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.
Next thing you know, you're somewhere you didn't plan to be. It's those in between moments. That's where the ideas hit. conversations stretch out, little memories sneak up on you.
Sometimes it's just about what's in your hand. that color. That chill. a new tropical butterfly refresher from Starbucks. guava and passion fruit flavors with mango pineapple flavored pearls.
Yeah. That feels like summer before you even taste it. Funny how one small stop becomes the best part of the day. Start your summer rhythm. with Starbucks.
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. On April 19th, 1995, a rider rental truck Pulled in front of the Alfred P. Murray Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Within minutes, it exploded, killing 168 men, women, and children.
A senseless act. of domestic terrorism. Here to tell the story of surviving, finding hope, through unspeakable tragedy and what he calls the Oklahoma Standard. Is Jack Poe, who was a chaplain for the Oklahoma City Police Department at the time. Take it away, Jack.
We were getting ready to go to a funeral. One of our officers had lost his father and the funeral was that day and we usually try to make those funerals for the family and so we were getting ready. And We heard this. We know what it was. An explosion.
Eight and a half miles away it shook our house. And I thought something happened in the back of the house. She thought something happened in the kitchen where I was.
So we kind of ran in the middle of the house, no, it wasn't a house, house is okay. What in the world was that?
Well, first thought was It's an airplane crash.
So I went out. Turn my radio on, police radio on. and then discovered what had happened. I was downtown within Fifteen minutes. Twenty at the most.
And I could see the smoke coming up. But you don't know. First thing I thought is a boiler might have exploded. You don't think about it, Bob.
So turned up to go to the federal building. and at least five blocks around that building, all the glasses out. Cars have just crumbled. I couldn't believe it. That building.
Third of it's gone. Our guys from Vietnam, when they came out and smelled ammonia nitrate. They knew it was a bomb. We're going to have a lot of fatalities. We might have lost some officers.
So I started looking for our officer that walks a beat. down and around the Federal building. And it's probably an hour or so later before I ran into him. And uh walked up to him and he grabbed me. They don't normally do that.
They're They're standoffish. That kinda surprised me. He said, you know. I have two children in the nursery. My knees just almost buckle.
And he said, well. They they got up this morning and They didn't feel good and mama kept them at home. And I said, thank you, Lord. I said, what about yourself? He says, well, I have coffee in this building at nine o'clock every day.
And he said, I got up to go to work this morning. and the kids had the car last night, and when I started to work had drawn all the gas out of it. and I had to stop to get gas. And I said, I'm glad you're okay. But I knew a lot of people weren't going to be okay.
The Secret Service lost six people that day. They lost four agents and two support people, and Mickey was one of them. I got acquainted with him because he's having issues and One of our lieutenants said, Would you go visit Mickey Moroney in the hospital? He's a Secret Service agent. Says, something's wrong with him.
I don't know what it is, it doesn't look good. Would you go see him? I said, Yeah, I'll go see him. And that's when I found out he was from Arkansas. I'm from Arkansas.
We talked about the reservoir, so we came pretty close. That that was really tough. You know, I didn't cry after the bombing. Because you gotta stay focused. We had to stay in the present.
We had work to do. But I did his service and I walked back to my car. And one of the agents came up, and we visited And I started crying, that's the first time I cried. I just couldn't hold it back. We just Floodgates open.
So you get dressed and you go back down and you try to finish. what you're doing. And it was kind of hard because two things happened. One, I was the state chaplain of the National Guard.
So we mobilized all of our chaplains to go down and to work at the site, some of them, and some of them to work with the families.
So I had to take care of that responsibility plus the responsibility of our officers who were down there.
So we we were kind of busy for a while. But it brought together some people that I would have never met. had it not been for the bombing. There was a bonding. of Oklahoma City that was we called it the Oklahoma Standard.
A friend of mine came up from Atlanta He was sitting down in our rest area, Chaplain's Corner, one day, and the governor shows up. They visited for a while. He didn't know who the governor was, you know.
So he said he came to Oklahoma City and he said We got here. They prepared meals for us. The Oklahoma Restaurant Association was getting ready to have their meeting in Oklahoma City. They had all their equipment and stuff there. Those chefs just broke the stuff open and started feeding.
And so we had a place at the Myriad where we kept A lot of the people that came in to help us, we had cots for them. We had meals for him. And there's people that cut their hair. They took their cleaning, did their cleaning. I mean, it's just...
Unbelievable how people pitched in. And so he told my friend, he says, reached in his pocket and he pulled out a dollar bill and he says, Since this is an Oklahoma dollar, says you can't spend it here.
So when my friend was talking to Keating, the governor, He took one out of his pocket and told him the story, the dollar.
So Keating took the dollar and wrote on an official Oklahoma dollar, Frank Keating, governor of the state of Oklahoma, and gave it to our friend.
So he showed it to me, and he said, Since that's an Oklahoma State dollar, you can't spend it, so you need to give it to me. No, no, I'm taking. Taking that back anyway, but that's how we call it the standard because Our people responded and we had no crime for about four days. If we said we needed something Truckloads came in. And when you talk about the generosity of the people, stories that never get told.
On the second night John came back. Again, he was in charge of the uh response team that worked the perimeter to make sure everything was clear. He said, I got to tell you this story. I said, All right, John, what is it? He says.
So we were down at the corner and he says, um, This car pulls up and parks across the street. We're watching. He said, these two ladies got out. It was an old car. Look like it's held together with duct tape and barbed wire.
I mean, it says no car. But they came over to us and they occur in these two plastic sacks. And they said to us, officers, we understood that the kids need diapers and milk. And said, you know, we don't have a whole lot of money. And John said, you could tell he didn't have a whole lot of money.
Say, we don't have a whole lot of money, but we got up early this morning and we've been mowing lawns all day long. And the money we made for mowing lawns, we bought what we could of diapers and milk. Could you see that the kids got this? She gave what she had. And that's what people did.
They gave what they had. The Spirit moved our people. to do great things.
So we call that the Oklahoma standard now and we use that quite a bit when we're talking about respond like we responded to New York, we talk about the Oklahoma Standard. But we learned some lessons. The first lesson I learned was The first night of the bombing, Uh one of our lieutenants came to me and he says, Chaplain, I have a verse for Oklahoma City. And so Jonah said, Okay, what's that verse? He says, It's Psalms 34, 18.
God is near the brokenhearted. and saves those who are crushed in spirit. John, that's pretty good, because hearts are broken and spirits are crushed. We need that first.
So he carried that verse. And you've been listening to Jack Poe, who is a chaplain for the Oklahoma City Police Department. the time of America's still worst domestic terrorism attack. Voltime. When we come back, more of Jack Poe.
and his story. The Oklahoma City bombing. And after, 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. 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.
Hetty, she starts dating Howard Hughes, the aviation tycoon. Do you know a lot about him? I mean, I watch The Aviator, so I know everything Leonardo DiCaprio has allowed me to know about him, but incredible innovator. Right. She says he's a, quote, very strange man.
But they do get along really well. Give us examples. I know. They do. get along intellectually.
And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
She takes a look at what he's designed. It's got these square wings, and she's like, that doesn't make sense. And so she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of like 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. Mom, are we there yet? 10 more minutes.
Only 10 minutes. Can you drive slower? What's up with them today? Lingo kids. That app we downloaded last week?
They love it. The games, this funny baby bot character. Kids, we're almost there. No! With more than 4,000 interactive games, songs, and shows little ones can't get enough of, Lingo Kids is the number one entertainment platform for young kids.
Why didn't we download this sooner? Minger Kids! Everything kids love. Download it for free. Professional wrestling fans, the action continues every week.
Watch CNA Thursday Night Impact every week on AMC. It is like electronic. Blow in through your face. Don't miss the adrenaline, the drama, and the total non-stop action. Peeks got it.
This right here! Don't miss the action of TNA Thursday Night Impact every week on AM SIG. For show types and more information, visit TNA Wrestling.com. And we return to our American stories and with Jack Poe's story. Jack served as a chaplain for the Oklahoma City Police Department in 1995 when the Alfred P.
Murray building was destroyed in an act of domestic terrorism. We now turn to another tragedy 1,324 miles away from Oklahoma City. and how Jack lent his services there. Take it away, Jack. So.
On 9-11, we finish our Bible study. And one of our participants works for the FBI and I get a call. She says Is your T V on? I'm in the office, we have a T V wasn't on. She said Now go turn it on.
I said, well, you go turn it on. said a plane has flown in to the World Trade Center.
So I immediately go turn on the TV. I see the first plane. They're showing it again. coming in to one of the buildings. I'm thinking Okay, this clear sky, there's no, you know.
Somebody get like, what, you know, I'm thinking the small plane. I'm not thinking of a large plane filled with. a full tank of gas. But you should have. when you look at it.
And we see the other plane come in. And I can tell you at that time, my heart my heart broke anyway when we saw the first plane go in. But when the second plane went in, we knew what one bomb did to us, what two buildings being hit. would do. There are going to be a lot of casualties, number one.
innocent people who went to work today like we did April 19th. and had no idea what was going to happen at 902. And I knew we're probably going to lose some first responders. I know. So New York called and asked for the chaplains that worked the moral building to come to New York to help.
They wanted some experience from us on how you handle it. What did we discover that worked and didn't work? Or you packed and we were getting ready to go and of course we'd already found out that There's no planes But there was a gentleman in Enid, Oklahoma. Who Had a subsidiary of their company in New Jersey. I don't know for sure what they did, I think, chemical or something, anyway.
But his four brothers had operated now, so one of the brothers came to Enid every week. He switched off.
Well, of course, he gets a call from his wife. It says, you need to come home.
So he called. calls this pilot, get the jet and come get him, and come home. Sir again. I can't do it. Why can't you do it?
Planes are grounded. Nobody's doing anything. And he's thinking to himself, my wife says, come on.
So he got a hold of FAA and said, I need to get home. We understand there's some people that they're asking to come to New York from Oklahoma City. Can we make this a angel flight? and get them to New York. And federal aviation says We'll do that.
So he paid for the plane, he paid for the other pilot, he bought all the gas, he came to Oklahoma City, picked us up. And we flew to New York. When we landed and got on the ground, they fueled our plane. People were asking, What are you doing flying? You're not supposed to be up there.
I can imagine we had a lot, a lot of planes watching us. But anyway, that's how we got to New York on the flight, and so. That started our first about 18 days at Ground Zero. Um You see television, but when you get on site, it's not the same thing. And I remember I went around there for the first time and It was dark.
All the lights are shining on it, and you see all the debris that's there. I thought to myself, Man, this This looks like a scene out of Hollywood. And One of the guys says, is real. This is not Hollywood. We got down there and they got.
We got with Leo Flanagan. He said, you all chaplains? We said, yes. What can we help you with? He says, we need some chaplains over here at this temporary morning.
I I will tell you this, and that really surprised me. when they brought in bucket of bones to the medical examiner who was there. He did not touch that until we prayed over him. He'd say, All right, chaplains, let's pray.
So we prayed over. Ever one of those buckets of whatever was brought in. I think that was probably one of the toughest parts was to work at more And to see people coming by wondering if could have identified any of their loved ones that they knew were probably dead or Did we find a gun or a badge or did we find something to identify that this might have been one of our loved ones? Um Right. You ask for God's help.
We knew it was worse than Oklahoma City, but I think our mind as chaplains was. What are we there for? We're not there to do rescue work. Why have we showed up? That kind of grabs at your gut.
You don't know. But I can't tell you how many times officers have says to me, It's going to be okay 'cause the chaplain's here. We bring to that situation, to that table, something that nobody else can bring. Hope. It's going to be okay the chaplain's here, which means God's here.
You know, we say to people there's two rules in life. Number one is bad things happen. Bad things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. And God is not a respecter of persons. The rain falls.
on the just and the unjust. And rule number two is you can't change rule number one. That's live. But we can make a choice on how we're going to deal with it. That's the key.
People have a choice to make. They can be a victim. or they can be a survivor. Victims focus on what they can't change, survivors focus on what they can.
Now there are some people who like to be victims, but victims get you nowhere after a while. But when we get there, we We just want to meet people where they are. Not where they hope they are, but where they are. And just to be a presence. It's the Ministry of Presence.
And so I think that helped us was to know That if we could meet with those people, share some things that we have gone through in Oklahoma City. to tell the stories of survivors. Maybe they would gain hope. And some of them did. One of the gentlemen I met, I said, we had this group that came up on our anniversary.
Do we send a group on their anniversary? And we were having dinner one evening, and they were telling their stories to us. And so One of the gentlemen said uh I lost my son. Said he Calmly. on the phone and he says, Dad, It's awful hot in here.
Said we talked for a while and he says People are jumping out of the window. Talked a little bit more and he says Dad, the phone's melting. That was it. He said, you know, I'd lost my son. There's no doubt.
I'd lost my son.
So I had two choices to make. He said, I went into my study. And I got my Bible. He said I could tear it up and throw it in the trash. Or I could open it up.
And understand that God is near the brokenhearted and save those who are crushed in spirit. And I can let His words speak to me. He says in journeys It's tough. But I have to make that choice. I can open it up.
Let the Spirit speak to me. Let the Spirit guide me. to know that life's going on. My son would want life to go on. We're going to grievous loss.
There's no doubt about that. but it's not going to poison our future. Because we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Paul said, I can do all things. through Christ who gives me strength.
That's where my strength and hope is. not in the event that took place. Not the fact that I've lost a son. My hope. Is it God's promise?
The A who walk with us. to the very end.
So we make that choice, you know, and I can't make it for other people. They have to make it for themselves. But I can say to them, those that have chosen to be a survivor rather than a victim. though the road has been hard. away ahead of the people.
That won't be a victim.
So, I think as chaplains, we have that opportunity to bring hope. to a hopeless world. to say life isn't fair. Never has been fair. But God has promised.
to be our journey mate. And a terrific job in the production, editing, and storytelling by your own Monty Montgomery and Katrina Hein. a contributor to our American stories. The story of Jack Poe. Story of a chaplain's response to tragedy.
in his community and others 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 get distracted when we drive. Whether it's from our phones, Or are kids in the backseat bickering? But how we handle these distractions can be a matter of life.
or death. Before you get on the road for your next road trip, Please put your phones on silent. and take a mental note. to focus on driving. Paid for by Nitza.
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. Mom, are we there yet? 10 more minutes. Only 10 minutes? Can you drive slower?
What's up with them today? Lingo Kids. That app we downloaded last week? They love it. The games, this funny baby bot character.
Kids, we're almost there. No! With more than 4,000 interactive games, songs, and shows little ones can't get enough of, Lingo Kids is the number one entertainment platform for young kids. Why didn't we download this sooner? Maybe.
Everything kids love. Download it for free.
