Behind the Lens: Luke Basso's Mission to Capture Veteran Experiences
Barrett Gruber engages in a profound discussion with Luke Basso, a passionate YouTuber dedicated to preserving the stories of veterans through his channel, Filmperia. The central theme of this episode revolves around the significance of documenting firsthand accounts from those who have served in various conflicts, particularly World War II, Vietnam, and contemporary wars. Luke shares his journey, illustrating how he began interviewing veterans at the tender age of 15, driven by a genuine desire to capture their experiences for future generations. Throughout the conversation, we explore the emotional weight of these narratives and the challenges faced in accessing and recording them, emphasizing the urgent need to honor and recognize veterans' sacrifices. This episode serves not only as an insight into Luke's impactful work but also as a call to action for listeners to engage with and support veteran communities.
- Luke Basso | Instagram
- Luke Basso "Filmperia" YouTube Channel
- Zac King | Linktree
- Barrett Gruber | Linktree
- The All About Nothing: Podcast | Linktree
If you are a Veteran, or know a Veteran that would like to have your stories preserved, please email Luke; lukeb.filmperia@gmail.com
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Transcript
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Speaker B:Language and content that isn't appropriate for some.
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Speaker A:Welcome nothingers to the All About Nothing Podcast.
Speaker A:This is episode number 248.
Speaker A:I am Barrett Gruber and I am co hostless to say today because, well, I can't give out a whole lot of information because I don't know at this point by the time this episode drops what it is that Zach has actually put out there in public.
Speaker A:But as most of you know, his wife was pregnant with twins and I don't want to give it all away without any details, but I'll just say they had two babies so he is on paternity leave until he returns.
Speaker A:My replacement Bill or his replacement Bill is not here because Bill's sister is also giving birth.
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Speaker A:Donald Brock Jr.
Speaker A: Coordinator of the: Speaker A: The: Speaker A:Details can be found by visiting sodacity.com sodacity comic con.com also go back and listen to episode number 247 because Brock made a huge guest announcement that we're very excited about and I would tell you at the beginning of this, but then what's the incentive to go back and listen?
Speaker A: Also, the: Speaker A:You can find details@boardwalk comic con.com we'll have more details on that as the event gets closer.
Speaker A:So check the show notes for that.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:All of the business being out of the way, I want to welcome to the show Mr.
Speaker A:Luke Basso.
Speaker A:Luke, we had the honor of meeting at the Coastal Comic Con in Wilmington, North Carolina just a few weeks ago.
Speaker A:And honestly very intrigued and right at the get go because actually one of our, one of our friends that was there at the Comic Con immediately looked you up after they saw your card and was like, he's got more followers than you do.
Speaker A:I was like, a lot of people have more followers than we do.
Speaker A:But regardless, I was very intrigued by your story.
Speaker A:So Luke is in Wilmington, lives in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Speaker A:He is a college student in Wilmington and has an extremely interesting background in how he became more popular than me.
Speaker A:Luke, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Speaker B:Well, I'm a YouTuber.
Speaker B:My channel is called Filmperia and I interview veterans and historical witnesses from World War II to the modern day to preserve their stories.
Speaker B:I've had about, I want to say 80 to 85 interviews from all points of history.
Speaker B:Well, first hand accounts, points of history and too many documentaries of two World War II veterans.
Speaker B:I know I've been doing this since I was 15 years old, since I lived in upstate New York.
Speaker B:And I've continued to do this as much as I possibly can.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And checking out your page, I must have watched 15 or 20 videos of interviews that you did with veterans.
Speaker A:And what was first of all, just from a film aspect, from the production value.
Speaker A:Fantastic.
Speaker A:You said you started doing this when you were 15 years old.
Speaker A:What was your inspiration behind starting this, this whole project which, which basically is, is become like a lifestyle.
Speaker A:How, what was your inspiration?
Speaker B:Well, I've always liked history, especially military and political history growing up.
Speaker B:And how I, how the channel itself got started was I have to go back to during COVID there's this World War II veteran named Doug Brown.
Speaker B:He was turning 100 years old.
Speaker B:There was a celebration and a parade happening for him.
Speaker B:I attended the parade and celebration for his upcoming 100th birthday.
Speaker B:And I asked the family, hey, can I meet him?
Speaker B:And it's like, oh yeah, sure.
Speaker B:I met him briefly and it's like, well, if you want to come back to tomorrow, we can actually talk to him and sit down.
Speaker B:So I came back the next day.
Speaker B:There's two cameras set up and they record our whole conversation for about two Hours And I thought, why don't I do the same thing?
Speaker B:I know a lot of veterans and I like history and I like making videos, so why not combine that all?
Speaker B:And it started out my very first video I uploaded was, was one of my friends, Dr.
Speaker B:John Southwick.
Speaker B:He was a former army doctor in Germany during the Cold War.
Speaker B:But the very first interview I actually did, I just didn't get a chance to upload.
Speaker B:All my videos are not in order of uploading just because of time's sake.
Speaker B:But people ask me, what's your very first interview you did?
Speaker B:So it's confusing but the first video, the first interview I did was with my friend Tony Gagliardi.
Speaker B:He's passed away recently, but he was at Iwo Jima, Okinawa.
Speaker B:And he was also the first mini documentary I did and.
Speaker B:Sorry, what was your question?
Speaker A:Just your inspiration, like what was it?
Speaker B:Yeah, just always liking history and military history, knowing a lot of veterans and I got started through that World War II veteran Doug Brown, I interviewed the interview, what him and I did for that two hour conversation with the family recorded that was that, that was not part of my channel but that got me started, started with my, the idea of my channel and about two years later I interviewed him like officially for my channel.
Speaker B:And at that point I knew what I was doing and he was, he was 102 then.
Speaker B:I don't know if he's still alive or not.
Speaker B:Goodness, I think he is because I haven't heard he passed away.
Speaker B:So he'll be 105 this year if he is still alive.
Speaker A:That's amazing.
Speaker A:That's amazing.
Speaker A:Did you have any sort of background in journalism or like from earlier before, did you have any filmmaking?
Speaker A:Was that something you were interested in even like before the age of 15?
Speaker B:No, just making videos really.
Speaker B:I made a few videos before and made videos with my friends, but no real experience, not at all.
Speaker B:I just.
Speaker B:One thing led to another and here I am now.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's extremely intriguing, you know, because I have a lot of friends that are either currently active military or are, are on the verge of retirement having served either in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Speaker A:Like they've, they have, they have been in war situations over the last 20 years between those two wars and they have either retired or on the verge of retiring.
Speaker A:And you know, they're like my age and I'm, I just turned 46.
Speaker A:So it's, it's, it's interesting hearing their stories and then also seeing the interviews that you conducted where their, their stories are different from a Technological standpoint, but just the, the, the, the battles that they, they fought in the, the Afghanistan is absolutely an extreme unit, extremely unique environment when it comes to having to fight a ground war.
Speaker A:From the perspective of, you know, it's, it's, it's extremely mountainous roads going in and out.
Speaker A:And when, when they were fighting ISIS in Iraq and then they were fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, it was.
Speaker A:The driving on what was an established road became a trap.
Speaker A:You know, there were, there were so many different situations and I've heard several different stories that they've told just on what would have considered, considered just a routine assignment to go out and retrieve something and bring it back to the base.
Speaker A:How did you develop the skills to conduct the interviews and create these basically these mini documentaries that you've created on your, on your YouTube page?
Speaker B:Well, I've only had too many documentaries just because they take too long to make sure they're really good.
Speaker A:They are really, really good.
Speaker B:I appreciate that.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:Just mixing old war footage, music and their experience from their point of view and combining all together, we get a around 15, 20 minute documentary about their World War II experience.
Speaker B:The first one was I mentioned Tony.
Speaker B:He was in the Navy during Iwo Jim in Okinawa.
Speaker B:And then another one is John Egg who was in the Western Front during World War II.
Speaker B:He was in France and Germany.
Speaker B:And that was an originally emotional interview.
Speaker B:He was crying during the interview and he goes into detail how graphic the battles he took part of.
Speaker B:It was a really emotional interview and I'd say that probably is my most emotional one.
Speaker B:He was crying and he remembers it as was Yesterday and after 80 years it still haunts him to this day.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think that's one of the unique things about the stories that I like I said even my friends that are of retirement age from the military is just the experiences that they went through, the people that they were in units with that they lost or the scars of the battles they were in.
Speaker A:They continue to, you know, through everything.
Speaker A:They relive these situations.
Speaker A:And to go and have that documented I think would be such an honor for them.
Speaker A:You know, the service that you're doing, not only just for them as individuals, but for veterans as, as a whole is as I'm, I'm inspired by it.
Speaker A:You know, our podcast, we did a sit down interview with two veterans of, of the Iraqi war in Afghanistan as well as this was several years ago.
Speaker A:This was actually just after things finally got settled.
Speaker A: I want to say it was: Speaker A:And we had, we also had a thera, a therapist that, that did therapy for veterans out of the university here at South Carolina.
Speaker A:And, and so it was, it was a, it was an interesting conversation to have between the two of them who were not in the same unit, but did have very similar stories and very similar losses and things like that.
Speaker A:And then the perspective of a therapist from a, from a post war, the veteran side of it to be able to give a, an idea of how she helps those veterans work through those things.
Speaker A:What's been some of the most powerful or emotional stories that you've heard from, from your interviews?
Speaker B:Well, our Vietnam veterans, they never really got a welcome home.
Speaker B:A lot of them were spat on or call baby killer, beaten up.
Speaker B:And with Vietnam, getting Vietnam veterans to talk, which I understand 100% why it's harder for them, but getting, getting them to open up is really emotional.
Speaker B:This is the first time they were talked about publicly after 50 years.
Speaker B:They were shamed after they came home for a.
Speaker B:It was just, you can, just the way they talk and the way they describe it and you can tell just how different it was than these World War II veterans, or let's say war in Iraq veterans, These Vietnam veterans, a lot of them got Agent Orange, a lot of them, some of them became homeless.
Speaker B:I haven't interviewed any homeless veterans, but I've met a lot of homeless veterans, veterans who were homeless.
Speaker B:Vietnam was way different.
Speaker B:Not just the warfare, there's a lot of politics involved.
Speaker B:There was the home front, like I mentioned when they came home.
Speaker B:And a lot, a lot of them are hesitant that when I say, you want to talk about your time in Vietnam for historical reasons, they understand why I'm doing it.
Speaker B:They just don't want to, which I understand completely.
Speaker B:But Most World War II guys, they say yes.
Speaker B:Almost all of them say yes.
Speaker B:And then along with other veterans, the more recent veterans I get, they say no because it's so recent.
Speaker B:But Vietnam veterans are always the one that most of them, almost, not almost all of them, but I'd say about half the ones I meet say no, which I understand completely why.
Speaker B:Yeah, so it's really emotional hearing.
Speaker B:Not just when I interview, when I talk to them, like when I'm, let's say I meet one at like at a restaurant or something or if I run into one just doing my daily thing and talking to them and saying welcome home to them means the world to them.
Speaker B:Because I never got that.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Do you have any.
Speaker A:How, like, what is your approach to Making that initial contact with, With.
Speaker A:With.
Speaker A:With a veteran, whether it's Vietnam or World War II or Iraq or Afghanistan.
Speaker A:How.
Speaker A:How do you.
Speaker A:How do you go about the process of actually, like, finding a veteran?
Speaker A:That, that.
Speaker A:Or reaching out to someone to.
Speaker A:To have their story documented.
Speaker B:When I first started, it was really hard.
Speaker B:I didn't know where to start.
Speaker B:I knew.
Speaker B:I knew that I started with the veterans I knew.
Speaker B:And I just asked everyone, hey, do you know anyone I can interview?
Speaker B:And then some of them say yes.
Speaker B:All of them would say no.
Speaker B:Then I started reaching out to VFW and American Legions, which helped me a lot, is all the media attention I got.
Speaker B:And the veterans and their families started reaching out to me, saying, hey, my husband was in Vietnam, and I think he's ready to talk, or I think he won't talk to me.
Speaker B:Maybe you can convince him to talk to you instead.
Speaker B:And that works.
Speaker B:Sometimes they never share these memories with their family members, but they'll share it to me.
Speaker B:How else have I.
Speaker B:Oh, some of these veterans I interviewed, they're public figures already.
Speaker B:Some of them have written books before.
Speaker B:Some have been interviewed before.
Speaker B:Some of them are known for other things, just other public work.
Speaker B:So it's easier to reach out to them.
Speaker B:Now with World War II and Korean War veterans, World War II veterans are.
Speaker B:They were all born in the 20s, so most of them are around 100 years old, so they're rare to find.
Speaker B:But when you do find one, they stick out because people are always thanking for the service and praising them and giving them special attention.
Speaker B:Korean War veterans as well, they're getting older, too.
Speaker B:And they're called.
Speaker B:It's sad that it's called the forgotten war because they shouldn't have been forgotten.
Speaker B:But, you know, it was between World War II and Vietnam, and they're around the same age as World War II veterans, a little bit younger.
Speaker B:And I'm having trouble finding more Korean War veterans than World War II veterans, interestingly.
Speaker B:Now, to answer your question, how do I find them is I just ask everyone I know.
Speaker B:Sometimes I reach out to them.
Speaker B:Sometimes I'll go to American Legions or BFWs or Veteran Events in general.
Speaker B:Oversee just a veteran wearing a cap.
Speaker B:Like a veteran cap.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'll go up and talk to them and tell them what I do in there.
Speaker B:Well, a lot of them are impressed and happy that a young person is helping preserve their stories.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And that's.
Speaker B:That's what gets them talking and more intrigued because instead of just like the local news reporting or just like someone doing it just for like school or college or something like that, they understand that.
Speaker B:They understand why I'm doing it and that I'm young for historical reasons and they want the youth to remember what they fought for.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:Like I said, I know I keep going back to this, but it's incredible to me and inspiring.
Speaker A:Just from the perspective of, you know, you're obviously not doing this for fame.
Speaker A:You're not doing it to make a dollar on YouTube.
Speaker A:You're doing this to preserve those stories.
Speaker A:And I want to just remind everybody, please go check out the YouTube page.
Speaker A:Go watch the videos, because they're, they're, they're, they're.
Speaker A:First of all, so from, from the perspective of someone that produces and engineers tell video and audio fantastic work.
Speaker A:You know, so from the technical aspect, it's really, really good work that you've done and I think that's amazing from the perspective of the stories that you're getting to basically get out there into the ethos so that they can always be viewed.
Speaker A:These aren't things that will be forgotten.
Speaker A:These individuals that you've interviewed, they won't be forgotten because you've done them the service of getting them on recording.
Speaker A:And I'm inspired by that.
Speaker A:I think that's fantastic.
Speaker B:Well, thank you.
Speaker A:Have, have any of your interviews changed the way you view history or war or military service?
Speaker B:Yes, a lot of stuff I've watched, well, for example, movies or documentaries or learning about it when I was younger throughout school or.
Speaker B:I don't really read books, but sometimes I like back then, the few history books I have, I just don't read books.
Speaker A:I just don't.
Speaker A:Plenty of people on this show don't read.
Speaker B:Sometimes I watch like in depth YouTube videos about battles during World War II or like the.
Speaker B:Just history videos or just other historical videos.
Speaker B:Just hearing it from their point of view, it's different because they didn't know it was history.
Speaker B:They didn't know.
Speaker B:They're.
Speaker B:They're living in the moment, just trying to live.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Make sure that they'd survive till the next day.
Speaker B:They didn't know the outcome.
Speaker B:They didn't know.
Speaker B:A lot of them didn't know.
Speaker B:I don't want to say what they're fighting for, why they're fighting, but they were, they were just in the moment.
Speaker B:They didn't, they didn't know the context of what's happening.
Speaker B:They didn't know if they're going to win or lose.
Speaker B:They didn't know.
Speaker B:They just wanted to make sure that they're going to survive until the next day, win the war, come out alive with their friends.
Speaker B:And it was like I said, it was, it was in the moment thing.
Speaker B:And you can question, go like, oh, why, why didn't General Blank do this?
Speaker B:Or why didn't General this unit do this?
Speaker B:Well, they didn't know.
Speaker B:They didn't have the knowledge at the time.
Speaker B:You can look back on history, it's like, oh, what if this happened?
Speaker B:Or why didn't this happen?
Speaker B:Well, they just didn't have the knowledge.
Speaker B:It was in the moment.
Speaker B:Like, what would, what would you and I do if we were in their situation?
Speaker B:Probably what, exactly what they did as well.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'd send in drones.
Speaker A:I would.
Speaker A:I wouldn't, I think, because that, that's the, that's the impression I get now is that everything is nowadays.
Speaker B:Many years ago.
Speaker A:Do you, in your interviewing of veterans, World War II to the Korean War and then on to the wars, the more recent ones with Vietnam and Afghanistan and Iraq, do you see a difference in some of the ways that maybe their stories are told based on, you know, what technology they had or information that was available to them, just like, you know, just like we're talking now, like, you know, World War II, you had.
Speaker A:I think what I, what I see from documentaries and videos and such that I see like on the Internet, it seems like the information that was provided in World War II to the soldiers on the ground that made its way down the soldiers of the ground was based on, you know, spy information or that it was, it was, in some cases it was out of a newspaper.
Speaker A:Like I remember seeing a documentary where they were talking about before Normandy that some of the British and American intelligence came from news articles that came out of German newspapers about troop movements, basically letting people know in France how to prepare for Germans coming through their town.
Speaker A:Did you see any, do you recognize any sort of difference in the way some of the stories are told between from World War II all the way up through current wars?
Speaker B:Well, for the, I guess the political aspect of it, back then, there wasn't any technology.
Speaker B:So you didn't really like these veterans who fought in Iraq.
Speaker B:A lot of them questioned why they were there.
Speaker B:Even the ones who were in Vietnam, they questioned why they were there too.
Speaker B:Even though there wasn't necessarily modern technology during the Vietnam War, the news is covering it constantly and there is a massive home front movement to bring the troops home.
Speaker B:And the political aspect Comparing World War II veterans and Vietnam veterans is way different.
Speaker B:The information that World War II veterans, well, they're fighting for two different causes.
Speaker B:But during World War II, newspapers and espionage to double agents or radio or newsreels at the movie theater, that's the information you got.
Speaker B:You had no other way of getting it, or the only information you got is from the news and your government.
Speaker B:As time progressed, you would get independent sources or, you know, the Internet.
Speaker B:As the last two conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and for the political aspect, it's changed a lot throughout time.
Speaker B:And for the.
Speaker B:For the actual fighting, yeah, it's pretty.
Speaker B:It's pretty different.
Speaker B:We're not necessarily in Iraq and Afghanistan, at least the last part.
Speaker B:The first part of Iraq.
Speaker B:Yeah, we're fighting uniforms on uniforms.
Speaker B:But, you know, it turned to guerrilla warfare in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Speaker B:Same in Vietnam.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:The NVA had uniforms where the Vietcong in the uniform did not have uniforms.
Speaker B:In Korean World War II, the enemies had uniforms.
Speaker B:So it's, you know, it's.
Speaker B:It's different styles of warfare.
Speaker B:We have guerrilla warfare and the more recent conflicts.
Speaker B:And now back then, it was armies fighting armies, and.
Speaker B:Well, okay, we'll use train, for example, which Vietnam was jungle, was mostly jungle warfare.
Speaker B:World War II was all sorts of different warfare.
Speaker B:Iraq and Afghanistan was deserts and mountains.
Speaker B:The way they thought was so different.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:How do the veterans and their families typically react to seeing their stories shared through your YouTube channel?
Speaker B:Well, they're pretty grateful that they get a voice, and the families are even more grateful because this is the first time they ever talked about it for some of them, and probably the only time they'll ever get on recording and special all at once.
Speaker B:They might hear stories throughout the years of, like, one time at dinner or something like that, or they might just randomly.
Speaker B:They never heard everything all at once.
Speaker B:So they're very grateful that I can get it all and within two hours or an hour of just talking to them, and that's.
Speaker B:It's there forever.
Speaker B:Yeah, and they're extremely grateful.
Speaker B:So are the veterans, too, because they can, a lot of them share with their friends instead of.
Speaker B:They don't have to repeat it over and over again.
Speaker B:They can just share it out and say, this is what I did.
Speaker B:And they're very happy that they can share their voice, even if it was hard for them to talk about.
Speaker B:Yeah, a lot of them find it therapeutic, too, because there's some of them, they don't want to talk about it, which I understand completely.
Speaker B:And there's some of them who do want to talk about it.
Speaker B:They just don't know how to talk about it.
Speaker A:One of the.
Speaker A:One of the things that I read was that you were invited to participate in the honor flight to Washington.
Speaker B:Yes, that was my.
Speaker B:That was my junior year of high school.
Speaker A:What was that experience like?
Speaker B:That was amazing.
Speaker B:I'll remember that forever.
Speaker B:That was my junior year of high school, and I lived in upstate New York, and I was invited as a special guest on the honor flight because of all my work with veterans, and we got to see all the memorials, and the whole day was honoring these veterans and what they'd done for our country.
Speaker B:Going around Washington, D.C.
Speaker B:they really felt grateful.
Speaker B:They really felt honored and respected, and what they fought for really meant something.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And I was happy to be with these group of veterans for the.
Speaker B:Throughout the entire day.
Speaker A:How did that come about?
Speaker A:How.
Speaker A:How did you wind up working.
Speaker A:Working your way onto that.
Speaker A:Onto that experience in upstate New York?
Speaker B:I stay in every.
Speaker B:Every area and county is different how they operate on our flights.
Speaker B:But where I used to live in Clinton county in upstate New York, they had honor flight ceremonies four times a year.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:And where I live now, they only have one honor flight a year.
Speaker B:Right where I used to live there for.
Speaker B:But I would go to every single ceremony, so I got to meet the people and talk to them.
Speaker B:And then a lot of the veterans I interviewed were going on there or had some sort of involvement.
Speaker B:Plus, the media attention I've gotten helped me a lot through my YouTube channel and getting on the honor flight.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And plus other people pull strings for me to get on there, too.
Speaker B:It's like, all right, let's get this kid on the honor flight.
Speaker B:Let's get him on there.
Speaker B:So that helped, too.
Speaker A:It's got to be a pretty amazing experience.
Speaker A:Did.
Speaker A:When.
Speaker A:When we met.
Speaker A:Did.
Speaker A:Did I understand correctly that you also got to be in audience for the Normandy anniversary?
Speaker B:Yes, I was at the 80th anniversary D Day.
Speaker B:I skipped my high school graduation to go there.
Speaker B:Now.
Speaker B:Now here's the.
Speaker B:Now here's the thing.
Speaker B:A lot of people say, why would you do that?
Speaker B:Well, I was only that high school for one year, so I didn't really.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So if this was, you know, the school I was up to before, that might have meant.
Speaker B:That would have meant more.
Speaker B:But they graduate a different time.
Speaker B:They graduate like a few weeks later.
Speaker B:So I just went.
Speaker B:I went that one to it.
Speaker A:Not.
Speaker B:Not to.
Speaker B:Just to see it.
Speaker B:But my.
Speaker B:My senior year of high school, I lived in.
Speaker B:I went to Ashley High School in Wilmington, North Carolina, and I skipped that to go to the anniversary D Day.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It was sad because I didn't get to have an actual graduation, but I'd rather be at the last.
Speaker B:This was the last major anniversary D day they'll probably ever have.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because most of These World War II veterans are 100 years old and they do the major ones every five years.
Speaker B:So there might be like a dozen of them the next time to do this.
Speaker B:Not even maybe.
Speaker A:And the one we're talking about was the one that was just.
Speaker A:What was this back.
Speaker A:This was in 20.
Speaker A:2020.
Speaker A:Just this past June.
Speaker A: In: Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You got to hear President Biden.
Speaker A:Biden.
Speaker A:Did Biden speak at that?
Speaker A:I can't remember.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker B:Here's the thing.
Speaker B:Special dignitaries were at that one.
Speaker B:That particular speeches and like those particular speeches where the dictators dignitaries were.
Speaker B:I was not there on there on that day.
Speaker B:Only certain people were allowed.
Speaker B:But I was at Gold beach where the British landed.
Speaker B:If I am correct.
Speaker B:I was going to fact check me on that probably.
Speaker B:That's okay.
Speaker B:If I.
Speaker B:If I remember correctly, that was Gold beach where the British landed.
Speaker B:And that's where I spent.
Speaker B:That's where I spent the day.
Speaker B:Then the very next day I went to Omaha beach where was more accessible through for.
Speaker B:Throughout anyone just for that.
Speaker B:The actual day of the anniversary was Pat Crowder from dignitaries from all around the world.
Speaker A:Yeah, one of the.
Speaker A:One of the cool things about that where.
Speaker A:Where the British actually landed.
Speaker A:Not the Americans because Americans were at Omaha, but the.
Speaker A:On the British side.
Speaker A:One of the things that I thought was really cool was there's a program that I watch is from that's British television that is called Richard Hammond's Workshop.
Speaker A:And he has.
Speaker A:Richard Hammond, of course for years and years was a coast for or a presenter for Top Gear.
Speaker A:And one of the things that he's done now post Top Gear, post Amazon Grand Tour is that he has this workshop that they do a documentary about sort of a documentary style television program for.
Speaker A:And one of the things they do is they restore old vehicles.
Speaker A:Well, they restored the Rolls Royce that Churchill drove on the beach.
Speaker A:So be.
Speaker A:After restoring that vehicle, they got to deliver the vehicle to France and then down to the beach and then they actually got to drive the vehicle on the beach just like Churchill did.
Speaker A:And it was all.
Speaker A:It was all done for by the British government.
Speaker A:They took care of all the cost and everything like that.
Speaker A:But it was such a cool experience to watch because there were so many.
Speaker A:There were so many veterans that were there.
Speaker A:So you may have actually been there on the day they were filming that episode.
Speaker B:I might without even realizing.
Speaker A:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B:That's pretty cool.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But then there were.
Speaker A:There were some old Jeep.
Speaker A:I can't remember exactly what the model is.
Speaker A:My brother would shoot me if he knew I didn't know it.
Speaker B:But the American Jeeps.
Speaker A:Yeah, the American Jeeps.
Speaker A:But there were several American jeeps.
Speaker A:They got to drive around in one of those.
Speaker A:C.J.
Speaker B:I have never seen that much Willy Jeeps.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I've never seen that many Willie Jeeps and that many Sherman tanks in my entire life all at once.
Speaker B:There's probably hundreds of them, as well as dozens of World War II air aircraft flying all over the air.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Also, I've never seen that much during Fourth of July parades or Veterans Day events.
Speaker B:There's American flags everywhere.
Speaker B:I saw more American flags at Normandy than I've ever seen in my entire life.
Speaker A:Amazing.
Speaker B:That's how grateful they are for the United States and Normandy.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's.
Speaker A:I think the experiences that you have.
Speaker A:You have had and that you are continuing to have are just absolutely incredible.
Speaker A:And I, you know, as we, as.
Speaker A:As you continue your journey, I definitely want you to come back onto the show to talk more about it because.
Speaker A:And because you and I know there's things you have in the plans that, that.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm excited.
Speaker A:What are.
Speaker A:What are some of the biggest challenges you faced while working on Filmperia?
Speaker B:I don't get these veterans in time.
Speaker B:We lose hundreds of veterans every single day from all conflicts.
Speaker B:Basically, the World War II Korean War veterans are losing them the most, but we have other veterans who are just with health problems, like Vietnam with Agent Orange, or veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who are killing themselves every day.
Speaker B:So it's hard to get these people in time.
Speaker B:There was times I'll reach out to the families and go, hey, can I interview your uncle?
Speaker B:They're like, yeah, sure.
Speaker B:Just give me a few weeks and we can sort something out.
Speaker B:I'll email them back in a few weeks.
Speaker B:Oh, he just passed away.
Speaker B:And this has happened multiple times.
Speaker B:And I'm just devastated.
Speaker B:I'm like, oh, my God, I'm so sorry.
Speaker B:And I wish I was able to get there faster to preserve the story.
Speaker B:And there's some veterans who like, yeah, I'll do an interview.
Speaker B:And then they're just not able to.
Speaker B:Or it's like, oh, there's health reasons most of the time why they can't.
Speaker B:And then sometimes it never happens.
Speaker B:Sometimes it passes away.
Speaker B:Sometimes they're just not physically able to as much as they Want to.
Speaker B:Or they'll be.
Speaker B:They'll be.
Speaker B:They'll.
Speaker B:Some of the older ones will get transferred to a nursing home, like to a different state, and I just.
Speaker B:I won't have access to them anymore.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So that's the biggest challenge is because we lose so many of them every day, and there's dozens of veterans who I want to interview that wasn't able to.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Have you ever had an interview that didn't go quite as you planned?
Speaker B:Well, sometimes there's.
Speaker B:Well, when I was younger, I didn't really know what I was doing.
Speaker B:When some veterans didn't really know what I was doing either and didn't really take me as seriously.
Speaker B:When I first met them, they would say it's some exaggerated story when I first met them, and I tell them, hey, can I interview for my YouTube channel?
Speaker B:And then they're like, oh, maybe.
Speaker B:And then I convince them, and then I'll sit down with them.
Speaker B:And those stories were exaggerated.
Speaker B:That was when I was like, 15, 16 years old.
Speaker B:They just.
Speaker B:They thought I was like.
Speaker B:They just didn't take me as seriously.
Speaker B:And then they found out what I did.
Speaker B:They're like, oh, I actually have to say the actual story that's happened a few times back then didn't really bother me.
Speaker B:I just found.
Speaker B:I found it more funny than anything.
Speaker B:I'm like, okay, but now then.
Speaker B:Now they know what now.
Speaker B:Now I have, like, business cards, and I've been on the news a bunch of times.
Speaker A:Yeah, I can.
Speaker B:And they actually looked at my channel.
Speaker B:Now they take me seriously.
Speaker B:I just.
Speaker B:Even if that didn't happen, I just don't think they would do that anymore.
Speaker B:I think that was just more of.
Speaker B:Because I was younger.
Speaker B:They did that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Other times, too.
Speaker A:Go ahead.
Speaker B:Sorry.
Speaker B:Other times, too, was when the fan members got information wrong, and they'll say, oh, he did this, this, and that.
Speaker B:And then I'll.
Speaker B:And then I'll talk to the veteran.
Speaker B:They go, oh, I never did that.
Speaker B:And I feel like an idiot.
Speaker B:I'm like, oh, that's what your daughter or son told me.
Speaker B:And then.
Speaker B:And it's like, well, they got that wrong, too.
Speaker B:They don't.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:I guess they don't know my story either.
Speaker B:So then I.
Speaker B:Then.
Speaker B:Then I get.
Speaker B:Then I get the actual story, what they did.
Speaker B:So just like, some of the family members aren't as knowledgeable as you would think they are.
Speaker B:Would be about their.
Speaker A:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, I'm pretty sure that I have some pretty.
Speaker A:Some pretty inaccurate.
Speaker A:Inaccurate preconceived.
Speaker A:Notions about what it.
Speaker A:Because my.
Speaker A:My grandfather was in World War II on my mother's side, that he was.
Speaker A:You know, we.
Speaker A:I have so many different stories.
Speaker A:You know, I have a story, there's a story of that he told that I may remember correctly.
Speaker A:I may remember incorrectly, but that he never saw any wartime, like, he never actually saw any fighting, that he was on an aircraft carrier or a ship down near Australia.
Speaker A:And one of the stories that he talks about was any time they crossed the international date line, anyone that had not done that before.
Speaker A:There was.
Speaker A:There was something that.
Speaker A:There was a.
Speaker A:Basically a hazing that would take place for whoever it was that was crossing the international dateline for the first time.
Speaker A:And then I also heard that when he was in World War II, I don't remember what point, but that he and a buddy of his that worked in the.
Speaker A:I guess, what are they.
Speaker A:What did they call the vehicle maintenance group, that he would ship parts of an old Jeep Willie back home to him himself in the States, and that from that they built a Jeep, they built a vehicle.
Speaker A:I don't see.
Speaker A:That's the thing.
Speaker A:I don't know if these stories are true.
Speaker A:You know, it's just.
Speaker A:It's one of those things that you colle over time.
Speaker A:And is it.
Speaker A:Is it his story or is it someone else's story?
Speaker B:And that's why firsthand accounts are always the best accounts, because they tell you how it actually happened.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker A:So it's been a long time since he passed away.
Speaker A:And he was.
Speaker A:He, you know, he.
Speaker A:He had amazing stories, and he helped raised us.
Speaker A:You know, I wish that I had the foresight to record those things.
Speaker A:I had not yet worked my way into me wanting to do TV and radio and pod, you know, podcasting wasn't even a thing back then.
Speaker A:I did eventually work in radio, but, like, if I had had that foresight, I absolutely would have recorded conversations with him.
Speaker A:And I wish that I had.
Speaker A:What's something that you've learned about storytelling and filmmaking through.
Speaker A:Through this process?
Speaker A:Like, what's something that you could say to someone else that has that sort of same drive that wants to do this as well, as far as, like, advice maybe?
Speaker B:Well, a few things come to mind is let them talk.
Speaker B:Just let them talk.
Speaker B:Don't interrupt them.
Speaker B:Just let them talk, because they're always gonna have something to say.
Speaker B:Every veteran has a different story, or every person's a different story about their life and their experiences, and just let Them talk.
Speaker B:Just listen.
Speaker B:Another thing too is not everyone is storytellers.
Speaker B:I know this is a little opposite of what I just said, but not everyone is storytellers.
Speaker B:And what I mean by that is they're just.
Speaker B:They'll have a good story, but they still know how to tell it.
Speaker B:And sometimes you need to bear with them that it might not be what you expected, but still be respectful and still guide them into a way to make it the way you want it to be.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Do I have any other advice?
Speaker A:There's always post production.
Speaker B:Do research, I guess.
Speaker B:Do research on the person beforehand so you know who you're talking to and what they did and who they are.
Speaker B:So we'll take you more seriously.
Speaker B:And so the interview and whatever you're doing is more professional.
Speaker B:Always do your research on these people beforehand if you can.
Speaker B:Sometimes it's hard to look up some of these people, but there's always something about someone on the Internet nowadays, it's so easy to find people now.
Speaker B:It's like the easiest it's ever been.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Again, I think what you're doing is really cool.
Speaker A:What would you say is potentially like, your.
Speaker A:Like the whole reason you're doing it?
Speaker A:And I don't want to speak for you, but I think it has a lot to do with just recognizing the value of the veterans.
Speaker A:But, like, from your perspective, like, what.
Speaker A:What is it that you're trying to accomplish?
Speaker A:Is there an end game?
Speaker B:Well, I don't plan on stopping this.
Speaker B:And when you kind of spoke for me there, a little part of it was preserving these stories for as long as possible and giving these veterans a voice.
Speaker B:But also, I can get.
Speaker B:I gain out of it, too, because I enjoy learning about history and hearing firsthand accounts of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Speaker B:And, oh, I forgot to mention, it's not just veterans.
Speaker B:I've had, like, historical witnesses on my channel, too, like Holocaust survivors and victims of communism.
Speaker B:So it's important to preserve these stories for as many people as possible.
Speaker B:What I gain out of is I get to learn about history, and I feel I'm honored that I'm able to help these veterans share these stories and other historical witnesses, talk about their experiences for sometimes the very first time.
Speaker A:You are currently a student.
Speaker A:It's Cape Fear Community College.
Speaker A:Correct.
Speaker A:How does that tie into your goals for your future, like your personal future, your professional goals, that sort of thing?
Speaker A:What is it you're doing there as far as preparing for what comes after college?
Speaker B:Well, the thing is, I try not to think about.
Speaker B:Too hard about college.
Speaker B:I'm only at a community college right now.
Speaker A:Trust me, most of us don't either.
Speaker B:And I'm getting an associate's art degree that could pretty much transfer to anything.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:And I don't know, right now I'm taking college day by day, but the experience just matters just as much as the degree.
Speaker B:So I hopefully I can do something as a career that's similar to what I'm doing right now.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I think that I can really answer your question there.
Speaker B:I didn't really know.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:Obviously it's one of those questions, like.
Speaker A:Because if somebody asked me, what do you want to do when you grow up?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I fucking do this.
Speaker A:This is.
Speaker A:This is kind of what I do every.
Speaker A:You know.
Speaker A:You know, I have to have a job to.
Speaker A:To.
Speaker A:To pay for doing this.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I don't make.
Speaker B:I don't make money off.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm doing this.
Speaker B:I do this to.
Speaker B:For the sake of these veterans and historical witnesses.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Have you had any.
Speaker A:Has there ever been anyone that's approached you as far as saying, hey, we really like what you do.
Speaker A:We'd really like to maybe bump this into a level that could potentially make some sort of income or at least passively a.
Speaker A:Pay for what it is you're already doing?
Speaker A:Because this has gotta.
Speaker A:This costs you money.
Speaker A:You travel.
Speaker A:You have to.
Speaker B:Well, I get a lot of opportunities out of this.
Speaker B:I get to meet a lot of people, as you see in my wall behind me.
Speaker B:There's a lot of influence behind on my wall, who I've met over the years, but I get a lot of opportunities from this and people invite me to events or just other opportunities.
Speaker B:Well, by the time this video is released, this will already happen.
Speaker B:But there's this Vietnam veteran who's a Medal of Honor nominee, and I'm traveling to South Carolina with him to help him out.
Speaker B:With.
Speaker B:Help him out.
Speaker B:Help him and his team out with a few things going on and hopefully that he will get the Medal of Honor within.
Speaker B:Hopefully this year.
Speaker B:He's 87 years old.
Speaker B:I have his poster right here, actually.
Speaker A:Where in.
Speaker A:Where in South Carolina are you going to be?
Speaker B:Thing is, I don't know the town yet.
Speaker B:I just know where he was born.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:I look back at my text messages because we're just going there for a few days, but I'm traveling with him and his team.
Speaker B:He only lives like an hour away from me, so I was.
Speaker B:That's why I was able to, you know, efficiently get this worked out.
Speaker A:Gotcha.
Speaker B:But other opportunities.
Speaker B:Well, in April, I'm going to Georgia to.
Speaker B:I'm one of the guest speakers for a veterans rally.
Speaker B:So I'll be speaking there about the importance of veterans and as a veterans first responders rally.
Speaker B:So I'll be talking about the importance of first responders and our veterans along with a few other guest speakers.
Speaker B:And I'll be invited to sometimes fancy dinners or something like that or other.
Speaker B:Not just veteran events, but just.
Speaker B:Not just veteran events, but just other opportunities in general that will help me in the future is meeting amazing people.
Speaker B:Like all these people.
Speaker B:Want to have my wall over there.
Speaker B:I'll hang up A few more people who I met recently up there.
Speaker A:Has, has.
Speaker A:Doing.
Speaker A:Has speaking with all these veterans.
Speaker A:You know, you haven't mentioned any sort of desire to be in the military.
Speaker A:Has, has.
Speaker A:Has meeting with all these veterans.
Speaker B:Yeah, there's a whole story of.
Speaker B:I tried, I tried joining a while ago.
Speaker B:It didn't work out.
Speaker B:That's a whole story for another time.
Speaker B:And I don't remember all the details, but.
Speaker A:But it was something you were interested in?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah, it was.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:And that was actually.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:A little bit right after I got started on this and I tried joining back in upstate New York.
Speaker B:I tried joining a few different branches.
Speaker B:A few different branches.
Speaker B:It didn't work out and I'm a little upset about it.
Speaker B:But I don't want to say everything happens for a reason, but if I joined, I wouldn't have been able to do everything I'm doing right now.
Speaker A:That's what I was going to say is the effect that you're having now is likely greater than any effect you would have had as an active military service member.
Speaker B:Even if I was in the reserves or anything like that or like, I don't think I still would have the opportunities that I have right now.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, I completely agree.
Speaker A:And you know, while.
Speaker A:While I certainly recognize and appreciate all of the sacrifice and that every service member has ever given and will give, you know, there, there are.
Speaker A:It's certainly the effect that you're going to have for not only future veterans, but the veterans that have already come and the ones that we've been, that you like you've mentioned, we've lost some that you've interviewed before.
Speaker A:So that's.
Speaker A:I, look, I think it's amazing and I'm appreciative of it because I've had many of my family members were active military, were in war times.
Speaker A:And you know, like I said, I wish that I Wish that I had the forethought to.
Speaker A:To.
Speaker A:To go and actually record some of that.
Speaker A:Do you plan on expanding film Peria, beyond YouTube maybe into a documentary series or a podcast?
Speaker B:I haven't really necessarily thought that far, but, yeah, I do have plans for the future for my channel, and there's a lot of get.
Speaker B:There's a lot of guests, special guests, who I.
Speaker B:Who I probably will have in the future.
Speaker B:Two of them won't come up.
Speaker B:Who said they will do an interview eventually is.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, former CIA Director General Petraeus and former National Security Advisor General Flynn.
Speaker B:They both said they would do one.
Speaker B:Petraeus is extremely busy, and I talked to him a few times and he's like.
Speaker B:He's like, luke, I'll do one with you eventually.
Speaker B:I have a few pages of events and other obligations I gotta do first.
Speaker B:Just build your channel in the meantime and I'll do an interview with you eventually.
Speaker A:That's very cool.
Speaker B:You know, Flynn said.
Speaker B:He said he'll do it when I had to go through his PR team and organize all the complicated stuff there.
Speaker A:Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And ultimately, Flynn's looking to be on television anytime he can.
Speaker A:I know that.
Speaker A:That's Mike Flynn.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, he's.
Speaker A:He, He.
Speaker A:He definitely served his country.
Speaker A:You know, that's.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:I'll just move on.
Speaker B:Politics.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker B:He's a really nice guy.
Speaker B:Yeah, I like talking to him.
Speaker B:And, yeah, politics aside, I think I started.
Speaker B:Try to stay politically neutral.
Speaker B:There's people on who are both Democrats and Republicans.
Speaker B:I'm interviewing.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker B:I don't drag politics into this.
Speaker B:These people serve their country and they deserve to have a voice.
Speaker B:And I want to talk to them.
Speaker B:Yeah, it doesn't matter.
Speaker B:You know, Patrice is a Democrat, Flynn's a Republican.
Speaker B:Why does that matter?
Speaker B:It shouldn't.
Speaker A:No, no, you're absolutely right.
Speaker A:It shouldn't.
Speaker A:And ultimately, I think that.
Speaker A:That I don't.
Speaker A:I don't think any service member.
Speaker A:I think for the most part, most service members don't join the military because they have aspirations of some political life after the fact.
Speaker B:No, they do it because they love their country.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:During World War II, when Pearl harbor is bombed, they joined to defend their country.
Speaker B:When 911 happened, a lot of them joined.
Speaker B:That was.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know what I'm talking about?
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:It was a huge uptick in.
Speaker B:Because I'm sure you remember that I wasn't even a thought then.
Speaker A:I was gonna say.
Speaker A:No, I was.
Speaker A:I was gonna say being.
Speaker A:Being only 20 years old.
Speaker A:You, you.
Speaker A:It was, it, it had happened, you know, three or four years before you were born.
Speaker A:And I, you know, that's, that's one of those interesting, that's one of those interesting topics that, that doesn't get to come up with a lot of our guests when it comes the perspective of 9 11.
Speaker A:Like you grew up in a post 911 world and I guess technically I grew up into.
Speaker A:And then after a 911 world.
Speaker A:But like I've told the story before that one of the things that I remember because I, I moved to Colombia.
Speaker A:I actually moved into my apartment eight days before 911 occurred.
Speaker A:No, I'm sorry, nine, ten days before 911 occurred.
Speaker A:So I had lived in Colombia for about six months, moving back and forth between Columbia and Atlanta.
Speaker A:And I remember the night that Tuesday evening we were, we were standing outside of a, a pool hall where we'd go every Tuesday because they had, I don't know, it was, it was half price drinks or something like that.
Speaker A:And I remember standing outside and, and looking up at the sky and not seeing a single plane in the sky.
Speaker A:And, and, and just that, that, that odd silence.
Speaker B:That, that sounds really eerie.
Speaker A:Yeah, it was, it was weird.
Speaker A:And then, and then out of Nowhere you'd have 2, 2, 2 fighter groups of F18s come flying through the skies because they were, they were flying up and down the coast monitoring for any potential other attacks.
Speaker A:And it was like that for probably I want to say it was like that for maybe two weeks or so.
Speaker A:But even from the perspective of friends that were active military at that time, I had a friend who was, I can't give too much information about it, but I can say that the stories he told me he was the, the night after, the night after 9 11.
Speaker A:So on 912 he was immediate.
Speaker A:He and his unit were immediately deployed to Afghanistan where within, within two days they had over.
Speaker A:This is his story, so I may be inaccurate, but within two days they had, they had taken over the Cabal or the airport, the main capital airport basically so the United States could begin using the airport for flights in.
Speaker A: Because he, when: Speaker A:He was, he was wherever it was that he was at.
Speaker A:And, and they were, they were activated within.
Speaker A:Within an hour of the first plane hitting and they were on their way somewhere.
Speaker A:They didn't know where they were on their way to.
Speaker A:Information was still coming in, but they were, they were, they.
Speaker A:They were on a plane on their way.
Speaker A:And you know, so those are the kind of.
Speaker A:And I, he lives In Wilmington.
Speaker A:I could potentially get you in touch with him, if that.
Speaker B:Yeah, please do.
Speaker A:I will, I will.
Speaker A:I will reach out to him and see if that's something I can get.
Speaker A:But he, He's.
Speaker A:He's an amazing storyteller.
Speaker B:I'll.
Speaker A:I'll get you that information.
Speaker A:He's.
Speaker A:He's really good.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:Have you had anyone after, you know, you.
Speaker A:You obviously have a decent number of subscribers.
Speaker A:Your videos get a fair amount of views.
Speaker A:Have you had anyone approach you and ask you for advice on.
Speaker A:On how you do the filmmaking that you do?
Speaker A:How you approach and ask and interview these people?
Speaker A:Has it brought you any.
Speaker A:Any sort of fame that you've been recognized for?
Speaker A:I mean, obviously you've been to awards, you've spoke.
Speaker A:I mean, you've been to dinners and you've met with people and things like that.
Speaker A:But anything that stands out is the.
Speaker B:Question of have people ask for advice.
Speaker B:Some people have asked me, how do you find these people?
Speaker B:And they're more referring to the public figures people, the ones who are, you know, more known.
Speaker B:They have a big influence.
Speaker B:And people have asked, how do you get in touch with them?
Speaker B:I just ask them.
Speaker B:I'll just email them and tell them what I do.
Speaker B:And the worst I can say is no or not respond.
Speaker B:And that happens a lot.
Speaker B:You're going to get no a lot from these people, which I understand.
Speaker B:Why would you want to talk about the worst days of your life?
Speaker B:I understand that, but some of them, they know why.
Speaker B:They understand for historical reasons.
Speaker B:But people have asked, how do you get in touch with these people?
Speaker B:My advice is reach out to them.
Speaker B:The worst they're going to do is not respond because we're so busy, or they won't see it, or they'll say no and just reach out to them.
Speaker B:Really.
Speaker B:They'll be like, let's say.
Speaker B:Let's say I have a.
Speaker B:There's 10 veterans I reach out to, to them respond, and one of them agrees.
Speaker B:The other one says, no, but I appreciate what you're doing.
Speaker B:The other one says, yes, I'll do it.
Speaker B:So you're going to.
Speaker B:You're going to get rejection a lot and a lot of no's, but there's going to be that small amount of yes and agreement.
Speaker B:And just my advice, as I said, I keep on repeating, just don't be free to reach out.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:If you could interview any historical figures, do you have a list in your head of the historical figures that you would have potentially liked to interview from any war, Trojan War?
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Well, there's two people who are alive who I do want to interview, which I know I want to be able to just because of.
Speaker B:Well, okay, there's two people who would.
Speaker B:I would have had a realistic chance to interview just through connections and all that, but their mental and physical capabilities aren't.
Speaker B:They're not public and they're.
Speaker B:They're just not.
Speaker B:They're not.
Speaker B:They're not doing injuries anymore for private reasons.
Speaker B:One of them is General Kalugin.
Speaker B:He's a former KGB general who.
Speaker B:He lives in the United States now after the Soviet Union fell.
Speaker B:I would love to interview him.
Speaker B:He doesn't.
Speaker B:He doesn't do interviews anymore, sadly.
Speaker B:Another person is Imelda Marcos.
Speaker B:She's the former first lady of the Philippines.
Speaker B:And that's more.
Speaker B:That's more political history.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:But I've talked to privately.
Speaker B:My connection there.
Speaker B:She's just unaccessible now.
Speaker B:Just completely unaccessible.
Speaker B:Another group of.
Speaker B:Not a group of people.
Speaker B:Well, I consider to be a group of people, obviously.
Speaker B:I interviewed a lot of Allied veterans.
Speaker B:I do want to hear the other side.
Speaker B:If I can find a German or Japanese veteran, I would love to interview them.
Speaker B:I'm sure that's.
Speaker B:Well, I know that's harder to find.
Speaker B:Almost impossible.
Speaker B:World War II veterans alone are hard enough to find fighting a German or Japanese veteran who, you know, they've been shamed for what they've done, and they.
Speaker B:They're on the losing side and they're, you know, the bad guys.
Speaker B:They don't really want to talk about it, but they.
Speaker B:The ones who have been interviewed, I've seen online, they understand.
Speaker B:They understand for historical reasons, and they were just there.
Speaker B:A lot of them were just forced to do it.
Speaker B:But my point is, I want to hear the other side, too.
Speaker B:Yeah, I've.
Speaker B:I've only ever.
Speaker B:I've talked to very few people who are on the opposing side.
Speaker B:Someone else I interviewed, who was on.
Speaker B:Who is on.
Speaker B:Who used to be our partner, me as former KGB agent Jack Barski, who's.
Speaker B:He's on our side now.
Speaker B:Don't worry.
Speaker A:But what is our side?
Speaker A:I can't pinpoint what our side is currently.
Speaker A:So, you know, I honestly, I look at it this way that, you know, for every war, there are millions of individual stories.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:And those.
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker B:It's history.
Speaker B:It actually happened.
Speaker B:It doesn't matter who's good or bad.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:I want to hear all sides of history.
Speaker B:And, yes, I do.
Speaker B:Even I wanted to interview, like I said, German, Japanese or even The Soviets on our side, they have a completely different point of view of World War II.
Speaker B:I, I don't know any Soviet World War II veterans.
Speaker B:I don't know any German or.
Speaker B:Oh, I met a Hitler Youth member, former Hitler Youth member.
Speaker B:She passed away though.
Speaker B:And she didn't, she, she wasn't with enough to do a video, an interview for my channel.
Speaker B:But I would still talk to her occasionally.
Speaker B:When I'd see her, she was still with it enough to understand what was going on there.
Speaker B:But I didn't want to put a camera in front of her face when she was already confused enough.
Speaker B:But sure.
Speaker A:That's amazing though.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's incredible to look back because you mentioned Hitler Youth.
Speaker B:It wasn't her fault.
Speaker B:People gotta understand this wasn't her fault.
Speaker B:She was about 8 years old, her father was a German police officer and she was indoctrinated to believe in the Third Reich.
Speaker B:Yeah, this wasn't her fault.
Speaker B:These people were brainwashed.
Speaker B:The people who were around my age.
Speaker B:I'm not saying there's a lot of bad, bad Germans out there and Nazis out there, but you know, there's still a lot of them out there who were, you know, forced to do this or they were brainwashed completely.
Speaker B:And this history, it actually happened.
Speaker B:It's important that we understand both sides of history.
Speaker A:No, and I think that's one of the things about history is if you don't know what happened in history, you're doomed to repeat the same thing.
Speaker A:I mean, we have, you know, there are people in this, not in this.
Speaker A:I'm sorry.
Speaker A:There are people on this planet that are brainwashed now to believe what isn't true.
Speaker A:In order to push their agenda forward.
Speaker B:We need to understand all that.
Speaker B:United States, we've done countless of horrible acts throughout history, but it's important that we are aware of that.
Speaker B:We need to know what actually happened.
Speaker B:It can't just be a one sided thing.
Speaker B:History is violent.
Speaker B:And a lot of times both sides can be just as bad as another.
Speaker B:Yeah, not always, but there's times where, you know, it can just be baggage versus bad guys.
Speaker B:It's not always good guys versus bad guys.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Outside of, outside of journalism and filmmaking, what are some of your other personal interests and hobbies?
Speaker B:Well, I just have, I have a list of things I'm doing on my schedule, so I have a lot of things going on, a lot of things, but I enjoy them.
Speaker B:Even though college is the one thing that's slowing me down.
Speaker B:I stomach.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:Look, don't come to me for Any advice about college?
Speaker A:I am, I am.
Speaker A:I am still not a graduate after nearly.
Speaker A:How 46.
Speaker A:So after 26 years, I'm still not a graduate.
Speaker A:So, you know, that's okay.
Speaker B:College isn't for everyone.
Speaker A:That is correct.
Speaker A:That is correct.
Speaker A:And as long as college is expensive as it is, it shouldn't be for everyone.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:There's a lot of things you can do without college.
Speaker B:It just for certain people.
Speaker B:Not just for me.
Speaker B:Just like if you want to be a doctor, lawyer, you need college.
Speaker B:For me, yeah.
Speaker B:A degree is going to make me look a lot better and I still going to get experience from there, even though I already have the experience from outside of college, other aspects.
Speaker B:But the degree will make you look better.
Speaker B:I'm still going to go to college regardless.
Speaker B:I just, I'm.
Speaker B:I'm too.
Speaker B:I'm too invested into it to pull out right now.
Speaker A:Right, yeah, yeah, no, I get that.
Speaker A:I think one of the other things that I wanted to ask you about, and this is not for me, this isn't a political topic, but it is something I think that is important.
Speaker A:It's something that I have dredged on about for years is the.
Speaker A:You mentioned the homeless situation, the lack of.
Speaker A:When it comes to veterans and things like.
Speaker A:I guess one of the things that.
Speaker A:I think that from the perspective of being in the United States, the United States being the richest country on the planet, that if, if you could, if you could focus in on any one specific issue for veterans, what would that, what would that be for you?
Speaker B:Well, there's a lot of issues.
Speaker B:They suffer from PTSD to homelessness to drugs, alcohol, as well as physical, mental issues, what they've gotten from their service, their years of service.
Speaker B:So that's a hard question to answer because when the veterans transitioning from military civilian life, they're completely two.
Speaker B:They're two different worlds completely.
Speaker B:And that's a hard question to answer.
Speaker B:If you're making me choose to pick one between all those aspects that are affecting them every single day.
Speaker B:That's hard because they all should be fixed, which is.
Speaker B:That's not possible.
Speaker B:But these veterans have done so much for our country and then they come home to having daily, daily struggles of having nightmares, remembering their best friend dying right in front of them, or having.
Speaker B:Having Agent Orange from Vietnam or some of them will have, you know, still metal in their bodies from like a grenade going off.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Overall, just veteran.
Speaker A:Veteran health and recognition.
Speaker A:I think it sounds like that's something that's important to you.
Speaker A:Yeah, there's.
Speaker A:There's so many different battles to fight for our veterans.
Speaker A:And I am absolutely one of the people that stands up and that our country should do right by the people that have given that sacrifice, that have sacrificed their minds, their body, their souls to stand out every day.
Speaker B:They didn't know if they were going to come back or not.
Speaker B:That was for the entire time the military, for those X amount of time they served, they didn't know if they're going to come back home or not.
Speaker B:Every day was different.
Speaker B:And what these veterans have done, a lot of people just can't put into perspective of.
Speaker B:We really.
Speaker B:We owe them almost every.
Speaker B:Well, pretty much everything.
Speaker B:Our country is free because of these people.
Speaker B:And we live in one of the greatest countries, probably the greatest country in the world.
Speaker B:So I appreciate what these veterans have done for us.
Speaker B:Our way of life would have been so much different if we didn't have these people defending us.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Are there any organizations that you've worked with specifically that you think that could use more attention as far as their support of veterans?
Speaker B:Well, I want people to look into the.
Speaker B:I'm going to be a little biased to say the Honor Flight.
Speaker A:Please do.
Speaker B:But I really look into the Honor Flight.
Speaker B:I just written a bunch of letters to the one in my area so when the veterans are on the plane, they're gonna.
Speaker B:They'll have some letters to read when they either get back home or when they're on their way over there.
Speaker B:VFW's American Legions, they're pretty much every area in the United States and just go in there and see if you want to help out or see what you can do, go for it.
Speaker B:If you want to help our veterans or there's organizations online that will take volunteers or just spreading awareness is the best way to do it.
Speaker B:Or just understanding what these variants have done for and going up to them and thanking them for their service.
Speaker B:And if it's a Vietnam veteran, also say welcome home because they didn't get a welcome home.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's Luke.
Speaker A:Like I said, I think that what you're doing is inspiring and I thoroughly enjoy all of the videos that I've watched so far.
Speaker A:And I guarantee you by the time, the next time we talk, I absolutely will have watched all of them.
Speaker A:Wow, there's.
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker A:You've got it.
Speaker A:You've got a good number out there.
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker A:There's several, but there's a lot.
Speaker B:The problem is there's a lot more I haven't had a chance to upload.
Speaker B:Yeah, I have Some other ones from like over a year ago, I just haven't.
Speaker B:I just haven't able to get to.
Speaker B:There's a lot of older guys I try to prioritize first just because of their age, and some of the younger ones, I just haven't got to yet.
Speaker B:As much as I want to get to them.
Speaker B:It's just a lot at once.
Speaker B:And there's.
Speaker B:I'm gonna have videos, interview for videos to edit for years.
Speaker B:Let's, let's say for some reason I stop this.
Speaker B:I'm gonna have so much videos unedited.
Speaker A:There's a lot of content to come.
Speaker B:I plan on doing this for as long as possible.
Speaker A:Well, it's an amazing service.
Speaker A:Not only, you know, not only for us as, as the individuals that get to, to view and watch the, what you've put together, but the service that you've done for these individuals and their families and friends and the people that they served with.
Speaker A:You know, these are, these are stories that are going to live on forever now because they're on the Internet.
Speaker A:And I think that what you've done is amazing and I look forward to everything that you've done.
Speaker A:If.
Speaker A:Is there anything else you want to tell us about before we, before we wrap this up?
Speaker B:Well, if anyone, if anyone listening knows any veterans or if you are a veteran, you want to reach out and talk to me or even do an interview over zoom, or if you.
Speaker B:I don't, I don't know how many people who live in north or South Carolina are watching this, but if you, if you live within the state, we can maybe arrange one in person.
Speaker B:Or if you just want to talk to me, send me a name@lukeb.filmperia Gmail.com Filmperia is the name of my channel, too.
Speaker B:If you just want to contact me through there.
Speaker B:But I appreciate all the support for everyone who's watching videos and I appreciate that you allow me to talk on your podcast.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, and I'll put, I'll put all your, your information in the show notes and I'll get, I'll get you.
Speaker A:I'll get information on there, on how they can contact you, your email address and everything like that.
Speaker A:Because I think that the potential is you'll have several people reaching out just purely to tell their stories.
Speaker A:And I think that that'd be really awesome.
Speaker A:Just, just if, if you're watching, just understand if there, there might be a little bit of a delay because he's got a fairly decent backlog of stories to come.
Speaker A:But Luke, it's It's absolutely been an honor to have you on the show.
Speaker A:I wish that Zach could have been here because we think you'll be here.
Speaker B:Next time if I, I hope so.
Speaker A:Fingers crossed.
Speaker A:I can't finger.
Speaker A:Fingers crossed.
Speaker A:You know, but it, it, you know, his, his situation has definitely changed with the, the inclusion of two new children.
Speaker A:But, you know, like I said, we thoroughly enjoyed meeting you at the Comic Con and I am, you know, I literally, I had your card sitting on, on my.
Speaker A:It was when you emailed me a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker A:Like, I literally had your card sitting here so that I could get a hold of you.
Speaker A:So don't we.
Speaker A:You were not forgotten.
Speaker A:You definitely left an impact on us just from the conversation.
Speaker A:So like I said, look, all of the rest of your endeavors to come here in the next few weeks to months, I ultimately, I want you to be super careful because I know that there's all, there's danger everywhere and you know, where, if, if you have a press badge, wear that press badge big and, and, and, you know, glitter it up.
Speaker A:If you have to make it, make it stand out.
Speaker A:So, look, Luke Basso, I really appreciate you coming on the show with us.
Speaker A:Just to, just to remind Everybody that Luke's YouTube channel is from Paria.
Speaker A:You can find the link in our show notes.
Speaker A:Please go subscribe and watch these videos, listen to these stories.
Speaker A:The combination of the individuals that he's interviewed, as well as, as the accompaniment of news reels and things like that from the wars.
Speaker A:It's, it's done, it's such, it's done very, very well.
Speaker A:The quality is amazing.
Speaker A:So from that perspective is one of the things that I also respect, not just the work you've done, but the content as well.
Speaker A:So, Luke, thank you very much again for being on the show.
Speaker A:Again, everybody check the show notes and go subscribe to Luke's page because it's, it's incredible information and just, it's.
Speaker A:I don't know, it's inspiring.
Speaker A:That, that's the word I keep coming back to, is inspiring.
Speaker A:Thank you very much, Luke.
Speaker B:Thank you for having me.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:That's going to wrap it up for episode number 248.
Speaker A:Thank you again, Luke, for being on the show with me.
Speaker A:Links to past episodes, podcast platforms, merchandise and social media are available at our website, theallaboutnothing.com and if you think our financial model of giving away free content and entertainment is silly and you're in the giving mood, why not become an official nothinger and support the show members get early access to to this episode as well as exclusive content.
Speaker A:Visit members.theallaboutnothing.com or you can find a link on our webpage.
Speaker A:You can also give us a one time donation through the same link.
Speaker A: -: Speaker A:Thank you everybody for listening.
Speaker A:You all stay safe, be kind and keep your hands to yourself.
Speaker A:The All About Nothing podcast is product of Big Media and produced and engineered by me, Barrett Gruber.
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