party in billionaire at the barricades. those -- most of these authors have appeared on booktv. you can watch them on our web site, booktv.org. ♪ ♪ [applause] ♪ ♪ [applause] ♪ ♪ [applause] ♪ ♪ [applause] ♪ ♪ [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [applause] >> as we were downstairs getting ready to start the ceremony, captain yellin was asking me, do i stand for the army? or do i stand for the air force? because he was in the army air forces. [laughter] i said, sir, you're 93 years old, you can stand for anybody you want to. [laughter] [applause] captain jerry yellin is an army air forces veteran who served in world war ii between 1941 and 1945. he enlisted on his 18th birthday just two months after the bombing of pearl harbor. after graduating from luke army airfield as a fighter pilot in august of 1943 at the ripe old age of 19, he spent the remainder of the war flying p-40, p-47 and p-51 combat missions in the pacific with the 78th fighter squadron. he participated in the first land-based fighter mission over japan on 7, april, 1945. and has the unique distinction of having flown the final combat mission of world war ii on 14, august, 1945, the day combat ended. on that mission his wingman, phillip, was the last man killed in a combat mission in world war ii. his experiences as a fighter pilot in the pacific theater are captured in his book, the last fighter pilot, published earlier this year. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to our platform recipient of the distinguished flying cross, the air medal with three oak leaf clusters, world war ii veteran and fighter pilot captain jerry yellin. [applause] [applause] >> thank you, sir. >> i have to begin by saying this is an unbelievable honor for me. throughout my air force career, i was constantly reminded that the air force that i served in stood on the shoulders of giants. and those giants were the men -- and no apologies to the women present, but in world war ii there were no women in combat. not that none served. but you and your generation, properly referred to as the greatest generation; set the standard for what it means to fly, fight and win which is the basis of what is today the world's greatest air force that i proudly served in. you gave us a warrior ethos that defines who we are, and i'm talking about it from an air force perspective, but that same ethos, those same standards are present across all of our military services, and it's because of men like jerry yellin and your generation that gave that to us. and i thank you. and so i'm so honored to be up here with you. we had talked about some questions we were going to go through, but i've got to start with one. the, i talked in the bio about you flew p-40s, p-47s, p-51s. my dad would tell me the corsair is the greatest fighter aircraft ever built. i've got a soft spot in my heart for the p-51. every time i see one flying, i am just absolutely in awe. you've got to tell us, what was it like flying p-51 mustang? >> we, we learned to fly on a 220 horsepower -- [inaudible] and then a 400 horsepower multi-vibrator and then a 600 horsepower at-6. each one of those airplanes you flew with an instructor. and then we got into a p-40 which was a fighter plane being used by general chenault in china against the chinese, and then we got the p-47 which we called the jug, hard airplane to fly. -- [inaudible] and then we got the finest airplane that ever was built, the p-51 mustang. and you you could fly that withr fingertips. the sound of it, the feeling of instant response with anything that you wanted to do. that was what the p-51 was about. still the best airplane. [laughter] >> i would agree with you. [applause] i made reference in the bio to your book. i've got a copy of it here. we're going to be talking at the end about the availability in the bookstore, and captain yellin is going to be available to autograph copies of the book. in the book you share your experiences as a fighter pilot in the pacific during world war ii. i think to start with and although the book ends with it, but walk us through that last mission, okay? the last fighter pilot, the last mission, august 14, 1945. >> we -- i landed on iwo jima on august 6th, the day that the first atomic bomb was dropped on hiroshima. and my prop was still spinning, and a squadron mate from brooklyn jumped on my wing and said we dropped one bomb, wiped out a city. i said, what are you drinking? i want some, you know? it's hard to believe. [laughter] but it was true. and then on august 9th, 1945, the second bomb was dropped on nagasaki. we thought the war was over. we would not fly any more missions. at that point in time, i had flown with 15 guys who were killed. i never thought about them as being dead, they were transferred, we'd see them again someday. and we were called to a briefing on august 13th, a room this size with a hundred and some, 100-plus pilots, and told that we were going to fly a final mission, another mission. someone asked jim tapp who was our c.o., why are we going to japan again? and he said, well, the japs are negotiating, but there's no movement. we have to go and keep them honest. but they're going to broadcast the code word utah to abort the mission. we'll hear that, we won't go to japan. when that was said, phil schomburg, 19 years old, leaned over and said, captain, if we go on this mission, i'm not coming back. and i said, what are you talking about? he says, it's a feeling i have. i went to tapp and told him what phil schomburg told me, and he told me you cannot go to the flight surgeon, but if phil will go, he might get off the mission. i told phil, he said no way. early on the morning of august 14th i said, phil, get on my wing and don't get off. just stick this close. we're never going to make it to japan. well, we flew all the way to a dropped tank where we had to drop our external tanks. we dropped our tanks, and we went in a strafe of air fields somewhere in japan, over japan. and we needed 90 gallons of fuel to get back to iwo jima. someone in the squadron called 90 gallons, i looked over, phil was on my wing. i gave him a thumb's up, he gave me a thumb's up, and i led my flight of four airplanes into some very heavy weather towards the b-29 that we would fly on the wing back to iwo jima. and when i came out of it into clear skies, he was gone. just gone. there was no radio contact, no visual contact. and when we landed back on iwo jima, we found out that the moment that we had started the strafe, the war had already been over for three hours. it was never broadcast to us. we never heard it. so that was a devastating day. he was the last of 400 plus thousand world war ii veterans who gave their lives. he was the last. 19 years old. >> and you were 21? >> i was 21. i was an old guy. [laughter] >> the old guy, grandpa. you just made reference to a number of close friends and fellow pilots that were tragically killed either in combat or in flight accidents during world war ii. you relayed several of those incidents in your book. how did the loss of so many affect you personally? >> well, you have to understand that when you put the uniform on of the military or the policeman or fireman, you dedicate your life to protecting your buddies. and when they go, you can't think about them as gone, as being dead or gone, because if you did, you'd never fly another mission. you just wouldn't get into the airplane. so i had -- [inaudible] that were killed, one guy on the 29th of may, danny mathis, and i shared a kill of a zero. i land on iwo jima, i had a tooth ache. the doc, the dentist from south carolina pulled four wisdom teeth and grounded me. and danny mathis was begin my place for a mission on june 1. the squadron took off, was led into a front. 27 fighter planes went down. 25 guys were killed including danny mathis in my airplane. it's hard for me to tell you the truth of how i felt then, but i missed my airplane, i didn't miss danny. we were there to protect our freedom, we were there to the fight. we did that. it was after the war that i suffered for 30 years. i spoke to these guys every night, 16 guys that i flew with. i thought about suicide. i couldn't work. i suffered from what is now known as ptsd, post-traumatic stress, and didn't get my life back until 1975 when i learned transcendental meditation, learned how to relieve stress. combat is killing of people for what they believe, and that's the height of evil. we -- japan was evil, germany was evil, italy was evil. we fought against those countries. and i don't believe that i'm a part of the greatest generation. general eisenhower, general marshall, general orlando, general macarthur, they're all pest point graduates. i -- west point graduates. i was 18. i didn't know anything about the world. admiral nimitz and admiral king and admiral minister, all annapolis graduates, they were the greatest generation. tom brokaw wrote a book. catchy title, sold a lot of books. but really the leaders of our free world were the military men who served from west point and from annapolis. >> thank you for that perspective. the war ends in 1945, i think i heard you say downstairs you actually spent some time in the reserve beyond the end of world war ii. but then, like millions of world war ii veterans, you returned from the war, you started a whole new life in the civilian world. that returning work force and the work ethic, the belief in freedom that you brought back to our society really launched an incredible period in american history. how did your military service prepare you for that new life, and what transpired after the war? >> i think that the military service for me was the greatest experience that i ever had in my life. we -- i graduated high school in 1941, i had a scholarship to college. i was going to become a doctor, but i didn't have any money for books, didn't have any money for clothing or housing. and so i postponed entrance to college til spring semester of 1942. and when we were attacked on pearl harbor, december 7th, i made up my mind i was going to fly fighter planes against the japanese. i remember when i was 11 or 12 years old, i was a pre-boy scout. i went to boy scout camp for two weeks. and those two weeks gave me the fundamentals to join the military, to be in the military. and the discipline that we learned, we were all quarterbacks, all guys who were cocky guys who could fly fighter planes. bomber pilots weren't guys like that, but we were. [laughter] we became a squadron. we became more interested in protecting our buddies than we were interested in our own lives. and our life was all about you. today i have six grandchildren. i have four sons. and it seems to me that today life is all about me, not about you. and the military put me in that frame of mind of service to our country. >> thank you for setting that standard for so many of us. you made reference to some of the things you struggled with based on your combat experience in world war ii, your dealing with pts although we didn't have a maim for it at the time. so -- name for it at the time. so how has your experience as a veteran impacted your life since? your triumphs, your struggles, how have you used those experiences? >> i enjoy speaking to people. i enjoy going to eighth graders, tenth graders, seniors in high school to talk about 10% of the population served in the military in world war ii, 16 million of us served. we fought against evil. we conquered the people who were evil is, created democracies in germany, japan and italy that exist today. as friends of america. and the two countries that we fought with as allies, russia and china, seemingly to me are the enemies of the world. but what i've learned is we're not the color of our skin, we're not the language we speak, we're not the religion that we believe, we're all human beings, all exactly the same. and we have to preserve that. that feeling. isis is evil today. they are willing to kill people for what they believe, and that's evil. we have to protect the freedom of people who believe that everyone is human being, everybody is part of humanity. i want to try to give that message. it's probably the best time of my life other than the time when i was in uniform. and i wear the uniform proudly of america. >> what, what would you say -- we've got several young people here, we've got the band, we've got the choir, there are several young people in our audience, i know some rotc cadets, children of our chaplain, others, what would you say to them today, those or who are at a point where they are considering or maybe simply have an opportunity to make a decision about serving our nation as a member of the united states military? what would you say to them? >> i -- my mother used to read a lot of books, and 80 years ago when i was 13 years old, i read a book by a minister called lloyd douglas. the book's name was "the magnificent on to session." on to session. obsession. it's the story of a small town in lake george in new york state where the son of the richest, 20 or 21-year-old boy, was drowning, and the beloved doctor, dr. hudson, was dying of a heart attack. and the fire department had one resuscitator. they served the young man, and the old doctor died. and then thousands and thousands of people came to his funeral. and his family discovered a journal that he had kept and had it translated from the code into english. the opening lines of that journal said, "do something good for someone else every day of your life and tell no one what you did." "because by talking about it, you might lose the benefit that are new to you or new to that other person." so i would suggest to everyone find a way to help somebody, find a way to do something for anybody, somebody every day. even if it's a smile. the four professions that i admire in america are the three who put uniforms on, and the fourth, teachers in schools who learn a subject and give themselves away in using that subject to give other people knowledge. and they're not as respected as i think they should be. my feelings are that we should be giving a little bit of ourselves away to other people every single day. that's the advice that i would give to the young. [applause] >> so for you, what you just described is those of us who wear the uniform, especially around veterans day a lot of people will tell us thank you for your service. but what i hear you saying is service is what our lives should be about every single day, doing something for someone else. so service is not just military service, service is how we should lead our lives. >> i believe that very much. we're all part of humanity. i think that the pure purpose of everything that is living on this earth from trees to birds to fish, animals is to recreate ourselves, pass ourselves on. and there's nothing -- no one goes to recreation school. it all comes with the territory. and that territory has to be protected, or fathers pass on to their son ises, mothers pass on to their daughters what's good in life. and we need to keep doing that. we might have lost some of it, but that's, to me, that's what life is about. >> wonderful. in a moment we're going to open it up, see if our audience has any questions that they would like to ask you directly. any final thought you would like to share before we open it up to the audience? >> no, the -- i, i'm just proud to be an american and just continue -- [applause] and continue to wear this uniform proudly, and i can't tell you what an honor it is to be, for me to be in this audience, on this day in 2017. i sort of live my life like my banker looks at a checking account. yesterday's a canceled check, can't get that back anymore. today's money in the bank, i can spend today. and colonel scott owes me a promissory note tomorrow. i don't know if i'm going to get paid tomorrow. [laughter] so today's the day, and i'm just thrilled to be here. thank you. >> thank you, sir. we'd like to open up now to any questions that you may have for captain yellin. we have mike handler in our -- mic handler in our audience. if you have a question, please raise your hand, and we'll get the microphone to you. >> we do have time for a couple of questions, and please do raise your hand. i will come to you with the microphone. but i'd like to ask a question of captain yellin. this is being broadcast really worldwide via facebook and it's being recorded by c-span, so we've got a very large audience. i know you said you suffered with ptsd for a number of years. what suggestion, what guidance might you give to somebody listening to this that would be in need of help? >> i was told that i had battle fatigue. the war was over, and you can't forget about it. veterans today, 20 or 22 commit suicide every day, those who serve. they need something for themselves. we spend a lot for antidepress santa, anti-psychotic drugs which is sometimes addictive, and we can teach transcendental meditation for $700 to a veteran, one-time fear more a -- fee for a lifetime of health. tmd.org, it kept my alive, and it's keeping me alive. so i'm an advocate of that. you can't force it on anybody. it's something that's called remove the stress of combat. it did it for me, it can do it for others. >> center section, sir. >> hello. yes. my father-in-law, 94, world war ii, flew a c-47, flew over the himalayas from india to india. he's alive today and he does walk with a walker, and today i sat with a very good friend of mine at a breakfast who's 95 years old and flew combat in italy. so they are still the 5%, and those of you that have not read the book "the greatest generation" need to read it, it's a wonderful book. and thank you very much, sir. >> i appreciate that. [applause] >> sir, in preparation and in coming here, read a little bit about your life after the war and a little bit of some reconciliation you made through your family. i don't know if you would take a moment just to share that? and i know that's probably a long story, but i'd like for everyone to hear a little bit about that. >> in 1983 i was a consultant to major banks in california, and they asked me to go to japan to speak to a bank group. well, i had been on iwo jima, and you can replicate the site, you can replicate the sounds, but you can't replicate the smell of 28,000 bodies rotting in the sun. i had no use for the japanese people, and i said, no, i can't go to japan, i'm too busy. and i told my why wife when i ce home that night that i'd turned down a trip to go to japan, and she very quietly said, jerry, you never once asked me if i wanted to go to japan. [laughter] so being a dutiful husband, in 1983 i found myself in japan. and i was completely overwhelmed by the culture, the education, the food, the scenery, the people, everything. and my youngest of four sons was then a senior at san diego state, and helene said we should give him a trip to japan for a graduation present. we did that. he signed a contract in 1984 to teach english in japan for one year, and now it's 2017, and he hasn't come back yet. [laughter] still there. in 1988 he married the daughter of a kamikaze pilot who hated me as much as i hated him. and we became friends and family. i have three japanese, six grandchildren, three japanese grandchildren. the oldest is 28. he has a masters in physics from the mit of japan. and is one of 100 people who got a job from 23,000 applicants. his brother simon -- named simon not after my father, but two japanese characters -- graduated from the university of london, a four-year course in philosophy and was awarded a two-year course at oxford to get a masters in philosophy which he graduated from in one year. and a 21-year-old granddaughter, sarah. so my enemy is my family. my whole thought process of world war ii was to kill japanese. and now i have three grandchildren in japan, family in japan. and i found that that was the biggest learning experience that i could ever have. i wrote a book about that in 1988 called "of war and weddings." it's -- i don't with like to promote myself, but that's a book that you can read on amazon. and i'm proud of them, i'm proud of the three american grandchildren. we're all the same in my love for them. >> off to your right, sir. [applause] >> we have time for one last question, and we'll take that now, and then we'll hear from our choir and band, the very dramatic "battle hymn of the republic." afterwards jerry will be available to autograph copies of his book in the front lobby which are available in our store. our last question. >> thank you, sir, for your service. and everybody out here, thank you very much for keeping us safe in america. have you flown anything since your time behind the 51? have you ever maybe even got in a jet and experienced that? and having parents both in the navy, i have to quickly say go, navy. beat army. [laughter] [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> well, you know, you never lose the ability the make love unless you get old. [laughter] and you really never lose the ability to fly. i flew in a steerman in phoenix two days ago. [laughter] i flew a t-6, the new t-6, 12 or 1400 horsepower trainer at laughlin air force base in december. and i'm going back to phoenix in january to get a ride in an f-16. [laughter] [applause] they have a very small club of pilots today, fighter pilots called the 9g club. they pull 9gs in an f-16. i'm not going to let them do that. [laughter] i don't think i'd make it through. >> he left out one small detail. he not only flew the t-6 at laughlin air force base in texas, he actually landed it. [applause] >> i don't know how i got to be this age. i guess i have good genes. but i genuinely feel i'm in the prime of life right now, and to be here, to be with you, sir, and to be with a marine colonel, chaplain in the audience is one of the thrills and honors of my life. thank you very much. [applause] >> sir, thank you very much! [applause] wayne, captain yellin, thank you. [applause] we will conclude with "the battle hymn of the republic." ♪ ♪ mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the lord. ♪ he is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. ♪ he has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword. ♪ his truth is marching on, gloria. ♪ glory, glory, hallelujah! ♪ gloria. ♪ glory, glory, hallelujah! ♪ gloria. ♪ groverly, groverly, hallelujah! ♪ gloria, his truth is marching on. ♪ i have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling catches. ♪ they have builded him an altar in the evening dews and damps. ♪ i can read his righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps. ♪ his day is marching on,. ♪ glory, glory, hallelujah! ♪ glory, glory, hallelujah! ♪ glory, glory, hallelujah! ♪ his truth is marching on. ♪ ♪ in the beauty of the lilies, christ was born across the sea. ♪ with a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me: ♪ as he died to make men holy, let us live to make men free. ♪ while god is marching on. ♪ glory, glory, hallelujah! ♪ glory, glory, hallelujah! ♪ glory, glory, hallelujah! ♪ his truth is marching on. ♪ glory, glory, hallelujah! ♪ glory, glory, hallelujah! ♪ glory, glory, hallelujah! ♪ his truth is marching on, on, on, on, on! ♪ [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, i think it'd be appropriate, one more round of applause for these wonderful young people who have shared their musical talents with us today led by chuck jay and the orange high school concert choir. [applause] >> here's a look at some of the best nonfiction books of 2017 according to the los angeles times. atlantic national correspondent franklin fore reports on the trade-off between technology and personal privacy in "world without mind." in "the great quake," new york times science reporter henry fountain reports on the largest earthquake ever recorded in north america which happened in 1964 in alaska. biographer ruth franklin recalls the life and writing of author shirley jackson. pulitzer prize-winning journalist glenn frankel tells the story behind the classic movie "high noon" and the political climate at the time it was made. and in "we were eight years in power," ta'nehisi coates examines race relations in america and the legacy of president obama. >> when i came into journalism, one of the big admonishings from other black writers and each well-meaning white writers was don't get boxed off as a black writer, don't allow them to -- and i understood what they were saying, you know? you want your freedom to pursue yourself wherever your curiosities go. and i agonized over this for a long time because really my curiosity led me, actually, back to my people and back to my community. and it was only really when i started doing that report under, you know, the presidency, you know, under the obama presidency that i came to understand that as i say in the book, i was never boxed in. everybody else was boxed out. because african-american history doesn't exist over here, it is the thread running right through the country itself. [applause] so if you are -- [applause] and they don't get that, you know? they think it's just, you know, one little, you know, like you've got different colors of the rainbow, and this is one color in the rainbow. >> of these authors have appeared on booktv. you can watch them online on our web site, booktv.org. [inaudible conversations] >> hello,

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