Harrowing Rescue of Orphan Babies, a Plane Crash and a Flint Hero, Phillip Wise

Arthur Busch 0:13

Hello, Arthur Bush here from Radio Free Flint. Today's podcast with Sergeant Philip Weiss is a story about our hometown hero. A Sergeant Weiss, who grew up in the Flint area, attended Flint Southwestern High School, was a person who was involved in a harrowing and dramatic attempt to rescue several hundred orphan children in Vietnam just as Saigon was falling. Philip wrote a book about his experiences in Vietnam, and I wanted to share with you what it is to be a United States, a member of the United States Air Force and making the sacrifice that he did, which also included suffering grievous injuries. The story itself has been well covered in the national media over the years, but some of the younger listeners might not have ever heard of this story, and I want to make sure it wasn't forgotten. Please rate us on Apple or any of the podcast platforms that you're listening to us. Send us a note, tell us how we're doing. Visit our website at radiofreeflint.media. Thank you. Here's your episode. Okay, we're here we go. This is Arthur Bush, and we're at Radio Free Flint. Today my guest is Rob uh Philip Wise of Flint. Philip is an author of a book, and his book is on the screen here called Fragile Delivery. And Fragile Delivery is a book about Operation Baby Lift, which took place uh 1975 during the Vietnam War and was uh a part of uh a sort of a historic and tragic uh incident. And I'll let Philip explain that, but we'll come back to your book in just a few minutes. But before we get going too far, as you're listening to this, uh we're gonna hear a story about Phillip's uh adventure in uh Vietnam when uh President Gerald Ford uh directed uh the uh airlift of uh over 200, I think it was 230 babies uh who were orphans, uh, most of whom had uh they were uh Eurasians, or they were uh they were both uh Vietnamese uh children and American children. Uh so uh eventually uh this ended up in a tragedy, and I'll have Philip explain that to us as we're going along. So uh Philip, I'm glad to have you here and uh honored uh to finally meet you. I'm gonna turn this off so I can see your face. There he is. There's Philip. And uh Philip, tell us uh why uh you wrote this book and uh what it is about the book that makes it special.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Hello there, Arthur. Thank you for having me. Uh it's an honor. Well, I wrote the book uh back in 2012. Uh, it got to the point where I was collecting information and researching a lot of information about the baby lift and and about the kids uh who had uh uh went on with their lives post-baby lift. I just wanted to know what happened to some of them, and and I decided since I was getting a little older, it's about time for me to get this book out before I started losing my memory. But anyway, I went on and uh published it, self-published in 2012 on Veterans Day.

Arthur Busch 4:11

Very good. Now, uh the book uh you were in the United States Air Force.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

I told Correct.

Arthur Busch 4:20

And and so tell us a little bit about what happened that brought uh this to pass from your vantage point.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Well, yeah, I graduated from uh Flint Southwestern High School uh uh June of 1970. And of course, at that time the Vietnam draft was on, and I had a draft classification. It was pretty high, but I figured since I had to go, I might as well go into uh an outfit that I would want to go, I would like, and I decided to enlist in the United States Air Force. November 2nd, 1970, that's it, that was my enlistment day. I left uh Flint and uh flew into uh San Antonio, Texas, Lackland Air Force Base. That's where I started my basic training. And after basic training, I went to uh technical school, which is a medical training school. It's Shepherd Air Force Base, Wichita Falls, Texas. And after graduating from uh uh tech school, I uh was assigned to uh Lackland Air Force Base again as a permanent party where I worked in the hospital uh known as Big Willie. It's uh at the hospital Wolfra Hall Medical Center. At the time, it was the largest Air Force hospital in the United States. So I uh uh worked there two and a half years and I got a chance to uh meet a guy that was uh based at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. And this guy became my supervisor. And every day he would uh talk to his girlfriend who was living in the Philippines. So he would talk to her by way of Autobod. This is a military phone that you can uh use for global uh talking, global conversations around the world, and he would call his girlfriend every day, and I got to meet her over the phone. So one day uh his name was uh uh his name was excuse me. I can't think of his name right now, but it'll come to me, I'm sure.

Arthur Busch 6:38

Uh uh That's alright, we we don't need to know his name at this moment. Just tell us the story.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Yeah, well he's he's no longer with us, but uh, he's the one that got my got me orders. McDaniel, I'm sorry, Sergeant Senior Master Sergeant McDaniel. He was my supervisor. Anyway, he got me, he said, Phil, would you like to go in the Philippines? I said, sure, that's better than going to Vietnam. So anyway, next thing I know, I had orders uh to go to flight school at Brook School of Aerospace Medicine there in San Antonio, Texas, with orders after graduation for uh assignment to Clark Air Force Base, uh uh Philippines. And that's uh that's what happened. I got my I graduated from flight school and was assigned to Clark Air Force Base, uh uh Philippines, and that base was designed for uh aeromedical evacuation missions that took place all over Southeast Asia, including uh countries as such as Vietnam, uh Thailand, uh other countries, Japan, uh Korea, Taiwan. So I had missions all over Southeast Asia, and that's how I got to go to Vietnam. And we would go to Vietnam two or three times a month, and of course we would get combat pay each time we go in there to airlift Fox troops on there.

Arthur Busch 8:03

I see. And then uh in 1975, there came a uh an order that you go to Vietnam. And how did you recount that for us a little bit? Where were you at when you got that order? Because it was a it was a controversial thing, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Yeah, it was an unforgettable time for me because uh during that time the fall of Vietnam was pretty imminent, and we had heard that the Charlie, called them Charlie, the North Vietnamese, they were uh uh moving down towards Saigon, getting closer and closer to Saigon. And at that time, uh it was this uh civilian airline company called World Airways, which was contracted by the uh our government to make rice drops all over Vietnam and Cambodia Laos. And this guy, the owner of the World Airway, was Ed Daly. But Ed Daly during his rice dropping runs, he would fly into Danang and uh make a drop. And then he would notice that there was a backup of people just gathering there at the airport trying to escape the Danang area because Danang is like midway between uh uh Norphy and uh Milan and South uh Saigon. Anyway, Danang was becoming overfilled, overran with orphans and refugees, and all trying to get to Saigon to get out of the country. So at that time, Ed Daly realized that uh something big was happening. So all those folks that was trapped in uh in uh Danain needed to be airlifted. So Ed used his World Airway aircraft to airlift the first orphans out of Dana into Saigon. That was the unofficial start of uh Operation Babylift. And once uh that first load of kids were airlifted into Saigon, Ed Daly made a uh uh a controversial airlift out of Saigon and flew one of his aircraft into uh uh uh Oakland, California, Presidio. He was unauthorized to bring those kids there. Uh and that was the beginning of the Operation Babylift. So once the President Ford found out about uh Ed Daly's uh baby lift run, he decided to get involved. And uh that was on April 4th uh that he made a pronouncement that uh uh Saigon was about to fall and there was over 3,000 Amar Asian orphans that was trapped in Saigon that needed to be airlifted out of there. So therefore, the first official Operation Baby Lift mission occurred. And I was on that mission. And uh, of course, at that time, uh when I got word of me being on a mission, I was just about off duty. And uh my duty hours, I was on an alert mission, which starts at 0,700 hours one morning to 0,700 hours the next morning. So at 0655 the next morning, I was allergic to fly. So I kind of didn't believe that I had to fly. So I went to my uh CQ charger quarters and called my squadron to verify whether or not that I've been alerted to flight, knowing that I only had 15 minutes left for duty hours. Not 15 minutes, but five minutes left for duty hours. So I called the squadron and said, yeah, Sergeant Wise, you've been uh alerted to fly. So normally we keep our bags packed for alert mission. So I had my bags packed, I called a taxi, and I had the taxi drop me off at the flight line, which is what's normal. So when I reached the flight line and I saw the aircraft that I normally fly on, which is a DC-9 Nightingale, it's the DC-9 with the red cross uh uh emblem on the tail of it. So I saw this uh DC-9 with the engines rearing, ready to taxi. So I'm running up to the aircraft, trying to catch them before they take off. So they stopped the aircraft and opened up the door and said, Sergeant Wise, what can we do for you? I said, I told them, well, I've just been allergic to fly and it's uh I'm supposed to be on this on this mission with you. So no, no, this this is just a training mission. We're gonna go up and turn around and come back. So at that point, I was just kind of feeling a little happy because I thought maybe I was off duty. So I ended up going inside the squadron, and I got inside the squadron building, and I noticed a very somber feeling all throughout the building. And no one knew exactly what was going on, but I I kept going to the control center, trying to find out if I was off duty or not. He said, No, well, just hold tight, Sergeant Wyatt. You're gonna assemble a briefing real soon. So maybe two hours passed, and uh by that time the wing commander, uh base commander, they all assembled in a briefing room, and that's when we learned that uh President Ford had ordered Operation Baby Left and the Saigon was about to fall. And to my surprise, uh, that we were not going to use the DC9 Nightgame. We were gonna use the C-5A Galaxy had that had just flown in from Georgia. So we uh was all shocked about that. So we uh had to learn quickly.

Arthur Busch 13:53

Why were you shocked by it?

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Because we were shocked because our normal aircraft was uh DC-9, which was designed for medical evacuation. I mean, we had an ICU unit on aircraft, we had uh uh litter patients uh uh uh setups for transporting litter patients. It was designed for air medical evacuation. And the DC and the C5A Galaxy was a cargo aircraft. So what the commander thinking was that we're going we were going to Vietnam and use our largest aircraft that we have to evacuate as many babies out of there as we could for the first first mission. And we were told that President Ford was gonna welcome these orphans to America because he was gonna meet us there in Travis Air Force Base, California. And our mission was to go into Saigon, pick these kids up, come back to Clark, refuel, and then fly into Travis Air Force Base, California. And that's how that began.

Arthur Busch 14:56

So eventually this plane was full of kids, and there wasn't an adequate kind of uh safety precautions on that plane that normally would take place in a medical in a plane that was suited up for kids that were in rough shape. And these kids are on the floor and other places.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Well, well, what happened was there these kids there ain't once we arrived at in Saigon, of course, we uh we would uh prior to landing, we went over what we'd need to do once we touched down in Saigon and who would work in what sections of the of the C5. And I was uh my title was the senior medical technician. And my job was to assign other techs to work in different sections of the aircraft. So once we got to Saigon, we uh decided that we would load the infants first. And once we arrived there, we saw busloads of kids uh on the tarmac lined up to be uh airlifted out of there.

Arthur Busch 16:08

How old were these children? What was the age range?

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Now the age range from uh one uh two days old, one day old, one year old, up until early adolescent age. And we had to separate the kids. Now the C5A Galaxy was designed where the troop compartment, which is the passenger section, is upstairs in the upper level. And the lower level is the cargo section. So it's a two-tier aircraft. So what we did, we put the infants, one day old, up to three years old, in the troop compartment, upper level. And we placed them two per seat, two uh patients or babies per seat. And we had approximately 77 to 80 seats up upstairs with two children per seat. And the older kids, the uh uh four, five, six on up, they were placed in the lower section of the cargo, and where we uh placed uh military blankets on a cargo type on the floor, cargo floor, and we used a catwalk, which is seats along the parallel to the uh sidewall, and we used all the kids to strap them, those kids there, and we and the little patients and the older uh adults were placed on the floor. Now we had uh over 40 uh department uh the at uh uh at uh defense at the shape office employees volunteering to help transport these kids back to America. So we had about 40 women that volunteered this service uh to help take care of these kids, and they all were down below in the cargo section along with me.

Arthur Busch 17:56

So eventually, eventually the plane takes off and and then there gets to be a problem in flight, correct?

SPEAKER_01 18:03

Correct. We uh we loaded up and took it, we get airborne approximately 15 minutes into flight. Uh we started having we had a problem. All of a sudden, there was a loud explosion. And uh when I looked back, me being on the bottom, I looked back, I saw the rear cargo doors and ramp rip off in flight at 23,000, 24,000 feet in the air. So I saw that going on at this at the time. And uh I looked out, I saw that ladder that leads to the upstairs to the troop compartment. I saw it dangling, uh uh just about ready to break loose and go out the rear end. But everything in the back that was placed there on pallets went out with the door. So I saw the blue skies, white clouds, and all the debris that was sucked out at the time. And that included people. Yes, that included people. And so at that time, you know, it was we were in the midst of a rapid decompression. So everything was just being tossed about, and I heard a lot of screaming and yelling.

Arthur Busch 19:11

Which meant there wasn't enough oxygen in the plane to support life.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Correct. The uh the oxygen that we had in the cargo went out with the doors. Unlike upstairs in the troop department, we were they had fallout masks, just like a commercial plane.

Arthur Busch 19:29

Correct. But you but in and in some of the news reports that I reviewed before I started talking to you today, it said that the masks that were available, many of them didn't work. Uh there weren't enough. And so, you know, people were you know were falling out or you know, they're oxygen.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Now the upstairs it, you know, so a few of them didn't work from what I was told, but the the crew had to oxygenate themselves first and then give it to the kids. Because you know, they would down the mass and give themselves oxygen, then uh give the kids oxygen until uh until we got below sea level. Sea level was at 10,000 feet.

Arthur Busch 20:14

So eventually the plane goes down.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Now you gotta remember for us downstairs, we didn't have the fallout mass, we had walk-around bottles, which were stationary. That meant you had to leave your position, go get them. So during the rapid decompression, we were unable to get any type of oxygen.

unknown 20:33

Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

So it was the the pilot, once the rapid decompression occurred and the when the doors blew off, it tore a little, tore apart the hydraulics, which helped navigate the plane. So you remember we were over the South China Sea at 25,000 feet when the doors blew off. So he tried to turn around and come back to the base. It's like at Ton Sinu Air Force Base, it's like on. So he once we uh turned around and tried to make it back to the base, the pilot knew he couldn't make it because we were going way too fast. So he decided to try to bring it down in this rice field, rice patties. So what he did, he uh he descended down far enough where he clipped a tree line heading toward the runway, but it was too short. So he ended up clipping the tree line, and we bellied down on one side of the Saigon River, and we went airborne once we bellied. We went airborne for about a quarter mile, and we just barely cleared the other side of the Saigon River, and that's when the aircraft started breaking apart. Now, and uh it and uh it bounced and bounced, and of course the aircraft broke apart and debris was scattered for miles. Now remember, we had people down below, so everybody downstairs didn't make it. So, because we absorbed the impact, the initial impact.

Arthur Busch 21:56

So I'm showing a picture right now of the debris field. It was quite extensive yeah that car that what you're seeing now that's where I was I was on a cargo that's what's left of the cargo section oh and uh Philip this is what oops I'm trying to get this up here for you uh what section is this this is uh that that's the that's the cargo section uh that's where where it rolled over to a side and that area there that's where I was evacuated to from the debris that I was entangled in.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

I was told that I was uh found hanging upside down my left leg entangled in wire cable wires.

Arthur Busch 22:40

But you were still alive and obviously uh obviously you were injured.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

Well they wanted to save my body so I wouldn't uh uh burn yeah because I was trapped in a burning wreckage and they just thought they'll save my body so it wouldn't charge and they got to untangling me and realizing that I was still alive and they untangled me and then they moved me to the area where you're showing this picture in a triage situation so where they evacuated most severe to least severe. So I was one of the first to be evacuated from a crash site.

Arthur Busch 23:10

What was going through your mind at that point I think you described to some journalists that you were unconscious at one point.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

Yeah at that time I was unconscious I didn't know what was going on I was only known what was told to me but I was told that I wouldn't stay still and I kept trying to crawl back into the wreckage and the and one of the pilot Bud Trainer he said he kept I wouldn't stay still and I was shivering because we remember we were in the rice patties where they fertilized the uh the patties with all sorts of manure caraba manure stuff. So I had all these open wounds exposed to this bacteria infested uh area and uh and the pilot said I was shivering so obviously infection was setting in so he took a blanket off of a lady that he thought was dead and we took the blanket off her and she opened her eyes. So that was really I was eventually evacuated to the Seventh day Avenue Hospital there in Saigon and was treated. Yeah now Bud Trainer he he signed this picture didn't he yes Bud Trainer he's he's a he's my hero he uh he brought it down best he could uh and of course uh the the uh the wreckage I was the only I was told at the time I was the only survivor that survived the lower level cargo section of that plane crash and we only lost two babies in the troop compartment out of a nearly 180 and uh and I was told we lost nearly a hundred nearly 200 people uh on that car on that lower level and then years later I found out there was a kid that survived in cargo section who has suffered severe brain damage what's going on in this picture here Philip oh that's the that's those kids are being uh evacuated from the crash site and that one lady and the blind lady her name is Christy Lieberman I haven't seen her oh since the early 80s but those kids were being evacuated from the crash site into the Seventh day of Venice Hospital in Saigon that's where I was that's where I was evacuated to and treated and uh let's see if I can make it come up here and this is uh same thing that's another view of the the entrance to the emergency there's Seventh day Infant hospitals. So they're evacuating these people to the hospital and is this when you're beginning to take off that's that's the uh how it looked down below in the cargo section where I was as you can see the the like the the defense at the state office volunteer they all city seated on the floor uh taking care of the kids and as you can see the the older kids are positioned along the catwalk in the in the catwalk seats so this is before the plane takes off right that's where I was that's where I was positioned correct and uh let's see if I've got them all here well it looks like you've got a bunch of other pictures going on here I'm not sure what they all are yeah well you go to my website fragile delivery.com you'll see a number of photos and that photo there you look you're showing that that's when I returned to Vietnam to the crash site and every five years I go to Vietnam to honor my crew members who lost their lives on April 4th 1975 and that was the picture was taken on the 35th anniversary of the plane crash and that lady happened to live in it in the area where the crash site well she's one of the villagers so she went to her house and bought back that that panel which happened to be some sort of um insulation on the C5 that she kept all those years and I took a picture with it and she broke me off a little piece for my keepsake and that's that's myself uh that was on uh Safi she was one she was six months old who were survived the upper level of the plane crash her name is Safi and uh and then all the others with her they all survived the upper level of the plane crash so that was 30 years later 30 years later that's one of the ones that you were involved in evacuating from Vietnam who was an orphan at the time correct well amazing um and then uh what does this picture depict oh that's what uh that was when I received the Airman's medal the Airman's medal was uh was I was given for heroism during the fall of Saigon the crash site and that's the General um uh Carlton PK Carlton Paul K.

Arthur Busch 28:14

Carlton four star general I was he escorted me off the parade field once he pinned my medal on and that photo happened to make the Air Force Times and in that photo you're you're using a cane to assist because you were injured? Yeah I was in the hospital I was released from the hospital to attend the ceremony to receive my medal and after the ceremony I went back to the hospital where I spent six months uh recovering and uh I guess there's a few other pictures here I could show uh but not to belabor all the pictures uh it's an amazing story I guess I put a couple others up here if you're comrades oh those are my crew members uh uh all the the three uh Marcy Ward on the left Olin Botwell myself and Colonel Aani Regina Honey we we all survived it now Olin is no longer with us but uh uh Marcy and and and Harry and uh Regina were nurses flight nurses Olin and I were medtex and uh as a matter of fact Olin ended up flying the very next day so he wasn't injured I was the one severely injured because I was on the lower level and that's Kim that's Kim he's one of the orphans that survived the upper level uh we were in Vietnam that's the same time I showed you the where you saw the photo of me with a picture of that panel from the C5. Right yeah he's from Sweden he was adopted to a family that lives in Sweden what goes through your mind when you meet when you met him what was what what what were your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 29:58

But meeting Safi and Kim were was uh so rewarding because I just wanted to get an idea uh of their thought process at the time of meeting me they were so genuine and grateful for uh for us saving their lives and giving them a chance at a new life in a in another world so it was rewarding and very emotional we we cried we hugged and shed tears together and it was very powerful it met the world to me to and I uh felt like when I go back to the Vietnam Veteran Memorial Wall I could share those stories with my 11 crew members whose names are on the wall to let them know that these kids lives that we saved they they really appreciate the sacrifices that were made and who's this uh young man here this is a uh uh a uh I can't think what's uh I can't think of his name right now it'll come to me but we had a a baby lift reunion in St. Louis and St. Louis has a uh uh Ryan Ryan Calapy St. Louis had a they had a uh large Vietnam baby lift community there so they had a uh a reunion back in 2001 where I was invited to come there as a guest and and and uh as a guest speaker and share my story and uh you've uh in this picture is the metal pending ceremony I take it yes I don't know if you could tell see that that's that's after I the general pent my metal on they placed me in a chair right next to the to the to the parade podium but that aircraft in the backdrop that's a DC9 nightingale that's the type of aircraft I normally fly on and that picture there is when I returned to Vietnam in 2006 that uh that was a part of the C5 wreckage that they made a memorial out of so everybody that goes to the crash site that's where they'll like uh incense and and say prayers honoring the dead you've spoken quite a bit uh uh it looked like uh here even here in Michigan you've uh before I go on to that what what is this uh now this one here the lady in the blue that's Sister Susan Sister Susan McDonald's she's the one invited me to St. Louis to share my story for 2001 but she would put on these uh uh home uh homecoming tours to Vietnam where a lot of these kids could go back and find out what orphan orphanage they came from and and she would uh uh share the stories and share with them the uh different orphanage that they were raised in and here we are all of us who survived the C5 we embracing each other at the crash site where we lit incense uh uh had prayers and sang songs honoring the deceased and that's me at the Scott Air Force Base uh uh Illinois where uh one of my crew members Regina Awny was honored and I was the one of the guests to attend her the the the ceremony well Philip uh your story obviously is one that was covered by a lot of media you've included some of these on your on your page if people want to know more about this story they can buy a book uh at Amazon called fragile delivery operation baby lift and uh there are other media outlet that has uh has interviewed Philip and told his story and um I can't play these here because I we don't have permission but uh uh we Phillip's uh story was told on 2020 with Hugh Downs in the day uh and uh it's quite uh quite an interesting uh video and uh if so if if uh the listeners want to go back to listen to more about Phil's story and Operation Baby Lift you can do so um by uh by going to his website uh so Philip let's uh let's shift gears here for a minute because not only are you an American hero uh who obviously um sacrificed yourself for the lives of others uh and a chance to have a life much less have a life in the United States um what was what was it about where you come from that gives you such courage and and such humanitarianism well growing up in Flint Michigan it was uh on the south side of town it was always activities going on whether it was basketball football baseball we we always found something to do and I was right there in the mix every day was playing horseshoes playing basketball football and uh you just uh always was challenged within your neighborhood and uh you know back then only the strong survived and I think I like to Philip your your camera is a little bit off here uh you know Philip I've given many several thousands of interviews and uh there are I I I've learned now to appreciate the fact that they bring cameramen to interview sessions and and here we are in 2020 and it's me and you and we have our own platform. And one of the great things about this platform is we have those moments so uh we're authentic uh right and we don't have to cut away for commercials either so Philip um there was something about that South in ethic that you had I mean not only did you you play hard uh but you had a certain ethic uh of consideration of others and honor and duty to your country I mean those sort of things you must have learned in Flint yes you know my parents were very strict and they made sure we uh did our homework did our chores before we played and that was customary for our household and I was uh always a uh a type of person that liked to work and uh I like uh cutting grass and seniors grass or shoving the seniors snow or going down the street to Michigan lumber company working in the sawmills or sweeping the floor at the lumber company I was uh I was always there and uh happened to become good friends with one of the owners of the Michigan lumber company and he sort of took me under his wings Howard Osson so uh he instilled on me in me a lot of good values that I took on with me to the Air Force now you left the Air Force eventually uh uh after this incident were were you discharged for medical reasons or did you how did that come about uh the Air Force retired me medically in 1978 uh because of of my injury I was severely injured so I got a medical retirement and afterwards uh I went to uh attended college after service and went to mock college and became a a nurse practical nurse and uh ended up uh that didn't work out well for me so I ended up becoming a mailman mailman yes uh even even with my injuries I still managed to uh deliver that mail I missed one day in 13 years oh my gosh and uh what areas were you delivering mail I pretty much worked all the south side east side north side and uh went into supervision and and management but uh that was an experience very good and uh as we conclude here you've told a hell of a story uh well I hope I didn't bore you I oh no hell no it was interesting uh and harrowing uh the story is but uh Philip uh as you look at your life um you look back on your life um you you return back to your hometown yes I've you know I've promised my mom that as long as I'm living I'll be here for her and she's 90 she'll be 93 this year this year and my my dad passed in uh 2018 but he lived to be uh 94 almost 94 but I promised my parents that I would come back to Michigan to be around for them you know the old saying once a man twice a child so that it's their turn to be taken care of yeah well you're certainly uh you certainly uh have shown this type of character and the you know the uh you you've shown what a great American actually looks like this is okay thank you sir and you should be proud and I know your mother and your dad must have been really proud of you for all that you've done for not just our country but for all those kids.

Arthur Busch 40:07

Philip I appreciate your time uh I guess I'm a little choked up because uh you know I'm the fat I'm the son of a disabled veteran as well and uh my dad was 100% disabled from the United States Air Force really well thank your dad for his service it brings back how's he doing a lot of memories for me interviewing you and to understand the sacrifice that you've endured not just in Vietnam but for the rest of your life you've had the scars war and and I must say somebody like you is an inspiration. So Philip nice to meet you God bless you and uh maybe we'll we'll get a chance to interview you with some of your buddies from the south side and we want to learn a little bit more about some of the characters that you grew up with because you you grew up in a fascinating neighborhood all right well just like to thank you for all you're doing and we're we here in Flint we appreciate you sharing the stories of our our flint tights we we really appreciate it we need to know more about our people and God bless you for all you're doing. Thank you Philip and to our audience it's time to time to uh take our tips and run on home uh we hope all of you will stay home during this uh emergency that we have it's probably just a little bit longer for patient uh and uh so if you can stay home and uh try to avoid contact as much as you can God bless you all and take care this is Arthur Bush signing off for Radio Free Flint. Thank you