This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.
Alright. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting.
Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America. Uh This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't-miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
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And we tell stories about everything here on this show. Sports, history, arts, the culture. And by the way, some of these stories are beautiful, some of these stories are hard.
Some are both, and I think this one is. And this one comes to us from one of our listeners in Des Moines, Iowa. the home of the mighty WHO, one of the great heritage signals in this country. and it comes from Joy Neil Kidney. In World War Two her grandmother sent five sons to war.
Only two came home. Here Joy shares how her family has honored These men. Neglected gravestones over Memorial Day. No flowers, no one to remember? This would never happen in our family.
So I thought. Growing up, I knew that my mother's five brothers had served in World War II. and that the three youngest had lost their lives. Their sepia toned photographs all in uniform. were a familiar part of our home.
Those same pictures posed for decades on the chest of drawers in Grandma's house. I grew up with women who observed every decoration day, as it was called then. I could have asked for details about those young brothers. but knew the answers would bring tears.
So I didn't. In fact, Memorial Day was a wonderful time for me as a child. as it meant an outing to the big town of Perry for lunch. and shopping with grandma. Mom?
Cis Gloria. and Aunt Darlene. Either mom or darlene would pick up the other, both toting pails of pink peonies. Coral Bells and blue iris from their own gardens. carried in the trunk of the car, These spring blossoms were for the cemeteries.
Mm. We drive the dusty gravel roads of Madison County, then the hills of Highway 25 to Grandma's House in Guthrie Center. where she would be waiting with her best flowers. including what she called little yellow buttons. Grandma's parents and some of her siblings are buried there at the Guthrie Cemetery.
so we'd leave flowers there first to remember them. before heading east to Panther Corner. Perry is a few miles north of where the old Panther store used to stand. We'd skirt Perry's downtown toward our main mission. Violet Hill Cemetery in the northeast corner of town.
Grandma's husband is buried there. and their three sons, who were lost in the war. Or so I thought. Mm. The Wilson Stones are in the east section with stately evergreens.
We three generations would solemnly deliver the flowers from the car to the Wilson Stones. Everything seemed hushed. Before the four names, Dale. Daniel. Clayburn J.
and Clay Wilson. We'd secure metal vases with wires mom had cut from coat hangers. Then we'd fill them with our pastel bouquets. How nice they look, Grandma would mention. I remember her shedding tears there only once.
The mood lightened on the drive toward downtown. I don't remember what the grown-ups ate, but we young sisters were treated to hamburgers and cokes in a real Cafe east of the library. Then shopping and visiting. For young girls from an Iowa farm near the small town of Dexter. This day was a yearly treat.
When it was time to start back home, we'd always drive by the old Wilson Acreage, a mile south on Sixteenth Street. Grandma and her daughters always wanted to see how it looked after so many years. and how much the trees had grown that they had planted in the nineteen forties. Through the decades, different family members. would make that annual Memorial Day trip to Perry with Grandma.
One or two of Aunt Darlene's sons went along. and later on, even my own young son. Grandma died in 1987, leaving a cedar chest full of old postcards. Letters? Pictures.
and the terrible telegrams. After mom and darlene relived the war by reading through them, They shared them with me. I realized for the very first time that only their youngest brother Jr. is buried in the Paris Cemetery. Danny Wilson, a P-38 pilot who was killed in action in Austria.
is buried in France. Dale Wilson, the co-pilot on a B-25. was lost off the coast of New Guinea with his crew. Only God knows where their remains lie. I was determined that when mom and aunt Darlene, who is Dale's twin, Got to the place that they could no longer make the trip to Perry to remember their brothers and parents for Memorial Day.
I'd always get it done.
So I thought. My health got to the place where I could no longer make the trip. One day my husband and I stopped by just to see the stones once more. I realize that because Dale's official date of death is listed as 1946. Months after the war ended, No one would understand that he'd been a war casualty.
A few additions to all three stones would tell more of the story of what this one family had endured. Mom and Darlene agreed and the information was added. One stone commemorates Dale and Danny. making clear that they were both killed in action. The center stone marks the grave of Junior.
whose P forty exploded in formation training in Texas. In august nineteen forty five, at the very end of the war. The brothers were aged 22, 21, and 20. Their father Clay died next year of a stroke. and a broken heart.
Surely another casualty of the war. Even though no family members have recently remembered the Wilsons for Memorial Day, The prize that our freedoms cost this one Dallas County family must never be forgotten. And it's not forgotten here, Joy. And thanks for that peace. And Danny Dale and Jr.
The sacrifices won't be forgotten, and here in our American stories, we don't forget. That's what we do here. as often as we can, bring back history to life. Because it's still alive, folks, and it matters. These stories matter.
You know, it brings to mind the Sullivan Brothers I've been reading about him recently. All five boys in that family died in World War II. They were all in the same ship, the USS Juno. And Nov on November 13, 1942, it was Torpedoed down off the coast. of the Solomon Islands by a Japanese destroyer.
Six hundred and eighty seven sailors on board, one hundred went into the water, Only ten survived the elements. and shark attacks. And it also brings to mind a personal story, my own family story. The story my mom told me. and I have her brother's purple heart.
And boy, the w they the way they printed out Purple Hearts in World War two. It was the summer of '44. and my mom remembered a black Government car pulling up to her apartment building in West New York, New Jersey. The men stepped out of the car and walked up the stairs. A dozen or so families lived in that building.
and several had loved ones who had volunteered a fight, Her brother John was one of them. He signed up. When he was eighteen, and he paratrooped behind enemy lines. Right around the time of D Day. She told me she felt terrible, praying that it would be someone else's door those men knocked on.
and then she heard the footsteps stop. in front of her door. She was thirteen. She told me she never heard her mom cry so hard when those men knocked on that door. Her mom didn't need to open it.
to comprehend the news. Her dad barely cried. But she never again saw him enjoy his life. He lost not just his son, but his only son. My mom told me.
He'd lost his bloodline. And so, here in our American stories, we celebrate the fallen soldiers and we honor their sacrifices. And all of the men and women serving our country in uniform here and abroad. This is Our American Stories Joy Neil Kidney's family story.
So many other. Family stories. Families who's Sons, daughters, loved ones, fathers, husbands paid the ultimate price. Yeah. This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250.
America's Block Party is a can't-miss Fourth of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances from major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration at America250.org. I'm U.S.
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