did you have any siblings . Richard yes, i have an older brother, two years older, and an older sister, three years older. I was an oops. Reporter tell us what it was like growing up. In a seven acre farm up in the mountains. Rural, very poor. A big bootlegging county. My best friend nearby had a lot more money than we did. I told dad, the wilsons have a lot more money
So if he can be tattooed by a single vote and that ruins all future opinions by him on this issue, why then is he right when he says youre wrong vote on iraq tattoos you for offering your judgment . Hillary clinton i said i made a mistake on iraq. And i would love to see senator sanders join with some of my colleagues, in the senate that i see in the audience, lets reverse the immunity. Lets Hillary Clinton lets go to the gun makers and tell on notice that theyre not gonna get away with it. Bernie sanders lets do more than reverse the immunity. Hillary clinton cause you think that thats a mistake. Bernie sanders but lets let me hear it if theres any difference between the secretary and myself. I have voted time and again to for for the background checks. And i wanna see it improved and expanded. I wanna see them do away with the gun show loophole. In 1988 i lost an election because i said we should not have assault weapons on the streets of america. We have to do away with the strong m
Sheer, whos our assistant secretary of defense for east asia in the pacific. You know that david was had come back from hanoi to do this job. He was our u. S. Ambassador there. David is an expert on china and Southeast Asia. I think for many of us who are sort of in the trenches every day on these issues, couldnt think of a better person for the pentagon to put into this role. Next to him is one of the top Southeast Asiaenists in the United States, and he also is singapores ambassador to the United States. Aspoke. He was most recently singapores ambassador to indonesia. He was in the past has been singapores ambassador also to australia. And to quaul la lumpur and has a long history in Singapore Foreign affairs working on asiarelated affairs. And finally, a good friend and a real hero of Southeast Asia and asian policy in the senate is chris bros. He works with senator mccain in senator mccains office. Previous before that he was senior staffer in the Senate Armed Services committee. A