For this Memorial Day weekend, I revisit a previous guest at the Michigan Heroes Museum. John Ryder, Executive Director, shares with us 3 stories of Michiganders who gave their lives in service of their country.
In this episode, we talk about:
- The Mission of the Michigan Heroes Museum
- Specialist Holly McGeogh
- PFC DeWayne T. Williams
- SP5 Michael May
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Transcript
She tells her Mom, if anything ever happens,
John Ryder, Heros Museum:just know I'm doing what I want to do.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:I'm doing what I was meant to do.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:The mentality that our service men and women have.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And, they're just so amazingly special.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And I'm just absolutely thrilled to be able to honor, respect and remember
John Ryder, Heros Museum:the individuals that we maintain their stories of here at the museum.
Cliff Duvernois:Welcome back to another episode of Total Michigan.
Cliff Duvernois:I'm your host, Cliff DuVernois.
Cliff Duvernois:Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it, it flies with the last breath
Cliff Duvernois:of each soldier who died protecting it.
Cliff Duvernois:Today we are talking about Memorial Day.
Cliff Duvernois:And this day actually holds very special meaning for me, not only
Cliff Duvernois:because of the various members of my family who have served, but for so
Cliff Duvernois:many families throughout Michigan that have had loved ones that have served
Cliff Duvernois:and have paid the ultimate price.
Cliff Duvernois:So for this episode today, there was only one place that came to mind with regards
Cliff Duvernois:to honoring the, not only the memory, but the stories of the brave men and women of
Cliff Duvernois:Michigan who sacrificed so much for you and for me, and for this great country.
Cliff Duvernois:Please welcome to the show, the Executive Director of Michigan Heroes
Cliff Duvernois:Museum, located in Frankenmuth.
Cliff Duvernois:That would be John Ryder.
Cliff Duvernois:John, how are you?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:I'm doing absolutely wonderful.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Cliff, thank you for asking.
Cliff Duvernois:I think you stole my line there.
Cliff Duvernois:So tell us a little bit about where you're from and where you grew up.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:So I grew up in Hemlock and as, The people in Frankenmuth
John Ryder, Heros Museum:would call me, I'm a west sider.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:West side of, Saginaw County.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But I grew up over there and at the time, Frankenmuth took everything, right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And every division, it seemed like Frankenmuth was just everything.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And the place where everybody wanted to be.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And I kinda resented Frankenmuth a little bit at the time because I,
John Ryder, Heros Museum:you know, We had an amazing German community over there in, in the west
John Ryder, Heros Museum:side of the county and everything.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But I'll tell you what, since working in Frankenmuth, these
John Ryder, Heros Museum:people are just absolutely amazing.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:The city of Frankenmuth is the most giving amazing community around.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:It really truly is.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But when it comes to doing the right thing and stopping and, thinking about others
John Ryder, Heros Museum:and trying to do everything with purpose, this city just does everything right.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:So, had my hats off to 'em, but I don't think the museum
John Ryder, Heros Museum:could exist anywhere else.
Cliff Duvernois:Speaking of which, How did you get involved with
Cliff Duvernois:the museum in the first place?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:So I got involved with the museum because
John Ryder, Heros Museum:I was a cub master at the time.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:One of my den leaders was on the board here and he asked me if I
John Ryder, Heros Museum:was would ever entertain working for someplace like the museum.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And at the time, I wasn't familiar with the museum.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:I didn't know I was familiar with the museum.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:I didn't realize the museum was the same one that I went to down in the
John Ryder, Heros Museum:basement of the old school here in town.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Right.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:So the museum was that old, and I didn't even put the two together until I came
John Ryder, Heros Museum:through and saw some of the collections.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And I saw the face of the man who started at Stan Bozich.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And when I saw that, I went, oh yeah, I know this place, right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And I got really excited and I'm like, I want this job.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And I had, you know, that was nine years ago.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And I'm just absolutely thrilled to be able to honor, respect and remember
John Ryder, Heros Museum:the individuals that we maintain their stories of here at the museum.
Cliff Duvernois:When did the museum first open its doors?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:so 19, 70.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:okay.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:So November, 1976, the museum was started.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But it moved into the schoolhouse square, mall there, in the eighties.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And to be honest with you, that date doesn't come to me nearly as quickly as
John Ryder, Heros Museum:some of the dates of the stories that we
Cliff Duvernois:So what I would like to do is I would like to take
Cliff Duvernois:an opportunity to explore some of the people that are a part of the museum.
Cliff Duvernois:Now, just to do a real quick summary, what is on display here?
Cliff Duvernois:if somebody were to come here, they've never been to the Heroes Museum before,
Cliff Duvernois:describe to us what that looks like.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:So I tell people, we tell the stories
John Ryder, Heros Museum:of Michigan service men and women.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And then if they ask for more descriptions, I'll mentally
John Ryder, Heros Museum:walk them through the museum to, we've got stories, by era, right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:So, Spanish American War, Civil War, World War I, World War ii,
John Ryder, Heros Museum:the Korean War, the Vietnam War.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:The Operation Desert Storm and then the, the War on Terror,
John Ryder, Heros Museum:both in Iraq and Afghanistan.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And then we tell the stories, in three special galleries.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:We tell the stories of our astronauts and space pioneers.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And then we tell stories of the cross recipients, the cross gallery.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Those stories are individuals who received either the Distinguished Service
John Ryder, Heros Museum:cross, those would be, outta the Army.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:So those would be soldiers Marines or sailors who received the Navy Cross or
John Ryder, Heros Museum:airmen that received the Air Force Cross.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Those stories are second to none.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:They are absolutely amazing.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:They are, for all intents and purposes on.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:The, they're so similar.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:I defy anybody to be, to come in here, read one of our cross stories, and be
John Ryder, Heros Museum:able to tell me how it differs from a Medal of Honor story right there.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:It's a, the difference is that the Medal of Honor story was vetted
John Ryder, Heros Museum:by, by congressional staffers and the Pentagon and things like that.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:That's the difference.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But the stories are absolutely on the same level.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And then the Medal of Honor Gallery as well.
Cliff Duvernois:And then as far as displays go.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Yeah.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:So for displays, we do, distinguish, the displays a little bit, separately
John Ryder, Heros Museum:by using the frames around the photos, which you discovered today, right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:If you see a silver frame around the large photo in the display of the
John Ryder, Heros Museum:individual, that silver frame just denotes that they survived their
John Ryder, Heros Museum:conflict and they made it home.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:They may not still be with us.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:The World War II guys, World War I, things like that.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Many of those, World War II guys are gone now.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But they did come home, right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:if you see a gold frame around it, those are gold star individuals.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:They did not make it home.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:They, they were, they sacrificed their life in service to our country.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And then in the Space Gallery, all those individuals have
John Ryder, Heros Museum:a black frame around them.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Today in looking at Memorial Day, we're gonna talk about some of those gold
John Ryder, Heros Museum:frame stories that we have at the museum.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Okay.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:So one of the first ones I'd like to talk about was Specialist Holly McGeogh.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Holly, by all counts, was an absolutely fascinating, amazing, young lady.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:She's five foot tall, red hair.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:She was born with a, sight problem.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:She had a, they call it what A lazy eye, right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And she had a horrible time reading, right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And she didn't enjoy school because of it.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But she loved it.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:The J R O T C program, the journal Junior Reserve Officer Training at the
John Ryder, Heros Museum:school she went to in Taylor, Michigan.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And she really took to that.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:She was super personable.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:She loved the order.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:She loved the leadership aspects of it.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And she really took off in that.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And her mom made her a deal, said, you know what?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:If you graduate with scores high enough to get in the Army, we'll get you surgery.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:We'll get you, I'll sign the delayed entry information.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:We'll get you in.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And, it took her a couple times, but she ended up getting into the military.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And she became a mechanic with the, with the troops over there.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:They, she was working on Humvees and such.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And they leave to crit to go to the keokuk to get, parts right.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:So they form up a convoy.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:and, the Humvee she was in was, the engineers and such.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:they had fastened, or fashioned a, grenade launcher on a makeshift
John Ryder, Heros Museum:mount, in the back of the Humvee.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And she was manning that grenade launcher at the time.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:When that Humvee in the middle of that column, came over the,
John Ryder, Heros Museum:IED that was planting the road.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:The the enemy, detonated that, charge and, he, Holly, her mom, was
John Ryder, Heros Museum:really, really devastated by that.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And she says, the only reason, that I'm able to, reconcile my grief
John Ryder, Heros Museum:is Holly sent back, an email about 10 days prior to losing her life.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Because one of her friends had just lost her life in the unit.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And her mom hears about that at home and she's trying to figure out
John Ryder, Heros Museum:what's happened with Holly, right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:So she's calling her command.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:She's writing.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Emailing them and everything.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And they're not going to let anybody respond to any of those
John Ryder, Heros Museum:things from home until they inform the family themselves, right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Command wants to make sure that they do it right.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And when Holly gets permission to, she finally responds to her
John Ryder, Heros Museum:mom and says, Hey, I'm okay.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:It's one of her best friends, right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And she says, Mom, if something like that ever does happen to me, just
John Ryder, Heros Museum:know that I'm doing what I love.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:I'm here, surrounded by people that are making a difference.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:She says, the people, over here, also don't believe what you hear on the news.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:The women bring us fresh, fresh baked bread.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:The kids all run up to me and hug me.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:She says it's, we aren't hated over here.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:In fact, she went on to, to describe to her mom, a time where they, were.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:they've, they had, located a bomb manufacturing facility in this building.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And, it, it was an apartment building in one of the apartments.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And, they evacuated everybody.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:There were a couple blocks down the road while the e o d special, the explosive
John Ryder, Heros Museum:ordinance demolition guys are going through and clearing that building.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And, uh, she's out in the center of the road.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Teaching the kids how to play duck, duck, goose.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And she said, by the time we're done, the kids called it Duck, duck, Alibaba.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And her mom, she tells her Mom, if anything ever happens, just
John Ryder, Heros Museum:know I'm doing what I want to do.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:I'm doing what I was meant to do.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And, that's the mentality that our service men and women have.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And, they're just so amazingly special.
Cliff Duvernois:meant.
Cliff Duvernois:Wow.
Cliff Duvernois:That's beautiful.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Yeah, I, it's just, it's, it's a story that
John Ryder, Heros Museum:just, it hits you right, in the face.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And her life was taken and, too early.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Absolutely.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But she was doing something that mattered to her.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:She wouldn't have been one to say, I my life was wasted or anything like that.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:She really believed in why she was there and what she did.
Cliff Duvernois:Now question I got for you is when.
Cliff Duvernois:Holly was killed in the line of duty.
Cliff Duvernois:Now, how did her family make the decision to have a display here at the museum?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Her grandfather was familiar with the museum and, Stan
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Bozich was talking to the grandfather after he had come to the museum.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And he also kept on contacting Holly's mother.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Finally she said, you know what?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:This didn't happen for nothing.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:I want everybody to know Holly and remember Holly.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And we do our best to make sure that people do remember her.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:We want everybody to remember these stories.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:It's the reason why we're working on getting all of our stories online right
John Ryder, Heros Museum:now where everybody can access 'em.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:It's just really important that these stories get out there in the collective
John Ryder, Heros Museum:consciousness so that people can help us honor and respect and remember them.
Cliff Duvernois:Certainly, and we have a few more stories that
Cliff Duvernois:are coming up for our audience.
Cliff Duvernois:We're gonna take a quick break to thank our sponsors, and when we come
Cliff Duvernois:back, we'll hear some of these stories.
Cliff Duvernois:See you after the break.
Cliff Duvernois:Hello everyone and welcome back to Total Michigan.
Cliff Duvernois:I'm your host, Cliff DuVernois.
Cliff Duvernois:Today we're talking with John Ryder, the Executive Director of the Michigan Heroes
Cliff Duvernois:Museum, just outside of Frankenmuth.
Cliff Duvernois:Now John, before the break, we were talking a little bit about, our
Cliff Duvernois:first hero today that we're honoring,
Cliff Duvernois:yeah.
Cliff Duvernois:Specialist Holly McGeogh.
Cliff Duvernois:Yes.
Cliff Duvernois:I would really like to hear another story.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Sure.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:The gentleman I'm thinking of is from Brown City, Michigan.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And he's, it's a Vietnam story.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:This particular gentleman, his name's DeWayne T Williams, 18 years old.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:He's a Marine.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:He, graduates, high school in Capac, Michigan.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And, on December 18th, 1967, he enlisted with the United
John Ryder, Heros Museum:States Marine Corps reserves.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And then he ends up getting discharged in January so that he
John Ryder, Heros Museum:can list with the regular Marines.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:He decided, you know what, I want the full deal.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But he ends up he completes recruit training, a bootcamp, and,
John Ryder, Heros Museum:he ends up over in, in Vietnam.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:On June 1st, 1968, he's promoted a private first class.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:When he arrives in the Republic of Vietnam, later that month, he's
John Ryder, Heros Museum:assigned duty as an automatic rifleman.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:He, is assigned to an anti-tank assault company.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:As he's out on patrol one day, they come to the end of their patrol.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:They turn around and generally these guys would not know what
John Ryder, Heros Museum:route they're taking back.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:The, somebody would.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But if somebody loses a piece of paper or whatever, that, that'd be bad.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:and general, you know, one of the ways that, the guys in camp know that it's
John Ryder, Heros Museum:the right guys is you pop smoke before you come back in on whatever trail it
John Ryder, Heros Museum:is that you select to come back in at.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And they know what color smoke they're looking for, right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And so if you pop smoke, there's a bunch of other enemies generally
John Ryder, Heros Museum:around, near other trails, they're gonna pop smoke also and make it
John Ryder, Heros Museum:look like they're the guys right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But It didn't happen constantly.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But that was the reason why these guys would take out several canisters
John Ryder, Heros Museum:of smoke other than the ones that they were going to use that day.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:So if they, if it got captured or whatever, the enemy couldn't
John Ryder, Heros Museum:just come back and, oh, look, let your guard down, open the gates
John Ryder, Heros Museum:and we're gonna come storming in.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:They pick a trail to come in on.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And the enemy happened to set up an ambush on that trail.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:They just, they got lucky.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And unfortunately for these marines, caught the Marines by surprise.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And Dwayne got shot in the spinal column.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And he drops, he's paralyzed for the chest down and he can't move his legs at all.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But he uses upper body strength.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And he pulls himself on his arms into a position where he
John Ryder, Heros Museum:can return fire on the enemy.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And his buddies say they're sitting there, returning fire on the
John Ryder, Heros Museum:enemies and during the firefight.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And, I don't recall how long into the firefight.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But at some point, a grenade comes sailing across the trail and
John Ryder, Heros Museum:lands between him and his buddies.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Dwayne, he just, he, uses upper body strength and rolls over and pulls
John Ryder, Heros Museum:that grenade up underneath him.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:That was a September day and on that day, It happened to be his 19th birthday.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Dwayne lost his life.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:His brother and sister quite often are in here and either
John Ryder, Heros Museum:on that day or near that day.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And they're so happy that their mom donated his things to the
John Ryder, Heros Museum:museum knowing that his story will always be remembered here.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And we're always gonna honor, respect, and remember Dwayne.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:His actions, a lot of individuals when you talk about, why people serve, right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Some people serve because they, the community or family or a
John Ryder, Heros Museum:billion other things, right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But when it comes down to it, these guys and girls that are in service,
John Ryder, Heros Museum:they're there for their buddies.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And that was the only thing probably on Dwayne's mind at that moment.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Sure he could have probably rolled the other way, and taken
John Ryder, Heros Museum:minimal, effect from that.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But he saved his brothers in arms and, there's no bigger gift that
John Ryder, Heros Museum:could ever be given than that.
Cliff Duvernois:I find myself in a position where I don't know what to say.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Yeah.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And you know what, that's probably the, the right reaction,
John Ryder, Heros Museum:right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:I would be, surprised if you had any other reaction than that.
Cliff Duvernois:I was just thinking about the, it's almost cuz in that
Cliff Duvernois:situation there, you're under a firefight, adrenaline is pumping.
Cliff Duvernois:You realize my legs aren't working anymore, and then here comes a
Cliff Duvernois:grenade and it's not something that you sit and think about.
Cliff Duvernois:you just, he just reacted to that grenade being there.
Cliff Duvernois:And he paid the ultimate sacrifice, like you said, to save his brother in arms.
Cliff Duvernois:Yeah, that's a testament to character right there.
Cliff Duvernois:There
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Exactly.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:I'd like to try to get in here at least one more.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But this one is, Specialist uh, Michael May from Vassar, Michigan.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Michael is, was again in, served during Vietnam.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And he was, Sergeant May, was fifth Special Forces Group, so he
John Ryder, Heros Museum:was, uh, part of a MAC V SOG unit.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:special operations forces that were embedded with South Vietnamese forces.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Then they served as advisors pretty much.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:They're they were helicoptering in to a a site deep in Cambodia.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And, he lost his life on March 2nd, 1969 as the, the helicopters
John Ryder, Heros Museum:dropped off, the South Vietnamese and the Green Berets there.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:They, Take, they take off to head, back to base.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And as, the story from his buddies.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:it's well documented.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:As the helicopters are just fading and you can hardly hear 'em anymore.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:according to one of the guys there, multiple guys there, but you just heard
John Ryder, Heros Museum:the, the safeties click off almost in unison of about a thousand rifles.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:That's hundreds of rifles.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Then these guys are in the middle of one of the largest firefights that
John Ryder, Heros Museum:any of 'em had experienced over there.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And, three men, Michael being one of them, remained in the center
John Ryder, Heros Museum:of that landing zone that lz while the other guys exfiltrated,
John Ryder, Heros Museum:made it out to, one of the sides.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:They called the helicopters back.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:The helicopters came back, expended all their ammunition
John Ryder, Heros Museum:and had to go back for more.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But according to the guys in the helicopters, they saw those three
John Ryder, Heros Museum:guys, that were in the middle of that clearing all get shot.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And they they had no way to retrieve them at that point in time.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And when they, went back, the bodies were gone.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:it's, it's just an absolutely, devastating for the family.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:The sister, Michael's sister re remembers Michael as a, as a.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:As a brother, as an annoying brother.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Right.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And, her husband, met up with Michael over there in Vietnam.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And, he tells stories about that.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And, Cindy, his sister would, tell stories about how her mom wasn't
John Ryder, Heros Museum:able to ever believe that he died.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:I just needs to keep that glimmer hope cuz there was never a body produced.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Right.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And these individuals in these families, we just owe it to them
John Ryder, Heros Museum:to always remember the sacrifice.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Whether they were for the action that they were in.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:Or whether they would've ever made the decisions themselves as a politician
John Ryder, Heros Museum:to, to send anybody into harm's way.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:It didn't matter.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:These guys were there and girls were, were there when stuff hit the
John Ryder, Heros Museum:fan and they paid with their lives.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:These individuals are, were and are ready and available on a moment's notice.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:So many in, these individuals, you know, to lay down their life for, for, for
John Ryder, Heros Museum:you and for me and for their buddies.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:It's just a fantastic love that most people never know.
Cliff Duvernois:So you've shared with us.
Cliff Duvernois:Some really compelling stories and judging by the amount of displays that you have
Cliff Duvernois:here, we could probably spend the next few weeks listening to these stories.
Cliff Duvernois:My question to you then is a little bit more general, but overall, share with us
Cliff Duvernois:what is your vision for the Heroes Museum?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:So I think that we just want people to understand what
John Ryder, Heros Museum:has been asked of our warriors, right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:We're not saying agree with the politics behind the reason why they're there.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:We don't even talk politics here, right?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:We've got supporters from both sides of the aisles.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:In fact, if I listed them, you wouldn't believe me.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:They're an absolutely amazing group of people that support what we do.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But we're not political organization.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:we're, we don't take a stance on whether why they were there,
John Ryder, Heros Museum:is the right thing or not.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:We wanna let people know that these people were there for you.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:I just want people to know that the, the museum exists to give
John Ryder, Heros Museum:voice to those individuals.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And, you know, maybe on a little lighter side and another day we could
John Ryder, Heros Museum:talk about some of the individuals that came in here throughout their
John Ryder, Heros Museum:lives or still come in here today, that served and that we talk about.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But today I think the right thing is to talk about those who we just only I
John Ryder, Heros Museum:never had the opportunity to meet them.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:I know their family, I know their, their stories, but, unfortunately
John Ryder, Heros Museum:I'll never have the opportunity to meet these individuals.
Cliff Duvernois:John, if somebody's listening to this and they wanna check
Cliff Duvernois:out more about the museum, or even better, they decide that I'd like to make the
Cliff Duvernois:trek over there and to honor the memories.
Cliff Duvernois:What would be the best way for them to do that?
John Ryder, Heros Museum:So the best way is, we've got a, a website at www
John Ryder, Heros Museum:dot m mi heroes, h e r o e s, dot org.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:org And on there we've got a little section on planning a visit to the museum.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And we're gonna be adding to that.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But on there you can read Trip Advisor reviews of what people
John Ryder, Heros Museum:have said about the museum.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:You can find out our address and right here in Frankenmuth.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:And there's a mapping and all kinds of stuff.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:But we want, we just want people to know that we are here to serve not only
John Ryder, Heros Museum:our veterans, but as a liaison to, from our veterans to the community at large.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:People, I don't care whether they ever served or not, or anybody
John Ryder, Heros Museum:in your family has any service.
John Ryder, Heros Museum:We're here to maybe help you understand the commitment that those
John Ryder, Heros Museum:people have to you, even though you may have never have met 'em.
Cliff Duvernois:Certainly and for our audience, we'll have the
Cliff Duvernois:links that John had talked about in the show notes down below.
Cliff Duvernois:Or you can go to total michigan.com and click on John's interview
Cliff Duvernois:and find the links there.
Cliff Duvernois:John, thank you so much for taking time to talk with us today.
Cliff Duvernois:We really appreciate it.
