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Complete disclosures available at public.com/slash disclosures. Hey, this is U.S. Olympic gold medalist Tara Davis Woodhall. And I'm U.S. Paralympic gold medalist Hunter Woodhall.
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Speeds may slow after 50 gigabytes per month when network is busy. See terms. Mm. This is Our American Stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show, and we love hearing your stories. Up next, a story from a listener on 1100KFAB in Omaha, Nebraska.
Brett Evanoff joined the Army right before the Gulf War. Here's Brent. I was born in Council Plus, Iowa, raised good Midwestern values. I come from a history of family serving in the military all the way back to World War I. Both grandparents fought in World War II.
Father, Vietnam era, countless aunts and uncles that had served over the years. That influenced me quite a bit and I decided to join the military, graduated high school early. Just didn't really quite know what I wanted to do in this world other than serve the military and go on to do good things. December 1989, I enlisted as a cavalry scout. And uh went through Cavalry scout training in Fort Nice, Kentucky, and found myself assigned to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Fort Bliss, Texas.
May of 1990. And being a new private, you know, everything's still new to me. I'm training. In August of 1990, we were out on a two-week field training exercise when. Iraq had invaded Kuwait.
To all intents and purposes, Kuwait has ceased to exist as an independent sovereign nation. Good afternoon, everyone.
Well, at this hour, Iraq remains in firm control of the tiny oil-rich country of Kuwait. We had a a warning order to prepare to deploy to the Middle East. didn't really understand the consequences of that. We roll back on post and there's trains everywhere. We're loading tanks and Bradleys on on trains to go to Beaumont, Texas.
We're loading live ammunition into these armored vehicles to go to Beaumont, Texas. And We had about ten days to You know, kind of finished shots, and some we did some training. Being a 18-year-old kid about to turn 19. The last three days we kind of had our own personal time and To be quite honest, I only remember about a third of that time, you know, being. young kids off to war.
You know, we trained hard and we kind of partied pretty hard.
Well You know, I go over there overseas and get on with my life. Get out, go to college at the University of Iowa, and I graduated. I was an Omaha fireman for a little while, and then I proceeded to get interested in anesthesia and left and became certified registered nurse anesthetist and Found myself getting married to a woman and we had three beautiful children and you know my son is interested in going in the military, graduating high school much like I did. And great kid on head on his shoulders, but I understand where he's coming from. You know, you don't know what you want to do.
And so he was going to enlist in the military. And, you know, I'm in my anesthesia practice and I'm thinking, you know, I'm in my mid. And I Comfortable in my lifestyle, and you know, I think I'm got the world by the tail, and I find myself in a case, anesthesia case, and my sister texts me about And I Text her back, I'm in a case, call you later. She said, Well, call me when you get home. And I get home that day.
It was in February of 2018. And I clicked back in the recliner, remember it vividly, and the ceiling fan was on low. And she said, Bryn, are you sitting down? And she's 12 months younger than me. And I know people out there with siblings, they know when they're messing with you or when something all of a sudden is very serious.
And I said, Yeah, I'm sitting down, sis. What's going on? bluntly told me that I have a 26-year-old son I don't know about. And I vividly remember looking at the ceiling fan. I watched the blade go around three times and.
I kind of said, sis, I'm going to need a little more information.
Well, the backstory was: my mom was our housekeeping at another hospital, the retired. two years earlier. She got into genealogy and Swabbed her buccal membrane and sent it in, and she gets like an email back saying, Hey, you two need to really talk. My mom didn't know what to do, so she contacted my sister, and my sister kind of was emailing this guy, and it turns out this guy was in the United States Navy station in Italy. And he said, you know, I...
You know, on my birth certificate it says Father Unknown, you know, if He doesn't, this person doesn't want to be a part of my life. I understand that. If they could tell me a little bit about maybe my genetic history, if I need to be concerned about anything, I'd appreciate it. just floored. You know, here I have the world by the tail and And um And then something like this happens to you unexpectedly.
you know you're only on this earth, you know, a snap of a finger fraction of a second of time. Why would you not want to get to know someone like that? And so I said, yes, Chris, I would love to, you know, get a hold of him. And my sister sent me a picture of him. You know, we Look alike.
His mother was down at F Fort Bliss, Texas, the same type period I was. And, you know, I just harken back to that time where being a, you know, raise your hand if you've never done anything irresponsible. I remember vividly video conferencing with this guy up and up. pops this um This handsome young stud in the United States Navy serving overseas, and we kind of just you know, said hello and, you know, got to know each other a little bit. It was really a wonderful experience.
you know As um I You know, a month later, I kind of talked to my family and, you know, told them the story and how good head on his shoulders, you know, and we just kind of fomented this relationship of, you know, getting to know each other, you know, and this kid has an amazing. Mm. ability to, you know, I felt guilty, you know, because I missed being a father to him during impressionable years. Um and I felt guilty a lot of time and and he kept interrupting me saying, Hey, Let's not look in the back, the rearview mirror. Let's let's look down the road and just enjoy what we have, and you know.
A lot of times it brings me to tears, to be quite honest, that this um young man can be so strong and it's really humbled me in a lot of ways.
So Mm. Fast forward, my son's in the United States Army. And again, I call my my son that I've always known. My Old young son and Tyler, my new old son. You know, he's in the Navy overseas in Italy.
My son, my son, Nicholas, my old young son, is in the Army in Korea, and I've got two high school girls. You know, when I got out of the army, I spent four months backpacking through part of North Africa and Europe and Quite an adventure, and come to find out my new old son has traveled extensively through Europe and has a military history interest, much like I do. And my son, Nicholas, my old, young son. I thought, wow, you know, what an amazing experience. My two sons had not met.
That summer, I flew Tyler from Italy to meet his sisters for the first time. Unfortunately, my son was already in the army in Korea at that time.
So, I thought, how can we all just kind of Um take this blessing and tie it all in together. I came up With the solution to, I'd never traveled to Far East Asia.
So I put this out there and it kind of came together in May and June. We spent 30 days backpacking through South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. to be able to see my sons meet for the first time and just kind of try to connect ourselves as a family as best we can underneath the circumstances. And boy, was it humbling and an amazing experience.
So we're traveling, getting to know each other. Tyler, my new old son, does not have sisters.
So watching them interact and new big brother, kind of as we're spending 30 days together, literally staying in hostels and kind of roughing it. You know, that's kind of what the adventure we were looking for. Teasing is. new sisters and likewise the sisters teasing their new older brother back and brothers and brothers kind of interacting. You know, i as a as a father, it it um it really You know.
Kinda, I was. Very, very happy. And you're listening to Brett Evanoff. He finds out he has a 26-year-old son he never knew. And this became the gift, a blessing, as he said.
And the son says: let's not look in the rearview mirror, Dad. When we come back, more of this remarkable voice, this beautiful story, Brett Evanoff's story, here. on our American stories. Want to buy your way? Of course you do.
That's why CarMax offers an experience designed just for you. Want to start online, then visit the lot, then go back online? Sure. Want to talk to a real person or chat online? Either works.
Want to take your time and compare all the makes and models? No problem. Then make up some time by filling out the paperwork at home and schedule express pickup or home delivery? Done. When it comes to how you buy, CarMax puts you in the driver's seat.
Want to drive? CarMax. Delivery restrictions apply. See CarMax.com for details.
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and now generated assets, which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high-free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one-off.
Of a kind index and lets you backtest it against the SP 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like EFTs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com/slash podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com/slash podcast.
Paid for by Public Investing, brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc., member FINRA SIPC, advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com/slash disclosures. You've never been one to settle.
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For a wardrobe you can count on season after season, visit ColdwaterCreek.com. Shop the new spring collection at 20% off $75 or more with code iHeart20. And we continue with Our American Stories and Brett Evanoff's story. And the family is reuniting my new old son, my old young son, and his two daughters.
Well, traping around in Southeast Asia. getting to know each other better. Let's continue with the story. We decided that we wanted to see Vietnam. And in order to see really Vietnam, they don't have a reliable public transportation system, so you have to ride motorcycles.
I through a lot of research I found a guide out of Da Nang and we spent five days touring on motorcycles. my daughter riding behind me and my other daughter riding behind the guide and my two sons riding their own motorcycles and we drove along the Ho Chi Minh Trail out of Da Nang and headed south to the Aisha Valley. And we got a permit from the communist government to climb Hamburger Hill and road to Khe San. And everywhere we're going, we're stopping in little villages and meeting these people and still seeing a lot of remnants from the war in a lot of ways. And we find ourselves at Khe San and Well, we're looking around at some of the bunkers that had collapsed and were there, and a local villager came up to me.
and he had some trinkets and he wanted to sell them. And I looked at him and the first thing I saw was a US military dog tag. And then I saw a North Vietnamese, rusted North Vietnamese Army medal and a few other trinkets and so forth. And I knew I wanted them.
So I paid, I think I paid like $7. And, you know, we went on with our trip, connected as a family and had an amazing experience. You know, my son that I've never known comes into my life and we kind of come full circle with the family that he's never known and my family with a son they never knew.
Well, we get back from our trip to Omaha. And I go back to work and I start researching, you know, my time off this name on this tag.
Well, this name kind of had a unique first name spelling, so I first thing I did is I used internet search to find, see if he was maybe one of the 68,000 that were killed in the Vietnam War, and his name wasn't on there, which kind of gave me hope that maybe I might be able to reconnect this piece of property to a U.S. military serviceman. My preliminary internet searches weren't coming up with anything I My wife got interested and she kind of helped me look around. And because of the gentleman's unique first Spelling of his first name, we come across an old obituary from Minnesota of a gentleman that perhaps was this guy's father in the print that said survived by um. This gentleman and his wife and my wife took the first name of his wife and the last name and looked on social media and found a Carol Hammond and We um Got a phone number and I called, and it was a voice machine, and I said, you know.
Hello sir, you know my name's Brent Evanoff from Omaha. I just returned from Vietnam and If I came back with a piece of property that you may have left over there, if you're the Mr. Um that uh happened to lost this property over there, you would you please call me and So a week went by and it was a weekend and I'm doing stuff around the house and I get a phone call from this gentleman and he says, yes. You know, this is me. I did serve.
I served actually two tours in Vietnam. Um you know, how can I help you? And I proceeded to tell them that you know, I was traveling over there and and uh purchased this dog tag and uh he the first thing he asked me he goes, What numbers are on there? and I proceeded to tell them and he goes, Oh, that was from my second deployment.
Well, he proceeded to tell me his story, and he grew up in northern Minnesota and got in a little bit of trouble three months before the graduation from high school and back then you either went to jail or you went in the military and he chose the military and found himself in the 173rd Airborne in Vietnam 1967, 1968. He told me that, you know, that he was wounded with a roadside bomb that was command detonated. And, you know, if it wasn't for him wearing the radio that day, that he probably would have lost his life because a large piece of shrapnel had torn into the radio, and he was wounded in the leg. and uh and got knocked out actually and came conscious and and recovered from that um and went on to serve in uh Berlin, Germany during the 60s. in the Cold War, decided that uh he wanted to go back to Vietnam.
So if Found himself in the 101st Airborne in 1969, 1970. Vietnam and he said that time was uh You know. a lot different than this first tour. They were doing missions that uh you know that they didn't necessarily always wore their rank or their insignia or patches and And uh He was in the Battle of Tam Key and there his platoon of 35 found themselves surrounded. in a gun battle for uh uh uh at least a day.
I thought maybe he said two and And when the battle was over, out of the 35, he was one of seven survivors. And in fact, of those seven, two were not wounded, and he was one of them. He proceeded to tell me that he'd decided that you know, back home in Northwoods of Minnesota was a place that he'd like to go and found himself there and he actually runs a uh a retreat for a local veterans group up there and and hopefully one day I can meet him.
Well, we had a wonderful phone call. I um Hung up and I told him that I'm going to be mailing this piece of property to him. And I said, I bought it from a villager in Quezon. And he goes, Wow. You know, I never stepped one foot on Khe San.
I operated about 50 miles south of there, actually. The only thing I can come up with is, you know, trading overtime villagers and so forth. And he doesn't remember one incident where he specifically lost his dog tag, but I mailed it to him and You know, I get an email about a week later from his wife. And it's it, you know. His wife says it, it really my uh effort to track him down and return a piece of property from his past.
Really, uh meant a lot to him. you know Um in my story just kind of comes to a conclusion that two circles have been closed. A son I never met before, reunited with his father and family that he's never known. And that. through our travels together as a family, forming a new relationship that we're able to kind of bring full circle a veteran's past to him by reuniting him with something as simple as a dog tag, which Any member who's been in the military knows how much that is a part of their life at the time.
you know that those two experiences combined Really. humbles me as um as a father, as a human being, and an American, that just when you think that you think you have life figured out, the older I get, the more I firmly believe life is truly stranger than fiction. Mm. Indeed, and that's what we learn here every day, telling stories, especially our listeners, telling stories. And what a thing to do for a guy.
Most people would have taken that dog tag and... Stuck at some place. But he decided to track the person down, who it belonged to. And I only know that my grandparents would have loved to have had a dog tag. Or letters or anything from the son that died in World War II, and all we got was a flag.
So For anybody who served and lost somebody, or even not lost somebody, the importance of this paraphernalia.
Well, it's not small. By the way, this show, as you know, is free to you. but it is not free to make and any donations you'd like to make to us to continue to hear beautiful stories like this.
Well, they'd be appreciated. Send any donations to our AmericanStories.com. We're a nonprofit. And we love what we do, and I know you love listening to these stories, and we want to keep telling them. Brett Evanoff's story straight out of 1100 KFAB in Omaha, Nebraska.
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Guaranteed human. Mm-hmm.
