This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. When the holidays start to feel a bit repetitive, reach for Sprite Winter Spice Cranberry and put your twist on tradition. A bold cranberry and winter spice flavors fusion, Sprite Winter Spice Cranberry is a refreshing way to shake things up this sipping season and only for a limited time. Sprite.
Obey your thirst. iHeart for great seasonal savings on LG Gram laptops with Windows 11. PCMag Reader's Choice used with permission. All rights reserved. This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something.
Do you know the symptoms of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea or OSA in adults with obesity? They may be happening to you without you knowing. If anyone has ever said you snored loudly or if you spend your days fighting off excessive tiredness, irritability, and concentration issues, it may be due to OSA. OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation. Learn more at don'tsleep on osa.com.
This information is provided by Lilly, a medicine company. This is Rob Gronkowski from Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and Jules. For the second season in a row, I partnered with T-Mobile's Friday night 5G lights, powering up hometown football across America. This year, T-Mobile invested over $4 million in prizes to help schools take their Friday nights to the next level.
Now it's time to crown our $1 million grand prize winner. A huge congrats to Derrick's High School in Derrick's, Arkansas, home of the Outlaws and your 2025 T-Mobile Friday Night 5G Lights Champion. They scored a home field upgrade, Gronk Fitness weight room, a 2026 tailgate party, and an all-expense paid trip to the SEC Championship game. To every school that competed, posted, and rallied your communities, thank you. And a big thanks to T-Mobile for making it all possible and helping communities shine under the Friday night lights.
This season may be over, but the story isn't. Stay tuned for Season 3 in 2026.
So, let me get this straight. Your company has data here, there, and everywhere. But your AI can't use the data because it's here, there and everywhere? It seems like something's missing. Every business has unique data.
IBM helps your AI access your data wherever it lives to change how you do business. Let's create smarter business, IBM. This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories and you listening to our Christmas Eve special. All show long, we're sharing stories about what makes this time, well, the most wonderful time of the year. Kristen Inbody was a reporter for Montana's Great Falls Tribune when she stumbled across the story of a local rancher named Keith Ginther.
Keith had joined the army in 1942, shipped out to Europe, and was captured during the infamous Battle of the Bulge. Here's Kristen's story, originally entitled, POW Recalls, Silent Night. I knew Keith Ginther liked gladiolas. He grew them by the hundreds. And he was a bachelor farmer, and he was quiet and that's all I knew about him although I'd known him all my life one year around Christmas time out of nowhere he just started telling me the story I wrote it up and he carried it in his walker for years he died in 2014 and I think he was surprised after being quiet for so long what came out but he was proud too Silent Night, Holy Night When the United Methodist congregation sings Silent Night by Candlelight on Christmas Eve, perhaps it will mean the most to the former POW among them.
Though he loves the most famous of carols, Keith Ginther, 90, dreads Christmas, He joked that it's because he has to wear a dress shirt and tie But it's really the memories that come with Christmas In December 1944, Ginther became one of the 23,000 Americans Captured or missing by the end of the Battle of the Bulge Germany's final and ultimately unsuccessful offensive on the Western Front He began a 150-mile march into Germany 67 years ago this month. He remembers feeling humbled in defeat, even more so as the POWs met German artillery, pulled by horses, or one truck pulling another on its way to the front. How could these guys hold the upper hand, the Yanks wondered. We sure weren't very happy, he said. The column of POWs passed through a countryside devastated by war and damaged by Allied bombing.
At one village, the POWs had to clear rubble so German artillery could pass through. An American bomber pilot joined the prisoner ranks. These people seemed to be more hostile to airmen whom they blamed for being bombed, Ginther said. The Germans harassed the downed pilot. They had rushed the sides of the column trying to grab him.
The villagers were starving, exhausted, and angry. When the hostility was at its worst, all the prisoners had reason to be afraid, though none so much as the captured bomber pilot. Yet at that moment an American in the ranks began singing Silent Night Pretty soon the Germans were singing Silent Night too So it calmed things down, Gunther said. Halfway through the first verse, you could hear the words in German too. If not for the song, which for one moment brought a measure of peace to a small corner of Germany, I don't really know what would have happened, he said.
The guards would have tried, I guess, to protect him. And a special thanks to Kristen Inbody for sharing that beautiful story with us again about Keith Ginther. Before we go to break, though, we want to share with you a poem concerning Christmas from another veteran, performed here by Father Ted Berndt, a World War II veteran and a Purple Heart recipient who passed away in 2004. It was a night before Christmas. He lived all alone in a one-bedroom house made of plaster and stone.
I had come down the chimney with presents to give and to see just who in this dwelling did live. This house was different. It was dark. It was dreary. I had found the home of a soldier.
I could see that most clearly. The soldier lay sleeping, silent, alone, curled up on the floor in this one-bedroom home. His face was so gentle, the room in such disorder, not at all how I pictured a United States soldier. Was this the hero of whom I'd just read, curled up on a poncho, the floor for a bed? Then I realized the other families that I saw this night.
owed their lives to soldiers who were willing to fight. In the morning round the world, children would play, grown-ups would celebrate a bright Christmas day. But they all enjoy freedom each month of the year because of soldiers like the one lying here. I couldn't help but wonder how many lay alone on a cold Christmas Eve in lands far from home. The very thought brought a tear to my eye.
I dropped to my knees and I started to cry. The soldier awakened. I heard his rough voice. Santa, don't cry. This life is my choice.
I fight for freedom. I don't ask for more. My life is my God, my country, my core. The soldier rolled over and drifted asleep, but I couldn't control it and I continued to weep. I kept watch for hours, so silent and still as both of us shivered from the cold night's chill.
I didn want to leave him on that cold dark night this guardian of honor so willing to fight Then the soldier rolled over with a voice soft and pure He whispered, carry on, Santa. It's Christmas Day. All secure. One look at my watch. I knew he was right.
Merry Christmas, my friend. May God bless you this night. This is Our American Stories. Our Christmas Eve special continues. After these messages.
This is Lee Habib, host of Our American Stories. Every day on this show, we tell stories of history, faith, business, love, loss, and your stories. Send us your story, small or large, to our email, oas at ouramericanstories.com. That's oas at ouramericanstories.com. We'd love to hear them and put them on the air.
Our audience loves them, too. This is Eva Longoria from Hungry for History with Eva Longoria and Maite Gomez Rejon. Like the song says, it's the most wonderful time of the year. And also a wonderfully busy one. All that merriment can weigh down even Santa's sleigh.
So keep it wonderful by keeping yourself wonderful with a crisp, cold Coca-Cola. Ah, pause for fizzy joy. Look out for yourself and then look out for everyone else. And together we'll make this season as wonderful as it's meant to be. Enjoy a Coca-Cola.
Refresh your holidays. Did you know Microsoft has officially ended support for Windows 10? Upgrade to Windows 11 with an LG Gram laptop. Voted PCMag's Reader's Choice Top Laptop brand for 2025. Thin and ultra lightweight, the LG Gram keeps you productive anywhere.
And Windows 11 gives you access to free security updates and ongoing feature upgrades. Visit lgusa.com slash iHeart for great seasonal savings on LG Gram laptops with Windows 11. PCMag Reader's Choice used with permission. All rights reserved. The world's best ski and snowboard athletes are chasing medals.
Now you can follow their every move. Join Insider, the official U.S. ski and snowboard fan loyalty program, and get premium viewing at World Cup ski events, exclusive athlete meetups, discounts from brands you love, and a custom welcome gift mailed direct to your doorstep. This winter, show your support as they race for the podium. Head to insider.usskiandsnowboard.org and join today.
Bring incredible sound into every corner of your home this holiday with the new Wim Sound smart speaker. Get high-resolution audio with a 1.8-inch touchscreen, smart control, and modern design in one powerful speaker for just $2.99. From quiet mornings to lively holiday gatherings, Wim Sound makes every moment sound better and feel better, too. Get the gift of the season for the music enthusiast in your life or for yourself. Wim Sound.
Beautifully designed, effortlessly connected. Shop now at Amazon and search Wim Sound. That's W-I-I-M-S-O-U-N-D. This holiday season, give the gift to everyone will gather around. A Vizio Smart TV, now available at Walmart.
From a supersized 100-inch TV to QLED TVs of all sizes, Vizio delivers breathtaking color and crystal clear picture quality that takes entertainment to the next level. Plus, with watch-free plus built in, they can enjoy free live and on-demand TV right out of the box. Have a music lover on your list? They can stream their favorite music on the iHeartRadio app, ready to go on every Vizio TV. The perfect gift is waiting.
Head to Walmart.com and discover Vizio TVs today. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.
