This is the VIC 4 VETS, Honored Veteran, during Veterans Month in America.

SUBMITTED BY: Sandra D

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Vic and Ken
Dad would be against me telling people what he did, because he didn't have to go to combat. But he was prepared to be on a landing craft heading toward the shore of Japan. He always said he wasn't afraid, which might be why they tested him to be a frogman. There was something in his makeup that did not register fear. I saw that over and over.

I think he got that job because he was a little knowledgeable about motors and equipment, having been on a farm. So if the motor of the landing craft went down, Pop could have worked on it. So think about this: Pop knew he might have to work on an engine on a landing craft off the shore of Japan while he was being shot at. He was okay with that. Because he knew he had to be.

Here is my submission:
Pop was drafted in the fall of 1944[, which was remarkable in itself. It meant that the US was so hungry for soldiers and sailors that even young farmers were being drafted and that women, old men, and kids were left to feed the country. But ]the US was ramping up to invade Japan.

Pop was assigned to the Navy. [After training at Great Lakes near Chicago, he was tested to become a frogman at Fort Pierce, Florida. Frogmen were the precursors to the Navy Seals. It bothered him to the day he died that he did not pass one test to go on to the next level. My guess is, as a frogman, he would have been used to swim to the shores of Japan and blow up obstacles to landing craft. Instead, ]In 1945, he trained to crew a landing craft to invade Japan. They were told that one half of them would die. They were also told that they would know their chances of survival based upon what "wave" they were in. He was 20 years old when he was told to contemplate dying.

We know how it ended, the atomic bomb meant that Pop never shipped out from Norfolk to the Pacific. Instead, in the spring of 1946, he was assigned to the engine room of the USS Missouri and sent all the way to Istanbul, Turkey. This was a way for President Truman to tell the Soviet Union to "back off." My father loved that ship so much, that I think if they had told him he could have stayed on it, he would not have come back and married my mother whom he had known for her entire life. (And loved. I have the Valentine he gave her in the 1930s to prove it.)

My father never wanted to be recognized for his service because he did not go into combat. He knew people who did. He was incredibly loyal to family members who suffered alcoholism because of being in combat in the War and in Korea. But he was prepared to drive a landing craft with troops onto the shores of Japan. And, if he lived through doing it once, I have no doubt he would have backed that craft up and done it again. His entire life, he did whatever it took.

Thank you for recognizing Pop.

Sandra D.
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This is today’s VIC 4 VETS, Honored Veteran, during Veterans Month in America on NewsTalkSTL.

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11:05 – 11:12 (7 mins) VIC 4 VETS, Honored Veteran Of The Day, during Veterans Month in America

11:25 – 11:37 (17mins) NICK'S GUEST: Dr. Mollie James
punished by COVID tyranny and now helping heal Missourians

11:41 – 11:56 (15mins) NICK'S GUEST: MO State Rep, Richard West

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10:05 – 10:22 (17mins) Weekly: Susie Moore, Deputy Managing Editor, Redstate.com @SmoosieQ @RedState

10:25 – 10:37 (17mins)

10:41 – 10:56 (15mins) Jim Avery, Attorney,

Veteran Candidate for MO Senate 22

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9:05 – 9:22 (15mins) Weekly: Susan Pendergrass, director of research at the Show-Me Institute, to discuss:

1. 
   SLPS School Relocations After Tornado– Louis Public Schools announced that students from six damaged schools will be moved to other SLPS buildings to start the new school year. While this is being described as a temporary solution, it raises a bigger issue: Why do students only get access to different schools after a crisis? Families should have the freedom to choose different schools before disaster strikes.
2. 
   Missouri’s Outdated School Funding Formula– A state task force is looking at how Missouri funds public schools. Right now, the formula uses property tax numbers from 2005, even though property values and tax rates have changed a lot since then. This creates big funding gaps between districts. Susan has been writing for years about how the formula needs to be updated to reflect today’s reality, especially when it comes to how schools are funded through local property taxes.

9:25 – 9:37 (12mins) Larry Conners
Weekly: "Mr. Conner's Neighborhood @LarryConnersUSA

9:41 – 9:56 (15mins) Jay Ashcroft, former: Missouri Secretary of State, @JayAshcroftMOHusband. Father. Missouri's 40th Secretary of State

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MOLLIE JAMES- @molsjames on X

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MO STATE REP RICHARD WEST-SEG09-06-27-25-The Vic Porcelli Show

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JIM AVERY-SEG06-06-27-25-The Vic Porcelli Show

Jim Avery, Attorney,

Veteran Candidate for MO Senate 22

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This is the VIC 4 VETS, Honored Veteran, during Veterans Month in America.

SUBMITTED BY: Christopher Slater

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Good morning Ken,

Thank you to you and Vic for honoring our military members.

My veteran is Specialist (Corporal) David Bixler,

Specialist Bixler was assigned to the 1st Ballalion, 320th Field Artillery, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.

On September 30, 2010, Specialist Bixler was on patrol in heavily mined farmland in the Arghandab(AR-CON DOB) River Valley in Afghanistan. He was leading a team of three Afghan National Army Soldiers, when his unit was ambushed and heavy gunfire ensued.

When Bixler saw that one of the Afghan soldiers had veered toward uncleared ground, he ran after him and pushed him to safety. While doing so, Bixler stepped on an improvised explosive device. He suffered the loss of both legs, damage to his spinal cord, traumatic brain injury, and other serious injuries. For his heroic action, Bixler was awarded the Silver Star, as well as a Purple Heart for his wounds. Bixler was the 2011 USO Soldier of the Year.

Bixler was evacuated on or about October 1st, 2010, by an Illinois Air National Guard KC-135 tanker aircraft, configured for an aeromedical evacuation flight from Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, to Ramstein Air Base, Germany (close to Landstuhl Military Hospital, Germany, Bixler's destination).

Bixler survived his catastrophic wounds, and has since accepted a smart home from Tunnels to Towers (2016) and become successful in the computer industry, owning his own small business, specializing in 3D printed components.

American warrior.

Respectfully,.

Technical Sergeant Christopher Slater (retired)

United States Air Force/Illinois Air National Guard

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This is today’s VIC 4 VETS, Honored Veteran, during Veterans Month in America on NewsTalkSTL.

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