'The War They Won': Honoring WWII vets through 200+ untold firsthand stories

Only about 30,000 of the 16.4 million Americans who served in World War II are still alive today, making their first-hand accounts truly invaluable. But one young man decided their stories were worth capturing, and he set out to do just that. Invaluable is the word to describe it for sure. His name was Lieutenant Hobert Kistler, or Hobie, as he was known to his family. And after gathering their stories, he worked with his brother. To pare down the manuscript, the work was completed one week before his passing. These incredible stories of the veterans of World War II can be found in The War They Won, a collection of more than 200 interviews that took 17 years together. Wow. This morning we're joined by the author's father and brother. Tom and Peter Kistler, nice to have you on Good Day. Thank you so much. Wonderful to be here. So, Tom, tell us a little bit about Hobie. What was it about him? You know, he met his grand... Well, they were at Christmas together with his grandfather. He was 14 years old. Started inquiring about his service. What was it about that he was so fascinated about this generation that was so much older than he was? Well, he had started with the Civil War and worked his way through the entire battle of Gettysburg and the Civil War. And then when he found out that his grandfathers had served in the Second World War, he started that inquiry. And it went from the grandfathers to the old fellows at church to the old guys at the lunch counter. And after a while, he would walk up to total strangers. And if he saw a hat on their head that said, you know, the USS so-and-so, he would say, did you serve and could I interview you? He kept a running list of all the people that he wanted to interview. What an amazing tribute to him. Peter, you got involved, whether you wanted to or not, you got involved. Tell us about the experience working with your brother on this book. Well, I was involved from a pretty early stage, actually. He started doing this when he was 14 years old, and there was a point in high school where he said, hey, Peter, you're a better typist than I am. Can you just, I have these notes that I've taken from interviewing all these people. Can you type them up for me? And so I was making about $5 an hour doing that in high school. And later on, you know, it was the COVID lockdown, and he had a lot of time on his hands, and he realized, I've interviewed 150-plus people, and I think I've got enough that I can tell the whole story of the war, and I can just plug people in where they serve. You know, there was someone who served at Pearl Harbor, and there were two people at... You know, the Battle of the Bulge, and so at that point, he called me up and said, I've got this whole thing as a Google Doc. It's 150,000 words. Just help me edit it down and make it this tight thing that flows and that, you know, tells the whole story of the war from start to finish. And what an honor to have and think about this on Veterans Day. What can people expect to What do you expect to see when they read a book like this? Well, if you know some of the veterans, that makes it interesting personally. But if you don't know any of them, then it's the war through their eyes. It's not the war through the general's eyes. It's not the war through the people who organized the war or were awarded the Medal of Honor. These are ordinary Janes and Joes who serve some stateside and some overseas. And it explains that they left the family farm and they left the family bake shop and went to war to protect the liberty of the world. And none of them who he interviewed are still alive. I mean, you said that to me just before we came on. I mean, that was remarkable. This must mean so much to their families to see these stories that maybe they had never told before because sometimes, you know, sometimes they don't like to talk about this. There were a lot of reasons why some of the veterans didn't talk. Some were... Obviously haunted by things that had happened that were unpleasant, and others felt embarrassed because their friends had given more than they had. Their friends didn't come back from the war, and they felt that their service paled in comparison to some. Peter, let's talk a little bit about your brother, the lieutenant. What happened? He was in, you know, you two were working on this book. You had helped pare down these stories so that they can be in this gorgeous book. What happened to the lieutenant? Well, sadly, there was a car accident in spring of 2021. And so, you know, the family was left with this incredible legacy that he had been working on. You know, some time had passed and I just felt fortunate in the knowledge that he had emailed me actually that very same month and said, thank you for your help on this. I'm so happy with the shape that it's in and I think I'm ready to go take this to a publisher and see what I can make of it. And so, you know, when it came time to think about what to do with this project, I just knew that that was, you know, the manuscript was exactly the way that Hobie had wanted it to be. And so we were able to take it to an independent publisher in Florida and make it into the book that you see today. It's amazing, Tom. What a beautiful tribute to your son and to the people who served our country. Thank you. It was obviously a great work of Hobie's effort, and he did it really to give the veterans an opportunity to tell their story to their families and stories that they'd kept inside. And he found it very cathartic for the veterans to be involved and have a young man come to them and want to know how they serve, to know how they serve. He had one veteran who said thank you three times during the interview, and he realized then how helpful and cathartic it was for the veterans themselves. One of the things that's so interesting in the book as well is there's kind of a how-to guide if you want to talk to a veteran because, I mean, obviously there's from World War II to Vietnam and the wars in the Middle East. I mean, this is a conversation that is not ending anytime soon. No, yeah, Hobie thought as he was... Putting this into book form, you know, I have spent a lot of time talking to people and having some sensitive and maybe sometimes difficult or even traumatic conversations, and there is a guide at the back of the book that says, you know, if you do want to try to have this sort of conversation with somebody in your life who's maybe a veteran who just might have a story to tell, here's what I've picked up. Here are the ways you can do that in a sensitive way that puts them in the driver's seat and just makes sure that you're being respectful of everything that they've been through. It's a beautiful book, and you can get it now, right? On Amazon, anywhere? That's right. It's on Amazon, it's on Barnes & Noble, and also bookshop.com. The War They Won. Thank you so much, Tom and Peter Kessler. We appreciate you coming. Thanks for having us. Thank you.