This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. No one knows what the future holds, but you deserve a weather app that can help. Weatherbug is easy to use and provides forecasts for your every need, from storm warnings to pollen levels, right at your fingertips. Get the fastest local alerts and comprehensive 10-day forecasts wherever you are.
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To test the new Pathfinder, Nissan turned to the boldest creators of all. Kids. Their drawings sparked a wild idea. Brought to life by a Hollywood director, a stunt team, and the SUV that makes the unthinkable unforgettable. No tricks, just V6 power, practical effects, and the rugged new Pathfinder.
Watch how it all came together and discover why JD Power ranks Nissan number one in new vehicle quality among mainstream brands. For JD Power 2025 U.S. Initial Quality Study Award information, visit jdpower.com slash awards. Awards based on 2025 model year, newer models may be shown. Um During Lowe's Pro Savings Days, the job works in your favor.
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Subject to change. 30 years ago, Wu-Tang Clan changed hip-hop forever. Last year, they sold out arenas worldwide. And now the final chamber comes back home. Wu-Tang Clan, an encore.
If you saw it last year, you know what this means. If you didn't, this is the moment. With special guests, Bone Thugs in Harmony. Get tickets Friday at thewu-tang clan.com. Wu-Tang Forever.
Killer bees swarming on new locations. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. Up next, the story of a World War II veteran and survivor of the baton death march, Estelle Myers. told by his family members. Let's get into it.
I miss him so much, Ella. He was a lot of fun. It's okay to cry. Mm. Our family was like.
Beaver Claver.
Well, Dad was a beaver cleaver. Dad was funny. When he was feeling good, he would get in his boxer shorts and start dancing across the living room floor, smacking his butt and singing. He used to wake me and my sister Paulette up because we were youngest. He would wake us up for school and he'd say, Alicia D, Polly P, rise and shine, rise and see the sun shining.
His vegetable soup was the nastiest thing you could ever eat. He would take everything out of the refrigerator. I don't care if it was a crumb. and put it in a pot and make us all eat it. And say they're starving children in Africa or whatever it was.
He didn't like waste. One time I had with my niece, she had eaten popcorn or something prior to dinner. and she didn't want to eat. And my dad forced my curry. He put her on his lap and force-fed her.
But we were all made to. We couldn't get up from the dinner table until our dinner was done. Our napkins were full. If we said we hated something, we got more of it because hate and shut up were horrible, terrible words in our family. We could not say shut up to each other, except for my sister.
That was her word. If we got into trouble, we would be sent to our room or something, and then he would always come back in within five to ten minutes. and tell us why he did that. My mother's just, you know, no. You go to your room and that's it.
But he would always come back in and explain why. He punished us. He was a great outdoorsman and he loved to fish. Three times a week, he'd come home from work, hook up to the boat, and go to the lake, most of the time by himself. And he would take my brothers and all of our friends.
He would take us to the lake, and we got to do whatever we wanted to do: smoke, and cuss, and everything. And as soon as we pulled in the driveway, all of that ended. And that's one of my best memories. We went camping every weekend. Mom and dad would pack us up and take us to the lake in our carry-all truck.
And they just let us go. I was like maybe six or seven. They just had so much trust in us. And we would go out into the middle of the lake and we would all just get on a big, old, huge inner tube and just have fun. Every weekend, they did that for us.
And we used to go to our uncle's house and go swimming. He threw me off the boat. He did. He threw me in the swimming pole. That's where my dad taught me to swim by sink or swim.
I remember dad telling me that when that boat was, when it got blown up and they, you know, were Japanese ships, that's where he learned to float. He floated on his back for two days before they were captured again. And that's why when he had our uncle's pool, he would get on his back and he would fall asleep. Yes. And he saw the planes come over and shoot while he was floating.
Yeah. I didn't hear about it during the days. It was when he came home at night. And he had been drinking, and I would warm up his dinner. That's when he would open up about his.
Experiences with me, and there was a time one time he had told me about. There was a man who was on the Aroka Maru with him. He was dead, practically dead. And he showed me. what he did.
He placed his hand over his mouth and his nose. And he did that on me. He got this crazed look in his eye, and um. And he wouldn't stop. until I pushed him away.
He was in that moment. And I had to remind him, You're in the kitchen with me. Your daughter. Every year on that man's death, he would have a total meltdown. My mother.
Had to, I never saw it. But my mother said he would actually go crazy on that specific day thinking of that specific man. Because it wasn't like a killing like he wanted to kill him. Dad couldn't see him suffer anymore. He just didn't understand why.
He was allowed to live. He carried that guilt. With him because other people around him were just dying of ungodly things that they did in the prison camps and these horrendous, horrendous treatment. He was the oldest of five children, four boys and one girl. He was the doctor of the family.
Any time anybody got hurt, they always called on him to fix it. He was a farmer. He worked very diligently on the farm, apparently, with my grandparents. He did not join the Navy because of he wanted to meet girls, as has been recorded. He joined the Navy because he apparently got into an argument with my grandfather.
and had had enough. That's why he joined the Navy. not because of women. He was stationed in Kanakoa, where he worked entire nights and days under constant air alerts, evacuating casualties from the danger zone. And then on January 2nd, he was captured.
By the Japanese Army. And that was the start of his horrific. Treatment for the next three years and eight months as a prisoner of war. From Pisai he was marched to Bilibid prison in Manila, where he spent and suffered for the next two and a half years. And you've been listening to the story of S.
Tillmyers. He was a World War II veteran. and survivor of the Bataan Death March. Over 10,000 of our soldiers died on this trek, and many thousands more died suffering in POW camps designed and put together by the Japanese Empire. And when we come back, more of this remarkable story, this very real story to these family members on our American stories.
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 stories, 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. All right, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse, being understaffed or being poorly staffed?
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All right, two truths and a lie. Here we go. I went to college with college football coach Jim McElwain. I began my broadcasting career doing play-by-play for the Las Vegas Stars, and I've been a Verizon customer for 15 years.
Okay, I lied. All three are true. A Verizon isn't as expensive as you think. In fact, if you bring in your ATT or T-Mobile bill, To a Verizon store, they'll give you a better deal. That's right, a better deal on the best network with the most ways to save on plans, streaming, and phone deals.
So take that ATT or T Mobile build to your local Verizon store today, get a better deal, and start saving. Based on root metrics, best overall mobile network performance US second half twenty twenty five. All rights reserved must provide recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal. Additional terms, conditions, and restrictions apply. No one knows what the future holds, but you deserve a weather app that can help.
Weatherbug is easy to use and provides forecasts for your every need, from storm warnings to pollen levels, right at your fingertips. Get the fastest local alerts and comprehensive 10-day forecasts wherever you are. It's hyper-local, real-time, customizable alerts. Make sure the weather never takes you by surprise so you can plan every day with confidence. Download the free weather bug app from the App Store today and start getting accurate weather forecasts 24-7.
We've been duped, hoodwinked, conned for 50 years. The lawn care industry sold us toxins in a bag and made our yards more toxic than a bad relationship. Sunday helps you ditch the chemicals and feed your lawn the good stuff: soybean proteins, iron, seaweed, molasses, ingredients that get your soil giggling like an overserved mom at the block party. Sunday uses clean ingredients in real science for thicker, greener grass. Order today and get your custom Sunday yard plan for the season ahead.
Sunday for a smarter, healthier yard. GetSunday.com. To test the new Pathfinder, Nissan turned to the boldest creators of all. Kids. Their drawings sparked a wild idea.
Brought to life by a Hollywood director, a stunt team, and the SUV that makes the unthinkable unforgettable. No tricks, just V6 power, practical effects, and the rugged new Pathfinder. Watch how it all came together and discover why JD Power ranks Nissan number one in new vehicle quality among mainstream brands. For JD Power 2025 U.S. Initial Quality Study Award information, visit jdpower.com slash awards.
Awards based on 2025 model year. Newer models may be shown. And we return to our American stories and the story of Estelle Myers. Telling the story is Estel's family. When we last left off, He had been captured by the Japanese following the surrender of the Philippines.
in World War II. Let's continue with the story. He suffered, oh my gosh, from dengue fever, diarrhea, bronchitis, asthma, beri-beri, heart disease, pellagra, night blindness, severe malnutrition, and severe vitamin deficiencies, which he kept going forward in his life. He then departed Bilibid Prison on 12-13 of 1944. by marching through the streets of Manila, ill and weak, to what is known as the Million Dollar Pier, only to be loaded on the hell ship the Aroca Maru.
The Aroca Maru. They were packed into these airless, humid holds of the Aroca Maru with more than 1600 prisoners. Sharing the hardships created by the insufficient food, the water, the ventilation, the sanitary facilities. On the ship, he was one in charge of disposing of the dead. He risked his life in stealing sugar from the deck to try to nourish the men down below who were dying at a rapid pace.
And then, when the Omo Rokimaru was bombed by the Americans, unaware of the prisoners of war. They all had to swim to the shore of Subic Bay. And I remember him telling me that men were being eaten by sharks to the left of him and to the right of him and to the front and the back. And that's when the Japanese were firing machine guns at them. When they were swimming, trying to get to the bay.
This is when they were captured again and held on the tennis courts for six days. While they were on the tennis courts, he created a makeshift hospital to assist in the amputation of a man's arm without any medical equipment or medicine available. He also treated many of the wounded and sick men unceasingly. Didn't he help the Japanese? He also helped the Japanese.
And that's probably one reason why they let him live. I remember him telling me this, and I was just grossed out, but they had to eat. Cats, dogs, and roaches just to stay alive. What was the one thing about the shoe? Didn't his friend have his shoes floated up or something?
So he got to use his friend's shoe? No, Dad had told me that he had to, when he was taking care of people, he had to. He had to let one man die so that he could have his shoes. Oh.
so that he would have a pair of shoes to wear. Sure. Yeah. Terrible. Hmm.
Upon leaving the tennis court, the surviving men were taken to Pampunga, where they were loaded onto boxcars on top of the other, with the sickest being at the bottom. These boxcars took them into San Fernando del Union of. Lingay engulfed. The remaining alive men were loaded onto freighters. This freighter was full of horse speces and the smell of ammonia was overtaking them.
After 17 days on the 30th, they finally saw Japan. The freighter landed with only 435 men left. The men were forced to march to a factory in a warehouse where the men lined up by the hundreds and found relief by drinking water from a toilet. They were brutally beaten. I remember the only thing dad really telling me.
was uh that when he was in Japan, And they were marching from prison camp to prison camp. The Japanese soldiers that were on their horses. Would ride by the American prisoners and pull up their long swords, and just for practice, they would cut off an American's head. Ugh. Mm-hmm.
I I I mean I can't even I can't even I mean I I sound like I'm reading it s from a Stephen King book. He said that the Japanese would lay them all out in a line and go through and either bayonet them or just shoot them. And they left him, and he didn't know why. He's like, why did they leave me? And so he truly believed that he had a guardian angel with him the entire time.
He had to have. Yeah, and we believe he did too. He had a dream. That The MPs would come in with, you know, their helmets and And say the war is over. You're liberated.
And That dream came true three years after he had that dream. My dad stayed in Kayusha prison camp until his liberation after the plutonium bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Kayusha is probably about 20 miles from Nagasaki, and he used to tell us the stories that he had fallout, the ashes, thick, thick all over their bodies, and the Japanese would not allow them to wash it off.
So they walked around with thick radiation ash all over their bodies. that kind of concluded his voyage. And that explains why. He always floated on his back in the pool. And he was told, Well, I don't know if you want to go this far yet.
But he was told after he got out of the military that he would never father children. Yeah, because of all the stuff you know. Little did they know. He never wanted to show his children. His suffering, what he went through.
You know, my dad had Anxiety and panic disorders three to four times a day. Never saw that. He just looked at life like I wrote before with that Louis Armstrong song. That's the way he looked at life. That there was always hope.
There was always God. There was always a light at the end of the tunnel. The sun's going to shine the next day, no matter how bad your life is or how bad you feel. That sun's just going to come up in the morning. He was just everything to us.
He was that pillar. He was that strength. He was brave and never complained. He didn't say anything. No, never.
I never heard him complain. He taught us to be devoted, loyal, honest. Yeah. He taught us all those things. To love one another, to love our mother, to believe in God, family, and country.
We are who He raised us to be with the Golden Rule, with the Ten Commandments, with being honest, being good citizens, loving your country. That's who we are. He was just a man full of compassion, and he worried about. His fellow man, how they felt, and if they couldn't provide for themselves, he made sure that they had what they needed. I would spend days with him at his farmer's insurance agent office.
He had made a little cot for me behind his desk. And I would just watch him interact with his clients. And we were just talking earlier that. He would pay people's premium for them if they couldn't pay it. He didn't charge for his chiropractic business.
He would barter like a chicken for a adjustmenter. But he was just good, you know. He was. My hero. He will always be my hero.
My sister wrote a poem. I want to share it with you. It's called The Heart of a POW, and it says: There was a young man who went off to war to fight for his country with a victory to score. Even after being captured by the enemy hands, he still believed in his country and for which it stands. After four long years, He always prayed.
Um And finally he faced his liberation day. Even though he was finally free, he couldn't shake the memories. The war had left him with many fears once he could only express with many tears. Then one day came when he was finally free, for he was in the Lord's hands. and free indeed, with no more scars or pain of the war.
This was his vital victory, and he scored. Yeah. Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. I mean you Yeah. You would love him.
And a beautiful job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Monty Montgomery. And a special thanks to the family of Estille Myers for sharing their father's story with us. And what a story they told He never wanted his children to know about his suffering. And that's true of so many of the World War II generation, of the greatest generation. They wanted to get home.
and get on with their lives. They didn't want the Nazis or the Empire of Japan stealing their joy. Stealing their hope. He was everything to us. He never complained about anything.
He was devoted, he was honest, he was giving. We are who we raised us to be. He was my hero. You will always be my hero. Always he was praying to the glory of God, always the light at the end of the tunnel.
That's what he was always thinking about. The Sun He told them. Always rises the next day. The story of Astilmyers as told by his family. Here.
on our American stories. Think Verizon is expensive? Think again. Anyone can bring their ATT or T-Mobile bill to a Verizon store today and we'll give you a better deal.
So bring us your bill. Walk in, running, pogo sticking, teleport if you can. Ride on the back of a rollerblading yak or flying on the wings of a majestic falcon. Any way you can, bring your ATT or T-Mobile bill to a Verizon store today and we'll give you a better deal on the best network. Based on Rootmetric's best overall mobile network performance U.S.
2nd Half 2025, All Rights Reserved must provide a very recent post-paid consumer mobile bill in the name of the person reviewing the deal, additional terms, conditions, and restrictions apply. No one knows what the future holds, but you deserve a weather app that can help. Weatherbug is easy to use and provides forecasts for your every need, from storm warnings to pollen levels, right at your fingertips. Get the fastest local alerts and comprehensive 10-day forecasts wherever you are. It's hyper-local, real-time, customizable alerts.
Make sure the weather never takes you by surprise so you can plan every day with confidence. Download the free weather bug app from the App Store today and start getting accurate weather forecasts 24-7. Get ready for the wildest sight your lawn has ever seen. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. This spring, unleash soil science like never before.
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GetSunday.com. This is Julian Edelman from Games with Names. I want to take a second to talk about something that's personal to me. I've had the privilege of working closely with Robert Kraft for a long time. And one thing I've always respected is how seriously he takes up standing up to hate.
As a Jewish athlete my identity is something I am proud of. but I also know what it feels like to be singled out for it. That's why this new commercial for the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate that aired during the big game really hit home. It's about showing up for someone when they're targeted, even if you don't have the perfect words. And sometimes standing next to someone is enough.
And you can show support by sharing the blue square. To test the new Pathfinder, Nissan turned to the boldest creators of all. Kids, their drawings sparked a wild idea, brought to life by a Hollywood director, a stunt team, and the SUV that makes the unthinkable unforgettable. No tricks, just V6 power, practical effects, and the rugged new Pathfinder. Watch how it all came together and discover why JD Power ranks Nissan number one in new vehicle quality among mainstream brands.
For JD Power 2025 U.S. Initial Quality Study Award information, visit jdpower.com slash awards. Awards based on 2025 model year. Newer models may be shown. Mm-hmm.
