Lloyd Wade and the 11th Airborne Raid on Los Baños

Announcer
00:12 – 00:33
World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and our other wars and conflicts. America’s fighting men and women strapped on their boots and picked up their guns to fight tyranny and stand for liberty. We must never forget them. Welcome to America’s veteran stories with Kim Monson.

Announcer
00:34 – 00:43
These stories will touch your heart, inspire you, and give you courage. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Here’s Kim Monson.

Kim Monson
00:47 – 01:07
And welcome to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure and check out our website, that is americasveteranstories.com. And the show comes to you because of a trip that I took in 2016 with a group that accompanied four D-Day veterans back to Normandy, France for the 72nd anniversary of the D-Day landings. We turned stateside realizing that we need to know these stories.

Kim Monson
01:07 – 01:27
We need to broadcast them and archive them. Hence, America’s Veteran Stories was born. But we have such a treasure trove of interviews that we thought it might be a great idea to rebroadcast some of these so that you can hear history from the men and women who lived it. And I’m so excited to have on the line with me Lloyd Wade.

Kim Monson
01:27 – 01:35
He is a World War II veteran, a paratrooper, but he was in the Pacific Theater. So Lloyd Wade, welcome so much to the show.

Lloyd Wade
01:35 – 01:37
Thank you very much.

Kim Monson
01:39 – 01:45
So you are a World War II veteran, but let’s start at the beginning. Where did you grow up, Lloyd?

Lloyd Wade
01:45 – 01:53
Missouri. Okay. At Hollister, Missouri. That’s right across the river from Branson.

Kim Monson
01:54 – 02:02
Okay. And do you happen to remember, where were you when you heard that Pearl Harbor had been bombed?

Lloyd Wade
02:03 – 02:07
Where were I? I was in Indiana.

Kim Monson
02:09 – 02:13
Okay, what went through your mind when you realized that America had been attacked?

Lloyd Wade
02:14 – 02:27
Well, not a whole lot, but you know, so I was young and that I would be ready to volunteer, which I did.

Kim Monson
02:29 – 02:32
What year did you volunteer to go into the service?

Lloyd Wade
02:33 – 02:35
Forty-three. Okay.

Kim Monson
02:37 – 02:54
And now you were a paratrooper in the Pacific. And Lloyd, I have interviewed over 130 World War II veterans. I’ve never had the honor of interviewing a paratrooper in the Pacific. So was this part of the Army Air Corps or…

Kim Monson
02:54 – 02:55
No, no,

Lloyd Wade
02:56 – 03:06
no. It’s just like the 82nd if you interviewed them. It’s like the 101st if you interviewed them. We were the 11th.

Lloyd Wade
03:07 – 03:26
And we were picked to go to the Pacific. The 82nd, 101st was picked for Europe. It’s just two different places that activity was there, so that’s where you went.

Kim Monson
03:27 – 03:30
Okay, so you were part of the 11th Airborne, is that right?

Lloyd Wade
03:30 – 03:33
Part of the 11th, I was on the 11th, yes.

Kim Monson
03:34 – 03:35
Okay.

Lloyd Wade
03:36 – 03:36
Never

Kim Monson
03:36 – 03:36
a

Lloyd Wade
03:36 – 03:38
part of anything else but the 11th.

Kim Monson
03:40 – 03:52
Wow. I am learning so much. So tell me about, you decide to get into the Army, and how did you decide to become a paratrooper?

Lloyd Wade
03:52 – 04:35
Well, I had a friend that was one, and he was volunteering for the 82nd, and of course you volunteer for it, well, you know. So tell me about basic training and jump school. What was that like, Lloyd Wade? Not bad.

Lloyd Wade
04:35 – 04:44
You know, you learn how to jump, how to take care of yourself, and all that. And physically get in shape. Did

Kim Monson
04:48 – 04:57
you feel that the training was difficult, or was it easy? Were you in good shape? What was your thoughts on that?

Lloyd Wade
04:57 – 05:01
Well, the thing was, either you was in good shape or they’d get you there.

Kim Monson
05:02 – 05:05
Tell our listeners how that

Lloyd Wade
05:05 – 05:05
started. How did

Kim Monson
05:05 – 05:11
they start to train you to become a paratrooper?

Lloyd Wade
05:18 – 05:36
Jump School. They taught you how to land, which they use free towers. And they got them down there. Phil got them down at Benning, I think, because I was down there a year or two ago, and they were still there.

Lloyd Wade
05:37 – 05:50
And they have those free towers, which they take you up and you learn, you know. What about the first time that you jumped from a plane? What was that like? You actually don’t know what it was like because

Kim Monson
05:50 – 05:52
you’ve never done that before.

Lloyd Wade
06:09 – 06:27
And you looked out and looked for everything, but you couldn’t remember this or that. And actually, that become your easiest one. Your hardest one was always your second. Your second, they’ll tell you, well, that first jump.

Lloyd Wade
06:27 – 06:36
No, that first jump you didn’t pay attention to. Not at all. Because you’d never done it before. You didn’t know what to expect.

Lloyd Wade
06:38 – 06:52
But the second, after that first jump, you know what to expect. So your second one become the ace. That was mine. That was the hardest jump that I had.

Kim Monson
06:55 – 06:59
How many jumps total did you do? Do you remember? Around 26.

Lloyd Wade
06:59 – 07:04
Now that includes jump school and all.

Kim Monson
07:07 – 07:11
How many times did you jump into combat?

Lloyd Wade
07:11 – 07:16
Once.

Kim Monson
07:16 – 07:23
Okay. Well, let’s not get to that quite yet. So you’ve completed jump school. What happens after that to you, Lloyd Wade?

Kim Monson
07:24 – 07:24
Where did you go?

Lloyd Wade
07:24 – 07:32
After jump school, I went back to Camp McCall, North Carolina, waiting for shipment out.

Kim Monson
07:35 – 07:38
Okay, and I assume you were probably training during that time? Oh

Lloyd Wade
07:38 – 07:38
yeah,

Kim Monson
07:39 – 07:45
yeah. Okay. When did you then, when did you ship out?

Lloyd Wade
07:46 – 08:14
When, it was in 44. And I, I can’t tell you exactly when it was. I know where, where we went in the staging area. See, we stayed at Camp McCall, and at Camp McCall then we moved down to Louisiana.

Lloyd Wade
08:16 – 08:24
And then from there, we went west and got on the ocean and stayed on a ship 32 days.

Kim Monson
08:27 – 08:35
Oh, man. Okay. Okay. What was that like, 32 days on a ship?

Lloyd Wade
08:36 – 08:42
Well, you look for things to do. That’s about it.

Kim Monson
08:44 – 08:50
So, what kind of responsibilities did you guys have on the ship? Or did you… I just made sure that our

Lloyd Wade
08:50 – 08:54
equipment was in good shape, you know, and we were in good shape.

Kim Monson
08:55 – 08:57
Mm-hmm. Okay. That’s

Lloyd Wade
08:57 – 08:57
about

Kim Monson
08:57 – 08:57
all

Lloyd Wade
08:58 – 08:59
you had to do.

Kim Monson
09:00 – 09:07
Okay. Then where did you finally land after 32 days? Well, New

Lloyd Wade
09:07 – 09:12
Guinea. Okay. That’s right across from Australia.

Kim Monson
09:15 – 09:17
How long were you in New Guinea?

Lloyd Wade
09:17 – 09:20
About eight months.

Kim Monson
09:22 – 09:38
Okay. And so we had then taken New Guinea. My understanding is in New Guinea, though, there was a great risk to our soldiers of malaria. And so speak to that a bit, Lloyd Wade.

Kim Monson
09:39 – 09:45
Well, I had it. Oh. And

Lloyd Wade
09:46 – 10:05
there was a lot of malaria going on. But, you know, Had something else probably. Very… It was more like a wilderness and stuff like that.

Lloyd Wade
10:05 – 10:06
It was a jungle.

Speaker 2
10:07 – 10:07
So

Lloyd Wade
10:11 – 10:14
then we got rid of that and went on to Leyte.

Kim Monson
10:17 – 10:20
And now is Leyte…

Lloyd Wade
10:21 – 10:22
It’s a part of Luzon.

Kim Monson
10:23 – 10:29
Okay. And then where did you jump exactly? Is that until 18?

Lloyd Wade
10:30 – 10:46
We had, let’s see, one, two, three, three jumps and going up through the Philippines. Okay.

Kim Monson
10:47 – 11:02
So, MacArthur had said when they retreated from the Philippines a few years earlier that he would return. Yeah. Do you recall, you know, when we returned, what went through your mind? What were the news reports on that?

Lloyd Wade
11:04 – 11:30
Well, we didn’t have a whole lot of reports on it. He didn’t actually return. His aide might have at some time through there. Okay.

Kim Monson
11:31 – 11:38
Now, when you jumped into the Philippines as a paratrooper, you were jumping in behind enemy lines, correct?

Lloyd Wade
11:39 – 11:54
Well, yes, or getting behind them real quick. prison camp, the Las Vegas prison camp. Do you know where that’s at?

Kim Monson
11:55 – 12:02
I don’t exactly. Where is that exactly in the Philippines? That’s in Manila. Okay.

Lloyd Wade
12:03 – 12:30
It’s actually from the top of Tagutai, which was a road, Tagutai Ridge. You could look down on Lake Tahoe. And in a distance, you could see the prison. And that’s where they had the 2700, I think it was, 27 or 25 or 27, something like that.

Lloyd Wade
12:31 – 12:36
And we freed those. Wow.

Kim Monson
12:36 – 12:37
Okay. We

Lloyd Wade
12:38 – 12:39
didn’t lose a man.

Kim Monson
12:40 – 12:41
You didn’t lose a man?

Lloyd Wade
12:41 – 12:44
No. Never lost one.

Kim Monson
12:45 – 12:53
That is amazing. Okay, so let’s talk about this mission then, Lloyd Wade. And how old are you during all this? How old are you?

Lloyd Wade
12:55 – 13:04
Well, right now I’m 96. 96. 96 years old. Okay.

Kim Monson
13:05 – 13:07
So you were just a kid when you were doing this?

Lloyd Wade
13:08 – 13:19
Well, you figure it out. The war ended in 45, right? Right. So, forty-five.

Lloyd Wade
13:19 – 13:22
I was born in… Seventy-five. So

Kim Monson
13:22 – 13:24
you’re about twenty-one years old probably.

Lloyd Wade
13:25 – 13:31
Well, I was born in twenty-three. Okay. Okay.

Kim Monson
13:35 – 13:58
Normally I can do all this in my head but I’m going to continue on and I’ll do that while you’re answering this question. So you have done all this training and you are over in the Pacific and your mission is going to be to free 2700 of our, was it Americans, and Australians or primarily Americans there at Los Banos prison?

Lloyd Wade
13:58 – 14:17
Yeah, that was one of our keys, but that wasn’t the only one, you know. That just come in the routine and we had a chance to do it, so we done it. Yeah. That’s pretty

Kim Monson
14:17 – 14:26
amazing. So what went through your mind when you learned that that was going to be your mission? That you were going to go free some of the prisoners of war in Manila?

Lloyd Wade
14:28 – 14:37
Oh, it didn’t change anything. You know, it’s still the same old thing. Get

Kim Monson
14:38 – 14:48
in and get out. Get in and get out, okay. What about the briefings for the mission? What did they tell you was going to happen exactly, or what was the plan?

Lloyd Wade
14:49 – 15:09
Well, they never tell you. They tell you the locations you’re going to be, what equipment you take with you, and that’s it. You don’t take any side stuff and grab it and get in your way. That isn’t the way they plan it.

Lloyd Wade
15:09 – 15:17
They plan it to win. And I think we’ve done a pretty good job of it over there.

Kim Monson
15:19 – 15:27
Well, I think so. So what happened? So did they drop you? Well, let’s explain to our listeners, because there were not helicopters during World War II.

Kim Monson
15:28 – 15:34
So how did they, you know, what plane were you coming in on that you jumped out of?

Lloyd Wade
15:35 – 15:37
C-47. Okay.

Kim Monson
15:39 – 15:42
And at what altitude did you fly in at?

Lloyd Wade
15:42 – 15:53
That all depends. Okay. Depends on weather. At Las Vegas, we came in at 500 feet.

Kim Monson
15:55 – 15:59
Wow. I can’t even… How many planes? How many planes were in that mission?

Kim Monson
15:59 – 15:59
I

Lloyd Wade
16:03 – 16:06
believe that there were seven.

Kim Monson
16:08 – 16:10
Okay. And how many guys on each plane?

Lloyd Wade
16:11 – 16:11
Around 20.

Kim Monson
16:13 – 16:39
Okay. Okay. So I tell you what, Lloyd Wade, let’s go to break. And when we come back, we’re going to continue with this very fascinating story of World And a sponsor that I greatly appreciate for America’s Veteran Stories is Hooters Restaurants.

Kim Monson
16:40 – 16:57
They have locations in Loveland, Westminster and in Aurora on Parker Road. And great specials Monday through Friday for lunch and for happy hour. Great place to get together with your friends to watch the sporting events and just have some great food. In particular, their fish and chips and their nachos are delicious.

Kim Monson
16:58 – 17:16
I hear that their fish tacos are quite good as well. So again, thank you to Hooters Restaurants for their sponsorship of the show. Join us at Grand Lake’s 14th U.S. Constitution Week, September 15th through September 21st. Grand Lake U.S. Constitution Week is the premier celebration in America of the world’s greatest governing document.

Kim Monson
17:16 – 17:39
The week-long event includes events that educate, promote, and celebrate the U.S. Constitution in picturesque Grand Lake. Constitutional expert Rob Nadelson kicks off the event with his discussion regarding ancient Rome and the Constitution. Nationally recognized scholar Jonathan Turley will deliver the keynote on Saturday, September 20th. For more information visit GrandLakeUSConstitutionWeek.com.

Kim Monson
17:39 – 17:42
That’s GrandLakeUSConstitutionWeek.com.

Speaker 5
17:42 – 18:11
REMAX Realtor Karen Levine helps bring to life the individual stories of our servicemen and women. With her sponsorship of America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson, Karen honors the sacrifices of our military and is grateful for our freedom. As a member of the National Association of Realtors Board of Directors, Karen works to protect private property rights for all of us. Karen has a heart for our active duty military and veterans and is honored to help you buy or sell your home.

Speaker 5
18:12 – 18:15
Call Karen Levine at 303-877-7516 to help you navigate buying or selling your home. That’s 303-877-7516.

Speaker 6
18:24 – 18:43
All of Kim’s sponsors are an inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of The Kim Monson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, KimMonson.com. That’s Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.

Kim Monson
18:44 – 19:10
Thank you so much for listening to America’s Veterans Stories. We are rebroadcasting some of the shows that we have recorded in the past because we have these amazing guests and these amazing stories and we need to hear them. And so we thought that it would be a great idea to rebroadcast some of these so that you can hear our history and know our history because it is so important. So again, this is something that was recorded earlier and thank you for listening.

Kim Monson
19:10 – 19:33
Welcome back to America’s I am so honored to have on the line with me World War II veteran, a paratrooper with the 11th Airborne, Lloyd Wade. He jumped into Manila to free 2700 prisoners of war that the Japanese had taken of our guys. Lloyd Wade, let’s continue with the story. It’s really great to have you on the line.

Kim Monson
19:33 – 19:33
Thank you.

Lloyd Wade
19:33 – 19:35
Thank you.

Kim Monson
19:37 – 19:54
So let’s continue on with the story. You’re going to jump in to free these guys from Los Banos prison camp. And imagine this, seven planes coming in at 500 feet with 20 guys in each of the planes. So 140 paratroopers jump out.

Kim Monson
19:54 – 19:58
So where did you guys land? What was your drop zone, Lloyd Wade?

Lloyd Wade
19:59 – 20:20
On the prison. See, the Japanese do exercise every morning. at seven o’clock. Now, they were strict on their time, that they’d done their exercises and everything they’d done was pretty well timed out.

Lloyd Wade
20:20 – 20:49
And we scouted them for 10 days and found out that at seven o’clock, of a morning they came out and leaned their guns up against the barracks and went out in the field and done their exercise. Well if you’re going to jump on somebody, it’s a good jump on them when they don’t have a gun, right?

Kim Monson
20:50 – 20:52
That seems to make sense, yes.

Lloyd Wade
20:52 – 21:21
That don’t take a mathematician to figure that one out. Right. So we were set to everything and found out that they deviated two minutes, that was all, at seven o’clock. They’d done it at seven o’clock and the period of lost time in there was only two minutes.

Lloyd Wade
21:21 – 21:34
So you can’t do a whole lot in two minutes. So we decided to jump on them at that time. They didn’t have any guns, so that’s what happened. We jumped at seven.

Kim Monson
21:37 – 21:43
So what did the morning look like? How far did the planes have to come in to get to the

Lloyd Wade
21:43 – 21:57
prison? They came from the north part of Manila and the prison camp is a lake tall. It’s on the southern part.

Kim Monson
22:00 – 22:15
So there wasn’t really enough time then for the Japanese to hear the planes coming in to run and get their guns, is that correct? No, they didn’t have time. Okay. So what was going through your mind that morning when you got on the plane, Lloyd Wade?

Kim Monson
22:15 – 22:16
Well,

Lloyd Wade
22:19 – 22:20
hurry up and get off.

Kim Monson
22:23 – 22:30
Okay, so you’re coming in. Can you see what’s going to be happening? You’re coming in at 500 feet. No.

Kim Monson
22:30 – 22:32
Can you see what’s going to be happening?

Lloyd Wade
22:34 – 23:30
No, you don’t see what’s… When you start that stick, which they call the stick, as the paratroopers say, and they jump that whole stick, which is about and you Well, you know, you’ve got your plan and your meeting and what you’re going to do and you can just continue with it. Don’t change it or anything like that because you’ll get in trouble. You don’t like.

Kim Monson
23:32 – 23:38
So how many guards were there? How many, and did you immediately take them prisoner or what happened then?

Lloyd Wade
23:40 – 24:16
on Well, they lost a few guys, but we didn’t lose any. And it didn’t last that long, you know. It just doesn’t take long to drop that 400 feet, I’ll tell you. Yeah, for sure.

Lloyd Wade
24:16 – 24:16
You’d rather

Kim Monson
24:17 – 24:17
be at 700

Lloyd Wade
24:18 – 24:21
to 1200. See, that’s our normal. Yeah, the ground comes pretty fast.

Kim Monson
24:31 – 24:37
So now that you have subdued the Japanese, what do you do with them?

Lloyd Wade
24:39 – 24:59
Well, you have a ground troop that moves in, say, across the bay at that place. Most of the time you just take the prisoners and move them back to the Rio Echelon, you know, and let somebody else take care of them.

Kim Monson
25:00 – 25:06
Okay. Then what about the prisoners? Were you involved in freeing them at all?

Lloyd Wade
25:07 – 25:08
The prisoners?

Kim Monson
25:09 – 25:09
Yes.

Lloyd Wade
25:09 – 25:15
The people who were there? Yes. That’s the one we got out of there. Okay.

Lloyd Wade
25:15 – 25:15
2700.

Kim Monson
25:18 – 25:22
So how did you do that? And how long had the guys been there? Well,

Lloyd Wade
25:23 – 26:11
they see there’s water now between us and we had to get across the bay and in there, so they was, out there they had water buffaloes, and that’s what they used as equipment. We call them, there’s nothing but, and they call them ducks and water buffaloes and all that kind of stuff, and it’s actually a vehicle with an engine and you can get about, oh, 10 or 12 guys in it. And you got them and the prisoners and everything. And of course that has to also meet up to the same time that they figure you’re going to take the prisoners.

Lloyd Wade
26:13 – 26:18
Everything’s got to work, or something like that. Don’t give it up.

Kim Monson
26:20 – 26:28
Okay, so what was it like then as you were releasing our guys, our prisoners of war? What did that look like?

Lloyd Wade
26:33 – 27:00
I don’t know. They were happy to get freed, but they also, for some reason or another, They had lived there for quite a while and personal things they had and things like that. They wanted to take it with them, but you can’t do that. You know, get yourself and

Kim Monson
27:03 – 27:09
get out. That’s the way it is. Okay. Well, it had to take some time to get 2,700 people moved out of there.

Kim Monson
27:14 – 27:17
Okay. What kind of… Go

Lloyd Wade
27:18 – 27:20
ahead. We had plenty of help.

Kim Monson
27:21 – 27:25
Okay. What kind of condition were the prisoners in,

Lloyd Wade
27:26 – 27:35
Lloyd? I’d say physically, they weren’t bad. Not the ones we’d seen. And…

Lloyd Wade
27:40 – 27:59
Might have lost a meal now and then. We all do in America. But physically, they were fine. Mentally, they didn’t have any idea what was going on.

Lloyd Wade
28:01 – 28:16
They tried to Instead of saving themselves and thinking about that, they thought, oh, I got to take this with me, I got to take that with me, or this. You know, get yourself and get out.

Kim Monson
28:17 – 28:32
But it worked. So then what happened to you guys after you freed the prisoners? How did you get back to, you know, where you were supposed to be? Oh,

Lloyd Wade
28:33 – 28:38
we crossed the bay, just a little, what we call ducks,

Kim Monson
28:39 – 28:54
and just rode back. Okay. So what about, were there congratulations with the fact that you had had such a successful mission and that you’d freed these guys? What happened back at the base?

Lloyd Wade
28:56 – 29:10
The base? It operated as, you know, it does every day. It knew what we was doing. It was naturally on call.

Lloyd Wade
29:12 – 29:19
made sure that we recovered safely. Okay. And it worked good.

Kim Monson
29:21 – 29:29
Okay. So now that you’re back and have done this, Lloyd, what is the next thing that happens to you there in World War II?

Lloyd Wade
29:31 – 29:57
Next thing that happened to us, we… See, we had units like the engineers and things like that. And I was in the engineer’s C company. And we got the building road, a few roads that they could get traffic in and out.

Lloyd Wade
29:58 – 30:10
And then all at once they said that we were heading for Japan, which meant we were going to invade Japan. Let’s

Kim Monson
30:18 – 30:29
go back just a little bit about building these roads. Is there any particular stories that you would like our listeners to know about building roads, I assume it was in the jungle, yes or no?

Lloyd Wade
30:30 – 31:12
Well sure, the Tagutai Ridge, which was between where we went in on the beach in Manila. And that was Tagutai Ridge, and then beyond that was Lake Tall, and that’s down there is where the prison camps and everything is at. And in the past years, the Corps of Engineers tried to build a road down from Tagutai. Ridge to Lake Tahoe to move traffic down.

Lloyd Wade
31:12 – 31:24
Well, they didn’t get the job done. And we finished that. And, you know, got getting things back in shape. And then the

Kim Monson
31:27 – 31:39
war ended. Why didn’t the Corps of Engineers, why were they not able to finish the road? Was it because they were attacked or why? Do you know why?

Lloyd Wade
31:40 – 32:05
Well, evidently they gave it up because of the equipment they had and I think they gave it up because they didn’t want to work on it. That’s what I think. But I happen to be one of those that cut the road down through there. And we got it done in seven days.

Lloyd Wade
32:06 – 32:09
Wow. So that wasn’t too hard.

Kim Monson
32:11 – 32:15
And that must have been very important to be able to move equipment back and forth then.

Lloyd Wade
32:15 – 32:17
Yes, that’s what it was for.

Kim Monson
32:22 – 32:43
Do you have any opinions on the Japanese? I’ve heard comparisons from soldiers that the Japanese in World War II were very, very cruel. And of course, we’ve heard stories of the Nazis over in Germany, and they were cruel as well. But do you have any thoughts about the Japanese soldier?

Lloyd Wade
32:45 – 33:21
No, we had no trouble with them, and especially the Japanese. people. When we went into Japan, see we couldn’t land in Tokyo because the bay is full of ships turned upside down, and we went in up north. to a naval base there.

Lloyd Wade
33:22 – 34:03
And on the street, openly one day, this Japanese young fellow, about a year younger than me, I guess, and he’s speaking as good of English as you’ve ever seen. And I asked him, I says, does your schools teach English, you know, language in their schools here? And he says, no. I said, well, where’d you get yours?

Lloyd Wade
34:03 – 34:25
He says, I graduated from Southern Cal. Wow. So from then on, I had quiet conversations with him, you know, just like a buddy. And I had no problem with the Japanese.

Lloyd Wade
34:29 – 34:30
They were there like we were.

Kim Monson
34:32 – 34:58
Yeah, regular people, regular people. Hey Lloyd, let’s go to break and when we come back we’ll finish this story with you. I’m talking with World War II veteran Lloyd Wade, part of the 11th Airborne that jumped into Los Benos prison in Manila and freed 2700 of our guys. Join us at Grand Lake’s 14th U.S. Constitution Week, September 15th through September 21st.

Kim Monson
34:58 – 35:24
Grand Lake U.S. Constitution Week is the premier celebration in America of the world’s greatest governing document. The week-long event includes events that educate, promote, and celebrate the U.S. Constitution in picturesque Grand Lake. Constitutional expert Rob Nadelson kicks off the event with his discussion regarding ancient Rome and the Constitution. Nationally recognized scholar Jonathan Turley will deliver the keynote on Saturday, September 20th.

Kim Monson
35:25 – 35:31
For more information visit GrandLakeUSConstitutionWeek.com. That’s GrandLakeUSConstitutionWeek.com.

Speaker 3
35:31 – 35:55
In these tumultuous times, it is necessary that we each have a freedom library to know and understand our history. Bury Him! A Memoir of the Vietnam War by Captain Doug Chamberlain is a must for your personal library. In this honest and gripping memoir, Captain Chamberlain recounts the chilling events that took place during his command of a company of young Marines at the height of the Vietnam War.

Speaker 3
35:55 – 36:15
Chamberlain painfully recalls the unspeakable order he and his Marines were forced to obey, and the cover-up which followed. Purchase the book at MarineDougChamberlain.com. That’s MarineDoug, C-H-A-M-B-E-R-L-A-I-N, dot com, so that you gain perspective on this time in our history.

Speaker 2
36:17 – 36:37
High inflation and increasing property taxes are making it more challenging for seniors to make ends meet. If you’re 62 or older, a reverse mortgage may be the solution for what’s keeping you up at night. It is essential that you understand the process and work with a trusted professional. Mortgage expert Loren Levy will help you craft solutions for your unique circumstances, whether a mortgage, a second mortgage, or a reverse mortgage.

Speaker 2
36:37 – 36:41
If you’d like to explore what a reverse mortgage can do for you, call Loren Levy at 303-880-8881. That’s 303-880-8881. Call now.

Kim Monson
36:47 – 37:13
Thank you so much for listening to America’s Veterans Stories. We are rebroadcasting some of the shows that we have recorded in the past, because we have these amazing guests and these amazing stories, and we need to hear them. And so we thought that it would be a great idea to rebroadcast some of these so that you can hear our history and know our history, because it is so important. So again, this is something that was recorded earlier, and thank you for listening.

Kim Monson
37:13 – 37:39
Join us at Grand Lake’s 14th U.S. Constitution Week, September 15th through September 21st. Grand Lake U.S. Constitution Week is the premier celebration in America of the world’s greatest governing document. The week-long event includes events that educate, promote, and celebrate the U.S. Constitution in picturesque Grand Lake. Constitutional expert Rob Nadelson kicks off the event with his discussion regarding ancient Rome and the Constitution.

Kim Monson
37:40 – 37:55
Nationally recognized scholar Jonathan Turley will deliver the keynote on Saturday, September 20th. For more information visit GrandLakeUSConstitutionWeek.com. That’s GrandLakeUSConstitutionWeek.com. Welcome back to America’s Best in Stories with Kim Monson.

Kim Monson
37:55 – 38:16
I am so honored to have on the line with me Lloyd Wade, part of the 11th Airborne that jumped into Los Banos Prison Camp in Manila during World War II and freed 2700 of our guys. Lloyd Wade, it is just really an honor to get to do this interview with you. Thank you so much. Thank

Speaker 9
38:16 – 38:16
you.

Kim Monson
38:18 – 38:34
There’s so many things I would like to ask you. Help me out if there’s something that I need to know and I haven’t. I want to ask a bit more about building this road in the jungle in seven days. What kind of work was that?

Kim Monson
38:34 – 38:40
It had to be grueling work to try to clear that, to do that. And it had to be, I’m guessing, hot.

Lloyd Wade
38:43 – 39:07
Well, don’t forget using combat. That’s the first thing. And the other thing about it, of course, you had to equip small dozers to get a footing for the big units to go in. And it was just a cut back, cut back, cut back, all the way down.

Lloyd Wade
39:08 – 39:37
The mileage wasn’t so far. You know, you could see But the earth’s moving, you know, and that was one of the places that I cheated, I think. How so? Well, I was running a bulldozer instead of using a parachute, putting that road down.

Lloyd Wade
39:40 – 40:02
And I did get a bullet pretty close, you know. In fact, I had a fatigued jacket on and I got a little hole in that collar. So that’s too close. And I didn’t even know it.

Lloyd Wade
40:02 – 40:14
Didn’t know that I got it until one of my buddies says, what’s wrong with your collar? You’re fatigued. And I said, nothing’s wrong with it. He said, you got a hole in it.

Lloyd Wade
40:15 – 40:23
And that’s how I found out. So it wasn’t easy, let’s put it that way. You

Kim Monson
40:23 – 40:24
think? No,

Lloyd Wade
40:25 – 40:28
I don’t think so at all. But you got a lot of luck, too.

Kim Monson
40:30 – 40:31
Yeah, that’s pretty lucky.

Lloyd Wade
40:31 – 40:32
But don’t

Kim Monson
40:32 – 40:32
get stupid

Lloyd Wade
40:33 – 40:34
about it.

Kim Monson
40:35 – 40:50
Yeah, that’s always been good advice. That’s actually something my dad told me all the time, is don’t do something stupid. And I try not to, but… So you guys get the road done.

Kim Monson
40:50 – 40:55
That had to be quite an accomplishment. What was the temperature when you were building this road? Oh,

Lloyd Wade
40:56 – 41:03
it wasn’t too bad. It was running around 100, something like that. OK.

Kim Monson
41:04 – 41:17
OK. So you get the road done, which was absolutely important for us. What is the next thing that happened after that? Is that when you thought that you were going to be going to Tokyo?

Lloyd Wade
41:18 – 41:47
Yeah, and we was getting ready, and of course, at that time, since I was one on Tagutai Ridge, on that road, they left me in charge of heavy equipment. So I got to get the heavy equipment, get it ready, and get it on a ship, get it headed up north, you know, because we were going to invade Japan.

Kim Monson
41:49 – 42:12
My understanding, Lloyd Wade, is that if, in fact, we would have invaded Japan, that there would be significant loss of life of both American soldiers and Japanese soldiers and citizens. Did they tell you anything about that as you were potentially preparing to invade Japan?

Lloyd Wade
42:13 – 42:35
Not really, but we knew it and we knew what was going to happen if it happened. And we also knew that we were going to have a bunch of casualties. We could say they were going to have more than us. So

Kim Monson
42:35 – 42:41
where were you when you learned that the atom bomb had been dropped on Japan?

Lloyd Wade
42:44 – 42:57
We were actually on our way out of the Philippines and it was in the water somewhere around Okinawa.

Kim Monson
43:05 – 43:07
What did you find out? What did they tell you had happened?

Lloyd Wade
43:08 – 43:41
Well, they did drop the atomic bomb and we would be under some orders and stuff like that. So we were settled down for four or five days and then we went in. We got to Tokyo and couldn’t couldn’t dock because the docks were just blown all to pieces. So we went on at Sendai.

Kim Monson
43:44 – 43:46
And what were your responsibilities at Sendai?

Lloyd Wade
43:47 – 43:59
Well, we have a place to stay is one of them. And we stayed in a naval base there, a Japanese naval base.

Kim Monson
44:02 – 44:04
And what were your responsibilities? What did you do every day?

Lloyd Wade
44:07 – 44:18
My responsibilities there, I got a replacement in that replaced me and I came home.

Kim Monson
44:21 – 44:23
And what was it like when you got home?

Lloyd Wade
44:24 – 44:37
Well, I don’t know. I can’t say. It wasn’t much of a change, you know, just one of those things.

Kim Monson
44:39 – 44:41
Well, did you go back to Missouri then?

Lloyd Wade
44:42 – 44:51
No. I went in, when I went in the service, I went in at Indianapolis. Okay. I was discharged.

Kim Monson
44:55 – 45:04
And after you were discharged, did you go back and start to make your life in Missouri, or what did you do after that? No, I

Lloyd Wade
45:05 – 45:37
stayed right in Indiana. And I was, when I went in, I was working for a Delco Remy, who was General Motors. And when I come out of the service, I went back to work for him. And from that, I, of course, I had my, while I was in the service, I had engineering, a little castle and all of that.

Lloyd Wade
45:37 – 45:56
And so when I came out, well, I got a job at General Motors. Stayed there until, oh, a few years, and then I came to Denver.

Kim Monson
45:58 – 45:59
And how long have you been in Colorado?

Lloyd Wade
46:01 – 46:05
That’s 53, I think.

Kim Monson
46:06 – 46:14
Okay. You’re close enough to be a native, that’s for sure, Lloyd Wade, I would say. Yeah.

Lloyd Wade
46:14 – 46:17
Awful close. Yeah.

Kim Monson
46:17 – 46:23
And so the 53 years that you’ve been in Colorado, what have you done during that time?

Lloyd Wade
46:24 – 46:50
The year? Well, I naturally had the castle from the service, you know, as an engineer, so I got a job on the road for them using, well, building buildings.

Speaker 5
46:50 – 46:51
Okay.

Lloyd Wade
46:53 – 47:06
thing we built out here in the North. I was in on that. I was in on one in Little Rock, Arkansas. I traveled for about five years.

Lloyd Wade
47:06 – 47:10
Okay.

Kim Monson
47:12 – 47:15
Okay. Lloyd, wait. Go ahead.

Speaker 9
47:18 – 47:18
Okay.

Kim Monson
47:21 – 47:42
So as you look back, looking back to World War II, I think it’s so important that we have these stories. So I’m so appreciative of you doing this interview. But as you think about it, what would you say to the young people of America today? What’s a message that you think that they should hear from you?

Lloyd Wade
47:45 – 48:27
Well, that’s a biggie. I would say that whatever they have, whatever they can get, you know, that was fought for. And I’d like to see them, you know, say, hey, it’s been paid for, you know. To respect More than anything, I guess, I would say.

Lloyd Wade
48:29 – 48:32
Some do, some don’t. You know, that’s the way

Speaker 9
48:35 – 48:36
the world is.

Kim Monson
48:40 – 49:06
Well, you know, Lloyd, I’m not sure that we’ve really been teaching it in our schools. When I returned back from Normandy, I’d actually made a presentation out at a junior high school and was talking about D-Day over in Normandy, and I asked the kids how many of them had heard about D-Day. And not a student raised their hand. These were junior high school kids.

Kim Monson
49:07 – 49:32
and then I asked about have you seen Saving Private Ryan and a couple of the kids raised their hands and I realized at that point that it’s really a travesty that we are not sharing these stories because what can happen is if you don’t know these stories you take it for granted and as you mentioned a lot of young people Well, one thing, Greg,

Lloyd Wade
50:01 – 50:16
You walk up and ask them when D-Day is or something like that. Do they really know what date that is? That comes easy for me.

Kim Monson
50:17 – 50:17
Yeah.

Lloyd Wade
50:18 – 50:19
Because that’s my birthday.

Kim Monson
50:20 – 50:22
Okay, that makes it easy, huh? Yeah.

Lloyd Wade
50:28 – 50:49
But, no, I think they should be proud of what they’ve got. Try to make it better, it’s still worse. When they see something that they can help out with, and so on, they want to do that. You

Kim Monson
50:51 – 50:53
know? I think that’s really good advice.

Lloyd Wade
50:53 – 50:54
Be

Kim Monson
50:54 – 50:55
proud of what you have.

Lloyd Wade
50:56 – 51:23
Pardon? I don’t think we were any better than anybody else, but as time goes along, I wonder about it. I don’t know whether it’s me that’s changing, or the world that’s changing, or what it is. It’s just not like it was.

Kim Monson
51:28 – 51:50
Well, and I think getting these stories out and letting people know just the sacrifices that were made, the courage, the human cost is really important. So Lloyd Wade, we are just about out of time. My last question is, when you see the American flag, what goes through your mind? Oh,

Lloyd Wade
51:53 – 52:07
you know, I’m glad it’s there. You know, it could have been somebody else’s. Yes, I’m very glad that we’re there. I think it should be respected that way.

Lloyd Wade
52:07 – 52:10
Agreed. Agreed.

Kim Monson
52:11 – 52:42
Lloyd Wade, we are out of time. This is Kim Monson with America’s Veteran Stories. I’ve been talking with World War II veteran Lloyd Thank you very much. Join us at Grand Lake’s 14th U.S. Constitution Week, September 15th through September 21st.

Kim Monson
52:43 – 53:09
Grand Lake U.S. Constitution Week is the premier celebration in America of the world’s greatest governing document. The week-long event includes events that educate, promote, and celebrate the U.S. Constitution in picturesque Grand Lake. Constitutional expert Rob Nadelson kicks off the event with his discussion regarding ancient Rome and the Constitution. Nationally recognized scholar Jonathan Turley will deliver the keynote on Saturday September 20th.

Kim Monson
53:09 – 53:26
For more information visit GrandLakeUSConstitutionWeek.com. That’s GrandLakeUSConstitutionWeek.com. Thank you for joining us for this episode of America’s Veteran Stories. While some of the details may be a bit dated, the courage, sacrifice, and stories of our veterans never go out of style.

Kim Monson
53:26 – 53:42
For more incredible stories, past and present, check out our website, that is americasveteranstories.com, or catch new episodes each week. Until next time, thank you for listening and for honoring those who served. We indeed stand on the shoulders of giants. God bless you, and God bless America.

Announcer
53:43 – 53:53
Thank you for listening to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure to tune in again next Sunday, 3 to 4 p.m. here on KLZ 560 and KLZ 100.7.

Speaker 1
54:02 – 54:16
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ Management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.