 And welcome to another edition of Hawaii Uniform, I'm your host, Calvin Griffin. And for those of you who have made a seat in the program before, here in the program, we talk about a lot of things that deal with the veterans in the military community. I have two very special guests today, but before I get into the introductions, I'd like to remind you of the fact that we have the Oahu Veterans Center located down in Foster Village. And there's a lot of good activities that go on down there that affect the active duty and also our veterans. A lot of good programs coming up. If you get a chance, you might want to call Claire Levinson, and you can reach her at 422-4000. And that's 422-4000, and they're located down in Foster Village. You might want to check it out. A lot of very important programs going on that may be of interest to you. At this point, what I'd like to do is introduce two special guests to the program. One is Mr. Paul Alivas, who is a retired Army, Special Forces, and Mr. Bob Kent. Afternoon, gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you for coming on. Mr. Alivas, thank you for coming on the program. Thank you for having me. Good. I know that you have a very extensive history. In fact, you've been here in Hawaii for a while, haven't you? Yes, I came here in 1968. 1968, okay. We're blessed in a way to have a lot of veterans over here, like roughly about 120,000, and a lot of them have come from some very extensive backgrounds. But your background is, like I say, you're in a rare era, as far as some of the things you've done in your past. Could you tell our viewers a little bit about yourself when you went into the military and some of the locations that you were involved with? I was born the 20th-century dog, it's 1918. It's at Peonia, Mexico. Way out in the boonies. My father was a cowboy. We were on the cattle ranch. Very few trees, a lot of rattlesnakes and prairie dogs. But it was a very, very poor country. There was hardly no stores around. Our closest store was 15 miles, and we had horses and bogies, and we didn't have an automobile van. Yes, military history. But just to point of interest also, you will be turning 100 this month. Yes. Okay. We're giving people a reference point when you're talking about horses and bogies. You know, they may think of coal or ranch or something, but yeah, I'm sorry, please continue. Okay. So, 26th of September, 1940, I joined the Army. And I signed to the hundred... I was assigned to the Forty-Fifty-Fifty Division at Fort Collins, Colorado. And then from there, we went to Fort Silver, Oklahoma. I got our basic training. And I was 157th infantry for a long time. So, it was National Guard Union, of course. And they were all cousins and brothers and so forth. So, I'm a stranger, so I was getting a long end of the stick. So, I decided to go over to the Army. And I went and was assigned to a job school at Fort Benning, Georgia. Went to a job school. It was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division for World War II. I was at 101st Airborne Division through the war. And finally, at the end of the war, it ended on us in Austria. In your career, you have been associated or served with a lot of members who nowadays we only read about in history books. Could you relate some of the people that you knew early in their career? I know that was General Westmoreland, was one of them. My good buddy, Harry C. Agnew and I, we met at Fort Benning, Georgia. We went to a job school. He and I went through thick and thunder. We took all the training and we went all through the war and we wound up together after many, many years. And he and I were real tight. I know that you, as far as the conflict in Europe, you were part of the battle of the Bulger participated in that, as far as... Yeah, I was with the year that Captain Normandy Holland and Baston were part of 101st Airborne Division. And we did Normandy Holland and Baston. And you also jumped behind the lines of Normandy and Baston? Yeah. No, so Normandy and Baston, yeah, Baston. Baston, yeah. Bob, I actually wanted to introduce you to the program also. We're going to continue, sir. How did you two meet? Do you have a long-standing relationship? Was this part of the organization? Well, he was a deacon in the First Baptist Church of Mililani. And I was a deacon in the First Baptist Church of Vietnam, the 25th Division. Yeah. Okay. And, sir, you were in Vietnam also? Yes. Okay. What about your experiences there? How... What was it like, you know, for... Well, you see, I did World War II in Korea and Vietnam. Vietnam was the worst one because, see, World War II, we had a battleground. We had people in uniform. We were the enemy west. Korea, they were in uniform most of the time. Vietnam, they were all in civilian clothes most of the time. We didn't know who was who. And we're not supposed to kill civilians. Yeah. But the civilians were killing us. They were the ones who were the bad guys in Vietnam. Bob, it was your experiences. I know that it's one thing I won't want to point out. A lot of people, the veterans you talk to, when you talk about... They're reluctant to talk about their combat experiences, you know, because a lot of them, of course, will say that the true heroes were, you know, no longer with us anyhow. But you're tying in with Vietnam and your experiences also, was it similar or...? Well, I was in the combat area with the 25th Division. And it was one of those situations where people are shooting at you and you shoot back. And I'm still here. Some of them are not there anymore because we had to kill them. Yeah. I think in hindsight nowadays, some of the younger generation can be a little bit judgmental, you know, as far as what they weren't there. They didn't know the circumstances and what to try to remind people also. There's a difference between the policies, you know, and being serving in the military. There's a time when, even if you don't agree with it, there's a time and place before you address it. When we serve in the military, we have to follow our orders. Right. But what people tell us to do, what our seniors tell us to do, when we got back from Vietnam, it wasn't like World War II or Korea. We had people standing out there calling us baby killers and holding signs up against the war. And they spoke to us and against us. We couldn't even wear our uniform. Oh. And that was sad. I can imagine, yeah. It was a very degrading situation when we were here back. Nobody liked us. I try to serve the country and people don't appreciate what's going on. Nothing. There's one common theme also. I mean, we have a lot of our troops, male and female, of course, that are serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. And of course, a lot of them come back with many different psychological issues, which is common with anyone who's been in the combat environment for extended period of time. One of the things we always talk about, and it's been mentioned a lot, is PTSD. Yes. Back in World War II, I think they called it shell shock or there was a lot of different terminologies that were used for it anyhow. But what your experience, I mean, with all that you've been through, and I want to go touch a little bit more about your background in history with the military. But with everything that you've been through that we talked about offline, how were you able to cope getting back into the so-called society and deal with some of the things that you had dealt with in the past and put it into context with your present situation? First thing you've got to remember, you do things that you're told to do, survival. And after you come home, you've got to get busy doing something to get your mind off of it. I let you to be restored mustaches, the old mustaches. And that's quite a technical job, especially the instruments. You have to remember where this goes, that goes, and so forth, where you put it, where it's at, and so forth. So, if you get involved in something that takes away the bad and brings you into good, that kind of relieves the mind and practices it more and more. So, you're just getting refocused, because I know that nowadays there's a lot of programs out there that try to help the service members also. But Bob, part of what you do also, because I know that you're heavily involved in the veterans community, you're a mentor with Judge Kubo's office also, but the people you deal with, how do you try to, do you have the same philosophy? Yes, you have to have something to keep your mind busy. And what I did when I retired, I got a job driving a city bus. And driving a city bus definitely keeps your mind busy. Because you've got to watch everybody on the bus, you've got to keep them safe, and you've got to do what you're told to do. And I did that for 22 years. And then I drove tour buses for another 12 years. And I'm 82 years old, and I'm still busy. I drive Uber right now. And I also go to Veterans Treatment Corps. And I hope the veterans get their VA benefits. I've been a service officer before. Well, sir, getting back to, I don't want to mess up the opportunity to talk to you about a few things anyhow. But as far as, I'd say, past history, serving in Europe, what are some of the people that say that some of the younger audiences may be familiar with that you serve with? Or is there any circumstances that you went through that is not really well known to the younger generations? Well, you see, when you're in the Army, you have to obey orders. And if you don't, you're soon going to learn how to do it. Right. So the things you do is do what the sergeant tells you to do. No talk back. And volunteer for things that say, OK, I'll do it. I'll do it. Volunteering gets you a little bit step higher towards promotions. What you do is you don't want to be a private all your life. So you've got to work to be a non-commissioned officer by doing the right things and helping those that need help. Pick them up, lift them up a little bit, encourage them. You say, OK, one more mile, one more mile, we're there. I want to explain something. When he was in the Army, he was in the 101st Airport Division. He was one of the first ones that was picked to serve in special forces. It was the first school that they had. He went through the special forces school. Sir, how did you get picked for that? How did you volunteer for that? In the Army? Yes, sir. In the Army? No, for the special forces. We went out to make a jump one time. And there was three people that came down from Washington to just start out the SEF. They called it SIRWAR in those days. With them was the battalion. He was in the OSS. We went to officer's duty service. And he was kind of a guerrilla kind of thing. And we went to make jump. And we were talking about promotion forces. He said, Paul, we're opening up a new unit, SIRWAR. And under it would be special forces. And he said, it's a brand new one. He said, be a lot of promotions, a lot of good jobs. And he said, your job qualified. Yes. I got my wings already. And he said, you speak Spanish fluently. I said, yes, I'm Spanish. He said, we want you. So in June, we started putting foot lockers together. And while lockers together, smoked by the hill. And in June, and in 52, we graduated. Right. OK. One thing they want to bring up, you made a jump behind enemy lines before. Could you tell a little bit about that? Well, with 101, that was with the unit, the jet behind enemy lines in Norban and Holland. We were in England first training and training and training and training. And then it put us in the marshaling area. We call it a marshaling area, barbed wire. You can't go out and you couldn't get in. Briefing it, briefing it, briefing what we were supposed to do, showing the signs and this, and what you're doing and what not to do. And we got ready for it. So finally the time came for us to go. We finally got boarded our aeroplanes, C-47, C-46s. There were a hundred and seven planes in the air. 82nd Airborne Division, 104th, 17th Airborne. And several others jumped with us. Got it. So it was quite a big bunch of people coming in here. And it was nighttime. We were getting shouted. We had a lot of the lights coming up, and so forth. But it was it. It was it. Sir, we're going to take a short break. We'll come back. We'll continue our conversation. And Bob, of course, want to get your intake on, you know, a lot of the other different issues also. But stay tuned. Hawaii Uniform. And we'll be back shortly. Hello, everyone. This is the Japanese broadcast of the Hello, Hawaii broadcast in Japan. I'm Yukari Kunisue, the host of the Japanese broadcast. I'm broadcasting from 2 a.m. every Monday. This is a program where we can provide useful information on the Japanese community, useful information on the Japanese community, useful news, and so forth. Hello, everyone. This is the Japanese broadcast of the Hello, Hawaii Uniform. I'm Yukari Kunisue, the host of the Japanese broadcast. Thank you. Hello. My name is Stephanie Mock. I'm one of three hosts of think tech Hawaii's Hawaii Food and Farmer series. Our other hosts are Matt Johnson and Pomae Weigert. And we talk to those who are in the fields and behind the scenes of our local food system. We talk to farmers, chefs, restaurateurs, and more. To learn more about what goes into sustainable agriculture here in Hawaii. We are on Thursdays at 4 p.m. at 4 p.m. and we hope we'll see you next time. Okay, back with the Hawaiian uniform. Again, I'm your host, Calvin Griffin, and my two special guests today are Mr. Paul Alivas and also Mr. Robert Kent. And, sir, you were just talking about when you were going into Europe and being on the planes. Yeah, yeah. We left out of an evening. The job was made at night time, of course. We scattered all over the place. And finally landed and we tried to get our stuff together. Finally, we got organized and was able to do our mission. We lost it all out of people coming down. And we also lost our agri-liders that were coming in. And we needed them because there were heavy equipment for them, but they crashed and Calvin didn't make it. A lot of the people that you serve with, I guess, of course, most of them are departed, no longer with us. Are there any that are still keeping contact or maybe still be alive? Or are you at the last of a dying parade? Oh, excuse me. I was wondering about the terminology. I wish I knew of somebody so that I could write them and talk to them. No, I don't know of anybody that was during my time after they're all gone. The last one is Carl W. Griffin. He was my sergeant major for a long time. And he passed away. At my age, I think they're all gone. Well, you've done a lot of phenomenal things in your military career. And of course, when you got out of the service, continuing to do what you do. And I know that there are people in the community here who are going to help to commemorate your 100th birthday. Bob, could you tell us a little bit of what's going on and what activities are planned? On the 22nd, Paul will be 100 years old. And on the 25th, we're having a celebration birthday party for him at Layla Huligoff course. It's going to be from 6 o'clock to about 10 o'clock at night. And then on the 26th, which is a Sunday afternoon, around 3 o'clock, about five of us are going to go jump the skydive. And he's going to go skydive him. OK. They asked me, what do you want for your birthday? I said, another jump. That's my birthday present. So I said, yeah. So I'm preparing for it, looking for it. How many jumps, roughly, have you made over your lifetime? Oh, way over 100. I'm a master jump. Yeah, master jump. Yeah, way over 100. All right. What is something that you would like to share to someone with our younger service members? And also, the young people in the community, what did you take away from your military career that can be translated into something that is of use to most of us out here? The army makes you what you are. You give it, it gives you back twice as much. In the army, you're not going to get rich, but you're going to make a good living. And if you want to, you're going to learn a lot of trades, especially if you're going to National Guard. I would say the young ones for this high school go to the National Guard. You've got discipline, number one. You've got to have discipline. Even the children when they're growing up, this is a trouble nowadays, there's not too much discipline. Discipline is the main thing that you teach your children. Discipline, do this, do that, and obey them now. So I would teach them discipline. And I tell the young ones, especially for any high school, go to the National Guard, get you a nice job doing there, and apply for schools when you get out, and take a course in something that you can do, and then you've got a job when you get out. You do, a lot of the people, they don't take advantage of their National Guard. If when they get out, there's a lot of schools that you can go to, so it's a good investment. Good, Bob, you agree with that? Yes, I agree with that. I've talked to a middle-class school and I expressed to them that to be able to get respect from somebody, you have to show respect to them. And this way, with the discipline and respect, that is one of the most important things in the military that you can do is to... I always say, to have a friend, you have to be a friend. Treat everybody equally. It seems like a lot of the old tried and true philosophies that were standard practices years ago, with the way society's changing. People get confused about a lot of things, but there's certain truisms that still remain today that don't change. I mean, there's certain things, attitudes change, but as far as making through life, there's certain basics that they need. There's a saying, what goes around comes around. So what we've done in the past is coming back a little bit at a time. Showing you, and always remember that. You see, we're all brothers and sisters. Christ is our Father, if you believe. And you should treat everybody equally, as you say. There's no difference. It's who you are and what you do, not what you are. You can give it all you've got. There's no difference. And if you see a poor, fallen veteran, try to give him a hand. Say hello to him, at least. Respect him, because he's been there. You've been there, you know what it is. He's there, he didn't have very good luck. He didn't do the thing right. Maybe he's down there sleeping on the street, the sidewalk. I feel sorry for him. I feel sorry, there's a lot of them out there that lost. Definitely all of this thing together. Oh, gosh, yes. I know we don't, we're getting down to the wire. We just got a little bit more time left anyhow, but like I said, there's so many things I want to get into, but I'm quite sure that over the years, you've had people who have interviewed you. Is there anything, a source that anyone who wants to know your background can, you know, reference, or that they have to wait? You know, people that have interviewed me, you say? Is there any books that have been published, or articles that if someone wanted to go back and review your history? Well, I've a good friend of mine. He lives in Milani. He's my deacon, and I'm his deacon. Royo Gasuara, he's a great bullray. And we talk a lot about the past and what we should be doing nowadays. He did an article on me, and then a weekly or something newspaper. I came out on that and showed me where I was with my Mustang, that I restore Mustang, and part of my army life and my career. So I'm thankful for friends. If you don't have friends, I'd rather have friends than money. Right. You'd rather have friends. Money can span, and you don't have any friends or stick with you forever. We need help, we're there for you. That's a friend. Bob, anything you want to add to that? Well, I've known Paul, and I've known a lot of the veterans. I helped the veterans out, and it doesn't make any difference. The main thing is, what's on the outside doesn't count as what's on the inside. It counts. Amen. I mean, the color of the person, the kind of food they eat, the language they speak, doesn't make any difference. We all have red blood. And we're all blood brothers. Right. Regardless of what is on the outside, just the attitude of suddenly young people today is disturbing to the older people because they don't have the respect that they should have. Yeah. Because a lot of them have been brought up with a single family, their mother. And the mother has worked three jobs, just to support them. But they're not home to take care of them during the time that they're at school. I think what's hurting our younger generation is drugs. Drugs. Drugs and television. Drugs. Drugs. Yeah. Gentlemen, we're getting down to the wire. I think we have about a minute and a half left. Sir, is there anything else you'd like to share with us? Well. Tell them about your time in Burstown and how General Patton came in. Yeah. Yeah. We were to Baston right around Christmas time. We're completely surrounded. We weren't getting any ammunition. We're getting low of ammunition, medical supplies. And the weather was bad. They couldn't fly in and drop us anything. Completely surrounded. I told Harry C. Agnes and said, Harry, we've had it. We're running out of this and that and that. And it was only one morning. And I heard some tanks roaring. He heard them too. He says, oh, here comes a tank. We've had it now. I listened. I said, no, Harry. These are not German tanks. These are American tanks. He said, how do you know? I said, listen to the track. The German tank has more rubber in the tracks. What happened? Patton said, Abrams, we need you at Baston. Get all your troops that you can, your tanks, and you're opening up the gap. And that's what liberated them. They came in and opened up the gap. On that high note, I think we had about 30 seconds left. Patton, thank you for sharing with that. And I hope that sometime in the future, I'll be coming back on the program. I know that when I first approached you about this, you were reluctant about coming on the program, which I understand because with Bob and a lot of the other veterans, they all say the same thing. It's not about me. It's not about my fellow battle buddies anyhow. But I want to publicly thank both of you for serving, doing what you can, being very outstanding individuals within the community. Set an example, that's a great thing anyhow for the younger people. But sir, again, it's been an honor and a privilege to have you come on the program. And Bob, same thing, I'd like to say we'll be coming back. Thank you. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you for having me. You keep up a good work. We need people like you. Thank you. We need soldiers. We'll try. We're all soldiers in this one. Amen. Okay, on that, I think it's time to wrap it up. But again, thank you for tuning in. And we're trying to bring you more information about these gentlemen and some of the other unsung heroes in our community. But thank you for tuning in. God bless and until that time.