Good Day Uncut: Delaware County Veteran's Day Parade

Philadelphia, We are uncut. Everybody from right here in Media, the county seat of wonderful Delaware County, hello out to you all, especially all you veterans out there in New Jersey, Delaware, southeastern PA, and especially Philadelphia, welcome to Uncut. What else could we possibly do today except for this wonderful Veterans Day Parade right here in Media, guys? There's a ton of things going by already. Traditionally, it gets started at 11-11, and there's a reason for that. The Veterans Day Parade goes all the way back. To Armistice Day, and if you know what the Armistice is, that's literally the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month that World War I ended a little bit more than 100 years ago. This much time later, we celebrate Veterans Day and all of the people who have served our country. It's also a celebration of our country as well. This gentleman is right here. He's fabulously dressed, absolutely. Probably a Revolutionary War outfit of some kind or another. Hopefully we'll talk to him in a minute. This looks like a local high school coming down the road. Fabulous. The full marching band. Good morning, ma'am. How are you? Strath Haven headed down the road from Wallingford, Pennsylvania. Sir, how are you? Pleasure to see you. It's good to be here today. Thank you. Happy Veterans Day. And look at these wonderful majorettes. Lockstep. They can teach the Marines a thing or two. Look at the way they go. Holy moly. Fantastic. The Strath Haven football games must be absolutely on fire with marching bands, majorettes, and certainly officials. We're going to talk to everybody that we can, guys. I actually spoke briefly with the Grand Marshal, who's a Major General from Fort Indiantown Gap. He's over there, and he agreed to kind of do it, but he's an airman. All right, so they had to go through proper channels, and I may get a chance to speak with him. They're making phone calls now. I didn't want to just grab the guy, da-da-da-da-da. Major General, who is the Grand Marshal? Sir, Hank Flynn, Fox 29, Philadelphia. I'm live. Will you speak with me for a sec? Regarding the event, regarding Veterans Day, Sure, thanks, what's your name, and how are you dressed? I love the way that you're attired today. Yeah, sorry about the noise, James, you have to love the noise. It's okay, but we can hear you, that's why you've got that mic on, and it works well. I think it's authentic top to bottom, I'm intuiting World War II Korea. The guy had the rather hazardous job of just running around in combat, so hence the reason for the smaller M1 carbine, not an M1 Garand rifle for for passengers verbally between different I appreciate your time and thanks for being so willing, especially since we were live. You didn't see me coming. Why is it important to get out here today and commemorate Veterans Day? Well, on a personal level, my grandfathers were in World War II, so this is just a way of honoring them. One was in the Pacific, ironically, you know, he was German, but got drafted into the American Army. One was Jewish, served in Europe, so it's just a way of acknowledging what they did and that I have freedom. God bless you for doing it. Thank you so much for talking to me. Enjoy the rest of your Veterans Day. Thank you for showing out today. Thank you. Have a good day. You too. Thanks. All right. Now I'm about to talk to these two gentlemen right here. Sir, introduce yourself. You are from Mu Beta Phi, which is a military fraternity. Tell me about it and what brought you all out here today. Okay. Mu Beta Phi Military Fraternity Incorporated. We're a military fraternity. We're nationwide. We have 26 chapters. Keep talking. We're just looking at the parade, too. We got 26 chapters. The chapter here in Philadelphia is the largest chapter. Okay. We have over 100 members. Actually, 103 members. Bunch of them out here today. Yes, they are. Yes, sir. We're out here marching in a meeting today. Now, you got your Desert Storm veteran. You and I talked a little bit. What was your experience in the military, man? I'm telling you what, you really do give your life over to it for a while. I remember them telling me when I went into basic, they were like, Hank, they're going to brainwash you. And I said, look, if I'm going to do two years, I hope they do brainwash me because I'm going to need that code. I'm going to need to know how to get through it. Absolutely. And you're a soldier for life if you do it. Absolutely, you're a soldier for life. I served 10 years in the military, six in the Army, six years active duty, four years National Guard, Desert Shield, Desert Storm, field artillery. Field Artillery! Fort Sill! King of Battle! Holy Moly! Shout out! Shout out! Man! Watch out! Trust me, we only talked to these cats on the radio when I was a cavalry scout, and we would be praying that that communication gets through, because when you get your butt... Getting chased as a Cavalry Scout because you're way out there ahead of where you ought to be. You'll be calling in the field artillery and you hope they're awake on the radio, baby. Once that call gets through, find somewhere to get and get out of the way because the sky is literally about to fall on you. Absolutely. Man alive. Thank you for your service. It's a pleasure to meet you. Thanks for showing out. Guys, I love it. This is television. We absolutely have to do it. Let's take a quick two-minute break. We'll be right back out here to wonderful media, the county seat of Delco. Go for more of this wonderful Veterans Day Parade, guys. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Good stuff out here, guys, today, right in front of the old Delaware County Courthouse. The finest Veterans Day parade that you know right here in Media. There's photographers everywhere. You shoot me, I shoot you, my friend. I love it. The J-Dog carpet cleaning guys are here. Veteran, military, family owned and operated, as it says, right there on the van. And by golly, here comes the Rose Tree Fire Department. Rose Tree Fire Company, number one, thank you for your service. And there we go. Everybody's out here. Wait for a second, the fire department and the police aren't just as hardcore so if anything it's harder as the Ridley High School marching band comes by, look at them go, absolutely lock step, fantabulous in those wonderful green uniforms, Ridley High, come on by. The drum section, fantastic stuff, and Dave is here as a gentleman with a USS Darby hat on, no less. Good to see you, sir. Happy Veterans Day. Dave, tell us a little bit about your outfit. I think I may have correctly guessed it. I'm going to move that up a little higher just because it's loud out here, but this is Union Army, no? Union Army. Tell me about it. Okay. I started out in 1978 reenacting. Okay. I started out with... 42nd Pennsylvania Bucktails, and from there I went to, which was part of Roy Stone's Brigade, and then I went from there to the 150th Pennsylvania Bucktails. They were known as the bogus Bucktails because they weren't the original Bucktails. Why do you do it? Are you an historian at root? Is that the yen that pulls you in? At heart. Yeah. At heart. I've done Gettysburg several times. What's that like? Two. To actually reenact Gettysburg, that's got to be an absolute mind-bender. It has been. It's been a real experience. There are times when you could be marching... In a battalion, which is usually about four or five companies, with the flags flying and the band playing, and you hear the cannons going off in the background, and you hear the pop, pop, pop and rattle of musketry. Do you think you get some kind of sense, some kind, it's not the same, obviously, you're not fighting, but do you get some kind of sense of what it might have been like? Because that, can you imagine a world event that shook the world? the nation and continues to impact us this much time later. That actually happened. It blows my mind. Well, I mean, the Revolution made us a country. The Civil War defined us as who we were. Good job, David. I would agree. It went from the United States are to the United States is. That's the key thing here. The Civil War united the states, North and South. Even through things like conciliation. And we're still fighting over nonsense, but that's another thing that I think historians and especially school children ought to get used to, the fact that it never does settle down. The United States is always these tensions over power, and the more we deal with it, the more we engage with it as citizens, the more informed we are and the better we are at controlling our own destiny as a nation. I'm not taking anything away from the other wars, because they all had that place. No, of course. But the Civil War defined us as a nation. The Civil War defined us as a nation. The Civil War defined us after in 1865. As the type of nation we would be in the future. Good stuff, Dave. I appreciate you. It's a pleasure to meet you. Thanks for coming out today. We'll see you soon. Be well. This is Fox 29, not Fox News, Fox 29 Philadelphia. If you go to fox29.com, there'll be a link up for this this afternoon. Okay, great. Good to meet you, Dave. Guys out here at the incredible, and you know about it by now, the wonderful Veterans Day Parade out here in Media, part of Delaware County. The St. Aloysius Academy coming by, living the legacy, absolutely. Look at these young men. There's the band coming by back there. Hey, Colonel Luongo, any chance? Yes. Not happening. Okay. I was going to interview the old Grand Marshal, a two-star general, and the gentleman who I didn't speak with for quite a while. A lot of good things happening here, though. Let's speak with this gentleman. Are you kidding me? Look at him. He's in full uniform, and that's a Navy uniform, and those stripes. I'm telling you what, sir, sir, my name's Hank Flynn, and I'm a reporter for Fox 29. I'm live right now, and I'd love to have you on the show if you'll join me. All right, but quick. Quick, you got it. As soon as you got to go, you just let me know. What's your name, sir? Jim Ziegelhoffer. It's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you. You're a retired Navy man. Look at this. You've fought in every single gosh darn war we have. I'm telling you what. 24 years of service. I'm a Vietnam vet, and I was activated for 9-11. Thank you for everything you did and continue to do. I'm so grateful to you. Thank you so much. And I'd do it again. Man. Now, I'm a two-year Army veteran from way back in the day, but with 24 years in the Navy, that's a huge opportunity to do a whole lot of things. I'm sure you've been around the world three times. What did you do? Were you on an aircraft carrier, a gunner somehow? I joined when I was 17 right out of high school. Wow. I served three and a half years. I was on an aircraft carrier. Which one? The USS Ranger CVA-61. Well, it's a newer version, but the Ranger was the very first aircraft carrier we ever had. It was the third. Right, the third USS Ranger. Fartin' it. Well, the third USS Ranger, but the third aircraft carrier. It was from the Forrestal class. After active duty, I had a break, went in the reserves, and spent 21 1⁄2 years in the reserves at Willow Grove. Mr. It's Ziegelhoffer, you said, right? Ziegel. Ziegelhoffer, I apologize. Tell me why it's important to have these parades, to show up for them in full uniform and remember exactly who it is we are. I'm part of the organizing group, the U.S. I think it's important that we come here, involve the youth, so that we can carry on our legacy. All right, well, Chief Ziegelhoffer, it's a pleasure to meet you, sir, and thank you so much for your service, for everything, and for making a little time for me. I know you've got a busy day ahead. God bless you. Thanks again. All right, guys, they're all up and down the street, the veterans and all of the people who love them. They are you and me. They're all of us, guys, as we celebrate Veterans Day here in media. On a perfect day for it, guys, the parade continues, 11, 11, 11, 11, 11. Happy Veterans Day. We'll be right back with more Uncut. All right, everybody, I think you're looking at the tail end of the Veterans Day Parade, which looked like about 100 school kids carry a colossal flag up the street as an American flag. It's far from over. I mean, we've got good speeches coming up if you like that kind of thing. But I would invite you to stick around if you are out here for some of the essay winners, some of your local high school kids, elementary school kids too writing about how they feel and why they think it's important to come out here. Kelly, thank you so much. It's a pleasure to see you. Here's a microphone for you. Hold that up nice and high. Ma'am, how are you? How are you? I'm Hank. I'm with Fox 29. It's nice to see you. Ladies, thanks for coming out. I'm telling you what, I hope no one had to twist your arms too hard on a day like today. It's just perfect, isn't it? Easy sell. Easy sell. Can't beat it. Another glorious day here in media, huh? Totally. There you go. Kelly, why is it important to come out for these things? I'm sure if you count back far enough in your family, you probably don't have to go too far. Maybe you're a veteran yourself. My parents. Your folks. Both of you. Now, did they meet in the service? Bingo. Get out of here. Tell me that story. Air Force. Hold that mic up. Air Force. Hard to meet people because you're so busy flying around all these different places. They met in Dover and stayed. Dover, Delaware. Right. Now, were they from the area? No. So they're from all over the place. Wound up getting stationed in Dover, fell in love, and here we are. Yep. Not bad. But the reason, one of the reasons, one of the many reasons we come every year that we can is there happens to be a Veterans Day parade on Maria's birthday every year. Is today your birthday, Maria? Yes, it is. 11-11, happy birthday. I think we buried the lead here, Maria. It's your birthday, for heaven's sakes. Tell you what we're going to do, guys. With respect to the Veterans Day parade, I think we're going to bounce around the corner and go get vodka. What do you think? Let's go crazy, Maria. What do you think? Sounds good to me. How, but seriously, though. Over the course of your life, I mean, this has turned from Armistice Day to Veterans Day, so there's always a parade on your birthday. I was going to say, I think it was Casey Stengel said, better to be lucky than good. Yeah, it was nice when I was a child because I'd get off on my birthday from school. Cool. So, yeah, that was one of the perks. There wasn't a parade. I grew up in New York. In New York? Yeah, in Queens. But, yeah, since I've been living in Delaware, we always come, and I met Callie, we always come to the parade on, you know, in media. All right, well, it's a pleasure to meet you guys. Thank you so much. You're welcome. I'm glad I'm back, too. Thanks again, guys. Have a great rest of your day. All right, guys, I've got to be a little bit sotto voce, a little bit quiet here, because they're singing the national anthem. So we're going to listen to this and sneak up on it, and I'm going to try not to talk anymore through the national anthem. Guys, when you've got a live show going, it's sometimes hard to tell what to do during the national anthem. The best thing to do is be quiet. I'm going to talk to this woman right now. We're about to find out for real. Ma'am, I'm Hank Flynn, Fox 29 Philadelphia, and we are live. That was delightful. Thank you for blessing us with that. How long have you known that you're going to be singing the national anthem? You've got a good audience out here. Thank you. It's wonderful. And clearly you're overqualified. Oh, thank you so much. Man, what a song. Thank you so much for that. What's your name? My name is Ashley Rice. I actually am the official national anthem singer for the Philadelphia Union. Well, I should know that, Ashley Rice, and it's a pleasure to see you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Dude, you keep it up. You're going to be the official. You're going to just basically be singing the national anthem every day and making a whole bunch of money. Listen, I would love it. I would love it. Thank you so much. You're welcome. It's an honor to be here. Happy Veterans Day. What do you think about the event so far? It's pretty cool. Oh, it's amazing. Perfect weather. Oh, it's so great. It's beautiful out here. It's a great crowd. I love being able to come here. This isn't my first time here. Thank you so much to Media and the Veterans Legacy Project for inviting me again. This is always such an impactful event. I'm so honored to be here. Ashley Rice, thank you so much for a minute of your valuable time. You sound fantastic. We'll see you down at Subaru Park, all right? Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Be well, ma'am. Ashley Rice, everybody. I hadn't heard of National Anthem. I tell you what, here on Uncut, we're starting to get the old National Anthem school covered. I think it was three weeks ago we saw our boy, who's been on this show three or four times, Hero Turf, blowing the National Anthem at the Eagles on his saxophone and literally flattening everybody. Thank you, everybody. So there's that. Look, it's 1153, guys. We owe ourselves a quick little break. And then we'll be back here to media to talk more about this incredible Veterans Day parade. There's just so much to talk about. All you can do is really just talk to as many folks as you can and see as much as you can. Kind of like going to the parade yourself. Give me 90 and we'll be right back here to media. Stick around. I see a baby right in front of the Delaware County Courthouse. You want to talk about juice? You want to talk about energy? How about these young women right here? Come on, men and women, everybody, all this crowd right here. You did a lot. Out here thanking everybody for their service. Ma'am, talk to us. Introduce this fine crowd of folks that you've got out here at this parade. We are the Salute to Service Club from Springton Lake Middle School. Well done. This is how you salute to service. Absolutely. Y'all get out of school for this, too? Yes, we do. That's what I'm talking about. This is our principal over here. There's the principal. He approved it, and he's got a haircut like a veteran. Sir, can you go ahead and knock out 54-ish row? I'm only teasing. Sorry about that. Maybe not that many. Look, I saw you all last. Josh, what was the flag that you're... That they were carrying up the street. Tell us about the flag that you're carrying up the street. Is it significant? It's a what? Pancrast High School. So we're the middle school. That was Pancrast High School had the flag this afternoon. Oh, my bad. That's okay. Do you know what it was, though? Is that flag significant? I mean, it's huge. For Pancrast, it's significant, absolutely. And over here, we had the flag ceremony, which is outstanding. Sure. All right, well, who's got the biggest mouth among the students here? And whose mom's now going to get mad at me? Come on. Come on over here, Villanova. I see you already. College-bound kid. What's your name, young lady? My name is Maddie Allen. Maddie, it's good to know you. Good to see you. Hey, how's this whole thing going? You guys look like you're having a good time and doing the right thing while you're at it. So today we made some signs and some cards, and we're all holding up some flags to support the veterans. Are you parents? You guys are doing such a good job. I'm scared of getting you guys in trouble. Oh, yeah. Because, like, apparently, though, it's not a governor or somebody that's speaking. I'm so sorry. Oh, you're butchering the prayer. I'm so sorry. It's okay. Thanks for coming out. Of course. You guys are so awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I'm going to maybe go back to the other microphone again since we're having the invocation. Holy moly, I just wreck all these things. That might be it, guys. Let's go back up here to the podium and see exactly what's going on. Of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Excuse me, sir. Yes. Forgive me. My name's Hank Flynn. I'm with Fox 29, and I am live right now, which is why I don't have you on without your permission to talk to me for a second. All right, let's keep our voices down. I'm already... Senator Tim Kaine To use an old cavalry term... I'm already profiling myself out here. I'm going to wind up getting hit by enemy fire by being so loud out here in the street. What's your name, sir, and who are you with? My name is Omar Pickford. I am the commander of the Hilliard Veterans of Foreign Wars District 7. Thank you. Thanks for doing that work, and thank you for your service. What was your service like? I was served in the Army. I was a military police officer. I'm an Iraq vet. Now, are you a policeman now as well? No, no, no. No, it could be. It's a really good track to become a civilian police officer. It is. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I just put family above service, law enforcement, so I just decided to. Thank you very much. That's why I do as much as I do now with the P.F.W. Why is it so important, especially right now, VFW, we've got a lot of servicemen coming home, a lot of young men feeling disenfranchised, maybe not quite joiners the way generations ahead of us were who formed the VFWs. We'll How do you get them out there? Because there's good things for them. Absolutely. There's people who understand their problems. Absolutely. It keeps them from living under bridges and keeps them from killing themselves, to be honest with you. be Yes, one of the main things is that one of my biggest things right is actually trying to make sure that 22 a day becomes not a thing anymore, where 22 veterans commit suicide. So the VFW, what we try to do is we try to help people with their claims, their cases. back. We also, just even if you want to pick up the phone and talk or have a meeting space, not everybody drinks. The VFW is not a bar. You can come through. We have a video game club. We have a board game club. People that come through and play games. But we all have the same common thing together. We all serve, and we still all want to give back to our community. We've got that common language that we don't think anyone out here understands. Mr. Pickford, it's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you. Thanks so much for all of us. No problem. It's a pleasure to meet you. Omar Pickford, everybody. Listen, we've got a full day of content coming. If you want to watch TV all day long, we've got you. Jen Fred's coming up at noon. I'm even going to stick around just to see if she might pull me up and talk to me a little bit. Let's go to her for the noon show.