This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years, and now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint.
It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. I turned off news altogether.
I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we can calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting.
Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. and BC 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.
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. What's up y'all? Summer's got a different tempo.
Everything's a little looser, brighter. One plan turns into another. You hear something, you stay a little longer.
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Try the new Tropical Butterfly Refresher from Starbucks. Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamar. Want the full story? Take a listen.
She starts dating Howard Hughes. And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hedi Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5.
Goodbye. And we return to our American stories. Up next, another story from our regular contributor and supporter of the show and recipient of our Great American Storyteller Award, Joy Neil Kidney, who listens on WHO, our terrific iHeart affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa. Three of Joy's five uncles lost their lives in World War II. A tremendous loss for Liora.
her grandmother. Joy has dedicated her life to preserving their memory. And today, she shares the story of how Daniel Wilson was found and buried. Three times. Take it away, Joy.
Danny Wilson came home on furlough in April of 1944. after becoming an Army fighter pilot. While home he had his picture taken at a studio. The Silver Pilot Swings. and gold bars of a second lieutenant.
pinned to his dark uniform. It shows him with a solid jaw, broad shoulders. confident, content. Serious. Dan's parents, who were tenant farmers near Minburn, Iowa, Also posed in for snapshots beside their 1942 Plymouth.
with his sisters and only nephew. Doris, her first baby due in six weeks, was tucked behind Darlene and Danny.
so her condition wouldn't show. Danny held Darlene's eighteen month old son in the crook of his arm like a football. By then, all five Wilson brothers were serving. Two in the Navy. Three in the Army Air Force.
The middle brother, who was Darlene's twin, have been listed as missing in action in New Guinea. since late November. When Doris learned later that year that Danny had received his overseas orders, She wrote. Danny, you take darn good care of you. and get back home as soon as possible.
We don't want any heroes in the family. just all of us home. He was assigned to the 15th Air Force at Fogia, Italy. 14th Fighter Group 37th Fighter Squadron. the pilot of a P-38 Lightning.
But on his nineteenth mission, On February 19, 1945, He was reported as missing an action over Austria. Danny Wilson had been missing nearly a year. when the telegram was delivered to his parents, In january nineteen forty six, that there was evidence that he'd been killed in action. The same week, authorities announced that his brother Dale, would likely not be found. and they had made an official declaration of death.
Just the August before, the youngest Wilson brother, had been killed in training in Texas. when the engine of his P forty threw a rod and exploded. Three of their five sons lost during the war. How does a family survive that? Their father Claib died in October 1946 of a stroke.
and a broken heart. After Danny Wilson's remains, had been recovered from a small town in the Alps. Leora was left with a decision about whether to have Danny's remains sent home to Iowa. or buried in an American cemetery overseas. She couldn't face another funeral and Dale likely would never be found.
She reluctantly signed the papers for burial overseas. Decades later, The daughter born to Doris. Ask for Dan Wilson's casualty file.
Okay. It contained so much information the family had never learned, who buried him after the crash. who found him later. How could you be sure the remains they located were even his? I was the first to comb through the military records.
Where I learned that a A British graves registration team had captured German Dulag records. Austria was divided into four occupation zones after the war. Schwanberg was in the British zone. the British forwarded information that an American named Daniel S. Wilson had been buried in the small town.
Of Schwanberg, Austria. which was Nazi territory during the war. An American team traveled through the Alps to locate downed Allied airmen. They interviewed townspeople in Schwanberg who were involved in the burial of this Allied pilot. I was the first to contact the mayor of the village where Dan Wilson was killed.
the first to see a copy of his death certificate in German. the first to weep at the photo of his wrecked fighter plane, On page 41, in the Schwanberg History Book. In July 1946, Schwanberg officials made a declaration that on the date Daniel Wilson was declared missing, four planes had attacked the railroad station. One of them hit a telegraph pole. and crashed in a forest, demolishing the two-engine plane.
The plane was removed by members of the German Wehrmacht. who thoroughly searched the young dead American flying lieutenant. and kept his ID tags. The Burgermeister signed an official declaration. that Lieutenant Daniel S.
Wilson had been buried in his uniform, in a pine casket provided by the town, in the Schwanberg Community Cemetery. The grave was marked with a wooden cross. and the date of death. Only four people were present at the burial. The Inspector or Chief of Police.
The Burgermeister. The Gravedigger and the town's Roman Catholic priest. The declaration noted that the burial cemetery had been held secretly. When his squadron in Italy reported Dan Wilson's P thirty eight Lightning lost, His belongings were inventoried. The flight surgeon had filled out a form on Lieutenant Wilson, adding Good man.
good pilot. That August, a report of Investigation Area's search form, was completed for unknown. X 7341. This unknown was believed to be Daniel Wilson, but because his ID tags were not with the remains, Positive identification was not allowed at this point. Both the chief of police and the burgermeister were interviewed for this report.
Unknown X seventy three forty one was disinterred that day from the Schwanberg Cemetery. to be reburied in the new temporary US Military Cemetery at that of old France. By September that unknown had positively been identified. as Daniel S. Wilson by the following Information on the missing aircraft report.
for the plane of which Lieutenant Wilson was the sole occupant. A German Dulag record indicated that Lieutenant Wilson was buried in a civilian cemetery from which X 7341 was disinterred. The cross over the grave where he had been buried was marked Daniel S. Wilson, and the date of death. The statement by a civilian that the ID tags for Lieutenant Wilson had been present.
enabling the marking of the cross. That Lieutenant Wilson was the only American buried. in the Schwanberg Cemetery. And the lawn remark on the clothing of X 7341. agreed with the initial.
and last four digits of Lieutenant Wilson's military number. On september ninth, nineteen forty six, In the temporary cemetery in France at three o'clock in the afternoon. Anne Wilson was reburied between two unknowns. A chaplain conducted this service. After the permanent Lorain American Cemetery, had been prepared years later.
there was another similar ceremony. when all of those in the temporary cemetery were remarried. including Dan Wilson. The book Crosses in the Wind is a poignant story of the men who followed combat units on D-Day. processing hundreds of casualties.
The Graves registration teams were responsible for the massive task. of collecting fallen soldiers. identifying and preparing them for burial, and for forwarding personal effects to their families at home. It's a first-hand account of the dreadful but important job they undertook. to care for our war casualties.
These teams located far-flung casualties even after the war was over. This is an important piece of history. Important also, decades later to Danny Wilson's family back in Iowa. comforted by the care taken with his remains. In 1997, his sisters, Doris and Darlene.
Widowed farm women. nearly 80 years old by then. were the first in the family to visit the Lorain American Cemetery. They were gratified with the assurance that the remains buried there In Plot D, row five, grave seven, indeed belonged to their young brother Danny. one of the three Wilson brothers who lost their lives.
During World War II. Let us never forget. And a terrific job in the production and editing by our own Monty Montgomery. And a special thanks, as always, to Joy Neil Kidney. Three of Joy's five uncles were lost.
in World War II. And what a loss for her grandmother, Leora. Who, by the way, Joy writes so beautifully about and has told stories about. right here on this show. And the idea that these 80-year-old farm widows would go to Lorraine Cemetery, the American cemetery in France.
To visit that grave. of Lieutenant Danny Wilson.
Well, one day I hope to make the same trip. That's where my mother's brother is buried. A John Lapadula. is buried there too. The story of Finding Daniel Wilson Here on Our American Stories.
Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage.
Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. 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.
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. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
We all seem to be in a rush these days, but when you're behind the wheel, please do not speed.
So follow the speed limit. A few minutes saved by going faster is never worth the risk. Paid for by NHTSA. Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamar.
Want the full story? Take a listen. She starts dating Howard Hughes. And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hetty Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5.
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