 If you watch Common Ground online consider becoming a member or making a donation at lptv.org Lakeland PBS presents Common Ground brought to you by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota Production funding of Common Ground is made possible in part by First National Bank Bemidji Continuing their second century of service to the community, a partnership for generations Member, FDIC Welcome to Common Ground, I'm your host Scott Knudson In this episode, Rich Taggart of Wadena grants a tour of his eclectic history museum Then author Jim Krigler, a Vietnam veteran helicopter pilot, begins a canoe journey of the Mississippi to raise awareness of Gold Star families Today we're going to give a tour on some of my items in my antique building We just like collecting old stuff and we started small and just kept buying and buying and all of a sudden we had a lot of stuff I think the first thing I start with is this neat old camera that was used from the old west days It's the one that you hold up the flash and it goes woof and you see a lot of them in the old western movies still And we have the old full size Elvis which we got in Chicago Carol and I go to Chicago every November to a huge antique show We bought Elvis there and we bought a few other items there We bought that silent movie projector from 1906 in Chicago Lots of posters from different Elvis movies And then we got a popcorn machine that we got just 20 some miles west of us in Perm It didn't work when I received it but I had a gentleman repair it and we have made a couple batches of popcorn with it So and then this projector here came from we got it in Brainerd and it came from Minneapolis Back in the 40s 50s and 60s was huge for these wall boxes You'd go into a restaurant you sit down in your booth and there was a wall box And you could put your nickel or diamond there and play your favorite songs on the jukebox that was over in the corner You're not going to see very many mixers around with three beaters Of course everything is standard with two beaters And this thing here is a flower sifter which you sift your flower and up here you have your This is our first stove we bought and this is made in 1929 And then we have a bread making machine here from 1904 And it just purchased this a week ago and all the parts are inside for making bread But probably the coolest thing on this wall is that vacuum cleaner In 1911 and you take the top handle and you pull up on that to suck the dirt up into there And it has a filter system in there but I think we all realize it would have been a lot quicker to use a broom and a dust pan But this was the start of the vacuum cleaner business And this is a neat round old stove from 1899 It's bigger than most wood stoves you see most of them are 12 or 14 inches and this is a 20 inch This was made for a bigger building and this is definitely all usable There's no cracks or holes or anything in there you can just use it by just putting the stove pipe on there And of course we have some nice old pitchers, a few of them like little Richard and Bobby Lee and Carol and I went and saw them And they were lucky enough to get them autographed and really easy to visit with and that And we got a couple old sinks, there's a lot of cloth full of bathtubs around but very few of them are in a four foot Most of them are five and a half or six and this is a four foot And then we have this toilet that's on the wall which is easy flushers because they got them high up And that came from Great Falls, Montana, seen it advertised and I bought it over the phone And I have a friend that has a store out in Great Falls so the man delivered it there And then later I picked up the product when I met that gentleman from the store This is a couple of neat TVs by Filco, they came out with these in the 50s thinking this was going to be the big thing And it actually ended up bankrupting, Filco, they went bankrupt over these TVs They went over so poorly and the quality of the TV wasn't that good and I have a little article that I picked up I put on here from off the internet showing what happened that they filed bankrupts and what have you Anyway, and then this is a neat little phonograph here which got the cylinder and it's in pretty darn nice shape for a hundred years old And we played it a few times but mainly just here for looks And then my wife Carol, when she was in high school she kept all her high school buttons and little odds and ends Little jewelry and all that stuff so we have it all on display When I was a senior in high school we went on a bus trip to Minneapolis to the University of Minnesota A school trip and everybody that got off the school bus they handed us a four pack of cigarettes When we were seniors in high school, today they'd have a heart attack that passed out of cigarettes to anybody This is a cream separator that is one of my favorite items in the whole building It's a cream separator with a square tub, I grew up on a farm and I've seen a lot of cream separators But I've never seen one with a square tub, they're all always a ron And this thing is made before electricity on the farms They have a treadmill, you can either run it with a dog or a goat or a sheep All it does is stand there and run and it turns the separator and it separates the cream from the milk And then I actually have another treadmill right behind it that runs a washing machine from 1888 It's not in quite as nice a shape but this is a butter churn that actually makes 17 gallons of butter This is actually was made to run on a treadmill also You could either stand here and rock it to make your butter Or you could have a treadmill like this for $16 you could buy the treadmill This was made in 1877 and then right behind that is an apple press And that's from 1860s and this is made for making wine or apple juice Or you just put your apples in there, turn the crank, smash the apples Then you go down in that little tub, you slide it over here And you turn the crank to smash all the juice out and it has a little hole on this tray And it runs, your juice would run in there And this is kind of a neat singer from 1896 The back here is just some washing machines The cool one is this one right here This has electric motor on it and this was made in 1918 And there was not a lot of electricity in 1918 So I would assume it was a fairly well to do family that owned this washing machine I got a nice organ we bought in Wisconsin about five, six years ago And it was actually made in 1879 And I'm not an organ player but we've had a few people here that have played it And it plays very well I can show you the noise it makes And that's, I don't play But for a 140 year old machine I think it's pretty awesome You see a few radios around like this It's before AM actually, it's a very old radio It has no volume control If it's too loud you just turn it off to station a little bit And you see a few of these radios around but you see very few stands The stand is your speaker This is a trunk that we bought quite a few years ago And it's a humpback and it's full with old ladies clothes And of course we got the moth balls just like they had in the old days And Carol and we just found out one thing about trunks that have the dolemon They was normally owned by the rich people They came up with the idea if they have a dome top Their trunk always got put on top of the pile And all of the trunks with the flat tops was on the bottom So these people decided, we'll make a dome Our trunk will be on the top, it won't get damaged And then of course we have our 50 soda fountain area Which I'm quite proud of this We keep thinking we're done with it We got everything we can have And I'll be darned I find something else I gotta squeak in or put in But it's getting to the point, it's full Marnock ice cream was huge in Wydena for years And it went out of business probably back in the 50s or 60s But we ended up with a few posters And I want to make sure we keep that around For people to remember Marnock This is the back of a 1956 Chevy Just took the trunk off and built a seat in there And got the lights hooked up And kind of fits in with the soda fountain This jukebox was purchased in 1998 It was the very first item that we purchased in this building And we played somewhere between 4 and 5,000 records on this jukebox I'll come out here at night And I'll just come over and punch buttons I don't even care what song comes up And it plays awesome This is a 1954 model And it's got awesome sound for 63 years old That bicycle up there is probably one of the coolest items In the building is made in 1898 It has wooden rims, wooden chain guard And a wooden chain back fender And then we have our pop machines We have a Pepsi that we just purchased about a month ago It's a very rare one, you don't see That's the only one I've ever seen like that And then we have two other Coke machines This is somewhat common and this is a smaller model And you don't see a lot of that one So that's probably got more value than all the rest Put together And then we have all our signs We've got SNH green stamps And this is another neat item Before they had the cork cans of oil They would use, this is what they had in the service stations They would use a deal like this They come over here, put that on there Fill up your cork and then put the cap on And as soon as you take your cord away It would come back and all your grips Would grip back into your container And then you just put this in your car And you don't have the cork can to throw away And then we go into my gas pumps And this particular pump came from a small town by Bluegrass Just northeast of Wydena And it came from the central store And this had a 34-volt motor in there That ran off a windmill charger Then we have this rag line that came from the 50s Carnival Had your jack knives or silver dollars Or all that laying out there And you put your quarter in there and you turn your crank I haven't got them set up to work right now But they do work This is an ice cream cart that we bought from Vancouver In Canada about two and a half years ago So you have dry ice in here and you have all your treats in here And in the front it has a door to put all your little Papers and what have you for that And you're going down the road and let them know Let them know you're coming The next thing we're going to look at is our jail And these are original jail bars from Wydena Inside the jail, we have an 1800s jail That we went down to Ohio It's two cells that have a fold-on bunk And then in the doors it has a little slot For putting their food through when you feed them This is a craps table that was made When it was illegal to shoot crap So on this table it has cranks on it So if the feds was coming You could take this apart And hide it within two or three minutes Pretty cool And then that's an old bathtub from the old Cowboys And you can realize back in them days Everybody was a little smaller than they are today To fit in that The oldest thing in our building is that fork right back there And I have no idea how old it is But it's got wooden times on it It's wrapped with leather and it's a six-time fork And it's got to be 150, 200 years old Well, if anybody is interested in commenting and booking Or looking at our collection Just email us and we'll see if the time works for you and I And like I say, there's no charge And we enjoy showing it if we have the time to do it I love coming out here in the evenings And putzing around Sometimes I just come here, turn your jukebox on And sit in a chair and listen You know, look around I enjoy that Late April of 2017 Vietnam veteran helicopter pilot And author Jim Krigler Invited me to film him at Itasca State Park As he began a canoe journey of the Mississippi River His endeavor was to raise awareness Of Gold Star families American Gold Star families are immediate relatives Of members of the U.S. Armed Forces Who have been killed in combat Or in support of certain military activities The air at Itasca was just above freezing But Jim's mood was warm Alright, let's bring her down It's named after, named after my daughter Libby Beautiful girl, sometimes cantankerous Yeah, we're going to fit everything in there quite nicely Alright, we're going Follow me Oh Bob, hi, oh my goodness That's okay, how's it going? Good to see you man Give me help there You know what, if you grab a couple of paddles Then follow me down, appreciate it Well that's a member of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association He came up to wish me off His name is Bob Godar I think he's on a park rapid It's a beautiful morning out here I think it's a crisp 38 degrees Springtime in Minnesota You couldn't ask for a better time to be Out in the woods Alright Halfway It's all downhill from here Jim Kriegler sir Kelly, nice to meet you Oh, I'm honored Oh, was I on the news? Oh, I hope I sounded good Good, well I didn't expect you guys out here But I can't tell you how appreciative I am of this And one of the things I've discovered Is, you know there's no database Of Vietnam Gold Star families And so I'm dependent on the VFWs As they go down and maybe the American legions You've put the flags up here We've got this beautiful morning here You know, I'm just honored That you guys would all show up I didn't expect this, I expected Bruce And I was gonna apologize to you Now I gotta apologize to everybody Oh, I got a poppy for my hat too That's awesome, thank you so much I'll put this poppy in there I actually met with a priest A day before yesterday I was in downtown Chicago And his name was Father John And he gave me a blessing That was beyond blessings I've got angels above me and on the side of me An archangel behind me protecting me According to Father John So, but if I could just say a few words If you guys don't mind Lord, we appreciate this beautiful day And as we begin this journey We hope that we can touch the lives of Many, many Gold Star families Especially Vietnam Gold Star families And I appreciate any support That you can give me along the way And this is a good example of that support These veterans have come out here to Support me in Jesus' name, thank you So, the beautiful 38 degree water here It's the beginning of the Mississippi It's just a gorgeous, gorgeous piece of water This is the beginning of the trip And I'll put my paddle in Start paddling right there First day is going to be a difficult one But I don't really care what the sacrifice is Because it's nothing compared to what Our soldiers and our Gold Star Especially Vietnam Gold Star families Have been through So, I'm willing to make the sacrifice And for those of you that are watching this This video in the future Please find it in your hearts And contact the Gold Star family And thank them for that sacrifice Because every paddle stroke that I make On this river for the next 2,250 miles Is going to be to honor those folks And I would very much appreciate your support So, let's get this show on the road You've got to be in this picture too, Murray I'm Jim Kriegler I'm an ex-Vietnam helicopter pilot And in 1972 I was in combat in Vietnam And I had a wonderful roommate First Lieutenant Tom Shaw And Tom and I became very close He became my mentor, like an older brother And the two of us had a pact between us That if one of us was killed in combat That the other one would escort their body Back to the United States And I was both honored and burdened With that duty But it was the first time that I Met a Gold Star family It was in May of 1972 when I met Tom's wife And his mom and his dad and his brothers and his sisters Although it was the toughest mission for me during the war It wasn't even 10 times as tough as it was for that family And all the rest of the Vietnam Gold Star families That lost sons in that war And during the last 5 years I've had the opportunity To talk to a lot of Gold Star families And the story is always the same, Scott It's always we received a devastating telegram Or a knock on the door And about a week or so later We got a coffin with our son in it And a neatly folded American flag We buried our son And then we never talked about it again I've heard that so many times I can't tell you So I decided to do something about it I decided to go find all the Gold Star families In my community that I could I didn't find them all but I found some of them In the surrounding area And I gave about 20 honor coins out to those families And with each one I put that coin in their hand And told them I thanked them And honored their sacrifice And then I hoped they'd keep that coin And remember that there are thousands of Americans That appreciate and honor their sacrifice None of them could speak to me They were all overcome with emotion It took us both a minute I'm getting emotional just talking about it It took us a minute to recoup our emotions And then they were able to talk to me But the reason they got so emotional Is that in 45 years No American citizen has thanked them for that sacrifice 45 years So I'm on a mission today And I'm doing something totally audacious Most 67 year old guys would never consider Paddling for 2250 miles to make a statement But I'm making a statement And I want to wake up some people in America And I want to cause a movement to happen I would like those of you that are watching this video To go to your VFW or go to your American Legion And ask them who are the Gold Star families in our community Especially the Vietnam Gold Star families Who are they? How can I get in touch with them? And go out and get a 49 cent stamp and an envelope And a little piece of paper And write them a thank you note For that sacrifice Tell them how much you appreciate the freedoms that you have today Because their son or daughter died for those freedoms And make a difference in these people They deserve some honor I'm a little nervous right now because it's like a race You get nervous right before a road race So it's kind of like you want to get yourself going But I don't want to go too fast Because it's more important to have everything That I want on board I can't stop at a store So hopefully I'll be an expert in this canoe In about 30 miles And hopefully I don't tip it in front of you So we'll see This is a book that I just finished It's about my time in Vietnam I am donating some of the proceeds I got to pay for the book But besides that I'm donating the proceeds to My charity 501C3 American Huey 369 The book is called Mission of Honor And you know mistakes in life They make the best stories And this is about the mistakes that I made As a young man and meeting my roommate Tom Shaw That I mentioned earlier And a sort of moral compass that Tom gave me in life That I've used to navigate through those forks In the road that we go through And it's also about my time in Vietnam And it has a message for America So if you're interested, missionofhonor.org As a website you can buy it there You can also buy it on Amazon And again proceeds go to a very, very good cause So I appreciate your support there These are my snacks Yep This is a good one Hey Bruce I don't have enough to give one to everybody I'm sorry but I'm going to give one to you for the ride And I'm giving one to you for coming down here Maybe you could pass it around to these guys I'm not the hero in this book Somebody else is I made a lot of mistakes in my life You know, when you're 20 They're usually not little mistakes They're big mistakes And I was 20 and they turned into Kind of a moral dilemma And my roommate who was killed in action Over there was a wonderful guy And he shared with me his moral compass on life And I don't mind telling you what it was What he said was We're all coming to forks in the road Of life and which fork we choose Determines what our life's going to be And the easy fork is not always the one we've got to take So you've got to have courage To take that fork You've got to do the right thing You've got to focus on what's right Not what's wrong You've got to tell the truth You've got to be truthful to yourself And to other people You've got to trust in God And that's his compass And he gave that to me And I've used it in my life And I've used it to solve my own moral dilemma But he's a hero in that book Not me But thank you for coming, sir Thank you Thank you so much I appreciate all you guys coming Thanks Kelly Here We're brothers That's true Let me test the water Make sure it works Works great Make a difference in some lives Of some Gold Star families, buddy That's pretty much it Thank you so much for watching Join us next week on Common Ground If you have an idea for Common Ground In North Central Minnesota Email us at legacy at lptv.org Or call 218-333-3014 To watch Common Ground online Visit lptv.org And click local shows The soeds are segments of Common Ground Call 218-333-3020 Production funding of Common Ground Was made possible in part by First National Bank Bemidji Continuing their second century Of service to the community A partnership for generations Member FDIC Common Ground is brought to you By the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund With money by the vote of the people November 4th, 2008 If you watch Common Ground online Consider becoming a member Or making a donation at lptv.org