This month’s theme is: Thank you for your Service, Then and Now.

I am passionate about celebrating veterans and active-duty military who continually help us sustain and maintain our quality of life, often at the greatest of costs.

We hear stories through various lenses this November and December, including wars fought, age, gender, race, family impact, and cultural and social legacies.

Our stories have included Mary Jessie Herrera, a 100-pound, 20-year-old Military Policewoman who wore an M16 and a 9 mm sidearm in IRAQ as accessories. We have heard informative heart-to-heart stories from women who decided to serve in the Vietnam War as nurses, librarians, and social support personnel, as well as some unusual consequences of their choices. We cried during with stories from wives of Prisoners of War and military widows.

Today we are time-traveling as well: first, backward to WWII to meet some extraordinary heroes whose stories have often been left untold. Then we will fast forward into the 21st century to meet Pilot and Commemorative Air Force Red Tail Squadron Leader Bill Shepard.

The best part of today’s show is discovering how these stories are connected. And for many of our intergenerational and international audiences, these stories may be a surprise.

To start our journey, I will quote an account published in the Franklin Roosevelt Library titled: Who were the Tuskegee Airmen?

Take a listen and be inspired.