[00:00:00] (HOST) I’m gonna’ make a little confession to you now. I’m kind of a junkie. I’m a podcast junkie. It’s true. I just love stories and podcasts are great because I can listen and learn while my hands are busy, like driving the car, working in the yard or running or hiking. Wherever I’ve got time and my phone. I just did a quick count and I currently subscribe to 27 different podcasts, new episodes download automatically to my phone. So, I’m never wanting for something compelling to listen to, if that goes is the first podcast you’ve listened to? Well, first of all, we’re very grateful. And secondly, you’ve just opened up a world of discovery and entertainment. The rest of you, you already know what I’m talking about. In this episode, I’m going to introduce you to one of my very favorite podcasts. It’s called Finding Faces. And it’s produced by Ryan Kern, a friend of mine and a great friend of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. In today’s episode, I’ll share my conversation with Ryan,

(RYAN) this is Ryan Kern from Finding Faces,

(HOST) and then we’ll play you one of his recent mini episodes.

[00:01:09] (HOST) Stick around founders of the wall, this is their coverage. Stories of size sacrifice. For people who are still dealing with 50 years later.

[00:01:32] (HOST) This is Episode Five, Finding Faces.

(MUSIC)

(HOST) It feels like things are starting to loosen up out there. Finally, with millions of us now partially or fully vaccinated, and CDC guidelines growing less restrictive. But even in normal times, whatever that means, now. It isn’t easy for every one to visit the wall in Washington, DC. And that’s why we created The Wall That Heals an exact replica of The Wall at three quarter scale that travels to communities all across America. The Wall That Heals and the Mobile Education Center that travels with it will be in Columbus, Ohio, May 28 through 31st. For more 2021 tour dates and locations, visit VVMF.org.

(MUSIC)

(HOST) One of the initiatives we’ve undertaken here at VVMF. To honor those who served is what we call The Wall of Faces. It’s a part of our website vvmf.org, where we’ve tried to feature at least one good photo to go with each name inscribed on the wall, all 58,000 plus, it’s a way for family and friends to share memories, post pictures, and connect with each other. After many years of work and the contributions of 1000s of volunteers, we’re very close now to completing it. Season One of Ryan Kern’s podcast Finding Faces is the story of his attempt to find photos for 30 service members, all from the state of Massachusetts. I talked with Ryan, about how this effort got started about the narrative arc of that first season, and about his plans for season two. A quick warning, in case you have small children around or you yourself have a distaste for colorful language. There is a little bit of it in this episode, we’ve chosen not to bleep it out. Because in this case, the whole point is to demonstrate just that, color, which is an important aspect of the characters you’ll be hearing from. If you decide to keep listening, you’ll see what I mean. None of it is mean spirited or intended to offend. And it certainly won’t be new or surprising to those of you who’ve been in or anywhere near the military. So, with that warning duly issued. Here’s my conversation with Ryan, and one of his recent mini episodes.

(HOST) You’re a very good storyteller. Is that something that you, you have training in or, or experience in?

[00:04:13] (RYAN) Yeah, I come from news and started in news in Nevada. I was an anchor reporter for the NBC affiliate there.

(HOST) How’d you get from Nevada to Massachusetts?

(RYAN) My contract in Nevada was up. And my girlfriend is from the east coast. And she lived in Boston previously in red is my contract was up in Nevada. She got a great offer in Boston. And so we just took off and I had the idea for finding faces in news you’re gonna’ laugh at this. I yeah, it was in Washington DC with Honor Flight Nevada, covering it for news. And for those listening who don’t know about Honor Flight, they’re a nonprofit organization that flies veterans to DC free of charge to see the sights and memorials built in their honor. And in Nevada, there’s a branch and I would often go with them and kind of come back and do stories. Well, I met one of your colleagues while I was on one of those trips, Tim Tetz. And he just kind of casually told me about The Wall of Faces project. And I thought, okay, there’s something here. So, I returned back to Nevada, and pitched it to my news director and my assistant news director, an idea of finding the last six pictures at the time, that were still needed out of Nevada, there were only six guys who served in Nevada to Vietnam, he still needed a picture. And I pitched it to them. And I said, Hey, I think this is a great, you know, little news series, six stories to perfect. That got that get denied. And then it got denied again, and then it got denied again, for whatever reason, they didn’t want it. So, I always sat on that. And then we moved to Massachusetts, and I looked, how many were missing out of Mass. And I saw the number at the time was 30. And so that’s when I decided, Okay, this is this is, this is our time to shine. And this is the opportunity and a podcast is perfect. The number 30 was, was like perfect. If we if we go 50% success, then we have 15 episodes, and we had 12 we got pretty close.

[00:06:03] (HOST) Without any spoilers, you know, do you want to zoom out and talk about the overall arc of season one.

[00:06:08] (RYAN) Sure. So, at the time, I think there were around 200 pictures that were still missing from The Wall of Faces, or rather 200 servicemen who did not have pictures up on the wall of faces, we pulled up New England and there were 30 missing. They all happen to be out of Massachusetts. So yeah, Season One is, is our quest to find pictures of those 30 guys, and like I said, resulted in about 10 or 11 of them. And you know that it’s, it’s funny, the, the root of each story is always we’re looking for a picture of this guy. But after that the direction each episode goes or can go is, we have no idea. We go knocking on a door having absolutely no idea what we’re about to walk into. And, and everyone always asks, understandably so, you know, what do you what do you want to know? Like, what do you what are you trying to find out? And I’m just like, there’s really nothing specific that we’re trying to find out. We just want to collect a photo. And if there’s anything you want to tell us. That’s the story. It’s whatever comes of the conversation. Episode, I believe 10. In Season One, whatever episode, Connie is, he lost two brothers in Vietnam. And he’s always wondered how they both died. Never, never found out never was given a specific answer or specific reason. And 50 years later, we said, oh, wow, we’ll try and help you. And we dug through military records, and we’re able to give them answers. So, you never know what the story is going to be. But it all starts with needing to find a picture for The Wall of Faces. We have 12 episodes, because one episode we turned out to replace pretty poor picture of a guy by finding trying to find his family.

(HOST) That’s an important part of the effort. Initially, it was can we get a picture of everybody? And now the next phase for the wall of faces is can we get a better picture for some of these guys.

(RYAN) And as you make that transition, so does finding faces. Season Two is going to be based in San Diego. And we’re in a place where there are no more missing pictures left. So, it’s all about replacing poor quality ones.

(HOST) So, when do you plan on launching Season Two?

(RYAN) That is a really great question because we’re in the middle of you know, or we’re getting closer to getting out of COVID and concerns. But I mean, you listen to season one, so much of it depends and relies on people welcoming you into their lives, which means welcoming you into their homes. Because the kinds of conversations that the majority of these episodes become, they’re not happening on the front doorstep, you know, they’re happening after an hour of being inside someone’s home and then getting to know you and getting comfortable with you. So, we’re not really sure when that’s going to be of comfort for the mass number of people whose homes we’re going to go knocking on, we’re gonna’ start giving it a shot and see what happens. But if all goes well, hopefully we’re trying just next fall, fall 2021, a year after season one was released, or if we have to push it to the to this time a year from now, maybe around there.

[00:09:10] (HOST) Obviously not the only one looking for faces for those fallen service members in Massachusetts.

[00:09:17] (RYAN) Right, or, or throughout the country. You know where that I do? I mean, if you were to compare the number of pictures I’ve found compared to some of the volunteers that you guys at VVMF have had all these years. I mean, I’m, I’m, I’m nothing I’m on the bottom of the totem pole. There’s, there’s people from what I understand and you can attest this, I’m sure who have found 1000s of pictures on their own 1000s of pictures. I’m not I’m like maybe I can count a couple dozen on myself. So, I mean all credit to the people who have been doing this for 10 years or so they’re who I look up to. But I you know, I don’t know how many people are actually kind of boots on the ground knocking on doors, which is another reason why it was important for us to make this because sometimes those best pictures you get are going to come from families who aren’t willing to give them up easily. That’s what’s been kind of special about Finding Faces is we end up with the best possible ones that we can get. Because they’re the family in the family photo albums that are covered sometimes in an inch of dust in the basement, and you got to brush him off and dig through.

[00:10:20] (HOST) One of my favorite things about Season One of Finding Faces is that Ryan doesn’t go it alone. He has sidekicks. Phil and Casey are a pair of Vietnam veterans who are locals. So they’re able to help Ryan navigate not only the military landscape, but the neighborhoods in which he’s knocking on doors. I asked Ryan, how Phil and Casey he came to be so involved in Finding Faces.

[00:10:44] (RYAN) I just knew I needed a veteran or someone with way more knowledge of the military and specifically the Vietnam War than, than I have. I don’t come from a rich military background. The majority of the time at least and before I started Finding Faces, these kind of military conversations would just go straight over my head, I wouldn’t know what anyone’s talking about just the jargon and the lingo. It’s, it’s confusing. And if you don’t come from it, you don’t know what the hell anyone’s talking about a lot of the time. So, I knew I needed someone. So, I called a Veteran Resource official. They’re in every single county throughout Massachusetts. And I looked up the one in central Massachusetts, and I just called the guy and I said, “Hey, I got this idea. This is what I’m doing. Is there is there anyone you think might be able to help me?” and this guy immediately just said, oh, Phil Madio, Phil Madio, Phil Madio, and I called him and halfway through my conversation with Phil, I just was like, I got to do anything I can to convince this guy to join me. And then he said, I’m not doing this without my buddy, Casey. I said, you got it, whatever you want. Whatever the hell you want. I mean, you listen to season one they they provide so they’re so valuable from a resource standpoint, but they provide so much comedic relief that is really necessary amid some of these really difficult stories to listen to at times.

[00:12:02] (PHIL AND CASEY) You live right around here? Do you know Pauline? Does she live here, Pauline? No, I don’t know who that is. Oh, all right, buddy. Oh, there’s a sign that says, Don’t come any further. We’ll blow your fucking ass away. [Laughter] Ok, take care, buddy. Thank you. Oh, my knee fucking thing. There’s a sign there that says something. No, oh, oxygen. And you say this could be it.

[00:12:39] (PHIL AND CASEY) Hi, we’re looking for Pauline. Are you relation of Joe Daigneault who was killed in Vietnam?
(PAULINE) My brother got killed in Vietnam. But it was Joseph.
(PHIL AND CASEY) Joseph Daigneault. Right. Yeah. Well, we’re looking for pictures for, for the Memorial in Washington.
(PAULINE) Can you hang on?
(PHIL AND CASEY) We will, thank you, dear. She’s gonna’ call the [unintelligible] police. “I’ve got some suspicious man outside.”

[00:13:06] (HOST) I don’t know how many of those doors would have stayed open for you. They don’t invite you in until they see Phil and Casey standing there, you know, what I mean? Oh, these are guys. They’re from around here. You had to get guys who were recognizable and familiar.

[00:13:21] (RYAN) Yeah, Phil and Casey. They’re special. It’s so true. Yeah, you’re so right. I mean, the accent. They’re always quick to you know, where are you from? Oh, okay. I live on, you know, this street. We’re just couple streets over. Yeah, no, it’s, it’s true, it would have been impossible without them at times. And I figured it out right away, I just realized immediately, you know, how could I have done this without them. But what’s funny about this is you’re saying this, it’s all true, absolutely. But then I started to have to give them a crash course in journalism, because they started to get uncomfortable in the beginning when people started to get emotional. And that would make Phil and Casey feel uncomfortable. And so, they would want to immediately divert the conversation to something else, because they’re uncomfortable, and they’re worried about this person. But this is a journalistic endeavor, as much as it is finding the pictures, it’s finding the pictures first and foremost, if you do not want to talk to me, but you want to give me a picture, but you want me to, you know, you know, basically screw off after that, that’s fine. I’m out. I’m here for the picture. Anything after that, if you invite me, if you invite us into your house and you want to talk, then then great. This will now add to the storytelling aspect of this. And if a person is breaking down, more times than not, they’ve needed this, they need to talk about this. They’ve kept it suppressed for too long. And so at first, you know, Phil and Casey you would just not even let them get there. And I’m like, no, no. So you guys, if someone wants to talk to you let them talk. You just let them talk because we’re gonna be able to help them first and foremost. And that’s what we’re here for.

[00:14:57] (HOST) I think one of the biggest surprises for me as I’m going gotten to know this community a little bit is how often I talked to people who, for 25 years or 30 years had no details, they had no idea what happened. For example, you brought her a printout of all the decorations that he had earned.
(RYAN) Joseph Daigneault. Yeah, yeah.
(HOST) Well, she had no idea that he’d been so highly decorated.
(RYAN) She had no clue.
(HOST) To me, that was the biggest surprise was realizing that many of these families have very, very little information. What was the biggest surprise for you?

[00:15:34] (RYAN) That’s definitely up there. It’s also surprising how often either we walk into someone’s house, and they have like a complete shrine on their wall of framed photos of their brother who died 50 years ago, and his medals, and you know, a framed etching from the wall in Washington, DC, or whatever it is. And then at the same time, how often we need to be there for 45 minutes while someone digs through their basement and trying to just find one picture, when we come around. This is their opportunity to finally you know, get that picture where it needs to be. And it usually always works out just fine.

[00:16:15] (HOST) It’s actually a perfect kind of segue into teeing up this mini episode that we’re going to hear in just a minute. Because this particular episode, is you responding to a request from someone else? Is it common for people to ask you to do that kind of digging for them? And, and then why this one?

[00:16:34] (RYAN) Yeah, it’s been happening more and more. So, what, what your listeners are about to hear is a woman who simply just contacted me on Facebook and said, hey, my fiancé died in Vietnam, about 50 years ago, and I’ve been wanting a picture of him ever since. You know that. That’s also what we’re doing with Finding Faces. So, the main seasons, you listen to season one, and then season two, based in San Diego, what we’re working on now. Those are going to be us knocking on doors and acquiring photos. But these mini episodes that we’re starting to put out there, like the one we’re about to play, are kind of the reverse people going, Hey, I’m looking for a picture. Do you have one? Yeah, I got one right here, which is kind of funny. I did not envision us helping loved ones find photos when we started our adventure to find photos from loved ones. But that’s what’s worked out.

(RYAN) Hello, Finding Faces listeners It is me Ryan Kern and coming to you here in 2021. How awesome does that sound 2020 is over. And hopefully the next 10 months are much better than the last 12 that we all found a way to get through. I hope you’re staying safe. And of course, healthy. As you know, season one Finding Faces is over. All the missing pictures out of New England are found they’re uploaded and on the Wall of Faces are now working on season two, but that’s going to take some time to put together and as we alluded to in the credits of the final episode of season one, we don’t want to leave you without any finding faces content. We wanted to roll out some mini episodes for you. And at the time. This meant updates to season one storylines that we knew would be coming but since then, some of you the listeners, you’ve been reaching out to us with questions. We had one Vietnam vet contact us about trying to reconnect with his old war buddies. Families have been asking to track down loved ones war medals, and of course others reaching out saying that they need pictures of their loved ones. And that’s what we’re going to begin with this first mini episode for you. We got an email from a woman named Claudine and she wrote quote, I was the fiancé of James Nelson Youmans who was killed in Vietnam. I was wondering if you have any pictures? If you do, would it be possible to get a copy of it? Also, have you spoken to any of his family? He lived in Savannah, Georgia.

(PHONE RINGING)

[00:18:54] (RYAN) Hey, is this Claudine?
(CLAUDINE) Yes, it is.
(RYAN) This is Ryan Kern from Finding Faces.
(CLAUDINE) Oh, hi Ryan, I totally forgot you were calling today.
(RYAN) I know you’re in the middle of moving does this still work? Or do you want to reschedule?
(CLAUDINE) Oh no, no, no, this is fine. I’m actually in the car. Um, I might have to have you hold just a second to order me some food but other than that this is the perfect time.

[00:19:18] (RYAN) Yeah, it works for me that works for me. How’s the move going? Claudine lives in Georgia and is both in the middle of moving and getting lunch at the McDonald’s drive thru. And by the way, if you ever find yourself in Statesboro, Georgia and you’ve got a fixing for a Big Mac,

[00:19:32] (CLAUDINE) Stop at this McDonald’s. Don’t stop at any other. These people here care about what they do.
(RYAN) Good.
(CLAUDINE) I try to come here if I go, if I go to McDonald’s, I try to come to this.

[00:19:43] (RYAN) That’s the one off of Fair road by the way. Not that other one on North Side drive. Anyways, back to the story of Claudine and her one-time fiance James Nelson Youmans. So, you reached out to me, um, I believe asking basically to questions if there was a picture of your was James, your fiancé? Is that what you said?
(CLAUDINE) Yes. Yes.
(RYAN) So, you asked if if there’s a picture of him anywhere, and if I’ve talked to any of his family. What why were those the two things that you reached out to us about?

[00:20:17] (CLAUDINE) Well, I’m sorry, I’ll tear up over this, I apologize.
(RYAN) Take your-, Claudine, take your time. Take your time. It’s okay.

[00:20:26] (CLAUDINE) I’m sorry. We were, we were high school sweethearts. But my dad was married before he went to Vietnam because I hadn’t graduated yet. He was killed in Vietnam. So obviously we didn’t get married.
(MUSIC)
(RYAN) Marriage, a plan already years in the making.
(CLAUDINE) We were in the hall of Chatham Junior High School in Savannah, Georgia. I was late for class, trying to get in my locker. He was late for class because he was new and something with one of the teachers. And I couldn’t get him a locker and he stopped and he helped me get in my locker. And he turned around, he looked at me, he says, I’ll marry you one day. We both laughed. But we started dating right after that, and we ended up engaged.

[00:21:30] (RYAN) But it never materialized. vows and wedding bells. That didn’t happen between Claudine and James. He was sent to Vietnam and didn’t return home alive. Now 50 years later, Claudine just wants a little something. A single photo to fill the half century void still left in her heart. And coming up after the break, we’ll give one to her.

[00:22:10] (RYAN) James Nelson Youmans was a marine and was in Vietnam, just under six months when he died on May 18 1968. His casualty report on the Coffelt database shows that he died of quote, fragmentation wounds to the head and body from hostile mortar round well entered in action against hostile forces. He was 18.

[00:22:33] (CLAUDINE) And the only picture I have of him was I don’t know, maybe in the 11th grade. Back then taking pictures wasn’t, didn’t seem to be as important as it does today. So, I don’t have a good picture of him. And it’s been 50 years but still. It’s still hurts.

[00:23:05] (RYAN) Yeah. Yeah. Claudine in James’s family drifted apart. She knows the parents have both passed away, and has no idea where any siblings or any other relatives might be now, so reaching out to any of them is a long shot.
(CLAUDINE) I couldn’t, I couldn’t tell you where they are.
(RYAN) Well, I have a picture for you.
(CLAUDINE) Oh, great, that is wonderful.
(RYAN) It’s a good one to it. It appears it appears to be his official military, his official marine photo. He’s, He’s in uniform. And he’s staring just to the right of the lens. He’s not smiling, which you know, it’s a military picture so nice.
(CLAUDINE) That’s the military for you.
(RYAN) Yeah. So, it’s a really good picture in the sense that it’s clear you can see exactly what do you look like handsome man. Oh, my goodness, Claudine.

[00:24:12] (CLAUDINE) The one I got after him wasn’t bad looking either. And I’m still got him.

[00:24:18] (RYAN) Well done, well done. But,, but the thing about these military pictures as good as they are, they don’t necessarily show the personality that you would want to try and get out of looking at a picture. So, before I send it over to you, tell us about James.
(CLAUDINE) He was just a good guy. I mean, I know you hear that all the time, but he was just a good guy. He, he was there if you needed him. As matter of fact, one of his best friends is who I actually ended up marrying. Funny how things like that work. That’s how it worked, and they just hung out together. They went places together. You know, whatever, whatever you needed at the time, and he knew about it, he was there to either help you get it or he did it for you. He loved his mother dearly. She was a nurse. His dad was a mechanic. He was just always there for you, my parents. My parents thought world of him, they thought that the sun rose in one I and it set in the other and said, Oh, I can’t say it’s been 50 years. This is still really hard.

[00:25:42] (RYAN) He loved fishing, spending time on the water and working on old cars, thanks to the influence from his mechanic father. And by the way, if you listened to our first season of Finding Faces, you know better than to assume he went by his first name. James, what did you call him? Or what was he known as?

[00:26:00] (CLAUDINE) He was Nelson. He didn’t like James, he thought that was he thought that was too formal. He said, I’m not that formal. I don’t need a name like that.

[00:26:12] (RYAN) The photo that I have of Nelson is from the Wall of Faces and I’m ready to text it to Claudine but she’s not necessarily ready to receive it just yet.

[00:26:21](CLAUDINE) Yes, I need to order two of your your number four meals.

[00:26:24] (RYAN) So I wait until a Claudine has her lunch in hand.

[00:26:28] (CLAUDINE) Okay, let me grab the food right here and then I’ll pull over.

[00:26:30] (RYAN) Sounds good. Take your time. Before I texted over, and she presumably and understandably becomes emotional again.

[00:26:38] (CLAUDINE) Thank you so much. You have a great day.

[00:26:42] (RYAN) And once Claudine pulls into a parking spot, All right, here comes.

[00:26:53] (CLAUDINE) Alrighty, it’s downloading. Oh, that’s him? For sure. (MUSIC) Thank you so much.
(RYAN) There’s your fiancé.
(CLAUDINE) Thank you very much.
(RYAN) How long have you been? How long have you been looking for pictures? (CLAUDINE) 50 years. I’ve been working ever since. Ever since he passed. He had sent his mother to give to me and I never received them.

[00:27:49] (CLAUDINE) He was sending her a package to begin with. So, he, he has included those pictures for me that I never got them, of him over there. You know, doing the things whatever it is you do when you get to a place like that? I never got them and I never got this picture. Because she claimed she only had one and I couldn’t have it. If I was the mother, I wouldn’t have given it away either. He couldn’t find where you got it.
(RYAN) You got it, you got it. You got it now.
(CLAUDINE) I got it. I got it.
(RYAN) Yeah, you do.
(CLAUDINE) I appreciate it. More than you will ever know.

[00:28:34] (RYAN) Thank you. Thank you. I’m going to email you the best quality picture I think… Claudine also asked if we can track down some of Nelson’s family. We found some information on them and have passed it along to Claudine and are leaving it to her to reach out. But one of those relatives saying that Nelson is an uncle to her grandchildren posted something online 15 and a half years ago, and we felt it was important to read it to Claudie too. And I want to read it to you because it’s, it’s real nice. You have three beautiful nephews, one, Jeremy looks so much like you. Your mother says he even has your personality and sweet disposition. He just turned of the age you were when you joined the Marines, 17. I have taken all three boys to your grave site since they were very young. We go there, clean your marker in bleach, put out flowers and the flag for your remembrance. We have talked about Vietnam, your service there, and your sacrifice. I want them to remember you always so that your spirit may live on through them. May God keep you in the palm of his hand.

[00:30:03] (CLAUDINE) That is sweet.
(RYAN) I’m really glad we connected and I’m really glad you reached out to me and I’m so glad I was able to get you a picture. This was this was wonderful.

[00:30:10] (CLAUDINE) It really was. I do appreciate it.
(RYAN) I appreciate you.

[00:30:22] (HOST) Big thanks to Ryan and to Storic media for letting us share this great work with you.

[00:30:27] You can get Finding Faces, wherever podcasts are available. Just go to your favorite search engine and type in Finding Faces podcast. Check out the entirety of season one. I highly recommend it. Thanks for listening to the official podcast from the founders of The Wall in Washington DC. We publish a new episode every two weeks, so be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you like it, there are a couple of easy things you can do to help support it. One is to share it with a friend and like that as well. Another thing that helps us out tremendously is if you leave us a rating or a review wherever you get your podcasts like Apple podcast or Spotify, for example. You’d be surprised how much that helps new listeners find us. In our next episode of the podcast, inspiring origin story Peace Trees Vietnam an NGO safely removes unexploded ordnance in Vietnam and plants trees on the clear land living a monument to reconciliation and friendship.

[00:31:42] (JERILYN) I was listening to the radio and I heard the announcers say two American helicopter pilots were shot down today 15 miles northwest of Saigon. And I had a chill run through me. Four hours later, I got the news.

[00:31:59] (HOST) Believe me when I tell you this story is incredible. It’s like an opera, just sweeping and rich. Also, VVMF’s Heidi Zimmerman discusses the lingering effects of Agent Orange exposure on those who served. So, check out Episode Six of our podcast on the 7th of June. See you then.

Full Interview with Ryan Kern

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