In this episode of the Joe Rooz Show, Joe brings an engaging conversation with guest James D. Paulk Jr. James, a 91-year-old Naval Academy graduate, submariner, conservationist, and author, shares his incredible life journey. From his early days in Georgia to his time at the United States Naval Academy, James recounts his experiences in the Navy, his passion for fishing, and his transition into marine conservation. He also discusses his book, "Shaking Up the World," which chronicles the remarkable stories of his Naval Academy classmates, including tales of survival, innovation, and exploration.
Throughout the episode, James shares fascinating anecdotes, such as his unexpected path to the Naval Academy, his love story with his wife, and the challenges and triumphs of his classmates. The conversation delves into the creation of GPS, surviving POW camps, and even walking on the moon. James's storytelling captivates listeners, offering a glimpse into the lives of those who have truly "shaken up the world." The episode concludes with reflections on the importance of perseverance, purpose, and the impact of one's life journey.
Joe's GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/raise-funds-to-cover-mortgage-escrow-shortage
FOLLOW US ON:
RUMBLE: https://rumble.com/joerooz
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@joerooz
TWITCH: https://twitch.tv/joerooz
X: https://x.com/joerooz
Facebook: https://facebook.com/joeroozpodcast
Minds: https://minds.com/joerooz
GETTR: https://gettr.com/joerooz
Special thanks to:
Executive Producer Wayne Rankin
Executive Producer Rosanna Rankin
Executive Producer Carolina Jimenez
Executive Producer Marisa Lee
Executive Producer Angela Wetuski
Sponsored by:
Podhome https://Podhome.fm
TNE Energy
(00:02:07) Introduction to the Joe Ruge Show
(00:07:25) Guest Introduction: James D. Paulk Jr.
(00:10:44) Jim's Passion for Fishing
(00:15:36) Journey to the Naval Academy
(00:23:07) Love Story and Life at the Academy
(00:33:22) Extraordinary Classmates and Their Stories
(00:51:09) Challenges and Highlights of Writing the Book
(01:04:21) Conservation Efforts and Achievements
(01:22:25) Closing Remarks and Announcements
- Wayne Rankin
- Rosanna Rankin
- Carolina Jimenez
[00:02:07]
Unknown:
Transmitting live from the asylum studios deep in the bowels of Southwest Texas, it's the Joe Rooz Show. The show where we talk about anything and everything, where nothing is sacred, nothing is watered down, and nothing is PC. Alrighty. Hey, folks. This is Joe Rooz. It is great to be with you once again, and it is nineteen hundred hours, nineteen ten hours on Wednesday, 08/20/2025. Welcome to the Joe Roos Show. And we're gonna do the very best that we can to bring you the best quality talk radio we can muster without all the bluster.
Folks, we got a good one for you tonight, if we can get it working right. We'll bring our guest on here in just a moment. So I hope you guys had a good night last night. I hope you guys, were able to catch the show last night with Svetlana Ryilkov, our do no harm version of the Joe Russo featuring our sponsor, the CEO of Ezra Healing, Svetlana Rilkoff. I thought it was a pretty good show considering I'm sick as a dog. Didn't wanna bring it up, but she wanted to. So because it was relevant relative to a, to a conversate to an issue that was going on up there in British Columbia. So but we did it. We talked about it. It was it was worth it. It was good. Everything worked out great. And, I thought the show went really well considering I was absolutely dead tired.
But, we're here. We are here. Alright. Now, so we do have a little bit of housekeeping that we need to do. So as usual, if you would, please head over to our website, joerooz.com. Joerooz.com. And when you get over there, head over to the contact section, open up that little web form, and send us over a message. Let us know whatever's on your heart, whatever's on your mind, any questions, comments, cares, or concerns that you might have. Let us know if you have any guests that you'd like us to try to get. And, if, looking for my pen. There we go. And if there's, any particular subject you'd like us to discuss, let us know what you're thinking. We'd really like to know. And if you don't wanna use the web form, totally fine. Just email me directly at [email protected].
That's [email protected]. Also, don't forget that this is a value for value show. All that basically means is that if you receive anything of value from what we're doing here, we're asking that you return that value to us in the form of a donation. You can donate your time, your talent, your treasure, any one of those three or all of those three depending on your ability and if you have the means to do it. So we'll explain more of that at the end of the show as we always do. Also, don't forget to head over to our affiliate link over at the alexjonesstore.com/joe and get yourself some of these great vitamins and supplements we've been talking about. Mentioned quite a few of them yesterday. I do not have my methylene blue with me today because I drank it before the show started because I felt like I kinda needed it. So, so head over to the alex jones store dot com slash joe and check out all those great vitamins and supplements. And remember that every purchase that you make helps us out tremendously because 10% of your overall purchase comes right back here to the show, and that is huge for us. It really does help us kinda meet all of our expenses, pay our bills.
Alright. Now, folks, also, remember yesterday, we talked with, Svetlana Ryokoff of Ezra Healing. Ezra Healing is a substantial part of the new wellness paradigm currently being born in North America and around the globe. The global citizenry are no longer satisfied with the sick care version of so called health care. Band aid medicine, endlessly treating symptoms rather than, the root causes, and that has to be stopped as soon as possible. Patient care must be the priority. We need to transition towards the do no harm model of private care that places humanity at the forefront of real health and wellness care. In this new model, your entire lifestyle is examined and analyzed to promote and support the totality of your body's integrated systems.
Ezra Healing is a solutions based health promotion and disease prevention grassroots movement that's always evolving to best serve you and your family. Now if you want more information about Ezra Healing, just head over to their website. It's right up there on the screen, ezrahealing.com. It's ezrahealing.com. And, by the way, if you are listening or watching anywhere in the, in the Alberta area of Canada, Ezra Healing is has a very special offer for you, for, ivermectin. So check them out. And, if you guys are up there, you know what I'm talking about. Your, your local leadership up there, is looking to, criminalize and ban ivermectin from certain, treatments. So Ezra Healing has your back. Check them out. Ezrahealing.com.
Ezrahealing.com. Alright. Now that, the bills are paid for, tonight, we're honored to introduce our guest, James d Paulk junior, a naval graduate, a submariner, conservationist, and author whose life embodies resilience and purpose. Born 91 years ago. 91. And when you see him, when he pops on, when he turns his camera on, you'll see this guy is sharp as a tack. 91 ago in Brunswick, Georgia, Jim's journey began at Glenn Academy and North Georgia College before he earned he's laughing. Turn your camera on, bud. Did I get it? You could turn your camera on. Go ahead. And, North Georgia College before he earned his place in the prestigious class of 1957 at the United States Naval Academy.
As a submarine officer, he served five years on active duty in the five and five in the reserves commanding missions that tested his courage and his leadership. After a twenty six year career in manufacturing management at Procter and Gamble, he cofounded a business consulting firm before pivoting to marine conservation where he spent nine years. His legislative work for recreational anglers further cemented his impact, earning him numerous conservation and fishing awards. Jim's passion for storytelling shines in his book, Shaking Up the World, a collection of 81 stories from his Naval Academy classmates chronicling their remarkable contributions from creating GPS to walking on the moon.
Now join us tonight as Jim shares wisdom from a career of service, conservation, and storytelling that continues to to inspire and shake up the world. Jim,
[00:09:17] Unknown:
turn your camera on, bud. Welcome to the shop. I thought I I thought I did. Is is I thought this was it right here. Is that is that not not it? I don't think so. Is that
[00:09:30] Unknown:
It looks like a little camera icon. There might be a little bit of a delay when you click on it. Looks like a little movie camera at the bottom of your screen.
[00:09:38] Unknown:
I thought that was it right there. It's
[00:09:48] Unknown:
oh, boy. That's okay. We can wait. I have you for an hour, sir.
[00:09:56] Unknown:
Wait. I get it. It says enable calendar camera. That's it. Turn on camera and join the show. There you go. Okay. Hey. Hallelujah.
[00:10:08] Unknown:
Oh, boy. You got it so fast before the show started. What happened?
[00:10:13] Unknown:
I don't know. That's alright. I get I usually get confused, and I have a I have a great assistant, and she's my caregiver, and she's a nurse. She will be an RN in May. Oh, great. They'll be in now, and and she is absolutely terrific. And this is the most unusual job she's ever had working for me because she spent half the time on the computer. But, but she was came by for a little while this afternoon, and she had to go, but she'll be back tomorrow. Okay. Well, she's she's great.
[00:10:44] Unknown:
Alright. Well, I'm glad you were able to figure out getting everything turned back on there. We had a we had a little bit of a restart, but that's why we started a little bit late. But that's okay, folks. We're we got Jim. He's here, and we're gonna have a really good conversation tonight. I think you're gonna find Jim's story incredibly compelling and very interesting. I I was able to read, some portions of his book, and, some of the stories that he has to tell are going to be really, really entertaining. And, yes, I I do believe, to quote your book, the, American taxpayer got their money's worth. Yes. I I do I do agree with that. So, Jim, let's get started here with, what's something that most people don't know about you but should?
[00:11:24] Unknown:
Well, I think, I I thought about that some and and, my my passion in life has always been fishing. And, I don't know if everybody knows that, but, I started when I was five years old. I got some thread from my mother's sewing machine and put it on a stick, and I caught some bullhead minnows about five inches long. I was hooked for life. Nice. And while I was on the submarine, there was no place to store a rod and reel, so I slept with it in my bunk. It was outboard of my bunk. And my rod and reel went with me everywhere I went. And if we went in for a few hours, I was up on the dock fishing and then come back on board. But, but, yeah, that's that's been my passion, and I've fished I've fished all over the world and a big fish, small fish, whatever.
Nowadays, I can't really get in a boat anymore, so I fish on a on the dock for bass for a couple hours on Friday and, can roll my walker out there on a dock and sit in a chair and fish. And, I've been pretty successful, but I don't keep anything. I put everything back. And and we've actually done some tutorials, on bass fishing with wacky style and certain color with a wig
[00:12:43] Unknown:
worms and things. Okay. It's been fun. Well, actually, I was gonna ask you when you you said you you when the when the submarine pulled into dock or something, you would get out and you'd you would be able to go fish a little bit. I was cut it was kind of a dumb question maybe, but when when the when the submarine's out at sea and you're on a mission, you're out on patrols, I'm sure it surfaces every once in a while. Right? It it's not it's not under it's not underwater all the time. Yep. Did you ever get to sneak up on top there and and kinda cast off the You know, I I'll I'll tell you something.
[00:13:17] Unknown:
We frequently had swim parties, and we flood down the submarine so the men could get on and off. And then some of us were back half fishing for sharks with steak. Just swimming over the bell and fishing for sharks all the time. Oh, good night. That was over there. That's awesome.
[00:13:37] Unknown:
That's funny. Oh my gosh. That's great. I wasn't expecting that one. That was a good one. That's good. That's good. Yeah. Alright. So let me ask you. So what's your, what's your go to beverage to unwind at the end of the day?
[00:13:47] Unknown:
My what? Your go to beverage to unwind at the end of the day. Oh, oh, oh, I have a glass of wine Nice. At night. And, I just have one glass and, we have a tradition in the navy called splice the main dress. And that means at 05:00, you can legally drink. And I've been abiding by that rule
[00:14:10] Unknown:
Ever since. Since since I was 20 years old, I guess. Well, that's like that's like the song, you know, that it's 05:00 someplace. Right? It is. It is 05:00 someplace. My, my go to drink usually at the end of the day, well, right now, I I'm I'm behaving myself. I'm a I'm a bourbon guy. I love my bourbons, but, I've I've kinda taken a step back from it a little bit. I was getting a little carried away. But, but, but, yeah, bourbon's my thing, and, my go to at night, believe it or not, is is still coffee. I I love my night coffee. That's that's something that my family, come from an Italian, Sicilian family, so, you know, coffee is very important. We have our 03:00 coffee, and usually what I do is on the weekend, I'll I'll I'll FaceTime with my sister, because there's just the two of us now. So I'll FaceTime with my sister, and we'll have our afternoon coffee on a Saturday. And we'll just sit there on FaceTime and just chitchat back and forth while we're having our, our espresso in the afternoon with our biscotti and, you know, all that great stuff. And, you know, it's not bad. It's it's it's a lot of fun. And then Let me ask you let me ask you this. Do you have a corona with Mexican food? You I know you have Mexican food in Texas. Tons of Mexican food down here, but, no, you know what? I'm not a beer guy. I don't like, I'm not big on beers.
And, I'm like I said, I'm a bourbon guy. I like my bourbon, my cigar, my women. That's it. Alright. Well, you got it. That's all we need. Right? Yep.
[00:15:34] Unknown:
Yep. It's whatever works.
[00:15:36] Unknown:
Exactly. Exactly. So you you've lived this incredible life. Like I said, I've read I read some of the stories in your book, and it it's incredible. It's a lot of fun to read, and and, folks, you need to read this book. Alright? You really do. It's a lot of fun. You you lived an incredible life. You've met some incredible people along the way. Tell us a little bit about the events that led up to you getting into the Naval Academy.
[00:15:59] Unknown:
Well, I was I was born in depression years in 1933. And so and then World War two, we were kids. And so all the men in in in my town went away to war. Okay. And I think, I think I was tuned in with my uncles and my father and all that went to war, and and my dream was to go to the Naval Academy. I'm I can't tell you why. It was just it would just seem like I was should go to the Annapolis. And, I didn't get in after high school, and I'm glad I didn't because I don't think I'd have made it through because I was too immature, and and and not advanced enough in my academics.
I was pretty average student. I was not an honor roll type guy. And, and then I went to, a military college in Dahlonega, Georgia up in the mountains, and it was twenty four seven, military and and, and great academics. And but I did not get my appointment after a year. So after I went back for a second year. And after my second year, I had no appointment either. And so I said, well, I'm probably going to Georgia Tech and get an engineering degree like my other buddies did. And but I I went playing at a golf tournament somewhere in Georgia, and a friend of mine from another city came running out on the course. Jimmy, Jimmy, your mother called. You gotta call home. You gotta get home immediately. And I said, what does she want? She said, she didn't say. I said, well, I'm not walking off the golf course in the middle of a match. I'll call when I finish. And so when I finished up, I called my mother, and she said, you have an appointment to Annapolis. I said, oh, my dream my life dream was true.
But she says, we gotta get down to Jacksonville, within two days for all your exams, and you gotta do push ups and sit ups and all the all the requirements. And, and so we went down to Mayport, the Naval Air Station. I did all the And a week later, I was at Annapolis. And when I got there, there were 1,160 of us. And the night before, we had no responsibilities because they weren't sworn in until the next day. And so, running around and where are you from and what do you do, and and, it seemed like everyone I met had graduated valedictorian from their high school, were president of the class and captain of the football team. And I'm saying, you know, I was none of those things. What am I doing here Wow. With all these people? So I was at awe of my classmates from from the first night. I'm saying, you know, I'm just an average guy from a little town in Georgia.
Here I am with all these people with all these credentials that I don't have. And but I did have one thing that they didn't most of them didn't have, and that was two years of maturity. And I had gone through differential equations at North Georgia, so I only lacked a couple of courses in math to have a, have a be have a major in math. So those things helped me out a lot, and those are, I think, the reasons that I got through with the two years I spent at North Georgia. But, but, yeah, I was in awe of my classmates. It was it was amazing to meet them. And then here I is, seventy years later, I'm still in awe of them. And that's the reason I did the book.
[00:19:32] Unknown:
Oh, that's great. Now what what's what's one of your favorite academy stories that you could share with us?
[00:19:37] Unknown:
Well, I think, I think there are a lot of them I could tell. The the one that that I'd like to tell is my love story.
[00:19:47] Unknown:
Okay.
[00:19:48] Unknown:
Okay. I never would have met had I not gone to the academy. My, my Georgia girlfriend, my, the beginning of my second year there wrote me a dear John letter. Seeing me twice a year for a little bit, it wasn't enough for a relationship. And K. So I I posted the dear John letter on the door like we got did, which was part of part of therapy. Okay. Everybody read the letters. So I had a classmate that said, Jimmy, I'm going over to Delaware University of Delaware for a three day weekend. Would you like to go? And I said, yeah. I'd love to go. I don't have any other ties. And and so his girlfriend, Sheila Cunningham, fixed me up with three blind dates, and they were three separate girls. I don't remember the first two, but Patricia Ann Metzler on the night knocked my socks off. And I'm telling you, I had a steady girlfriend from sophomore school, and I had never met anyone like her.
She believable. She had an aura about her that seemed to reach out five feet. And and I'm saying, wow. This is something else. I said, man, this is somebody I gotta consider marrying. I'd never thought about that before, but that's a good story. But, anyway, I I I I wrote a lot of letters, and I called and everything and to come over. And and she wasn't interested in in a military, life. And, I found out that, that she had just broken up with the captain of the Delaware basketball team just before I got over there. She only dated me as a favor for a friend. But I said we got this formal dance coming up. Why don't you come over, and and we'll have a great time dancing? And I that lady that she loved to dance. And so, she came over, and we were gonna meet on the steps of Bancroft Hall. And Bancroft Hall is the largest dormitory in the world. Okay. And and so so at 02:00 on Saturday afternoon, I said, man, I hope I can recognize.
And and the other thing, I hope she's not ugly as sin, and I'm gonna get the brick. I'll get a they put over my thing on Sunday night for having the ugliest girlfriend. Oh, man. I couldn't remember what she looked like, and and I know she felt the same with me. I go to the steps at 02:00, and there she was. She had on a Delaware sweatshirt. Just you know, I'd find her. And we both smiled at each other, and I think we connected on that first at in the very beginning. Oh, that's a great story. Yeah. It was it was wonderful. And and we had six together before she passed away, and it was it was just unbelievable.
She was, she had this personality. She could've run for governor of California. She already got elected because she was so conservative, but but, but she Maybe back then, she would've. But she was everybody knew Pat, and and I later found out that she was popular girl on the campus of of Delaware. So I I took her away.
[00:23:03] Unknown:
Wow. That's a great story, brother. That I really appreciate that one. I needed a good laugh on that. That's great. So, let's jump into your book. What do you think? Let's talk let's talk about, Shaken Up the World because the stories that are inside that book will will drive well, it really is gonna be the focus point of most of the questions for tonight. But, why don't you start by giving us the why behind the collection of the stories and turning it into a book?
[00:23:28] Unknown:
Well, after I I kinda got tricked into doing my first book. I wrote a magazine articles on fishing. And, after doing conservation, my name was pretty well known in the state of California. So all the magazines wanted me to to do articles for during the magazine because of my name. Because they certainly the articles weren't very good. They were supposed to tell more garbage, to tell you the truth. But I I, I did those articles. I had a friend that was the outdoor editor for the Augusta Chronicle in Georgia, and he had written several books. And and he the other one, I said, boy, Bill, that's really great. He said, Jimmy, you could do a book too. I said, why are you crazy?
That's not me. I said, I'm a terrible writer. He said I said, well, how do you do it? He said, well, you could take take some of your articles in Fisher magazine, put them together, and you got a book. I said, well, how many would you need? And and I he said, oh, maybe 10 or 12. And I said, well, I'll look. So I went through and, man, if I couldn't find more than three or four that I could doctor up that would worthwhile. So I said, this isn't gonna work. But, but I kept working at it, and I I had some notes from some other stories, and I actually came up with about 21. I had, I had a story that I had written about George Perry who caught the world record best in 1932.
And believe it or not, it's still the all tackle record today. Wow. Twenty two pounds and four ounces. That's a gigantic best. A Japanese angler tied it. But, anyway, he had that story, and, and that was published in, like, four magazines and several newspapers and whatever. That was they're pretty popular because of that. And I knew him as a child when I was a little boy. He he called me frog skin. Why? I froze I froze and get out of here before you get in trouble. Yes, sir. Why did he call you that, though? I don't know that. He had big names for everybody. It was he was he was most, unusual guy I've ever known, and and, he's a great man, and and he he bittered me too.
And, I I just I had a lot of people that mentored me. They people felt sorry for me to help me get through life, I think. They're they're still doing that. But, but I I think, after I did Swimming for Our Lives, people said they really liked the book. And I said, you're crazy. They said, no. Well, you need to do another book. And all these people said, do another book. And I said, well, I don't have any more stupid things that I did put in a book, but I think I could do one on my classmates because I knew a lot of the things that they had done that were impressive.
Mhmm. And so I decided that that these people were so significant in not just in my class, but in the world and the things that they had done was so unusual that we should share that with the world. And that's how I came up with the title shaking up the world because they, in fact, really did shake up the world with the things they did. And, and so that was what I plan to do was do the stories. I had, for our fiftieth anniversary, they did a lot of sea stories, and and and one of the guys collected them. And they put them in in the book for our fiftieth anniversary, and some of them were very, very long and and some of them were short. And, I he had lost his wife, and he moved to assisted living. And he called me, said, Jimmy, he said, I've got a dish somewhere of some some very raw data with with the genesis of stories on it. Would you like it? I said, yes. I would.
And so that was a genesis for some of the stories with that raw data. It had never been edited. It was just there, and it had to have a lot of work to it, but at least I had something to start out with. And with me, whenever I've done anything and I've done a lot of projects in life, I always have a committee. I always have a bunch of people that are talented, that can work together and do something. And I've put together a review committee, I called them, of seven men and one woman. The woman was retired from, the Smithsonian, probably smarter than all the rest of us. And and, anyway, if if when I got through editing a story, if the classmate was not alive, I sent it to one or two members of the review committee for them to edit it and check it for accuracy because we wanted to make sure everything was accurate. Right. Yeah. And if they were alive, then I sent it to them for them to check it and then send it back. So that was kind of the process that I used for for the stories, but it was a lot of research to to check accuracy on a lot of the stories.
[00:28:45] Unknown:
Oh, I'm sure. Yeah. Was there any special information that you didn't know before you wrote the book?
[00:28:50] Unknown:
Yeah. There there was there was a lot I didn't know. There was, one of the stories that I think would make a great movie. I had no conception of that at all. And Walt Mukau was born in Shanghai, China. His father was retired navy chief quartermaster and worked at the embassy figure. Okay. And if you remember, the Japanese invaded China, the Northern China. Right. And when they started moving south and the bombs started coming down on Shanghai, then the chief decided he better get his family out of there. So they got on a ship and headed for The Philippines.
And I won't go over all the details in the story, but, of course, when they got to The Philippines, the Japanese were soon there. And, you you you may have heard of the the Tian death march Yes. Where 10 we had 10,000, soldiers that surrendered to the Japanese. And and, when the Japanese were bombing, they were given a house, and and the chief went to work at a place there. And, they were told that, well, if the bomb start coming down, the sirens would go off, run down the street to a fort down under the air raid shelter. Well, the sirens went off. They went to the fort. When they came back, a bomb had hit their house, and it was total. There was nothing left. They didn't even have a change of clothes left. It was gone.
He went to work, and everyone at work had been killed. Oh my gosh. So then they were told when the army surrendered, they would have surrendered as well. So when they went to the place and surrendered to the Japanese, His, Walt's father was interrogated because they thought he was a spy. And, they really gave him a hard time, but they finally understood that he was a civilian and that he was not a spy. And so, Walt and his brother and his mother and father were put into an internee camp, which is a civilian term for prisoners of war for civilians, and they were moved around for several different camps.
And, each camp had less food, and and the two boys were speaking out of the camp and going under the fence and going out in the jungle to get fruit because they had nothing to eat. Wow. At one point, his mother traded, her diamond engagement ring with one of the guards for a loaf of bread, some rice, and a couple packs of cigarettes. But if the boys had been caught, they would probably been shot going out of the camp. Wow. But they, they they they got to the final camp, and and near the end of the war, the army had a rumor that the Japanese plan to shoot all of the internees. There were 200 internees in that camp that he was in, because they didn't have any food, and the Japanese wanted to get out of there. So they don't kill them all and and leave them.
But, they planned a raid, and it's one of the greatest raids in army history, but you probably have never heard of it. They coordinated with the Philippine guerrillas. They parachuted in. They shot the 75 guards. No one was injured. They got the 200 internees into Amtraks, and those are vehicles that go in the water and the land, and then loaded them up and got them across the water behind US lines. Wow. Walt was 13 years old when he got out, and he weighed sixty two pounds. They, they were just about starved to death, but, that's that story, they get strafed by Japanese zeroes. I mean, it was just total action all the way through, and it would make an incredible store. And I did not know that story at all until I did the book. There were several stories in the book that I had no knowledge of.
[00:32:56] Unknown:
Wow. That's some story. That would make a good movie for sure, without a doubt. Oh, man. Now like we said earlier in in in your book, Shaking Up the World, you tell a lot of stories about your Naval Academy classmates, and it really does cover, I mean, some extraordinary life events, from surviving Auschwitz, POW camps like we just talked about, creating GPS system, and even one classmate who walked on the moon, which is impressive. What's one of your favorite stories from that collection?
[00:33:26] Unknown:
My I'll tell you my favorite story. His his his name was George is George Phillips, and George is still alive. He likes me to tell his story. Okay. He was a commanding officer of a seagoing tugboat, which is kind of a unusual position for an academy graduate. Okay. But he had tugboats are very dangerous because they're handling barges and and fuel lines and, a a lot of lot of things. So the crew tends to be very experienced. They are mostly petty officers, and he had a chief warrant, the head charge of the engineering spaces below. And then above that, he had officer warrant officer Bean, b e a n, Bean.
Okay. And, anyway, they were given an assignment to go to Philadelphia where we have a large fleet of reserve ships that are just anchored up there. They're not used anymore. They were gonna pick up a a destroyer and take it around Florida to Texas. And they got hooked up and got out in the Atlantic, and it was very rough. They're rolling really like crazy. And, and then they found out that there was a storm down South Of Florida. And so they decided it'd be absolutely stupid to go down there and get in that storm with a big old destroyer behind them. So they decided they'd pull in to Port Angeles, which is now called Fort Lauderdale, and let the storm pass. So they pulled in there and and got tied up. But the night before they got in, George started having very severe abdominal pains.
So the hospital corpsman owned the boat, which is their doctor, examined him. He said, sir, he said, you have appendicitis. When we get in, you've got to go to the hospital immediately. And, and so they got tied up, and the paramedics and the ambulance was up on the dock, and they came down and loaded up the captain on the gurney, and up he goes up up the dock to the hospital. Well, he got to the hospital, and they decided it was it was, gastritis and not appendicitis. They treated him, and the next morning, they let him out to come back. So when he gets back to the boat, everybody's waiting for him.
Skipper, we haven't been paid in two weeks. We have no money, and we're in the best Liberty port in the country. But we found out while you were gone that if you take our pay records down to the Coast Guard station in Miami, that they will give you cash back and pay us. We could all go to shore and have a great time. And by the way, we have a pickup truck for you. That's that's for you. They think of everything. So George gets in the pickup truck, and he starts down Highway A 1 A, which is Ocean on one side and and strip malls on the other. At one point, a car backs out of one of the strip malls without looking, and George swerved over to the left to avoid t boning him, but he scraped all the way down side of the other car.
So they pull over, and the other driver just madder as you can be. Call the police. Police came and gave George a ticket. And he said, I'm taking your driver's license. Because you're in the navy, we can't depend on you showing up in court. You come to court this afternoon. At 02:00, we'll give you your license back. So, boy, 02:00, George goes to the court. And the judge is very ornery and giving everybody a hard time. He was bilingual because half the, half the, cases were Hispanic. Okay. So but they finally got him, and they they call his name. He stands up, and the clerk reads the charges.
And so the says, how do you plead? And George says, not guilty. The judge said, $25. Judge says, sir, please. He said, $25, and judge and George said, And judge said and judge says, bailiff take him away. So the bailiff takes George by the arm and locks him up. Oh, gosh. So there's a there's a telephone on the wall, and all he had was some loose change in his pocket. So he calls the boat, and he tells the executive officer, he said, they got me locked up in jail down here in in, Miami. You gotta bring $25 down here to get me out. He said he said, sir, I don't have $25.
He said, well, pass the damn hit. There's gotta be $25 on the boat. So couple hours later, executive officer shows up, and is with him. And so they let him out, and he's in the hall. He looks at and he said, you're all dressed up in blessed dressed blues like you're ready for inspection. Why are you so dressed up? He said, well, sir, I've never been able to never had the chance to bail the skipper out before, and I wasn't gonna miss this one. So about that time, the judge comes out of the courtroom, and he sees them standing down there. So he starts looking at Joseph Bean, and they're looking at each other. All of a sudden, they run togethers, start jumping up and down like that.
Now you're gonna like this part. It turns out that they were best friends in New Jersey. They joined the navy together, and they were on a battleship at Pearl Harbor when a bomb from the Japanese the attack on 12/07/1941 Wow. Blew both of them over the side, and each thought the other had been dead for twenty four years. Oh my gosh. So the judge looked at George, and he says, okay. $5 court cost. And so they paid him $5. And so he goes back to the boat. He gets on the phone. He says, honey, sit down. I have something to tell you. In the last two days, I've been in and out of the hospital and in and out of the jail. That's all I have to say.
[00:39:44] Unknown:
You can't take that one. That's a great story. Oh my gosh. Well, I was gonna ask you, like, who would you say had the most unusual story? But I think that might have been one.
[00:39:58] Unknown:
The most unusual story?
[00:40:00] Unknown:
Yeah.
[00:40:02] Unknown:
Let me see. You know, I I think I I I would like to tell you the fairy tale, and I misspelled fairy. I understand. Okay. It's a fairy tale. Bruce DeMars and and this is this is unusual. Bruce DeMars was, working at a as an assistant janitor at a bank in Chicago. He was from a very poor neighborhood. He had absolutely zero future. Okay. He had nothing ahead of him. There's no way he was gonna away go away to school. And, but he had he had told the owners of the bank that his dream in life was to go to the Naval Academy. And someone owed the bank a favor and managed to get him an appointment to Annapolis.
Wow. So he got there, and and he had not had his his physical until he arrived at the academy. So the hospital corpsman was shaking him over, and he said, your blood pressure is too high. He said, but it looks like you've been traveling all night to get here, and you look exhausted. Why don't you go over there on the couch and lie down and sleep for a couple hours, and I'll check you again? So when he woke up, the hospital corpsman checked him. He said, okay, Red. You're good to go. So Bruce owed his tenure at the academy to an enlisted man, and he never forgot it. Bruce went into submarines and in the nuclear program and advanced up the ranks, and he became a four star admiral. Get out of here. He was one of the top admirals in the navy. He was the second successor to Riccow's job, which was, in charge, of naval reactors, all of the naval reactors, in the navy. And, I didn't talk. In the story, he was he served in that job for eight years, and he did so much for the nuclear program.
But there's nothing in his story about that because it was just about the fairy tale. Now I'll tell you, when I when I finished with his story and sent it to him, I didn't hear anything back. And so I say, Bruce, have you had a chance to read your story yet? Bruce, have you read your story yet? Eventually, I got a telephone call from his son. He said, Jimmy, dad has not been doing very well lately. He said, but I read the story to him, and he looked up to me with a pillow, and he said, I wanna buy that book. And then, unfortunately, he died two weeks later, so we all lost Bruce. But he was a great, great man, and and there's somebody that, was highly deserving of everything he got and and was just terrific.
[00:43:06] Unknown:
But, yeah, I I love that story. That's my fairy tale. That's a great story. I mean, these all the stories that you've been telling me have been fantastic. I I've really enjoyed them. And, and as of again, the like, the stories that I've read in your book, I just they're they're incredible stories. You you sit there, you you laugh because some of the circumstances that that that are there are just, like, unbelievable,
[00:43:26] Unknown:
like, how these things apply. I'm a tell you a football story. Okay. Go ahead. Okay. When I when I announced the class that I was gonna do this book and I have to tell you, no one said, who the heck are you to write this book? No one said, you you don't have any right to do this book. You're just an average guy, and you're not a bright guy in our class or whatever. But but, Bob McElwee called me, and he said, Jimmy, would you like some stories from the NFL? And I said, Bob, I'd love them. So he sent me a lot of stories. He served as, as an NFL official for twenty seven years.
He's the only one that's ever done a Super Bowl in three different decades. And, and and there's a photo in the book with him with his arms up like that with a touchdown, and signified touchdown. It's a great photo of Bob. And when you look at the picture, you say, oh, I remember him. But he said he said, my job is as a, of the white hat referee is to stand behind the quarterback. And he said, the only thing I do is watch the quarterback, and I don't know whether the pass has been completed with a touchdown or anything else. I watch the quarterback until he's on the ground or the play is over.
He said, but I had a number of things I had to do before the blew the whistle. He said, I had to check the game clock, the play clock, the formations, substitution, couple other things. He said, but when I was in Chicago, I had one other thing to do. I had to reach around in my back pocket and check to see if my penalty flag was there. If it was not there, I had to go to the huddle, stand behind number 34. Walter, give me my flag back. And Payton would pull his flag out and give it to him. He'd put it in there, and nobody understands or on television ever saw that happen. Of course, the guys in the huddle were all laughing.
[00:45:40] Unknown:
That's a great story.
[00:45:41] Unknown:
But he's he's he has some wonderful, wonderful stories at, that that people will laugh out loud. There are a lot of stories in here that that I've laughed. Every time I read a story, I laugh about it again. It's just they're hilarious. Some of them are like that, and then some of them are pretty hard when you look at Leo Hyatt's story when he was shot down over Vietnam, and he was hit by a missile. And his plane was on fire, and so he didn't have time to slow his plane down. So, normally, you don't you don't bail out when you're going 850 miles an hour, but he didn't have any choice because he thought it was gonna explode. Yeah. I read that story. Came out. He he had his pulled his left left, arm completely out of his socket. It was broken a couple of places, had broken ribs.
And as soon as he hit the ground, he was captured, and he was put in a cave for prisoners for a few days without any treatment at all. And and he went through an excruciating amount of torture. And and, I debated even putting it in the book, but I said, you know, that needs to be on paper. Yeah. Yeah. It does. I agree. That story that story needs to be in there. And, the when they and they they had several times that they thought they were gonna get out, and and and it turned out that they they didn't get out. So it was get ready to go and no. You know, ready to go and no go. So, eventually, when the air force sent this big airplane in and they hid the American flag painted on the entire tail, and when all those prisoners got onto that plane, there wasn't a sound because they thought it was a trick.
And they took off, and there's still no sound because everybody thought this plane was gonna turn around and land and they were gonna be tortured again. But then the pilot came on, the one MC, and he says, he he says, boots wet, which means you're over over the ocean. And when he said that, the plane erupted, and everybody was so happy they were going home. Wow. And and it was just and then and Leo spent a year in the hospital, but eventually, he went back to flying duty. But but he was really, really he he almost died a few times. It was one of the other guys that came in that that helped him. And, otherwise, he would never made it through. But but I see loyalty and bravery and a lot of lot of things there, and he he attributed that. He said he's a basketball coach. Bigger guys would knock him down, and the coach would say you gotta get up and and keep going. And Yeah. And and I think that's one thing sports does for you. You learn that that a lot of guys gonna kick your butt, but you gotta keep going.
[00:48:38] Unknown:
Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. What was some of the what was the greatest challenge when it came to writing this book for you?
[00:48:44] Unknown:
I think I think the greatest challenge for me was coordinating. There was so many there was a million details. I had I had 59 authors and 81 stories and all the photographs. And I had to get I had to get photographs from different places, from different, museums and laboratories, and and and there's a lot of coordinating. And so it was just I had note notepads all over everywhere with just list in there and things to do. So I think it was just a lot of lot of details. The coordinating with the people were absolutely wonderful. And and you asked me what was the benefit of doing this. I would say getting to know a lot of people that I didn't know real well, and it was such an honor to get to know all these people. But, but just the details of of coordinating all the stories. And I I I'll tell you one story.
I had to I had to decide where I was gonna place the stories because they are not in chronological order. Right. But I wanted to have some strong stories. My strongest stories in the in the beginning and the middle, and then I wanted to have one of the best stories for the last one in the book. Because when the reader finished the book, I wanted them to say, wow. I can't believe that. So I call the author of that last story, and I said, Bob, I said, we have picked your story for a place of honor in the book. It's going to be the last story in the book, and I explained why.
And it is an unbelievable story. It it involves men getting injured, one man going overboard, and they thought he's go he was goner and and in the Sea Of Japan and rough weather, and it was just one of those things where a a one mistake and and a lot was gonna be lost. The two the guys that were injured were injured so severely that they had to get to a hospital in Japan within a number of hours or they were gonna be goners. Wow. And so so they had a guy in the water overboard where they didn't know where he was, and then the guy's injured. But, everything turned out alright, but, but it was it was a great, great story and and one of, of of a lot of really good decisions, that made everything turn out okay.
[00:51:10] Unknown:
So what would have been a few of the highlights for you, both in writing the book and in the experiences that followed,
[00:51:17] Unknown:
becoming a public? I would let me tell you this one. Charlie Duke was our astronaut that spent three days on the moon. In fact, he was the youngest youngest astronaut ever to go on the moon. When when I talked to Charlie about doing his story, he said, Jimmy, he said he he said, look. He said, why don't you interview me and you write the story? I said, well, I haven't been doing that. I said, but okay. I'll do it. And so I agreed. We called him on the phone, and I got my granddaughter, my 30 year old granddaughter, to come over with it. She had a photographic memory. I said, Melanie, you take a set of notes. I'm gonna take a set of notes, and then I'm gonna put them together and do a story. Then I will send it to send it to to Charlie. K. And so that was special because I got to do it with my granddaughter, and I got to do it with Charlie.
And I sent it to him, and he added a little bit and made it even better, and it turned out to be, I think, a great story. You know, one one thing that happened is that the the Olympics were going on on Earth while they were on the moon. And so Charlie and and, and and Young decided that that they ought to have Olympics on the moon too. So Charlie started bouncing and was gonna do a long jump. And all of a sudden, when he's in the air, he realized he said, if I land on my back and bust his backpack, I'm dead.
[00:52:47] Unknown:
Right.
[00:52:49] Unknown:
So he said he he said I twisted a little bit, so I landed on my side and everything was alright. He said I looked up, and Young said, surely that wasn't too smart. And about that time, NASA came on the phone and said, no more. And and a number of years later, they did not get a gold medal, but they got a certificate of achievement from the Olympic Committee for for their, recognizing the Olympics on the moon. That would have been nice if they got a medal, though. Yeah. It would have been. They he took two medals up there. He took it was the twenty fifth anniversary of the Air Force, and he took he had to get permission from NASA to take anything. So he took two coins. And, he left one on the moon Mhmm. And the other one is in the Air Force Museum that he brought back from the moon. He had, he had a photograph of his family he put in a a ziplock cover and left that on the surface of the moon. Oh, wow. And the photograph one of the favorite photographs in the book of him saluting the American flag on the moon with the lander in the background. I've I've seen that picture, yeah, many times. Yeah. Oh, boy. It's great photographs.
[00:54:09] Unknown:
But, you know, getting just knowing all these people is just is such a thrill for me. Yeah. Yeah. I can I can only imagine? I mean, but the but the way you tell the stories and the way you put them all together, you know, it it kinda you you kinda walk away feeling like you know these guys a lot better than than just what what history would tell you.
[00:54:28] Unknown:
They're regular guys. I mean, one of the guys on my review committee is, a three star admiral, and, I work all over. We're all we're all just like we were a plebe here. We're just like we're 20 years old and and yet we're all nighty. 90. You know? It doesn't matter. But we're we're that close, and, it's just, I think you go through all of this, together, and and you are very close. And I have friends who went to other school, and they don't have any contact with their other classmates. And I'm saying, my class, we have a Zoom meeting once a month. Can you believe that? That's awesome, bro. Zoom meeting.
We, I I have to tell you that the royalties from this book go to the Naval Academy Foundation Great. To to sponsor a professor in the history department to teach naval heritage. And that was, our gift to the academy for our fiftieth anniversary, and we raised enough money. And over the years since the fiftieth, we've had 21 professors at the academy, And most of them have written books while they were there, like the Battle of Midway and and other research they do and and and books while they were at the academy. So it's it's been, I mean, you look at look at the things that these guys have done and our class has done, and I couldn't I couldn't list all all of the, things that we've done for the campus, everything from scoreboards to gates at the at the at stadium and and just a whole long list of things that we have given to the academy.
You know, Joe, everything that we have in life, we owe to go into the Naval Academy. I'd probably been in jail. You'd probably been locking me up in jail I had told you.
[00:56:23] Unknown:
I don't know about that. But, let me if you could pick one story to share with the audience that, that you think teaches us the most about living our lives, purpose, and, and open to new discoveries, which story would you tell?
[00:56:38] Unknown:
I I think, I think we have to mention Brad Parkinson. Brad Brad was the architect of GPS, but he was, an air force colonel, and they had a meeting in the Pentagon. And the senior officers from the army, navy, marines, and air force were all in a room, and he's making a presentation that he wanted to get enough money to put some satellites up to test this new system. You think he got it?
[00:57:14] Unknown:
Nah.
[00:57:16] Unknown:
The name of the story is a critical failure that led to GPS. Well, the all those brass left the room, and there was one guy that was still there who was a contractor. And he said, Brett, he said, I think you've really got something that could be significant. And, and he said, we're gonna we're gonna help you get the money to put the satellites up there and test the system. And so there's there's somebody that worked for years and years and years on a on a program, and he's probably the smartest guy in the air force. The guy's absolute genius. He's he's a a retired professor from Stanford. Okay. And, he's he's got awards from an honorary degree over. He he won the Draper award, which is equivalent of Pulitzer prize, and it's it's the Draper is for, engineering excellence. And, he won that. He got, there's a photo in the book of prince Charles giving him the QE two award Oh, wow. For doing doing GPS around the world.
And, and that's kinda funny because, they're both kinda laughing. It's kind of unusual for us to I said I said, Bruce, what's going on there with those smiles and laughing? He said, well, he said the prince asked if I could explain to him how GPS worked. And he said, I asked him, have you got about an hour? But but it was it was not a sure thing because even when they got the testing and everything, it was just for the military. They did not want the civilians to have it. Right. But we had a classmate that was a major general that worked in three different administrations in the White House, and the president was Jimmy Carter who was an academy graduate. Mhmm. So between the three of them, they made the system available for civilians, and that's why we have GPS right now.
We're we're trying to get a building named for him in the yard, which is the yard is our campus Okay. Because it's so monumental for humanity to have GPS, and we owe all that to Bruce. And That's amazing. He he would tell you the he would tell you that he was just a leader of a committee, but but he, there's another story in the book about him, that that he was he was the assistant, director of aerospace and aeronautical engineering at the Air Force Academy. So he taught classes, and he was assistant. And and, somebody came in and said, we need you to move away from this job and and and and straighten out this this digital of aiming for gunships and that we have in Vietnam.
And Brad said, I've got a full time job here. I'm teaching. I'm the director of the department. He said, we made a arrangement with them that you could go, but you are the only one in the air force that can fix this guidance system.
[01:00:41] Unknown:
Wow. So That's something else, man. Yeah. Unbelievable.
[01:00:45] Unknown:
And and, so he stepped away and, went to Florida, and and he worked with the technicians, and he he worked day and night. And and they were gonna go out and test the aiming on a on a barge they had set up out there. They were gonna blast it. And they said, you're gonna go, Bruce. Because I haven't slept for thirty six hours. I'm gonna sleep while you guys are out there. So he said he couldn't sleep. He came back. He tried to sleep. He said he said I got up a couple hours when I heard the plane come back in. And he was when everybody got off the plane, they were all smiling. He said, I knew we made it work. That's awesome. So he said, they told him, he said, when they that barge, they blasted it to pieces. And, said, now you gotta go to Vietnam and ride one of these gunships and make sure it's gonna work because it they wanna go they wanna take it away and make it analytical because they have been able to get digital work. So you go to Vietnam. So he spent nine months in combat when he was supposed to be teaching at Air Force Academy because he was the only one in the Air Force that decided they could do that. Wow. That's amazing.
[01:01:59] Unknown:
He's a and you know what? You talk to him, he's just a regular guy. Yeah. I mean, just these stories that the and they're great stories. They they make you smile. They they and some of them are char kinda are tragic in a lot of ways. But at the same time, you look at these and you realize that, you know, just life just throws you curveballs no matter where you are in life, no matter what you're doing in life. You know, you never know what it's gonna bring you.
[01:02:24] Unknown:
And Life is life is evolutionary. Yes. And I I think the the one thing that you get out of this book that's inspirational, really, is you can see a bunch of guys that came in there just off the streets around the country. Yeah. And what they did and how they evolved. I mean, we that was that was fish farming in The Philippines. Raised he raised the most anybody in The Philippines. I mean, that's crazy. Yeah. You had one that was, editor of a newspaper on the island of Molokar in Hawaii. There's no way that people in the graduate from academy gonna be doing these things, but they did. And it's just you say, wow.
It's it's amazing. I had, for the book signing, are we running out of time? No. No. We're good. Okay. I had, for the book signing last last year, I had a a call from a woman in Jacksonville, Florida, and she said, Jimmy, if I she said, I bought a book and said, if I bring it up, will you sign it? I was like, oh, I'd be happy to. So she came up, and and she waited a term because there are a lot of people in the room. And she came up and sat down, and she I said, how do you want me to sign it? She said, I want you to make it to my son, Spencer Stevens.
And I said, okay. Spencer Stevens. And she said, he's going to the academy next week. And I said, well, She wanted him to read that book before he went to the academy. That's awesome. Went up there. And you know what? He's six four, two hundred and twenty pounds. He throws left handed, and he's pitching. He pitched his first year there. Nice.
[01:04:12] Unknown:
It he's he's amazing. I don't know. He he might be in with with Mitch one of these days. Hey. You never know. Hey. You never know. Well, they can use all the help they can get. Right? Yeah. Hey. So tell us a little bit about the collaboration with your classmates and how how, the, I guess, the conservation of stories that has impacted your life.
[01:04:32] Unknown:
Conservation? I I had I was asked to to meet with some people, and, it was an eclectic group. There was doctors in there. There were charter boat skippers. There were some, fish and tackle store owners and maybe 25 people. And they had been meeting and and and discussing the problem with gill nets in Southern California. Mhmm. And gill nets are nets they put perpendicular to the beach, and the fish is swimming parallel and running the nets. And they get in the nets, and then the sharks and the sea lions and everything eat them, and then they get caught in the nets. And it's, it's it's an indiscriminate killer, and it's it's not it's not healthy for the fisheries. Right. So, they asked me to come in and get get the group organized a little bit, and so, I did. And and and then all of a sudden, they were doing a GILNET initiative, and and the guys in the committee were coming in and reporting.
And after about two weeks, he said, it's not going well at all. And so three people went to the assemblywoman who was sponsoring it and said, we gotta get new leadership because this is gonna fail, and said, we wanna put Jimmy Polk in there as a leader of this initiative. And, anyway, she called me, and I I went to her office and I met with her. And I said, I'm busy with my my consulting business and all my guys. I hate to leave them. And she said, well, for five months. And she said, then you can go back. And I said, well, I tell you what. I'm gonna go talk to my committee.
And if those guys would tell me that they'll put their lives on on hold for five months and all of us gonna bust our butts for five months, and if they say they'll do it, I will I will agree. So I asked them. I said, look. I said, we we're gonna have to get signatures all over the state of California, and the only way we can be successful is to create the perception of success. I learned that they had tried this twice before, and I didn't know that and failed. So this was the third time they tried to get it on the ballot. So we got going, and and we were everywhere.
And, we were getting signatures and raising money. And and, after, five months, we had to raise we had to get about 600 and something thousand signatures to get 550 qualified with the right signatures and and Right. People that registered the vote. And and, so I had to arrange some kind of a big show and tell thing to get a lot of publicity out of it. So I asked, one of the guys I knew that was had a had a mortuary, and I knew he had a twin engine King Air. And I said, we need to fly to cover the state of California, and I need a fast airplane.
Will you will you fly us around California? And he said, yeah. And his brother agreed to be the copilot. So we had about five of us. K. And we left, Orange County, which is South of LA, and we flew to Sacramento. And we put on a dog and pony show on in the Media Room, the Governor's Media Room at Capitol. And then we flew to flew to Burbank, and meanwhile, they got us to lunch so we had something to eat on the plane. We got to Burbank, and we had all the movie stars there. And even Ronald Reagan's daughter, Patty Duke, was there. And Wow. And and and a lot of the the TV stars were standing up. We must have had 20 people standing up. So when you get that many celebrities, you're gonna have a lot of TV cameras. And Sure. And so that was covered. And we and then we got back on the plane, and we flew to San Diego. When we got down there, we had a a a train of fork trucks, and we had pallets of of of petitions on fork trucks, and we loaded those up and put them on the courthouse steps.
And so we had to stay. We got a lot of publicity out of that. And so then we got back on a plane and flew back to Orange County. So we we left in the dark, and we got home dark, but we covered the whole state of California, and we created a lot of, lot of media attention. Wow. And and, and and, I mean, I was on the radio a lot, and I was doing television call in shows and and whatever, but, but we got it qualified. We got it on the ballot. That's great. And then and then the night of the of the of the event, we had they put on a special, dinner for us, and Mickey Mantle was there. Joey Bishop was there. Nice. We had a lot of people that were that were pretty celebrities there, and and I had a big chalkboard, and I was right as I as I the calls came in, I was writing the numbers up, and and we won 53 to 47.
And we got it on the ballot and got the gill nets out of there. And Awesome. I I think that's probably one of the craziest things I've ever done in my life. I can't believe we did it, but, but we did. But we didn't do it I didn't do it alone. I guarantee you. We had one heck of a lot of help. Yeah. Well, you need you need a lot of help for that stuff. I mean, that's that's not an easy task to undertake, but that is great. So, Jim, is is there anything we haven't covered yet that you really wanna share with the audience? I I think we got I think we got it covered. I I think, I I think I hope people will will get the book and read it. It's going for a good cause, and I think, I think especially young people, and a lot of people are buying it for young people, not necessarily those going to Annapolis at the beginning of their life that look at look how life can evolve for you. Right. And one of the, editorial reviews and there there are three editorial reviews on on Amazon now, and there will soon be a fourth one from, Naval Institute for saying they did a review, a real nice review, but it hadn't posted yet.
But I I think, it one of the one of the editors said, it's history at eye level, and I love that comment. That's great. Yeah. It it's it's the stories about the latter half century and things that occurred with the people that were involved in those things and their stories. There there there are two people that were at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. One of them was a four year old girl. Her father was at sea on one of the destroyers Wow. That was out with Halsey's carriers. And the other was, an eight year old whose father was in the army, was at the army base, and and they live two doors from the airfield.
He was standing out on the street waiting for the bus to pick him up and take him to Sunday school. The Japanese were firing at the airfield, and these these empty cutters were falling on the street. He said, I was walking around picking him up, putting him in my pocket. Jeez. Father came running home and grabbed him and got he and his mother under a table, and and they they got them evacuated to a school in in a middle of a pineapple field somewhere. Because they thought the Japanese were gonna invade Hawaii. They they really did. Yeah. But there's lots and lots lots of good stories in here and a lot of good I wrote one about possums and possum in the church and did you read that story? I don't think I saw that one. No.
Yeah. That's a crazy story too. Don't tell me. I wanna I wanna read it. I wrote what I wrote what about catching worms too.
[01:12:42] Unknown:
But don't tell. I wanna I wanna finish reading it. So don't don't don't spoil it for me. Alright, Jimmy. So where can the audience go to learn more about you and about your books?
[01:12:57] Unknown:
They can they can get me at face on Facebook at Jim Polk or James d. Polk junior author, either one of those pages. And, I'd love for them to, follow me and and stay in touch and and, and give me feedback. And and, I think I think we wanna be in touch with the American people in any way that we can. I I've been in I've been involved with a lot of speaking engagements. I I was the speaker in for the, in November for for Veterans Day, for a big affair. And and you probably gathered, I do like to talk a little bit. That's okay. But but I I get invited to to speak. And I I enjoy it because I like sharing the stories about about my guys, and they are they are so so important for this world, and they have done so many things.
I touched on a few, and and there are a lot more. But, but stay in touch. I would love to stay in touch. Oh, absolutely.
[01:14:05] Unknown:
For sure. For sure. I'll definitely be in touch with you, and I'll be able to look for you on the socials. We'll follow each other. We'll we'll have some banter back and forth. Jimmy, also, I just wanna say thank you very much for your service, sir. I really do appreciate, the sacrifices and the and the and the things that you've gone through over your career, for our liberties and our freedom. So thank you very much, sir. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Appreciate it. Alright. God bless you, brother. I'll talk to you soon. You too. Alright. Jimmy Paulk, folks. What a what a story. What a life. Holy cow.
91. Look at him. Wow. God, I hope I'm I hope I have this much energy when I'm 91 for crying out loud. Alright. I only work I only work ten or twelve hours a day. That's all. There's nothing. Right? It's fine. It's nothing. Alright, Jimmy. You take care now. God bless you. Okay. Have a great night. Alright.
[01:14:54] Unknown:
Bye bye.
[01:14:55] Unknown:
Alright, folks. Jimmy Polk. What a great story. What a great life. But, I mean, you need to check out the book. I did check out I'd read the majority of the book, even up to up to up until today. I'll get it out. Up until today, I was still reading some of it. So really good stuff and and a lot of fun. I enjoyed reading it. It's such an easy read too. It's not like, you're not gonna sit there and, like, like, trudge your way through it. It it reads fast. It's very well written, very well put together, and I think you're really gonna enjoy it. Alright, folks. So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna take a quick break here. I gotta go blow my nose, and I gotta get some water or something because I am very dry from the medication that I'm on. But, we'll be back right after this very quick quick break. But But don't forget, folks, this is a live show weeknights, 7PM central time, Saturdays, 3PM central time, Sundays, 6PM central time. And, don't forget to, like, subscribe, share the show with your friends, your family, and your followers. Help us to spread this thing out.
I'm really happy to see that, you know, our our followers here on on on Rumble have been increasing, steadily, you know, a little bit here, a little bit there. But you know what? It's been a steady increase, and I'm really appreciative of that, and thank you so very much to, each and every one of you for it. Our downloads on the audio has been fantastic. Thank you. That's huge as well. And, you know, just let us know what you think. Just send over any comments, questions, cares, concerns you have. Just use the contact form on the website, or you could always email me directly at [email protected]. Alright, folks. Again, we'll be back right after this very, very, very short break. So why don't you just stay with us?
Alrighty folks. First hour is in the books. James Polk. What a great guest, man. That was a lot of fun. I enjoyed that. Really did. And you weren't with us when we first, when we first connected on the, on the stream there. It was everything was working just nice and smooth and nice and clean. And then I don't know what happened. We hung up, or we got separated for a minute there, and then we had all bunch of chaos ensued. But it was a great show, great great time with Jimmy, and, I had a blast. And you really do need to check out his book, so please go do that. And as you heard him say that it is going all towards all the proceeds from the book are going to a great cause, so please check that out. Folks, Podholm, my audio host platform, is the most modern and easy to use podcasting host platform that there is. You can use it to publish your episodes, enhance your audio, you and automatically generate transcripts, chapters, titles, show notes, and so much more. You even get to podcast live through your website with the web player that they have developed for your website. You also can get a website through them if you don't have one of your own. Or if you do have a domain, you can always bring it over to PodHome, and they'll they'll help you set up your website.
Everything that you need in one place for a very affordable subscription of $15.99 a month. That's just $15.99 a month. So head over to podholm.fm podholm.fm and, give it a try. I I really think you'll be happy with it. I have been using them now for about, almost two years, I think. And, the the it has been just incredible, and the development that has been taking place with them has been phenomenal. Every every it's constantly it's it's something that's constantly in motion. They're actually beta testing a pod a podcast player for your for your phones. I'm in the, beta program for that. I'm testing it out. It is great, and I cannot wait for it to go live so everybody can benefit from this thing. Great, great platform. Podhome.fmpodhome.fm, $15.99 a month, and then you get, thirty days absolutely free. And I guarantee you, you're not gonna you're not gonna cancel after the thirty days. So you need to try that out. Please, please do so.
Alright. So before I get into the, all of the, the closing stuff, you know, the announcements and, you know, all the information, about, you know, the socials and and whatnot, I I I do wanna comment on something. Now I know there's been a lot of talk. There's been a lot of stuff going on in the news, a lot a lot of developments taking place between, between Russia, Ukraine, and we really have not spent any time talking about politics like we normally would because we've been doing all the guest segments, which is fantastic. I love it. But, there had been a lot of developments. Now, you know, we had all of the, European leaders at the White House, this week talking with president Trump about, the next steps with Ukraine, talking about ceasefires, I and which I don't understand why they would prefer to have a cease fire rather than just all out peace.
The president has successfully negotiated peace, you know, and ended six wars without having to do a ceasefire. But, you know, I I think he could do that with, Ukraine and Russia. He just needs the time to do it. So I think all that's coming to fruition, and we're very we're I'm thrilled that it is because, you know, I I would love I I appreciate what Donald Trump is doing. I, I I give him an a a plus on on just about everything that he's been doing. Couple of little misfires here or there, which is normal. You know, you can't agree with everything all the time. But, he did make a comment the other day, and and as as someone who who who teaches the Bible and somebody who preaches the Bible and someone who believes in the Bible and believes in what the plan of salvation is.
The president made a very interesting comment, and I I I'm not sure exactly who he's getting his spiritual advice from, but he's wrong about something. I'm gonna play a clip for you, and I want you to hear what he says here, and then we'll address that very quickly.
[01:24:21] Unknown:
Just wanna end it. I wanna end it. You know, we're not losing American lives. We're not losing American soldiers. We're losing Russian and Ukrainian, mostly soldiers, some people as missiles hit wrong spots or get lobbed into cities like Kiev and towns. But, you know, when if I can save 7,000 people a week from being killed, I think that's a pretty I wanna try and get to heaven if possible. I I'm hearing I'm not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. Did the So if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons. Well, I think I saved a lot of lives with India, Pakistan. They were going at it. They were were the planes were being shot down. That was gonna be maybe a nuclear war if I let that go, and I did that through trade. I was
[01:25:04] Unknown:
Alright. So you heard what he said. Yeah. I absolutely agree with him. He wanna stop the war. He wanna stop the killing. We wanna stop the bloodshed. It it shouldn't it shouldn't be going on this long, and it's not our war. We don't need to have troops in Ukraine. We don't need boots on the ground. I don't even agree with the idea of giving him air cover, but what the president said was is that he hopes that he can get to heaven if he stops this war. Alright? Again, I don't know who his spiritual advisors are. I don't know what they're telling him, but if you're mister president, if you're trusting your good works to get you into heaven, all you gotta do is send yourself to hell.
Because the Bible says very clearly that it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but by his mercy, he saves us. The only way anyone gets to heaven is through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. There is no other way. The Bible says very, very explicitly that, you know, if you try to get into heaven any other way, you're like a thief and a robber. So, mister president, please don't put your trust in in the good things that you're doing. You're doing great works. You're doing great things. Yes. Absolutely. But if you are truly saved, like you have purported to be in the past, you have to understand that it's not the works you're doing.
It's because of the blood of Jesus Christ and that alone, and that's it. Now the good works that you're doing, yes, you're gonna get rewards for that, absolutely. Jewels and the crowns, as they say. But if you're trusting in in in doing these things to get you into heaven, mister president, I'm sorry, but you're not gonna get there. You're not gonna get there. And whoever it is that's counseling you spiritually, fire them. Get rid of them. Please get rid of them. Because they're not they're doing you an injustice, and they're gonna send you to hell.
Believe on the lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. That's it. There's nothing else. Nothing at all.
[01:27:20] Unknown:
Alright.
[01:27:22] Unknown:
I'm gonna leave it there. Alright, folks. Let me just let me refresh this here a second because the wonderful quality. Let's see if that helps. Alright. So folks, announcements. Don't forget to head over to the website, joeroos.com joeroos.com and sign up for the programming announcements email list. First of all, it's free, which means it don't cost you nothing. Second of all, it's the best way for us to contact you throughout the course of the week to let you know what's going on with the show, mostly because I am absolutely terrible with social media stuff. So please sign up for the, email list on our website. Just when you go to the website, a little pop up is gonna come up on the screen there. You'll be fine. Just fill it out. Get on the mailing list. If you're not happy with it, get off the mailing list. It doesn't matter.
But it is the best way for us to keep in touch with you guys in between shows, so please sign up for the email programming list. Also, I wanna remind you that this coming Saturday, we should be having our crypto psychic on the show, our resident crypto psychic. So we'll be talking about, the latest developments in cryptocurrencies, financial advice, not financial counselors. So anything we say is not, you know, you you can't hold us responsible for a bad investment. We're just telling you our opinions on things, and, you have to make that decision and that informed decision on your own. Alright? So don't forget, Saturday, 3PM, our resident crypto psychic. Don't forget to sign up for the programming announcements email list. We really, really wanna push that. Alright. Socials, don't forget to find us over on Twitter or x at Joe Ruse. Truth social at Joe Ruse minds is also at Joe Ruse. Facebook, Joe Ruse podcast.
And, Instagram is not Joe Ruse. Get her, at Joe Ruse, and TikTok, joe.ruse. Alright? So make sure you check us out there. Now, of course, as always, our shout outs to our executive producers, Wayne Rankin, Rosanna Rankin, Carolina Jimenez, Maria Marissa Lee, and, of course, to our producer, anonymous Angela, who does fantastic work, and thank you so much, all of you, for everything that you do through all your your your the the donations of your time, your talent, your treasure. They really are a blessing to us. We really appreciate it, and we wouldn't be doing the things we're doing without it. So thank you so much for it. Really do appreciate that, and we're gonna keep on trudging ahead here even though the video quality looks like crap. Alright. That's what happens when you use a browser, a browser studio.
So we are trying out some stuff. I'm trying to work with OBS, but I'm not quite getting it yet. There's another one that we we're trying out, called Meld. So that looks a little more promising, so, hopefully, we'll be able to fix this. You know, it's just a it's just a browser. It's a browser studio, and you have problems with them. That's the way it works. Alright. Let's see. So if you wanna help us out, with any donations, we would appreciate those. One time donation, any amount is great. Recurring donation, any amount is fantastic.
We appreciate those. If you wanna help us out as a producer, you can sign up for our our associate producer tier at $17.76 a month, our producer tier at $18.36 a month, and then our executive producer tiers at $25 and up every month. Now the great thing about them is you get your shout out on every show just like you just heard. You get included in all of our show notes, emails, anything that gets sent out, all has your name on it. And, it's, you also get to as an executive producer, you get to book thirty minutes on the show with us and, just kinda hang out, chitchat, talk about the things that are going on in the world or whatever it is that's on your mind. So sign up, help us out. Your donations really, really do help. If you wanna help us out also with donations of cryptos, you could do that as well. Our wallets are available to you up on our support page on the website. And then, of course, thank you to the folks that are streaming Sats to us through the modern podcast apps. Head over to modernpodcastapps.com or podcastindex.org to get yourself, one of those things. Those are they are great, great apps. You're really going to appreciate it.
Alright. I think, that should just about do it for me for tonight. This, COVID, believe it or not, is kicking my butt. So thanks for taking the time to be with us tonight. Really do appreciate it. Head over to our website, joerus.com. And folks, don't forget, make Texas independent again. Go podcasting. Keep a steady stride, and keep talking. Good night.
Transmitting live from the asylum studios deep in the bowels of Southwest Texas, it's the Joe Rooz Show. The show where we talk about anything and everything, where nothing is sacred, nothing is watered down, and nothing is PC. Alrighty. Hey, folks. This is Joe Rooz. It is great to be with you once again, and it is nineteen hundred hours, nineteen ten hours on Wednesday, 08/20/2025. Welcome to the Joe Roos Show. And we're gonna do the very best that we can to bring you the best quality talk radio we can muster without all the bluster.
Folks, we got a good one for you tonight, if we can get it working right. We'll bring our guest on here in just a moment. So I hope you guys had a good night last night. I hope you guys, were able to catch the show last night with Svetlana Ryilkov, our do no harm version of the Joe Russo featuring our sponsor, the CEO of Ezra Healing, Svetlana Rilkoff. I thought it was a pretty good show considering I'm sick as a dog. Didn't wanna bring it up, but she wanted to. So because it was relevant relative to a, to a conversate to an issue that was going on up there in British Columbia. So but we did it. We talked about it. It was it was worth it. It was good. Everything worked out great. And, I thought the show went really well considering I was absolutely dead tired.
But, we're here. We are here. Alright. Now, so we do have a little bit of housekeeping that we need to do. So as usual, if you would, please head over to our website, joerooz.com. Joerooz.com. And when you get over there, head over to the contact section, open up that little web form, and send us over a message. Let us know whatever's on your heart, whatever's on your mind, any questions, comments, cares, or concerns that you might have. Let us know if you have any guests that you'd like us to try to get. And, if, looking for my pen. There we go. And if there's, any particular subject you'd like us to discuss, let us know what you're thinking. We'd really like to know. And if you don't wanna use the web form, totally fine. Just email me directly at [email protected].
That's [email protected]. Also, don't forget that this is a value for value show. All that basically means is that if you receive anything of value from what we're doing here, we're asking that you return that value to us in the form of a donation. You can donate your time, your talent, your treasure, any one of those three or all of those three depending on your ability and if you have the means to do it. So we'll explain more of that at the end of the show as we always do. Also, don't forget to head over to our affiliate link over at the alexjonesstore.com/joe and get yourself some of these great vitamins and supplements we've been talking about. Mentioned quite a few of them yesterday. I do not have my methylene blue with me today because I drank it before the show started because I felt like I kinda needed it. So, so head over to the alex jones store dot com slash joe and check out all those great vitamins and supplements. And remember that every purchase that you make helps us out tremendously because 10% of your overall purchase comes right back here to the show, and that is huge for us. It really does help us kinda meet all of our expenses, pay our bills.
Alright. Now, folks, also, remember yesterday, we talked with, Svetlana Ryokoff of Ezra Healing. Ezra Healing is a substantial part of the new wellness paradigm currently being born in North America and around the globe. The global citizenry are no longer satisfied with the sick care version of so called health care. Band aid medicine, endlessly treating symptoms rather than, the root causes, and that has to be stopped as soon as possible. Patient care must be the priority. We need to transition towards the do no harm model of private care that places humanity at the forefront of real health and wellness care. In this new model, your entire lifestyle is examined and analyzed to promote and support the totality of your body's integrated systems.
Ezra Healing is a solutions based health promotion and disease prevention grassroots movement that's always evolving to best serve you and your family. Now if you want more information about Ezra Healing, just head over to their website. It's right up there on the screen, ezrahealing.com. It's ezrahealing.com. And, by the way, if you are listening or watching anywhere in the, in the Alberta area of Canada, Ezra Healing is has a very special offer for you, for, ivermectin. So check them out. And, if you guys are up there, you know what I'm talking about. Your, your local leadership up there, is looking to, criminalize and ban ivermectin from certain, treatments. So Ezra Healing has your back. Check them out. Ezrahealing.com.
Ezrahealing.com. Alright. Now that, the bills are paid for, tonight, we're honored to introduce our guest, James d Paulk junior, a naval graduate, a submariner, conservationist, and author whose life embodies resilience and purpose. Born 91 years ago. 91. And when you see him, when he pops on, when he turns his camera on, you'll see this guy is sharp as a tack. 91 ago in Brunswick, Georgia, Jim's journey began at Glenn Academy and North Georgia College before he earned he's laughing. Turn your camera on, bud. Did I get it? You could turn your camera on. Go ahead. And, North Georgia College before he earned his place in the prestigious class of 1957 at the United States Naval Academy.
As a submarine officer, he served five years on active duty in the five and five in the reserves commanding missions that tested his courage and his leadership. After a twenty six year career in manufacturing management at Procter and Gamble, he cofounded a business consulting firm before pivoting to marine conservation where he spent nine years. His legislative work for recreational anglers further cemented his impact, earning him numerous conservation and fishing awards. Jim's passion for storytelling shines in his book, Shaking Up the World, a collection of 81 stories from his Naval Academy classmates chronicling their remarkable contributions from creating GPS to walking on the moon.
Now join us tonight as Jim shares wisdom from a career of service, conservation, and storytelling that continues to to inspire and shake up the world. Jim,
[00:09:17] Unknown:
turn your camera on, bud. Welcome to the shop. I thought I I thought I did. Is is I thought this was it right here. Is that is that not not it? I don't think so. Is that
[00:09:30] Unknown:
It looks like a little camera icon. There might be a little bit of a delay when you click on it. Looks like a little movie camera at the bottom of your screen.
[00:09:38] Unknown:
I thought that was it right there. It's
[00:09:48] Unknown:
oh, boy. That's okay. We can wait. I have you for an hour, sir.
[00:09:56] Unknown:
Wait. I get it. It says enable calendar camera. That's it. Turn on camera and join the show. There you go. Okay. Hey. Hallelujah.
[00:10:08] Unknown:
Oh, boy. You got it so fast before the show started. What happened?
[00:10:13] Unknown:
I don't know. That's alright. I get I usually get confused, and I have a I have a great assistant, and she's my caregiver, and she's a nurse. She will be an RN in May. Oh, great. They'll be in now, and and she is absolutely terrific. And this is the most unusual job she's ever had working for me because she spent half the time on the computer. But, but she was came by for a little while this afternoon, and she had to go, but she'll be back tomorrow. Okay. Well, she's she's great.
[00:10:44] Unknown:
Alright. Well, I'm glad you were able to figure out getting everything turned back on there. We had a we had a little bit of a restart, but that's why we started a little bit late. But that's okay, folks. We're we got Jim. He's here, and we're gonna have a really good conversation tonight. I think you're gonna find Jim's story incredibly compelling and very interesting. I I was able to read, some portions of his book, and, some of the stories that he has to tell are going to be really, really entertaining. And, yes, I I do believe, to quote your book, the, American taxpayer got their money's worth. Yes. I I do I do agree with that. So, Jim, let's get started here with, what's something that most people don't know about you but should?
[00:11:24] Unknown:
Well, I think, I I thought about that some and and, my my passion in life has always been fishing. And, I don't know if everybody knows that, but, I started when I was five years old. I got some thread from my mother's sewing machine and put it on a stick, and I caught some bullhead minnows about five inches long. I was hooked for life. Nice. And while I was on the submarine, there was no place to store a rod and reel, so I slept with it in my bunk. It was outboard of my bunk. And my rod and reel went with me everywhere I went. And if we went in for a few hours, I was up on the dock fishing and then come back on board. But, but, yeah, that's that's been my passion, and I've fished I've fished all over the world and a big fish, small fish, whatever.
Nowadays, I can't really get in a boat anymore, so I fish on a on the dock for bass for a couple hours on Friday and, can roll my walker out there on a dock and sit in a chair and fish. And, I've been pretty successful, but I don't keep anything. I put everything back. And and we've actually done some tutorials, on bass fishing with wacky style and certain color with a wig
[00:12:43] Unknown:
worms and things. Okay. It's been fun. Well, actually, I was gonna ask you when you you said you you when the when the submarine pulled into dock or something, you would get out and you'd you would be able to go fish a little bit. I was cut it was kind of a dumb question maybe, but when when the when the submarine's out at sea and you're on a mission, you're out on patrols, I'm sure it surfaces every once in a while. Right? It it's not it's not under it's not underwater all the time. Yep. Did you ever get to sneak up on top there and and kinda cast off the You know, I I'll I'll tell you something.
[00:13:17] Unknown:
We frequently had swim parties, and we flood down the submarine so the men could get on and off. And then some of us were back half fishing for sharks with steak. Just swimming over the bell and fishing for sharks all the time. Oh, good night. That was over there. That's awesome.
[00:13:37] Unknown:
That's funny. Oh my gosh. That's great. I wasn't expecting that one. That was a good one. That's good. That's good. Yeah. Alright. So let me ask you. So what's your, what's your go to beverage to unwind at the end of the day?
[00:13:47] Unknown:
My what? Your go to beverage to unwind at the end of the day. Oh, oh, oh, I have a glass of wine Nice. At night. And, I just have one glass and, we have a tradition in the navy called splice the main dress. And that means at 05:00, you can legally drink. And I've been abiding by that rule
[00:14:10] Unknown:
Ever since. Since since I was 20 years old, I guess. Well, that's like that's like the song, you know, that it's 05:00 someplace. Right? It is. It is 05:00 someplace. My, my go to drink usually at the end of the day, well, right now, I I'm I'm behaving myself. I'm a I'm a bourbon guy. I love my bourbons, but, I've I've kinda taken a step back from it a little bit. I was getting a little carried away. But, but, but, yeah, bourbon's my thing, and, my go to at night, believe it or not, is is still coffee. I I love my night coffee. That's that's something that my family, come from an Italian, Sicilian family, so, you know, coffee is very important. We have our 03:00 coffee, and usually what I do is on the weekend, I'll I'll I'll FaceTime with my sister, because there's just the two of us now. So I'll FaceTime with my sister, and we'll have our afternoon coffee on a Saturday. And we'll just sit there on FaceTime and just chitchat back and forth while we're having our, our espresso in the afternoon with our biscotti and, you know, all that great stuff. And, you know, it's not bad. It's it's it's a lot of fun. And then Let me ask you let me ask you this. Do you have a corona with Mexican food? You I know you have Mexican food in Texas. Tons of Mexican food down here, but, no, you know what? I'm not a beer guy. I don't like, I'm not big on beers.
And, I'm like I said, I'm a bourbon guy. I like my bourbon, my cigar, my women. That's it. Alright. Well, you got it. That's all we need. Right? Yep.
[00:15:34] Unknown:
Yep. It's whatever works.
[00:15:36] Unknown:
Exactly. Exactly. So you you've lived this incredible life. Like I said, I've read I read some of the stories in your book, and it it's incredible. It's a lot of fun to read, and and, folks, you need to read this book. Alright? You really do. It's a lot of fun. You you lived an incredible life. You've met some incredible people along the way. Tell us a little bit about the events that led up to you getting into the Naval Academy.
[00:15:59] Unknown:
Well, I was I was born in depression years in 1933. And so and then World War two, we were kids. And so all the men in in in my town went away to war. Okay. And I think, I think I was tuned in with my uncles and my father and all that went to war, and and my dream was to go to the Naval Academy. I'm I can't tell you why. It was just it would just seem like I was should go to the Annapolis. And, I didn't get in after high school, and I'm glad I didn't because I don't think I'd have made it through because I was too immature, and and and not advanced enough in my academics.
I was pretty average student. I was not an honor roll type guy. And, and then I went to, a military college in Dahlonega, Georgia up in the mountains, and it was twenty four seven, military and and, and great academics. And but I did not get my appointment after a year. So after I went back for a second year. And after my second year, I had no appointment either. And so I said, well, I'm probably going to Georgia Tech and get an engineering degree like my other buddies did. And but I I went playing at a golf tournament somewhere in Georgia, and a friend of mine from another city came running out on the course. Jimmy, Jimmy, your mother called. You gotta call home. You gotta get home immediately. And I said, what does she want? She said, she didn't say. I said, well, I'm not walking off the golf course in the middle of a match. I'll call when I finish. And so when I finished up, I called my mother, and she said, you have an appointment to Annapolis. I said, oh, my dream my life dream was true.
But she says, we gotta get down to Jacksonville, within two days for all your exams, and you gotta do push ups and sit ups and all the all the requirements. And, and so we went down to Mayport, the Naval Air Station. I did all the And a week later, I was at Annapolis. And when I got there, there were 1,160 of us. And the night before, we had no responsibilities because they weren't sworn in until the next day. And so, running around and where are you from and what do you do, and and, it seemed like everyone I met had graduated valedictorian from their high school, were president of the class and captain of the football team. And I'm saying, you know, I was none of those things. What am I doing here Wow. With all these people? So I was at awe of my classmates from from the first night. I'm saying, you know, I'm just an average guy from a little town in Georgia.
Here I am with all these people with all these credentials that I don't have. And but I did have one thing that they didn't most of them didn't have, and that was two years of maturity. And I had gone through differential equations at North Georgia, so I only lacked a couple of courses in math to have a, have a be have a major in math. So those things helped me out a lot, and those are, I think, the reasons that I got through with the two years I spent at North Georgia. But, but, yeah, I was in awe of my classmates. It was it was amazing to meet them. And then here I is, seventy years later, I'm still in awe of them. And that's the reason I did the book.
[00:19:32] Unknown:
Oh, that's great. Now what what's what's one of your favorite academy stories that you could share with us?
[00:19:37] Unknown:
Well, I think, I think there are a lot of them I could tell. The the one that that I'd like to tell is my love story.
[00:19:47] Unknown:
Okay.
[00:19:48] Unknown:
Okay. I never would have met had I not gone to the academy. My, my Georgia girlfriend, my, the beginning of my second year there wrote me a dear John letter. Seeing me twice a year for a little bit, it wasn't enough for a relationship. And K. So I I posted the dear John letter on the door like we got did, which was part of part of therapy. Okay. Everybody read the letters. So I had a classmate that said, Jimmy, I'm going over to Delaware University of Delaware for a three day weekend. Would you like to go? And I said, yeah. I'd love to go. I don't have any other ties. And and so his girlfriend, Sheila Cunningham, fixed me up with three blind dates, and they were three separate girls. I don't remember the first two, but Patricia Ann Metzler on the night knocked my socks off. And I'm telling you, I had a steady girlfriend from sophomore school, and I had never met anyone like her.
She believable. She had an aura about her that seemed to reach out five feet. And and I'm saying, wow. This is something else. I said, man, this is somebody I gotta consider marrying. I'd never thought about that before, but that's a good story. But, anyway, I I I I wrote a lot of letters, and I called and everything and to come over. And and she wasn't interested in in a military, life. And, I found out that, that she had just broken up with the captain of the Delaware basketball team just before I got over there. She only dated me as a favor for a friend. But I said we got this formal dance coming up. Why don't you come over, and and we'll have a great time dancing? And I that lady that she loved to dance. And so, she came over, and we were gonna meet on the steps of Bancroft Hall. And Bancroft Hall is the largest dormitory in the world. Okay. And and so so at 02:00 on Saturday afternoon, I said, man, I hope I can recognize.
And and the other thing, I hope she's not ugly as sin, and I'm gonna get the brick. I'll get a they put over my thing on Sunday night for having the ugliest girlfriend. Oh, man. I couldn't remember what she looked like, and and I know she felt the same with me. I go to the steps at 02:00, and there she was. She had on a Delaware sweatshirt. Just you know, I'd find her. And we both smiled at each other, and I think we connected on that first at in the very beginning. Oh, that's a great story. Yeah. It was it was wonderful. And and we had six together before she passed away, and it was it was just unbelievable.
She was, she had this personality. She could've run for governor of California. She already got elected because she was so conservative, but but, but she Maybe back then, she would've. But she was everybody knew Pat, and and I later found out that she was popular girl on the campus of of Delaware. So I I took her away.
[00:23:03] Unknown:
Wow. That's a great story, brother. That I really appreciate that one. I needed a good laugh on that. That's great. So, let's jump into your book. What do you think? Let's talk let's talk about, Shaken Up the World because the stories that are inside that book will will drive well, it really is gonna be the focus point of most of the questions for tonight. But, why don't you start by giving us the why behind the collection of the stories and turning it into a book?
[00:23:28] Unknown:
Well, after I I kinda got tricked into doing my first book. I wrote a magazine articles on fishing. And, after doing conservation, my name was pretty well known in the state of California. So all the magazines wanted me to to do articles for during the magazine because of my name. Because they certainly the articles weren't very good. They were supposed to tell more garbage, to tell you the truth. But I I, I did those articles. I had a friend that was the outdoor editor for the Augusta Chronicle in Georgia, and he had written several books. And and he the other one, I said, boy, Bill, that's really great. He said, Jimmy, you could do a book too. I said, why are you crazy?
That's not me. I said, I'm a terrible writer. He said I said, well, how do you do it? He said, well, you could take take some of your articles in Fisher magazine, put them together, and you got a book. I said, well, how many would you need? And and I he said, oh, maybe 10 or 12. And I said, well, I'll look. So I went through and, man, if I couldn't find more than three or four that I could doctor up that would worthwhile. So I said, this isn't gonna work. But, but I kept working at it, and I I had some notes from some other stories, and I actually came up with about 21. I had, I had a story that I had written about George Perry who caught the world record best in 1932.
And believe it or not, it's still the all tackle record today. Wow. Twenty two pounds and four ounces. That's a gigantic best. A Japanese angler tied it. But, anyway, he had that story, and, and that was published in, like, four magazines and several newspapers and whatever. That was they're pretty popular because of that. And I knew him as a child when I was a little boy. He he called me frog skin. Why? I froze I froze and get out of here before you get in trouble. Yes, sir. Why did he call you that, though? I don't know that. He had big names for everybody. It was he was he was most, unusual guy I've ever known, and and, he's a great man, and and he he bittered me too.
And, I I just I had a lot of people that mentored me. They people felt sorry for me to help me get through life, I think. They're they're still doing that. But, but I I think, after I did Swimming for Our Lives, people said they really liked the book. And I said, you're crazy. They said, no. Well, you need to do another book. And all these people said, do another book. And I said, well, I don't have any more stupid things that I did put in a book, but I think I could do one on my classmates because I knew a lot of the things that they had done that were impressive.
Mhmm. And so I decided that that these people were so significant in not just in my class, but in the world and the things that they had done was so unusual that we should share that with the world. And that's how I came up with the title shaking up the world because they, in fact, really did shake up the world with the things they did. And, and so that was what I plan to do was do the stories. I had, for our fiftieth anniversary, they did a lot of sea stories, and and and one of the guys collected them. And they put them in in the book for our fiftieth anniversary, and some of them were very, very long and and some of them were short. And, I he had lost his wife, and he moved to assisted living. And he called me, said, Jimmy, he said, I've got a dish somewhere of some some very raw data with with the genesis of stories on it. Would you like it? I said, yes. I would.
And so that was a genesis for some of the stories with that raw data. It had never been edited. It was just there, and it had to have a lot of work to it, but at least I had something to start out with. And with me, whenever I've done anything and I've done a lot of projects in life, I always have a committee. I always have a bunch of people that are talented, that can work together and do something. And I've put together a review committee, I called them, of seven men and one woman. The woman was retired from, the Smithsonian, probably smarter than all the rest of us. And and, anyway, if if when I got through editing a story, if the classmate was not alive, I sent it to one or two members of the review committee for them to edit it and check it for accuracy because we wanted to make sure everything was accurate. Right. Yeah. And if they were alive, then I sent it to them for them to check it and then send it back. So that was kind of the process that I used for for the stories, but it was a lot of research to to check accuracy on a lot of the stories.
[00:28:45] Unknown:
Oh, I'm sure. Yeah. Was there any special information that you didn't know before you wrote the book?
[00:28:50] Unknown:
Yeah. There there was there was a lot I didn't know. There was, one of the stories that I think would make a great movie. I had no conception of that at all. And Walt Mukau was born in Shanghai, China. His father was retired navy chief quartermaster and worked at the embassy figure. Okay. And if you remember, the Japanese invaded China, the Northern China. Right. And when they started moving south and the bombs started coming down on Shanghai, then the chief decided he better get his family out of there. So they got on a ship and headed for The Philippines.
And I won't go over all the details in the story, but, of course, when they got to The Philippines, the Japanese were soon there. And, you you you may have heard of the the Tian death march Yes. Where 10 we had 10,000, soldiers that surrendered to the Japanese. And and, when the Japanese were bombing, they were given a house, and and the chief went to work at a place there. And, they were told that, well, if the bomb start coming down, the sirens would go off, run down the street to a fort down under the air raid shelter. Well, the sirens went off. They went to the fort. When they came back, a bomb had hit their house, and it was total. There was nothing left. They didn't even have a change of clothes left. It was gone.
He went to work, and everyone at work had been killed. Oh my gosh. So then they were told when the army surrendered, they would have surrendered as well. So when they went to the place and surrendered to the Japanese, His, Walt's father was interrogated because they thought he was a spy. And, they really gave him a hard time, but they finally understood that he was a civilian and that he was not a spy. And so, Walt and his brother and his mother and father were put into an internee camp, which is a civilian term for prisoners of war for civilians, and they were moved around for several different camps.
And, each camp had less food, and and the two boys were speaking out of the camp and going under the fence and going out in the jungle to get fruit because they had nothing to eat. Wow. At one point, his mother traded, her diamond engagement ring with one of the guards for a loaf of bread, some rice, and a couple packs of cigarettes. But if the boys had been caught, they would probably been shot going out of the camp. Wow. But they, they they they got to the final camp, and and near the end of the war, the army had a rumor that the Japanese plan to shoot all of the internees. There were 200 internees in that camp that he was in, because they didn't have any food, and the Japanese wanted to get out of there. So they don't kill them all and and leave them.
But, they planned a raid, and it's one of the greatest raids in army history, but you probably have never heard of it. They coordinated with the Philippine guerrillas. They parachuted in. They shot the 75 guards. No one was injured. They got the 200 internees into Amtraks, and those are vehicles that go in the water and the land, and then loaded them up and got them across the water behind US lines. Wow. Walt was 13 years old when he got out, and he weighed sixty two pounds. They, they were just about starved to death, but, that's that story, they get strafed by Japanese zeroes. I mean, it was just total action all the way through, and it would make an incredible store. And I did not know that story at all until I did the book. There were several stories in the book that I had no knowledge of.
[00:32:56] Unknown:
Wow. That's some story. That would make a good movie for sure, without a doubt. Oh, man. Now like we said earlier in in in your book, Shaking Up the World, you tell a lot of stories about your Naval Academy classmates, and it really does cover, I mean, some extraordinary life events, from surviving Auschwitz, POW camps like we just talked about, creating GPS system, and even one classmate who walked on the moon, which is impressive. What's one of your favorite stories from that collection?
[00:33:26] Unknown:
My I'll tell you my favorite story. His his his name was George is George Phillips, and George is still alive. He likes me to tell his story. Okay. He was a commanding officer of a seagoing tugboat, which is kind of a unusual position for an academy graduate. Okay. But he had tugboats are very dangerous because they're handling barges and and fuel lines and, a a lot of lot of things. So the crew tends to be very experienced. They are mostly petty officers, and he had a chief warrant, the head charge of the engineering spaces below. And then above that, he had officer warrant officer Bean, b e a n, Bean.
Okay. And, anyway, they were given an assignment to go to Philadelphia where we have a large fleet of reserve ships that are just anchored up there. They're not used anymore. They were gonna pick up a a destroyer and take it around Florida to Texas. And they got hooked up and got out in the Atlantic, and it was very rough. They're rolling really like crazy. And, and then they found out that there was a storm down South Of Florida. And so they decided it'd be absolutely stupid to go down there and get in that storm with a big old destroyer behind them. So they decided they'd pull in to Port Angeles, which is now called Fort Lauderdale, and let the storm pass. So they pulled in there and and got tied up. But the night before they got in, George started having very severe abdominal pains.
So the hospital corpsman owned the boat, which is their doctor, examined him. He said, sir, he said, you have appendicitis. When we get in, you've got to go to the hospital immediately. And, and so they got tied up, and the paramedics and the ambulance was up on the dock, and they came down and loaded up the captain on the gurney, and up he goes up up the dock to the hospital. Well, he got to the hospital, and they decided it was it was, gastritis and not appendicitis. They treated him, and the next morning, they let him out to come back. So when he gets back to the boat, everybody's waiting for him.
Skipper, we haven't been paid in two weeks. We have no money, and we're in the best Liberty port in the country. But we found out while you were gone that if you take our pay records down to the Coast Guard station in Miami, that they will give you cash back and pay us. We could all go to shore and have a great time. And by the way, we have a pickup truck for you. That's that's for you. They think of everything. So George gets in the pickup truck, and he starts down Highway A 1 A, which is Ocean on one side and and strip malls on the other. At one point, a car backs out of one of the strip malls without looking, and George swerved over to the left to avoid t boning him, but he scraped all the way down side of the other car.
So they pull over, and the other driver just madder as you can be. Call the police. Police came and gave George a ticket. And he said, I'm taking your driver's license. Because you're in the navy, we can't depend on you showing up in court. You come to court this afternoon. At 02:00, we'll give you your license back. So, boy, 02:00, George goes to the court. And the judge is very ornery and giving everybody a hard time. He was bilingual because half the, half the, cases were Hispanic. Okay. So but they finally got him, and they they call his name. He stands up, and the clerk reads the charges.
And so the says, how do you plead? And George says, not guilty. The judge said, $25. Judge says, sir, please. He said, $25, and judge and George said, And judge said and judge says, bailiff take him away. So the bailiff takes George by the arm and locks him up. Oh, gosh. So there's a there's a telephone on the wall, and all he had was some loose change in his pocket. So he calls the boat, and he tells the executive officer, he said, they got me locked up in jail down here in in, Miami. You gotta bring $25 down here to get me out. He said he said, sir, I don't have $25.
He said, well, pass the damn hit. There's gotta be $25 on the boat. So couple hours later, executive officer shows up, and is with him. And so they let him out, and he's in the hall. He looks at and he said, you're all dressed up in blessed dressed blues like you're ready for inspection. Why are you so dressed up? He said, well, sir, I've never been able to never had the chance to bail the skipper out before, and I wasn't gonna miss this one. So about that time, the judge comes out of the courtroom, and he sees them standing down there. So he starts looking at Joseph Bean, and they're looking at each other. All of a sudden, they run togethers, start jumping up and down like that.
Now you're gonna like this part. It turns out that they were best friends in New Jersey. They joined the navy together, and they were on a battleship at Pearl Harbor when a bomb from the Japanese the attack on 12/07/1941 Wow. Blew both of them over the side, and each thought the other had been dead for twenty four years. Oh my gosh. So the judge looked at George, and he says, okay. $5 court cost. And so they paid him $5. And so he goes back to the boat. He gets on the phone. He says, honey, sit down. I have something to tell you. In the last two days, I've been in and out of the hospital and in and out of the jail. That's all I have to say.
[00:39:44] Unknown:
You can't take that one. That's a great story. Oh my gosh. Well, I was gonna ask you, like, who would you say had the most unusual story? But I think that might have been one.
[00:39:58] Unknown:
The most unusual story?
[00:40:00] Unknown:
Yeah.
[00:40:02] Unknown:
Let me see. You know, I I think I I I would like to tell you the fairy tale, and I misspelled fairy. I understand. Okay. It's a fairy tale. Bruce DeMars and and this is this is unusual. Bruce DeMars was, working at a as an assistant janitor at a bank in Chicago. He was from a very poor neighborhood. He had absolutely zero future. Okay. He had nothing ahead of him. There's no way he was gonna away go away to school. And, but he had he had told the owners of the bank that his dream in life was to go to the Naval Academy. And someone owed the bank a favor and managed to get him an appointment to Annapolis.
Wow. So he got there, and and he had not had his his physical until he arrived at the academy. So the hospital corpsman was shaking him over, and he said, your blood pressure is too high. He said, but it looks like you've been traveling all night to get here, and you look exhausted. Why don't you go over there on the couch and lie down and sleep for a couple hours, and I'll check you again? So when he woke up, the hospital corpsman checked him. He said, okay, Red. You're good to go. So Bruce owed his tenure at the academy to an enlisted man, and he never forgot it. Bruce went into submarines and in the nuclear program and advanced up the ranks, and he became a four star admiral. Get out of here. He was one of the top admirals in the navy. He was the second successor to Riccow's job, which was, in charge, of naval reactors, all of the naval reactors, in the navy. And, I didn't talk. In the story, he was he served in that job for eight years, and he did so much for the nuclear program.
But there's nothing in his story about that because it was just about the fairy tale. Now I'll tell you, when I when I finished with his story and sent it to him, I didn't hear anything back. And so I say, Bruce, have you had a chance to read your story yet? Bruce, have you read your story yet? Eventually, I got a telephone call from his son. He said, Jimmy, dad has not been doing very well lately. He said, but I read the story to him, and he looked up to me with a pillow, and he said, I wanna buy that book. And then, unfortunately, he died two weeks later, so we all lost Bruce. But he was a great, great man, and and there's somebody that, was highly deserving of everything he got and and was just terrific.
[00:43:06] Unknown:
But, yeah, I I love that story. That's my fairy tale. That's a great story. I mean, these all the stories that you've been telling me have been fantastic. I I've really enjoyed them. And, and as of again, the like, the stories that I've read in your book, I just they're they're incredible stories. You you sit there, you you laugh because some of the circumstances that that that are there are just, like, unbelievable,
[00:43:26] Unknown:
like, how these things apply. I'm a tell you a football story. Okay. Go ahead. Okay. When I when I announced the class that I was gonna do this book and I have to tell you, no one said, who the heck are you to write this book? No one said, you you don't have any right to do this book. You're just an average guy, and you're not a bright guy in our class or whatever. But but, Bob McElwee called me, and he said, Jimmy, would you like some stories from the NFL? And I said, Bob, I'd love them. So he sent me a lot of stories. He served as, as an NFL official for twenty seven years.
He's the only one that's ever done a Super Bowl in three different decades. And, and and there's a photo in the book with him with his arms up like that with a touchdown, and signified touchdown. It's a great photo of Bob. And when you look at the picture, you say, oh, I remember him. But he said he said, my job is as a, of the white hat referee is to stand behind the quarterback. And he said, the only thing I do is watch the quarterback, and I don't know whether the pass has been completed with a touchdown or anything else. I watch the quarterback until he's on the ground or the play is over.
He said, but I had a number of things I had to do before the blew the whistle. He said, I had to check the game clock, the play clock, the formations, substitution, couple other things. He said, but when I was in Chicago, I had one other thing to do. I had to reach around in my back pocket and check to see if my penalty flag was there. If it was not there, I had to go to the huddle, stand behind number 34. Walter, give me my flag back. And Payton would pull his flag out and give it to him. He'd put it in there, and nobody understands or on television ever saw that happen. Of course, the guys in the huddle were all laughing.
[00:45:40] Unknown:
That's a great story.
[00:45:41] Unknown:
But he's he's he has some wonderful, wonderful stories at, that that people will laugh out loud. There are a lot of stories in here that that I've laughed. Every time I read a story, I laugh about it again. It's just they're hilarious. Some of them are like that, and then some of them are pretty hard when you look at Leo Hyatt's story when he was shot down over Vietnam, and he was hit by a missile. And his plane was on fire, and so he didn't have time to slow his plane down. So, normally, you don't you don't bail out when you're going 850 miles an hour, but he didn't have any choice because he thought it was gonna explode. Yeah. I read that story. Came out. He he had his pulled his left left, arm completely out of his socket. It was broken a couple of places, had broken ribs.
And as soon as he hit the ground, he was captured, and he was put in a cave for prisoners for a few days without any treatment at all. And and he went through an excruciating amount of torture. And and, I debated even putting it in the book, but I said, you know, that needs to be on paper. Yeah. Yeah. It does. I agree. That story that story needs to be in there. And, the when they and they they had several times that they thought they were gonna get out, and and and it turned out that they they didn't get out. So it was get ready to go and no. You know, ready to go and no go. So, eventually, when the air force sent this big airplane in and they hid the American flag painted on the entire tail, and when all those prisoners got onto that plane, there wasn't a sound because they thought it was a trick.
And they took off, and there's still no sound because everybody thought this plane was gonna turn around and land and they were gonna be tortured again. But then the pilot came on, the one MC, and he says, he he says, boots wet, which means you're over over the ocean. And when he said that, the plane erupted, and everybody was so happy they were going home. Wow. And and it was just and then and Leo spent a year in the hospital, but eventually, he went back to flying duty. But but he was really, really he he almost died a few times. It was one of the other guys that came in that that helped him. And, otherwise, he would never made it through. But but I see loyalty and bravery and a lot of lot of things there, and he he attributed that. He said he's a basketball coach. Bigger guys would knock him down, and the coach would say you gotta get up and and keep going. And Yeah. And and I think that's one thing sports does for you. You learn that that a lot of guys gonna kick your butt, but you gotta keep going.
[00:48:38] Unknown:
Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. What was some of the what was the greatest challenge when it came to writing this book for you?
[00:48:44] Unknown:
I think I think the greatest challenge for me was coordinating. There was so many there was a million details. I had I had 59 authors and 81 stories and all the photographs. And I had to get I had to get photographs from different places, from different, museums and laboratories, and and and there's a lot of coordinating. And so it was just I had note notepads all over everywhere with just list in there and things to do. So I think it was just a lot of lot of details. The coordinating with the people were absolutely wonderful. And and you asked me what was the benefit of doing this. I would say getting to know a lot of people that I didn't know real well, and it was such an honor to get to know all these people. But, but just the details of of coordinating all the stories. And I I I'll tell you one story.
I had to I had to decide where I was gonna place the stories because they are not in chronological order. Right. But I wanted to have some strong stories. My strongest stories in the in the beginning and the middle, and then I wanted to have one of the best stories for the last one in the book. Because when the reader finished the book, I wanted them to say, wow. I can't believe that. So I call the author of that last story, and I said, Bob, I said, we have picked your story for a place of honor in the book. It's going to be the last story in the book, and I explained why.
And it is an unbelievable story. It it involves men getting injured, one man going overboard, and they thought he's go he was goner and and in the Sea Of Japan and rough weather, and it was just one of those things where a a one mistake and and a lot was gonna be lost. The two the guys that were injured were injured so severely that they had to get to a hospital in Japan within a number of hours or they were gonna be goners. Wow. And so so they had a guy in the water overboard where they didn't know where he was, and then the guy's injured. But, everything turned out alright, but, but it was it was a great, great story and and one of, of of a lot of really good decisions, that made everything turn out okay.
[00:51:10] Unknown:
So what would have been a few of the highlights for you, both in writing the book and in the experiences that followed,
[00:51:17] Unknown:
becoming a public? I would let me tell you this one. Charlie Duke was our astronaut that spent three days on the moon. In fact, he was the youngest youngest astronaut ever to go on the moon. When when I talked to Charlie about doing his story, he said, Jimmy, he said he he said, look. He said, why don't you interview me and you write the story? I said, well, I haven't been doing that. I said, but okay. I'll do it. And so I agreed. We called him on the phone, and I got my granddaughter, my 30 year old granddaughter, to come over with it. She had a photographic memory. I said, Melanie, you take a set of notes. I'm gonna take a set of notes, and then I'm gonna put them together and do a story. Then I will send it to send it to to Charlie. K. And so that was special because I got to do it with my granddaughter, and I got to do it with Charlie.
And I sent it to him, and he added a little bit and made it even better, and it turned out to be, I think, a great story. You know, one one thing that happened is that the the Olympics were going on on Earth while they were on the moon. And so Charlie and and, and and Young decided that that they ought to have Olympics on the moon too. So Charlie started bouncing and was gonna do a long jump. And all of a sudden, when he's in the air, he realized he said, if I land on my back and bust his backpack, I'm dead.
[00:52:47] Unknown:
Right.
[00:52:49] Unknown:
So he said he he said I twisted a little bit, so I landed on my side and everything was alright. He said I looked up, and Young said, surely that wasn't too smart. And about that time, NASA came on the phone and said, no more. And and a number of years later, they did not get a gold medal, but they got a certificate of achievement from the Olympic Committee for for their, recognizing the Olympics on the moon. That would have been nice if they got a medal, though. Yeah. It would have been. They he took two medals up there. He took it was the twenty fifth anniversary of the Air Force, and he took he had to get permission from NASA to take anything. So he took two coins. And, he left one on the moon Mhmm. And the other one is in the Air Force Museum that he brought back from the moon. He had, he had a photograph of his family he put in a a ziplock cover and left that on the surface of the moon. Oh, wow. And the photograph one of the favorite photographs in the book of him saluting the American flag on the moon with the lander in the background. I've I've seen that picture, yeah, many times. Yeah. Oh, boy. It's great photographs.
[00:54:09] Unknown:
But, you know, getting just knowing all these people is just is such a thrill for me. Yeah. Yeah. I can I can only imagine? I mean, but the but the way you tell the stories and the way you put them all together, you know, it it kinda you you kinda walk away feeling like you know these guys a lot better than than just what what history would tell you.
[00:54:28] Unknown:
They're regular guys. I mean, one of the guys on my review committee is, a three star admiral, and, I work all over. We're all we're all just like we were a plebe here. We're just like we're 20 years old and and yet we're all nighty. 90. You know? It doesn't matter. But we're we're that close, and, it's just, I think you go through all of this, together, and and you are very close. And I have friends who went to other school, and they don't have any contact with their other classmates. And I'm saying, my class, we have a Zoom meeting once a month. Can you believe that? That's awesome, bro. Zoom meeting.
We, I I have to tell you that the royalties from this book go to the Naval Academy Foundation Great. To to sponsor a professor in the history department to teach naval heritage. And that was, our gift to the academy for our fiftieth anniversary, and we raised enough money. And over the years since the fiftieth, we've had 21 professors at the academy, And most of them have written books while they were there, like the Battle of Midway and and other research they do and and and books while they were at the academy. So it's it's been, I mean, you look at look at the things that these guys have done and our class has done, and I couldn't I couldn't list all all of the, things that we've done for the campus, everything from scoreboards to gates at the at the at stadium and and just a whole long list of things that we have given to the academy.
You know, Joe, everything that we have in life, we owe to go into the Naval Academy. I'd probably been in jail. You'd probably been locking me up in jail I had told you.
[00:56:23] Unknown:
I don't know about that. But, let me if you could pick one story to share with the audience that, that you think teaches us the most about living our lives, purpose, and, and open to new discoveries, which story would you tell?
[00:56:38] Unknown:
I I think, I think we have to mention Brad Parkinson. Brad Brad was the architect of GPS, but he was, an air force colonel, and they had a meeting in the Pentagon. And the senior officers from the army, navy, marines, and air force were all in a room, and he's making a presentation that he wanted to get enough money to put some satellites up to test this new system. You think he got it?
[00:57:14] Unknown:
Nah.
[00:57:16] Unknown:
The name of the story is a critical failure that led to GPS. Well, the all those brass left the room, and there was one guy that was still there who was a contractor. And he said, Brett, he said, I think you've really got something that could be significant. And, and he said, we're gonna we're gonna help you get the money to put the satellites up there and test the system. And so there's there's somebody that worked for years and years and years on a on a program, and he's probably the smartest guy in the air force. The guy's absolute genius. He's he's a a retired professor from Stanford. Okay. And, he's he's got awards from an honorary degree over. He he won the Draper award, which is equivalent of Pulitzer prize, and it's it's the Draper is for, engineering excellence. And, he won that. He got, there's a photo in the book of prince Charles giving him the QE two award Oh, wow. For doing doing GPS around the world.
And, and that's kinda funny because, they're both kinda laughing. It's kind of unusual for us to I said I said, Bruce, what's going on there with those smiles and laughing? He said, well, he said the prince asked if I could explain to him how GPS worked. And he said, I asked him, have you got about an hour? But but it was it was not a sure thing because even when they got the testing and everything, it was just for the military. They did not want the civilians to have it. Right. But we had a classmate that was a major general that worked in three different administrations in the White House, and the president was Jimmy Carter who was an academy graduate. Mhmm. So between the three of them, they made the system available for civilians, and that's why we have GPS right now.
We're we're trying to get a building named for him in the yard, which is the yard is our campus Okay. Because it's so monumental for humanity to have GPS, and we owe all that to Bruce. And That's amazing. He he would tell you the he would tell you that he was just a leader of a committee, but but he, there's another story in the book about him, that that he was he was the assistant, director of aerospace and aeronautical engineering at the Air Force Academy. So he taught classes, and he was assistant. And and, somebody came in and said, we need you to move away from this job and and and and straighten out this this digital of aiming for gunships and that we have in Vietnam.
And Brad said, I've got a full time job here. I'm teaching. I'm the director of the department. He said, we made a arrangement with them that you could go, but you are the only one in the air force that can fix this guidance system.
[01:00:41] Unknown:
Wow. So That's something else, man. Yeah. Unbelievable.
[01:00:45] Unknown:
And and, so he stepped away and, went to Florida, and and he worked with the technicians, and he he worked day and night. And and they were gonna go out and test the aiming on a on a barge they had set up out there. They were gonna blast it. And they said, you're gonna go, Bruce. Because I haven't slept for thirty six hours. I'm gonna sleep while you guys are out there. So he said he couldn't sleep. He came back. He tried to sleep. He said he said I got up a couple hours when I heard the plane come back in. And he was when everybody got off the plane, they were all smiling. He said, I knew we made it work. That's awesome. So he said, they told him, he said, when they that barge, they blasted it to pieces. And, said, now you gotta go to Vietnam and ride one of these gunships and make sure it's gonna work because it they wanna go they wanna take it away and make it analytical because they have been able to get digital work. So you go to Vietnam. So he spent nine months in combat when he was supposed to be teaching at Air Force Academy because he was the only one in the Air Force that decided they could do that. Wow. That's amazing.
[01:01:59] Unknown:
He's a and you know what? You talk to him, he's just a regular guy. Yeah. I mean, just these stories that the and they're great stories. They they make you smile. They they and some of them are char kinda are tragic in a lot of ways. But at the same time, you look at these and you realize that, you know, just life just throws you curveballs no matter where you are in life, no matter what you're doing in life. You know, you never know what it's gonna bring you.
[01:02:24] Unknown:
And Life is life is evolutionary. Yes. And I I think the the one thing that you get out of this book that's inspirational, really, is you can see a bunch of guys that came in there just off the streets around the country. Yeah. And what they did and how they evolved. I mean, we that was that was fish farming in The Philippines. Raised he raised the most anybody in The Philippines. I mean, that's crazy. Yeah. You had one that was, editor of a newspaper on the island of Molokar in Hawaii. There's no way that people in the graduate from academy gonna be doing these things, but they did. And it's just you say, wow.
It's it's amazing. I had, for the book signing, are we running out of time? No. No. We're good. Okay. I had, for the book signing last last year, I had a a call from a woman in Jacksonville, Florida, and she said, Jimmy, if I she said, I bought a book and said, if I bring it up, will you sign it? I was like, oh, I'd be happy to. So she came up, and and she waited a term because there are a lot of people in the room. And she came up and sat down, and she I said, how do you want me to sign it? She said, I want you to make it to my son, Spencer Stevens.
And I said, okay. Spencer Stevens. And she said, he's going to the academy next week. And I said, well, She wanted him to read that book before he went to the academy. That's awesome. Went up there. And you know what? He's six four, two hundred and twenty pounds. He throws left handed, and he's pitching. He pitched his first year there. Nice.
[01:04:12] Unknown:
It he's he's amazing. I don't know. He he might be in with with Mitch one of these days. Hey. You never know. Hey. You never know. Well, they can use all the help they can get. Right? Yeah. Hey. So tell us a little bit about the collaboration with your classmates and how how, the, I guess, the conservation of stories that has impacted your life.
[01:04:32] Unknown:
Conservation? I I had I was asked to to meet with some people, and, it was an eclectic group. There was doctors in there. There were charter boat skippers. There were some, fish and tackle store owners and maybe 25 people. And they had been meeting and and and discussing the problem with gill nets in Southern California. Mhmm. And gill nets are nets they put perpendicular to the beach, and the fish is swimming parallel and running the nets. And they get in the nets, and then the sharks and the sea lions and everything eat them, and then they get caught in the nets. And it's, it's it's an indiscriminate killer, and it's it's not it's not healthy for the fisheries. Right. So, they asked me to come in and get get the group organized a little bit, and so, I did. And and and then all of a sudden, they were doing a GILNET initiative, and and the guys in the committee were coming in and reporting.
And after about two weeks, he said, it's not going well at all. And so three people went to the assemblywoman who was sponsoring it and said, we gotta get new leadership because this is gonna fail, and said, we wanna put Jimmy Polk in there as a leader of this initiative. And, anyway, she called me, and I I went to her office and I met with her. And I said, I'm busy with my my consulting business and all my guys. I hate to leave them. And she said, well, for five months. And she said, then you can go back. And I said, well, I tell you what. I'm gonna go talk to my committee.
And if those guys would tell me that they'll put their lives on on hold for five months and all of us gonna bust our butts for five months, and if they say they'll do it, I will I will agree. So I asked them. I said, look. I said, we we're gonna have to get signatures all over the state of California, and the only way we can be successful is to create the perception of success. I learned that they had tried this twice before, and I didn't know that and failed. So this was the third time they tried to get it on the ballot. So we got going, and and we were everywhere.
And, we were getting signatures and raising money. And and, after, five months, we had to raise we had to get about 600 and something thousand signatures to get 550 qualified with the right signatures and and Right. People that registered the vote. And and, so I had to arrange some kind of a big show and tell thing to get a lot of publicity out of it. So I asked, one of the guys I knew that was had a had a mortuary, and I knew he had a twin engine King Air. And I said, we need to fly to cover the state of California, and I need a fast airplane.
Will you will you fly us around California? And he said, yeah. And his brother agreed to be the copilot. So we had about five of us. K. And we left, Orange County, which is South of LA, and we flew to Sacramento. And we put on a dog and pony show on in the Media Room, the Governor's Media Room at Capitol. And then we flew to flew to Burbank, and meanwhile, they got us to lunch so we had something to eat on the plane. We got to Burbank, and we had all the movie stars there. And even Ronald Reagan's daughter, Patty Duke, was there. And Wow. And and and a lot of the the TV stars were standing up. We must have had 20 people standing up. So when you get that many celebrities, you're gonna have a lot of TV cameras. And Sure. And so that was covered. And we and then we got back on the plane, and we flew to San Diego. When we got down there, we had a a a train of fork trucks, and we had pallets of of of petitions on fork trucks, and we loaded those up and put them on the courthouse steps.
And so we had to stay. We got a lot of publicity out of that. And so then we got back on a plane and flew back to Orange County. So we we left in the dark, and we got home dark, but we covered the whole state of California, and we created a lot of, lot of media attention. Wow. And and, and and, I mean, I was on the radio a lot, and I was doing television call in shows and and whatever, but, but we got it qualified. We got it on the ballot. That's great. And then and then the night of the of the of the event, we had they put on a special, dinner for us, and Mickey Mantle was there. Joey Bishop was there. Nice. We had a lot of people that were that were pretty celebrities there, and and I had a big chalkboard, and I was right as I as I the calls came in, I was writing the numbers up, and and we won 53 to 47.
And we got it on the ballot and got the gill nets out of there. And Awesome. I I think that's probably one of the craziest things I've ever done in my life. I can't believe we did it, but, but we did. But we didn't do it I didn't do it alone. I guarantee you. We had one heck of a lot of help. Yeah. Well, you need you need a lot of help for that stuff. I mean, that's that's not an easy task to undertake, but that is great. So, Jim, is is there anything we haven't covered yet that you really wanna share with the audience? I I think we got I think we got it covered. I I think, I I think I hope people will will get the book and read it. It's going for a good cause, and I think, I think especially young people, and a lot of people are buying it for young people, not necessarily those going to Annapolis at the beginning of their life that look at look how life can evolve for you. Right. And one of the, editorial reviews and there there are three editorial reviews on on Amazon now, and there will soon be a fourth one from, Naval Institute for saying they did a review, a real nice review, but it hadn't posted yet.
But I I think, it one of the one of the editors said, it's history at eye level, and I love that comment. That's great. Yeah. It it's it's the stories about the latter half century and things that occurred with the people that were involved in those things and their stories. There there there are two people that were at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. One of them was a four year old girl. Her father was at sea on one of the destroyers Wow. That was out with Halsey's carriers. And the other was, an eight year old whose father was in the army, was at the army base, and and they live two doors from the airfield.
He was standing out on the street waiting for the bus to pick him up and take him to Sunday school. The Japanese were firing at the airfield, and these these empty cutters were falling on the street. He said, I was walking around picking him up, putting him in my pocket. Jeez. Father came running home and grabbed him and got he and his mother under a table, and and they they got them evacuated to a school in in a middle of a pineapple field somewhere. Because they thought the Japanese were gonna invade Hawaii. They they really did. Yeah. But there's lots and lots lots of good stories in here and a lot of good I wrote one about possums and possum in the church and did you read that story? I don't think I saw that one. No.
Yeah. That's a crazy story too. Don't tell me. I wanna I wanna read it. I wrote what I wrote what about catching worms too.
[01:12:42] Unknown:
But don't tell. I wanna I wanna finish reading it. So don't don't don't spoil it for me. Alright, Jimmy. So where can the audience go to learn more about you and about your books?
[01:12:57] Unknown:
They can they can get me at face on Facebook at Jim Polk or James d. Polk junior author, either one of those pages. And, I'd love for them to, follow me and and stay in touch and and, and give me feedback. And and, I think I think we wanna be in touch with the American people in any way that we can. I I've been in I've been involved with a lot of speaking engagements. I I was the speaker in for the, in November for for Veterans Day, for a big affair. And and you probably gathered, I do like to talk a little bit. That's okay. But but I I get invited to to speak. And I I enjoy it because I like sharing the stories about about my guys, and they are they are so so important for this world, and they have done so many things.
I touched on a few, and and there are a lot more. But, but stay in touch. I would love to stay in touch. Oh, absolutely.
[01:14:05] Unknown:
For sure. For sure. I'll definitely be in touch with you, and I'll be able to look for you on the socials. We'll follow each other. We'll we'll have some banter back and forth. Jimmy, also, I just wanna say thank you very much for your service, sir. I really do appreciate, the sacrifices and the and the and the things that you've gone through over your career, for our liberties and our freedom. So thank you very much, sir. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Appreciate it. Alright. God bless you, brother. I'll talk to you soon. You too. Alright. Jimmy Paulk, folks. What a what a story. What a life. Holy cow.
91. Look at him. Wow. God, I hope I'm I hope I have this much energy when I'm 91 for crying out loud. Alright. I only work I only work ten or twelve hours a day. That's all. There's nothing. Right? It's fine. It's nothing. Alright, Jimmy. You take care now. God bless you. Okay. Have a great night. Alright.
[01:14:54] Unknown:
Bye bye.
[01:14:55] Unknown:
Alright, folks. Jimmy Polk. What a great story. What a great life. But, I mean, you need to check out the book. I did check out I'd read the majority of the book, even up to up to up until today. I'll get it out. Up until today, I was still reading some of it. So really good stuff and and a lot of fun. I enjoyed reading it. It's such an easy read too. It's not like, you're not gonna sit there and, like, like, trudge your way through it. It it reads fast. It's very well written, very well put together, and I think you're really gonna enjoy it. Alright, folks. So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna take a quick break here. I gotta go blow my nose, and I gotta get some water or something because I am very dry from the medication that I'm on. But, we'll be back right after this very quick quick break. But But don't forget, folks, this is a live show weeknights, 7PM central time, Saturdays, 3PM central time, Sundays, 6PM central time. And, don't forget to, like, subscribe, share the show with your friends, your family, and your followers. Help us to spread this thing out.
I'm really happy to see that, you know, our our followers here on on on Rumble have been increasing, steadily, you know, a little bit here, a little bit there. But you know what? It's been a steady increase, and I'm really appreciative of that, and thank you so very much to, each and every one of you for it. Our downloads on the audio has been fantastic. Thank you. That's huge as well. And, you know, just let us know what you think. Just send over any comments, questions, cares, concerns you have. Just use the contact form on the website, or you could always email me directly at [email protected]. Alright, folks. Again, we'll be back right after this very, very, very short break. So why don't you just stay with us?
Alrighty folks. First hour is in the books. James Polk. What a great guest, man. That was a lot of fun. I enjoyed that. Really did. And you weren't with us when we first, when we first connected on the, on the stream there. It was everything was working just nice and smooth and nice and clean. And then I don't know what happened. We hung up, or we got separated for a minute there, and then we had all bunch of chaos ensued. But it was a great show, great great time with Jimmy, and, I had a blast. And you really do need to check out his book, so please go do that. And as you heard him say that it is going all towards all the proceeds from the book are going to a great cause, so please check that out. Folks, Podholm, my audio host platform, is the most modern and easy to use podcasting host platform that there is. You can use it to publish your episodes, enhance your audio, you and automatically generate transcripts, chapters, titles, show notes, and so much more. You even get to podcast live through your website with the web player that they have developed for your website. You also can get a website through them if you don't have one of your own. Or if you do have a domain, you can always bring it over to PodHome, and they'll they'll help you set up your website.
Everything that you need in one place for a very affordable subscription of $15.99 a month. That's just $15.99 a month. So head over to podholm.fm podholm.fm and, give it a try. I I really think you'll be happy with it. I have been using them now for about, almost two years, I think. And, the the it has been just incredible, and the development that has been taking place with them has been phenomenal. Every every it's constantly it's it's something that's constantly in motion. They're actually beta testing a pod a podcast player for your for your phones. I'm in the, beta program for that. I'm testing it out. It is great, and I cannot wait for it to go live so everybody can benefit from this thing. Great, great platform. Podhome.fmpodhome.fm, $15.99 a month, and then you get, thirty days absolutely free. And I guarantee you, you're not gonna you're not gonna cancel after the thirty days. So you need to try that out. Please, please do so.
Alright. So before I get into the, all of the, the closing stuff, you know, the announcements and, you know, all the information, about, you know, the socials and and whatnot, I I I do wanna comment on something. Now I know there's been a lot of talk. There's been a lot of stuff going on in the news, a lot a lot of developments taking place between, between Russia, Ukraine, and we really have not spent any time talking about politics like we normally would because we've been doing all the guest segments, which is fantastic. I love it. But, there had been a lot of developments. Now, you know, we had all of the, European leaders at the White House, this week talking with president Trump about, the next steps with Ukraine, talking about ceasefires, I and which I don't understand why they would prefer to have a cease fire rather than just all out peace.
The president has successfully negotiated peace, you know, and ended six wars without having to do a ceasefire. But, you know, I I think he could do that with, Ukraine and Russia. He just needs the time to do it. So I think all that's coming to fruition, and we're very we're I'm thrilled that it is because, you know, I I would love I I appreciate what Donald Trump is doing. I, I I give him an a a plus on on just about everything that he's been doing. Couple of little misfires here or there, which is normal. You know, you can't agree with everything all the time. But, he did make a comment the other day, and and as as someone who who who teaches the Bible and somebody who preaches the Bible and someone who believes in the Bible and believes in what the plan of salvation is.
The president made a very interesting comment, and I I I'm not sure exactly who he's getting his spiritual advice from, but he's wrong about something. I'm gonna play a clip for you, and I want you to hear what he says here, and then we'll address that very quickly.
[01:24:21] Unknown:
Just wanna end it. I wanna end it. You know, we're not losing American lives. We're not losing American soldiers. We're losing Russian and Ukrainian, mostly soldiers, some people as missiles hit wrong spots or get lobbed into cities like Kiev and towns. But, you know, when if I can save 7,000 people a week from being killed, I think that's a pretty I wanna try and get to heaven if possible. I I'm hearing I'm not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. Did the So if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons. Well, I think I saved a lot of lives with India, Pakistan. They were going at it. They were were the planes were being shot down. That was gonna be maybe a nuclear war if I let that go, and I did that through trade. I was
[01:25:04] Unknown:
Alright. So you heard what he said. Yeah. I absolutely agree with him. He wanna stop the war. He wanna stop the killing. We wanna stop the bloodshed. It it shouldn't it shouldn't be going on this long, and it's not our war. We don't need to have troops in Ukraine. We don't need boots on the ground. I don't even agree with the idea of giving him air cover, but what the president said was is that he hopes that he can get to heaven if he stops this war. Alright? Again, I don't know who his spiritual advisors are. I don't know what they're telling him, but if you're mister president, if you're trusting your good works to get you into heaven, all you gotta do is send yourself to hell.
Because the Bible says very clearly that it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but by his mercy, he saves us. The only way anyone gets to heaven is through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. There is no other way. The Bible says very, very explicitly that, you know, if you try to get into heaven any other way, you're like a thief and a robber. So, mister president, please don't put your trust in in the good things that you're doing. You're doing great works. You're doing great things. Yes. Absolutely. But if you are truly saved, like you have purported to be in the past, you have to understand that it's not the works you're doing.
It's because of the blood of Jesus Christ and that alone, and that's it. Now the good works that you're doing, yes, you're gonna get rewards for that, absolutely. Jewels and the crowns, as they say. But if you're trusting in in in doing these things to get you into heaven, mister president, I'm sorry, but you're not gonna get there. You're not gonna get there. And whoever it is that's counseling you spiritually, fire them. Get rid of them. Please get rid of them. Because they're not they're doing you an injustice, and they're gonna send you to hell.
Believe on the lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. That's it. There's nothing else. Nothing at all.
[01:27:20] Unknown:
Alright.
[01:27:22] Unknown:
I'm gonna leave it there. Alright, folks. Let me just let me refresh this here a second because the wonderful quality. Let's see if that helps. Alright. So folks, announcements. Don't forget to head over to the website, joeroos.com joeroos.com and sign up for the programming announcements email list. First of all, it's free, which means it don't cost you nothing. Second of all, it's the best way for us to contact you throughout the course of the week to let you know what's going on with the show, mostly because I am absolutely terrible with social media stuff. So please sign up for the, email list on our website. Just when you go to the website, a little pop up is gonna come up on the screen there. You'll be fine. Just fill it out. Get on the mailing list. If you're not happy with it, get off the mailing list. It doesn't matter.
But it is the best way for us to keep in touch with you guys in between shows, so please sign up for the email programming list. Also, I wanna remind you that this coming Saturday, we should be having our crypto psychic on the show, our resident crypto psychic. So we'll be talking about, the latest developments in cryptocurrencies, financial advice, not financial counselors. So anything we say is not, you know, you you can't hold us responsible for a bad investment. We're just telling you our opinions on things, and, you have to make that decision and that informed decision on your own. Alright? So don't forget, Saturday, 3PM, our resident crypto psychic. Don't forget to sign up for the programming announcements email list. We really, really wanna push that. Alright. Socials, don't forget to find us over on Twitter or x at Joe Ruse. Truth social at Joe Ruse minds is also at Joe Ruse. Facebook, Joe Ruse podcast.
And, Instagram is not Joe Ruse. Get her, at Joe Ruse, and TikTok, joe.ruse. Alright? So make sure you check us out there. Now, of course, as always, our shout outs to our executive producers, Wayne Rankin, Rosanna Rankin, Carolina Jimenez, Maria Marissa Lee, and, of course, to our producer, anonymous Angela, who does fantastic work, and thank you so much, all of you, for everything that you do through all your your your the the donations of your time, your talent, your treasure. They really are a blessing to us. We really appreciate it, and we wouldn't be doing the things we're doing without it. So thank you so much for it. Really do appreciate that, and we're gonna keep on trudging ahead here even though the video quality looks like crap. Alright. That's what happens when you use a browser, a browser studio.
So we are trying out some stuff. I'm trying to work with OBS, but I'm not quite getting it yet. There's another one that we we're trying out, called Meld. So that looks a little more promising, so, hopefully, we'll be able to fix this. You know, it's just a it's just a browser. It's a browser studio, and you have problems with them. That's the way it works. Alright. Let's see. So if you wanna help us out, with any donations, we would appreciate those. One time donation, any amount is great. Recurring donation, any amount is fantastic.
We appreciate those. If you wanna help us out as a producer, you can sign up for our our associate producer tier at $17.76 a month, our producer tier at $18.36 a month, and then our executive producer tiers at $25 and up every month. Now the great thing about them is you get your shout out on every show just like you just heard. You get included in all of our show notes, emails, anything that gets sent out, all has your name on it. And, it's, you also get to as an executive producer, you get to book thirty minutes on the show with us and, just kinda hang out, chitchat, talk about the things that are going on in the world or whatever it is that's on your mind. So sign up, help us out. Your donations really, really do help. If you wanna help us out also with donations of cryptos, you could do that as well. Our wallets are available to you up on our support page on the website. And then, of course, thank you to the folks that are streaming Sats to us through the modern podcast apps. Head over to modernpodcastapps.com or podcastindex.org to get yourself, one of those things. Those are they are great, great apps. You're really going to appreciate it.
Alright. I think, that should just about do it for me for tonight. This, COVID, believe it or not, is kicking my butt. So thanks for taking the time to be with us tonight. Really do appreciate it. Head over to our website, joerus.com. And folks, don't forget, make Texas independent again. Go podcasting. Keep a steady stride, and keep talking. Good night.
Introduction to the Joe Ruge Show
Guest Introduction: James D. Paulk Jr.
Jim's Passion for Fishing
Journey to the Naval Academy
Love Story and Life at the Academy
Extraordinary Classmates and Their Stories
Challenges and Highlights of Writing the Book
Conservation Efforts and Achievements
Closing Remarks and Announcements
