Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes
In a world where storytelling has been our link to the past since the days of cave drawings, there exists a timeless tradition. It's the art of passing down knowledge, and for Military Veterans, it's a crucial piece of their legacy. Join us on the Veterans Archives Podcast, where we dive deep into the heartwarming and awe-inspiring stories of those who served, no matter when or where.
Here, Veterans get the chance to be the authors of their own narratives. Through guided interviews in a relaxed and safe environment, they paint their experiences with their own words and unique voices. The result? A memory card in a presentation box, a precious gift they can share however they please.
But that's not all. These stories find a secure home in our archive, a treasure chest of experiences for future generations to explore. The best part? It's all a gift to the Veteran – our way of saying thank you for their service.
Tune in to the Veterans Archives Podcast, where history, heroism, and heartwarming tales come to life.
Veterans Archives is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Please visit our website for more information. www.veteransarchives.org
Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes
From Air Force Dreams to a Life of Purpose: Kipp Brand's Story
The power of service takes many forms throughout a lifetime, as Air Force veteran Kipp Brand eloquently demonstrates in this moving conversation about resilience, purpose, and finding meaning after military service.
Born in Detroit and raised in Harrison Township during the 1950s and 60s, Kipp shares vivid memories of a childhood spent outdoors with friends who remain in his life six decades later. His trajectory changed dramatically when political awareness sparked during his teen years led him to work on campaigns for McGovern and Congressman David Bonior, developing a passion for democracy that would shape his worldview.
When Kipp joined the Air Force with hopes of becoming a JAG officer, fate intervened brutally. During a routine training exercise, he suffered a catastrophic leg injury that shattered his knee, ended his military career, and launched him into an eleven-year medical odyssey requiring fifteen surgeries. Rather than bitter recrimination, Kipp speaks of these challenges with remarkable equanimity, focusing instead on how he adapted and found new paths forward.
The heart of Kipp's story reveals how personal tragedy can transform into purpose. After twenty beautiful years of marriage, he lost his wife Carol to leukemia in 2018. From this profound loss emerged "Carol's Army," a nonprofit organization providing comfort blankets to chemotherapy patients that has now distributed over 2,000 blankets. This legacy of care continues through Kipp and his stepdaughter's dedicated efforts.
Today, as the first resident of Michigan Veterans Home, Kipp finds community among fellow veterans where dignity, respect, and camaraderie flourish. His description of the honor walks held for veterans who pass away—with residents lining hallways in salute as taps plays—provides a powerful reminder of how meaningful recognition of service can be.
Want to support veterans or cancer patients in your community? Consider volunteering with organizations like Carol's Army or your local veterans' facility to make a tangible difference in the lives of those who've served or those facing difficult health challenges.
Today is Monday, march 17th 2025. We're talking with Byron Kipp Brand, who served the United States Air Force. Good afternoon, kipp. Good afternoon, I can call you Kipp, absolutely, I just want to make sure, all right. Well, it's good to meet you today, my pleasure.
Speaker 2:All right, well, we'll start out. Thank you for the job that you're doing for everyone.
Speaker 1:Oh, thank you. It's not a job. I love what I'm doing. Good work, thank you. There you go. I really appreciate it. So I'm going to start out really simple. When and where were you? Detroit, michigan, 1958.
Speaker 2:Okay Now, did you grow up in Detroit? No, I grew up in Harrison Township, it's seven miles from here.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Right near Metropolitan Beach.
Speaker 1:All right. What was it like growing up there?
Speaker 2:Wonderful. I mean it was family-oriented. We'd play, we didn't have devices, we would play and play until we got called home. I just remember just having friends. I still have lifelong friends. I still have seven people that I've known over 50, 60 years that are still friends, that I talk to almost every day.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's incredible. Yeah, it is, yeah. Well, it's amazing. What will happen if you don't have a device in your hands, right? Yes, do a lot of bike riding and that kind of thing when?
Speaker 2:you were a kid Bike riding. I was very big into sports. My best friends were in the golf business. They got me to be a caddy and further on down the line it was wonderful.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh, did you play much golf.
Speaker 2:I did.
Speaker 1:Okay, my wife's the golfer in our family. I have clubs and I can drive a cart. It's about as far as that goes.
Speaker 2:There's nothing wrong with driving a cart.
Speaker 1:So did you have brothers and sisters. I have three brothers.
Speaker 2:I had three. I lost one.
Speaker 1:Sorry to hear that Sorry, thank you. So were you the youngest or the oldest or the middle? I was the oldest. Okay, did you sort of rule the roost with them then?
Speaker 2:the middle I was the oldest. Okay, Did you sort of rule the roost with them then? No, actually I was doing my own thing. It was amazing. My parents were. They weren't really. They were extremely conservative, to be honest with you, but with me they were, just because the people here, they're older, but you know you can trust them. I'm 13 years old. Going on a bus with 16 and 17-year-olds or in a car down to Tiger Stadium, yeah, you know, I mean, and my parents didn't think anything about it. I come home 11 o'clock at night. I get up every day, go to school, not miss anything.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so you were responsible.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:For sure. So speaking of your parents, so four boys in the house, that's a lot, or it can be a lot.
Speaker 2:People say my mother was a saint.
Speaker 1:I won't disagree with them. Well, let's talk about your mom a little bit. What are some of your memories of?
Speaker 2:her Endearing. Everybody called her Ma. She worked a majority of her life, loved taking care of people, making us do stupid things. Her life Love taking care of people. Organized, making us do stupid things. I remember we wanted to play golf and didn't have any money, so in order to do that, she would draw something on us and we'd have to go out in public with it and be embarrassed but also be like that's what we're there for, so we can play golf. So we did. That's pretty inventive. It wasn't anything that would be, you know, give you nightmares or nothing, but it's embarrassing, but for a reason. Oh that makes sense.
Speaker 2:Went out and learned how to caddy and make my own money, which is what I was supposed to do. That was pretty much the lesson.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you caddied around Harrison Township then yeah, a place called Gowney Golf Club.
Speaker 2:It's a private club just up the street.
Speaker 1:Okay, still there.
Speaker 2:Yes. Wow, my best friend's the pro.
Speaker 1:Oh, nice yeah. So what about your dad? What do you remember about your dad?
Speaker 2:My dad was an engineer, worked until he was about 70. Then my parents sold their place and they moved it to Emmett and my mother was the first to go and then my dad was a couple years after that. Yeah, they enjoyed it. They enjoyed their dogs They'd rescue dogs and they had a lot of property.
Speaker 1:Any particular types of dogs, or was it just any dog?
Speaker 2:No, they had all kinds, but they had these two Malmute shepherds that they named Luna and Tick and yeah, one had a leg cut off the owner and then the other one was by another owner. I mean it was horrible. But the way they treated those dogs and you come in the house you'd think those dogs would be shy, friendly. And they're Malmute shepherds and they were just friendly as can be.
Speaker 1:You know, the interesting thing that I have seen with rescue dogs is they're so appreciative.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's like they know that they were rescued. Yeah, I don't know how else to say it. They are very appreciative.
Speaker 2:I think any being can feel love. I don't care if it's a tree, a flower, whatever. You can feel when someone wants to take care of you, or taking care of you because they want to.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I mean, I believe everything breathes as a brain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense. Did you ever read this is kind of off topic, but I got to ask did you ever read a book called the Little Prince?
Speaker 2:No, I did not.
Speaker 1:Okay. So I would recommend it because there's a point in there where this it's really interesting. It's like a kid's story but it's got a lot of adult stuff in it. That means something. But there's a point in there where the little prince talks about this rose that he's been taking care of and he's told that it's not the rose that means so much, it's the fact that you gave it so much love, that that's the meaning behind why you care for it so much, and it gave love back to him. Anyway, I'm going to get you a copy of that book. Good, thank you, you'll get a copy when you get your story. Oh, thank you, because I think you'll really appreciate it and if you don't tell me I will, I'd like to know. So you're growing up. Tell me a little about school.
Speaker 2:Went to high school at Lance Cruz basically general studies in 1972. I was watching Canadian TV and they were telling a different side of the story about events that were happening. So I got interested in politics and I worked for a presidential candidate who lost. It was a Georgian. I make no bones about that. I've been a Democrat. I vote Republican but I am a Democrat and I worked for him and got the itch. And 1974, I worked for David Bonior and helped him on his campaign, became precinct delegate, young Democrats state of Michigan and just fell in love with the history of a country and how it's formed and the great threat that's always there for tyranny. But that's why we became the country that we are. We're not going to have tyranny, but the threat is always there and that has served me in a different way.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So when you get that political bug whether it's just working for politicians or it's being a politician it's a very strong pull. There's something about the people involved in it, the passion that they have for it. There is extreme passion.
Speaker 2:I remember I didn't take it that hard, but I remember the night that McGovern lost and the campaign office, the campaign manager and several bawling their eyes out and I just said at the time well, it's because they put all their work in and didn't get what they. But then I came to find out that you do put your effort into candidates because you believe in them, right.
Speaker 1:It's very hard when they don't win, because there's all these things that you want to see happen that don't.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, not to get into political discussions. It's very interesting that you are a Democrat but you do vote Republican. I myself am a Republican, but I vote. My conscience is how I look at it.
Speaker 2:I vote. Issues that are important to me yes, especially now, veterans issues are extremely important to me. When I was growing up, it was more equality, yeah, fairness. So I wanted to make sure that that was in my candidates when I spoke to them.
Speaker 1:If I got a chance to talk to them or listen to them or read about them yeah when I spoke to them, if I got a chance to talk to them or listen to them or read about them. Yeah, I remember when Jimmy Carter was running against Gerald Ford, my mom took us to the local train station in Lansing and I think it was. Gerald Ford was shaking hands and talking to people and that was kind of my first taste of that, like this guy's out here meeting everybody and shaking hands and talking to people, and that was kind of my first taste of that, like this guy's out here meeting everybody and shaking hands and Jimmy Carter the same way, like he was an everyman as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 2:So yeah, Speaking, you've been to Ford's Presidential Library.
Speaker 1:I have not. I have to go there, is it? Yeah, I was in the Michigan National guard when he passed away, and so of course the michigan national guard handled that whole um funeral and procession and all of that. So, but I do have to make it there yeah, it's, it's well worth it. It's a nice trip yeah, I think that'll be a good weekend trip for my wife and I we have a member here whose wife he's passed.
Speaker 2:His wife is still here. That had one of the most impressive presidential button and stationery that I've ever seen.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it was incredible. I always told her I want it and she's given it to her daughter, which is right, I understand. But yeah, yeah, just, and I knew them before coming in here uh-huh and it was just incredible what she had that was back to um herbert hoover really she had all the really cool stuff buttons.
Speaker 2:I like I call this the the weird song. She had records. She had everything. Yeah, she had pat paulson's album when he was running for president in 68. Pat Paulson was on what show was that? Rona Martin's Laugh-In? Yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, I remember. That's a little bit before me, but I remember those things as a kid, watching those things. I remember Pat Paulson, I remember going to Washington D things. I remember Pat Paulson and uh, I remember going to um Washington DC with my family when the whole, uh, watergate incident was going on and seeing kind of the circus that was happening in our nation's Capitol as that was all unfolding. So it was all very interesting. Yeah, so you, uh, you, you graduated from high school and then did you go right into the Air Force Right into the military.
Speaker 2:Okay, and I can't remember if it's the SAT or the ACT, the one where you need to go to out-of-state, to college.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't, I couldn't tell you Whatever that one was.
Speaker 2:I just got lit up the night before, just totally drunk. The other one I did all right and scored in the top 3%. Yeah, but this other one I didn't do it. And when the recruiter came he said how about if I go to the academy? He said well, first of all you have to have a congressperson appoint you and get to meet these activity things. He said well, I don't think a congressman Jim O'Hara was a congressman at the time. My parents are really close to him. I said I could probably get that. He said how are your grades? I said good, what did you do on this test? I don't remember. I told him straight up. I said it's one or the other and I think he said a possible 1400, I scored 380.
Speaker 1:Oh, I think that's the ACT. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I scored 380. Oh, I think that's the ACT.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I got my name right and that was about it. Oh, it was horrible.
Speaker 2:Oh geez.
Speaker 1:Stupidity on my part. Live and learn, right yeah.
Speaker 2:I just wanted to go. You know, I got talking to some people and I said go this way. So I went in the military and I talked to recruiters. I said is there anybody who can get to like an officer's candidate school? And they told me how to proceed with that once I'm in there. And so I did basic training and then I went to my training school and that's when we started it and they asked me what I wanted to be and I said I think I want to be a JAG and asked me why I wanted to be a JAG and everything like that. And so I told him I said I believe in justice and the law, right, and seven weeks later I had a catastrophic leg injury that for the next 12 years or 11 years I had 15 surgeries.
Speaker 1:So tell me about what happened, if you don't mind.
Speaker 2:I was bending my knee. We were in a position doing a maneuver or a training drill and I was in a bent position in my heel. I was on one knee with my heel up and I was just out of position. So the sergeant came over and was going to reposition me and as he was doing, he didn't exert pressure or nothing, but my heel gave out of my boot and when it did, it shot my leg back and forward and we just heard the cracking and the bone come through my skin, through my patella, nicked the femoral artery, and about a week later they came in and said Kip, they knew me by Kip and they said Kip, your military career is done. Yeah, excuse me. He said you're gonna need a bunch of work done on this leg in the future. And he says, unfortunately we can't do it from a tournament here. So he talked about going to the VA and everything that would happen and they were honest about it and good, and that was it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it must have been some injury, though I mean 11 years worth of.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wow, but when you break it in three places and your femur comes through your patella, so the patella, so the patella's here A shard went through sticking up through here, went actually through the bone. Yeah, that was the force. Like I said, he didn't mean any, no maliciousness, nothing, just a freak accident yeah.
Speaker 1:And it snapped like a twig. Yeah, It'd be very easy to be upset about. I mean you seem very like this happened. It would be very easy to not take it that way and to be upset.
Speaker 2:But I tried all I could and it took that many years to get it right. Yeah, and it took a fight on my part with the VA. Now the VA is a totally different story. Right, the VA does good work. The physicians and nurses are phenomenal. The administration's got some issues and so, long story short, it took me doing something crazy getting to Chicago Heinz VA Hospital.
Speaker 2:There was a doctor that said I'll fuse your knee but give me three chances to fix it. And he went and did it, did it. Third one didn't work. He says okay, I'll fuse it. This is just before him and our MRIs became popular, mm-hmm. So they did the surgery and they put a rod that went from my hip to my ankle and then my leg is permanently straight with the rod in it. And they cut out the patella tendon and when they were going through the biopsy of it they found that there were hundreds, from the break, of little ossified bodies that were inside the patella tendon that wouldn't show up on an x-ray, that were rubbing against the femoral head and and that's what caused me all my pain. The only time I felt good is when it was straight. I got tired of braces and everything just fusing, so I got that done and then, unfortunately, this one got bad from carrying this one around, but we got this one finally fixed as well. Well, good, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So you very short stint in the military. It sounds like you really wanted to do some things while you were in, and so you get out. Did you come home, came?
Speaker 2:home and then went to Cincinnati to go to college. Took me six years to get a four-year degree but I got a political science, came back and was still acting up. I had surgeries in Chicago and here I mean Cincinnati, here, ann Arbor and in Detroit and they told me there's nothing we're going to do for you, we're done. That's when I decided I had to act and I did and got me there and to their word, they feel I never had an issue with this leg sense yeah, so it's good that it worked for you though yeah, yeah so, in between all that, you um, after you got your degree, did you go right to work or?
Speaker 2:kind of what happened those 12 years. My work history was very limited. I'd be having surgery all the time. I wanted to go to law school but I figured law school was going to be the same thing so I didn't, and so once it was fused, it took me about a year of rehabbing and everything to get it where I felt comfortable I could do it. I was working for a friend of mine, just helping him out. He had a closet door business and a door business like carrying doors on my shoulder with my leg views, swinging it around going up these upstairs. Everything Could do a lot of things, a lot of things I couldn't. I couldn't drive a stick shift anymore.
Speaker 2:Right, not that I ever did, but I wouldn't be allowed to um, couldn't sit in aisle seats. If I did, my leg was sticking out, would trip everybody flying on a plane was a nightmare. Then they finally moved me over the hall and I could sit there. Um, a lot of things, you had to tinker with it, but my life turned around. It was great. So I went to work. I finally started working of all of all things back in golf courses, managing golf courses.
Speaker 1:And so what year would this have been that you this was 1990.
Speaker 2:Okay, In 1992, 1998, 1996, I managed golf courses. I was managing a golf course in Ray Township and it wasn't a private course, it was a public course and the owners had all the trust in me. They loved me and their daughter-in-law, who became their ex-daughter-in-law, ran the beer cart. Well, whatever happened, we started dating and that was a no-no and they fired both of us. So I went back to doing the stuff for my buddy. I sold the golf club to private one. I'd help out over there whenever they needed me. But then my leg and back started going and I had surgery on my back and that was my physical working. That part of it was done and back started going and I had surgery on my back and that was my physical working yeah.
Speaker 2:That part of it was done. But I saw an ad in the paper for a pilot program for a counselor at a cemetery Grief counselor and I went in. I interviewed. I said I have no experience but I have the greatest gift of all. I had our dog, mandy our dog, and she was the greatest, greatest therapy dog and was not even registered, right, I'll never forget. One Sunday a couple came in. They had lost their daughters in an accident in Canada and on the worst day of their lives Mandy was there and they both had clumps of hair pulling out of what they had in their hands.
Speaker 2:She didn't move a muscle. I was. I'm non-denominational, I'm agnostic, but I had all the necessary information to pass on to them if they were, if some religion or something like that got grief, places what we offered there and it worked out well. But then it finally got to the point that my back gave and that was it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now, were you married at this time? No, I was not.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, at that time I got married. We got married in 1998.
Speaker 1:Okay Did you marry the cart girl.
Speaker 2:I married the cart girl.
Speaker 1:Okay, I was going to ask Okay, so you meet on the golf course, you both lose your jobs and you got married anyway.
Speaker 2:Yep, three lovely stepdaughters, yeah. And she was going to school at the time. She finished up, she got her degree, she went to work for Grainger About two years, three years later, I got a pituitary tumor and a disease called agromegaly. It's giganticism in adults. Mm-hmm Required brain surgery, radiation, all the other stuff. Again, the VA took care of me as far as monetarily goes there I wasn't worried about that, got me to and from my appointments and my wife kept working.
Speaker 2:Then, about two years later, after that, she came down with leukemia and we went to her oncologist and he told us he said, carol, you're not going to die from this, you'll die with it. It's chronic lymphocytic leukemia, very treatable. But the thing is that it's chronic and it comes back Eventually. She's going to want a stem cell. So the first time she had it was remission for six years. Came back again was remission for six years. Came back again was remission for two years. The last time it came back she was in remission for five months and she'd never missed a day of work, except for the day that they put her port in. She'd go to work in the morning, get her chemo in the afternoon, come home, go to work the next day I'd drive her, but yeah, in the afternoon come home, go to work the next day.
Speaker 2:I'd drive her but yeah, but she wanted to work during this and her chemo session was only one month every six months. So it wasn't like you know, and it hurt the type of chemo she was getting because it was a different type of thing. It wasn't debilitating, she never lost any hair or anything. Well, this time when it came back, it came back with non-Hodgkins. And Well, this time when it came back, it came back with non-Hodgkins and that was a different regime. So she started losing her hair, losing weight, painful.
Speaker 2:And she started declining and in another six months she was gone, and that was 2018.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I'm very sorry for your loss. I had 20 great years with her. Okay, I'm very sorry for your loss.
Speaker 2:I had 20 great years with her Five grandchildren. I got three of them here, two in South Carolina, and I see them a lot and it's a great legacy she left with me.
Speaker 1:Good relationship with the stepdaughters then, yes.
Speaker 2:And a very good relationship with my grandkids, especially the ones that are here. The ones that are in South Carolina it's more difficult. My oldest grandson here is big into golf, so he takes golf lessons every week I pay for them with a friend of mine not my buddy that's a pro, another friend that's a pro and gives them his lessons, and then the other one likes baseball here, and then the other one likes baseball here, and then the other one here loves dance oh and then down there.
Speaker 2:Uh, cameron is an artist, he wants to be an artist, and noah is just a bookworm. He's, like his mom's, an educator.
Speaker 1:So oh well, that makes sense. Yeah, makes a nice, really nice family that you ended up with yeah.
Speaker 2:And we started a 501c3 for my wife. It's called Carol's Army. We deliver a comfort blanket for patients undergoing chemotherapy. Oh, and we have a couple of fundraisers every year. My stepdaughter, callie and I run it. We'd like to do more, but unfortunately just with the family. She's got three kids. I'm very limited, but we still manage to pull it off a couple times a year and do quite well at it. So we've given over, I think, 2,000 blankets now. We have partnered with Carmanos Beaumont, or whatever Beaumont is now, and St John's Okay, that's quite a whatever Beaumont is now.
Speaker 1:And the St John's. Okay, that's quite a legacy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. That's, if we hear somebody that has um under chemotherapy, we'll give them a blanket. If it's a friend of a friend, we don't care.
Speaker 1:How can people reach out to you for that?
Speaker 2:We have a website, carolsarmyorg.
Speaker 1:All right, and it's C-A-R-O-L.
Speaker 2:C-A-R-O-L-S Army Okay.
Speaker 1:All right, I want to make sure we got that out there. Thank you, that's a wonderful way to.
Speaker 2:It's a generic website because we just don't have the funds to. We don't have the money to go to the blankets, the only wood for ourselves, yeah that makes sense.
Speaker 1:It's a website, so that makes complete sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were able to put one together and it's suffice for us.
Speaker 1:Well, that's very nice.
Speaker 2:We're learning those QR things, or I'm not, but they are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's funny. I think everyone reaches an age where they stop listening to new music. You know what I mean. Like I'm a kid.
Speaker 1:I'm a kid from the 70s and 80s, so 84 was mine, I stopped yeah, yeah, and so, like there's certain cutoffs that you know, I watched my parents the same way, like you know. They got to a point where they didn't need to have the latest computer or the latest this or that. They were happy with what they had and it worked for them. So, yeah, let let somebody else mess with the QR codes.
Speaker 2:Yes, I mean, it's bad enough. I just learned how to right click. Let's stop with that. Right click's very powerful to keep it is, but it's also very problematic if you type in the wrong word accidentally.
Speaker 1:This is true. This is true. Is there anything that we haven't talked about, that you'd like to talk about? This place? Yeah, let's talk about the Michigan Veterans Home.
Speaker 2:I was the first person in here. I live in Suite 108. I hope that you would take a picture of it and some pictures. If you need permission from me, you can go to my room. Okay, there are about 420 square feet full bathroom bars. You have all the privileges of home. If your team says you can have a beer every night, you can have a couple beers. If you have a car and are able to drive, you can drive. I still do and I have a Cadia out there.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm. Three meals a day and if you don't like what's on the menu you can order something else. A burger, a hot dog, a chef's salad Soup is always available. The activities three days, three times a week Monday through Friday, morning, afternoon and evening. On the weekends twice We've been to the Fox Theater to watch a Beatles tribute band in a suite.
Speaker 2:We've been to Comerica Park in a suite. We've been to McMorrin Arena. We've been to the parks. We play baseball outside. We'll play hockey outside and play volleyball Hockey and volleyball indoor. We have a trivia night ball indoor.
Speaker 2:We have a trivia night where an actual trivia team or company that goes to bars and restaurants comes here and we have our own league where we compete here. We have a fantasy football league between staff and members. We just finished our third year, fourth year, I'm sorry. One team has won it three years. Another team won it the year before Derby, kentucky Derby. You don't want to miss that. Everybody puts on their derby hats, the staff acts as horses. We roll dice, the guys can bet Imaginary and we give them prize money.
Speaker 2:A lot of everything here, for all these activities, is 100% donated. They get no money from the state of Michigan for the activities. It's all donated money and they do a wonderful job in recruiting that money. The guys here are heroes, men and women. We've lost six, I believe, that were in World War II. We have three more here that are World War II veterans. A couple of them were honored at Ford Field on Veterans Day. When we go out to trivia, where that company is, we also go out there and they never forget to acknowledge us and the people are so generous and great to us.
Speaker 2:But talking, you'll be talking to the people here and you learn their stories and I liken it. I just said you know this should be called back to the basics because it kind of from an outside, real quick, looks like a barracks and you think about it. We all got put together, 18-year-olds telling our 18-year-old lies. Now we're back together 60 and 70 years later talking about our 70 and 80-year-old lies and it's quite a. It's the same thing. Everybody's got your back and it's just a wonderful place. And Jennifer Manning, who runs this, does a fantastic job, and her team, her entire team. I mean we're from housekeeping to laundry, to kitchen, to nursing, to administration and the scene is so yeah, yeah it. And the CNAs so yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's the whole package here, whole package, totally agree. And I think the bonus is that it is veterans. Yeah, exactly, it's all people who have served.
Speaker 2:Not only that, but gold star parents are welcome here, yeah. And I think that's wonderful. At first we allowed husband and wives. We had five of them, I believe. I think there's still one couple. I might be wrong, I might speak out of turn, but now because we've filled up, it's kind of hard to do it Right, because everybody has your own individual room.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And if you don't want to be bugged at night, you put a note in your door and they don't bother you at night, unless your team decides that, yes, you need vitals taken at a certain time of night, then you do it. Yeah, we just kind of have to work through it. They respect your privacy. We have a bank here, they have a salon, they go on trip shopping.
Speaker 1:You have pretty much anything you need, right? Yeah, I like the idea too, that if you have a car or if you still want to do all of those things, you can still do them, but you still have a place here.
Speaker 2:And I really don't know how to phrase this. I always lose words for this one. The most heartwarming thing about living here is when actually when someone passes, we line the hall up with an honor walk Excuse me, we had one today, as a matter of fact and wherever the veteran passed from, they'll have them on the gurney, the family behind them. They'll have them on the gurney, the family will be behind them. They're playing taps all the way through. As they walk down the hallways, the members will salute and we will see them all the way out till they can't see the car anymore. Ron, who I mentioned earlier, the Coopman will present them with a flag, and it's very poignant, and you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it gets meaning all the way through, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And they allow me to be a little bit part of it, which I am so grateful for.
Speaker 1:I heard them call for that today when I was here. It's amazing, yeah. Well, this has been great. I've really enjoyed getting to know you, um and uh, learning about your life and your passions, especially learning about your family. Uh, love family. Um, you know, before we wrap up, I do want to ask you. I have one question I ask everyone before we go, and that is for someone watching this or listening to this years from now what message would you have for them?
Speaker 2:It's for the people who have served is the very reason you're going to be able to watch this for 200 to 300 years from now, and the men and women that will come after us. It's because of them that you have the right to do that.
Speaker 1:All right, well, thank you very much. Thanks for taking time out of your day to come sit here and talk with me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
