HOST: [00:00:02] In Laurel, Mississippi, about 30 miles north of Hattiesburg, is a town of around 17,000 people, the vast majority of whom are people of color. Back in the 1930s and 40s, those numbers were roughly the same. I looked at a list of notable people from Laurel and only recognized a few names two actresses, a jazz guitarist, an opera singer, and a general. All had successful careers, but the opera singer and the general were real trailblazers. Among the first African Americans to reach the pinnacle of their chosen professions. And here’s the kicker. Their sister and brother. There must have been something in the water at the price household. Leontyne Price studied at Juilliard, started singing with the Metropolitan Opera in 1961, and went on to become the opera world’s first black diva, back when that word really meant something. She might be the only soprano whose name is known even to people who don’t love opera. Her kid brother George, an athlete, was commissioned into the Army after college. He served in both the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and in his 27 year career rose to the rank of brigadier general. Along the way, he earned a chest full of decorations, including the Legion of Merit, a Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and the Purple Heart Medal. If you listened to Episode 25: “Building the Wall,” you already know that General Price was instrumental in getting Maya Lin’s vision unstuck from a morass of politics and controversy. That was a pivotal moment for VVMF, but just a tiny blip on the radar screen of General Price’s remarkable life. In this episode, Jim Knotts sits down with the general to get the rest of his story. Stick around. From the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund., Founders of The Wall, This is Echoes of the Vietnam War. I’m your host, Michael Croan, bringing you stories of service, sacrifice, and healing from people who still feel the impact of that conflict… Nearly 50 years later. This is Episode 34: “Brigadier General George B. Price.” Jim Knotts has the interview.

KNOTTS: [00:02:46] General Price, thanks so much for joining us today. Um, it’s always a pleasure to have any time to just sit and and talk with you about anything. And I know we’re going to cover a lot of ground today. Uh, about your military service in the Korean War, The Vietnam War…. Uh, and certainly some of the early history of the Memorial itself. Uh, so thank you very much for, uh, for spending the time with me today.

PRICE: [00:03:13] I’m honored to be a part of this program. Uh, I just think that, uh, the Memorial – and whatever I gave to it – uh, certainly was deserved many times over. So I would do it all over again… Plus some, if I could, so that, uh, uh, the young folks have something to remember those Heroes and Heroines that we had in that era in Vietnam.

KNOTTS: [00:03:41] Well, sir, um, if it makes sense to you, what I’d like to do is start a little bit early in your career. Uh, you graduated, uh, ROTC from South Carolina State University, uh, in 1951. And as I understand, uh, your graduating class was the first that actually was able to take ROTC for a full four years. Um, so you were a bit of a maverick, uh, even before you got to the United States Army?

PRICE: [00:04:10] Well, there’s a little history here because, uh, and I need to go back to my hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, which, uh, I give great credit for giving me a good jump start, starting with my parents, and, of course, uh, they set the tone and the community in general. And, uh, military service was sort of expected behavior. Uh, we grew up in World War II, but you sort of expected to serve and so forth… South Carolina State was concerned… Uh, I was told by my mentor, Colonel Howard Knight, and he served and his brother served in the military, and they were family friends. So they would come by the house as they proceeded to go through the service… Graduation up from, uh, going into as a private and, uh, both of them were commissioned and, uh, they told me that, uh, said, what do you like to do? And I told him I like to be like him. And he said, well, the first thing you want to do is go to college. And I said, why? He said, because the time for any officer who has a commission that’s worth it is going to have to have a college degree.

PRICE: [00:05:25] You don’t need to wait when you can get it ahead of time. So you need to prepare to go to college. Uh, I was an athlete, and so I was hopeful that I’d be able to get a scholarship. And, uh, good fortune was that I got offered a scholarship to South Carolina State, which I accepted. And we had some top-notch officers there, all of whom, for the most part, I think all of them were college graduates. And, uh, of course, a professor of military science, Colonel James Robinson, was one of our preeminent African-American officers serving on active duty at that time. And he started our ROTC unit. And, uh, I got an athletic scholarship to go to South Carolina State, uh, to play football. I guess my parents had the right idea whether I was going to make the team or whether I was going to be in school or not, because they sent me to South Carolina State two weeks early… With a one-way ticket.

KNOTTS: [00:06:24] So you knew you knew what direction your future was going.

PRICE: [00:06:28] I was motivated… And so, uh, and so I went.

KNOTTS: [00:06:33] Toward the end of your time there at South Carolina State. You graduated in 1951. Um, and shortly after graduation there, uh, the Korean War started. How did you find out that you were going to Korea? Um, and I’d like to talk a little bit about your your experience in the Korean War.

PRICE: [00:06:50] Well, this goes to, back to the same continuation from South Carolina State, because we all got commissioned and everybody who had been to summer camp together came back for the basic infantry officer’s course at Fort Benning. So we all knew each other from the preceding year. Uh, we were sitting on the bank, at one of our classes when the newsboy came by and said, uh, extra, extra, extra Korean… American forces committed in Korea that notified us that the war had started. We committed our forces, and we looked around and said, well, I guess all them trips to Germany, uh, are history and 90 percent of us, if not more, got orders to Korea. Be mindful that the year I started at South Carolina State was the year the President signed the desegregation order for the military services. And so we were working through all the how are we going to do that and how they’re going to do that type thing, some of which had started at the end of World War II. But the fact of the matter is that all these dynamics going on while you’re trying to pursue a hot war, uh, I was assigned to the 45th Infantry Division of the 45th Division, uh, Oklahoma National Guard. This is when all these units were being desegregated, and it was a unique experience. It was battlefield training, and, uh, I’m delighted and honored to have been able to serve with so many distinguished soldiers…

KNOTTS: [00:08:23] You were wounded and you earned the Purple Heart, um, as a result of your service in Korea.

PRICE: [00:08:29] So. Yes. Yes I was evacuated and medevaced, 8055 MASH hospital and, uh, 1/21st evac. Then I spent about 3 or 4 months in, uh, Osaka, Japan, in recovery. So, uh, then I was transferred back to the States, and, uh, I went to, uh…. Blacksburg, Virginia to, uh, finish my recovery. You know, brave that I was as a second lieutenant to ask me where I want to go for recovery, I put Walter Reed and they said, “yeah, right.” I was out there in Blacksburg, Virginia, next thing I knew… Without a car.

KNOTTS: [00:09:16] Well, so. So what year did you go to Vietnam?

PRICE: [00:09:23] I went to Vietnam in 1962. I want to say it was, and I was there when we had advisors. We didn’t have any major American units. Um, we had an advisory team. We had 8,000 people and merged with the Vietnamese army.

KNOTTS: [00:09:40] So you were attached as advisors to a Vietnamese army unit of South Vietnam.

PRICE: [00:09:47] I served with the First ARVN Regiment of the First Infantry Division, ARVN.

KNOTTS: [00:09:55] Okay… well, a lot of people don’t realize it, but we had advisors in Vietnam as early as 1950, you know, and you’re a perfect example of that. Over time, the number of advisors we had there increased, and the kinds of things they were asked to do became more and more diverse and more and more dangerous. And, um, then, of course, there were more and more people who were killed as a result. Um, but, um. When you went to the Vietnam War, um, there was still pretty strong support for our advisors being there. Is that right?

PRICE: [00:10:37] To the best of my knowledge, uh, we didn’t have the benefit of CNN and all these other places, places to go out and give you the hot news. Only a fool likes war. You see? So the idea is, whatever you could do to contribute to its end, uh, you did it. You were concurrently getting familiar with, you know, the all the tradition and all the history and going back to France and all this other business. It was great to know. It was great to learn. It was great to be able to pick up the ball and run with it. But we did it as American advisors to the Vietnamese army. Uh, I was there when they had, uh, the President Kennedy was assassinated, and I was there when they had the March on Washington. Uh, that’s that’s, that’s when a head game came in. What in the world is going on back home? What is wrong with these people? They got to be out of their freaking minds. I’m hearing the news out of Laos, put on on the enemy’s radio to let us know what was going on back in the States. And all the games they were playing on false information and all that business… Uh, we had a big time, but…

KNOTTS: [00:11:45] You, you were there for, what, a year and a half? Two years.

PRICE: [00:11:49] I was there for a year. Okay. And then I came back to the Command and General Staff College. Uh, and of course, you had the social issues you were dealing with. Uh, you had the social issues. You were dealing with them in Vietnam. Uh, you had, uh, social issues you were dealing with, uh, anywhere you went.

KNOTTS: [00:12:10] Well you realize when you got home that some of those news stories that you heard through the enemy’s radio, uh, they were real. Uh, so there was a lot going on back home while you were there. So you came home, um, in 1963?

PRICE: [00:12:27] Yeah.

KNOTTS: [00:12:27] From Vietnam. Um, well. And what was your rank when you returned home?

PRICE: [00:12:34] Uh, major.

KNOTTS: [00:12:36] You were a major by then. And did I, did I understand correctly that, uh, General Colin Powell actually served in the same unit as you at one point?

PRICE: [00:12:46] Yes. Colin Powell was one of my young advisors, Uh, at the battalion level, he was a captain. Uh, we were serving together at the time when his son was born, and he was out on an outpost and, uh… Had a problem with communications, and that was a great debate as to, well, how are we going to get notified and all that business. And while they were arguing, I got on the helicopter, flew out there.

KNOTTS: [00:13:14] So you got to tell him that his son had been born.

PRICE: [00:13:16] And that’s it: Come here, your son has been born and your wife is doing great. And I want you to get on an airplane and go and and, uh, call her so that she could know that you were okay, and it can relieve the tension. And he came up and said, “Well, sir, I can’t go.” And I said, “That wasn’t a question. That was an order. Get on the airplane. I’ll take care of this mess out here. You take care of them when you get back.” And that started a relationship that lasted for the rest of his life. And, uh, he was brilliant then, and he was brilliant through the rest of his career. And I… We always stayed in touch from that day forward. And he’s a great friend, great, great, uh, great soldier and, uh, deserved every accolade he got. He was super.

HOST: [00:14:03] We’ll have more of Jim’s interview with General Price after a short break. Our little podcast will soon reach a meaningful milestone. Sometime in the next 3 or 4 episodes will have been listened to a total of 100,000 times. At that point, our plan is to look for an appropriate sponsor or underwriter to help fund the production of future episodes. And what does that mean? It means we’ll be able to gather more stories more quickly, that they’ll be produced with a higher level of professionalism, and that they’ll be promoted to a broader audience. And we feel some urgency around this. The Vietnam generation won’t be around forever to share their stories, and we want to make sure the stories from that era have a chance to echo through the generations that follow. Which brings me to a favor that I need to ask you. It’ll only take a few minutes, and it’ll help us more than you know. If you listen to this podcast using an app like Apple Podcasts or Spotify or iHeartRadio, for example, take a minute to leave us a rating or a review, whatever your app allows. And in any case, consider hitting the subscribe button. If you listen on our website, that’s cool too.

HOST: [00:15:26] You can still help out from vvmf.org/echoes, scroll down to the very bottom of the page and sign up for email notifications about new episodes. We promise to protect your privacy. We wouldn’t share your email address with anyone, not even future sponsors. This is a really exciting time for our podcast and we’re grateful for your continued support. And as always, if you’re enjoying it, we hope you’ll share it with a friend or two who might enjoy it as well. Have you ever heard of Wall Magic? People who visit the wall talk about it. It’s that unexpected, often spiritual connection or discovery that happens when you visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It’s one of those things that if you know, you know, you’ve either experienced it or you haven’t. Well, maybe you’d like to, but you can’t easily get yourself to The Wall in Washington, D.C. that’s exactly why VVMF created The Wall That Heals, an exact replica of The Wall at three-quarters scale that travels to communities all across America. The Wall That Heals and the Mobile Education Center that travels with it will be in Mead, Colorado, August 18th through 21 and Payson, Arizona, August 25th through 28. To see the rest of this year’s tour schedule, and to learn how you can bring the wall that heals to your town, visit vvmf.org.

HOST: [00:16:42] For 40 years now, VMF has led the way to help heal our nation. Remember those who gave all and honor all who served. Our new Legacy Endowment will ensure that we can continue honoring Vietnam veterans for the next 40 years and beyond. We launched the Legacy Endowment with a $500,000 matching gift campaign, the Legacy Challenge. Each new outright gift or gift established through a will will be matched up to 50 percent, with a maximum of $50,000 matched per gift. All qualifying gifts established or newly identified before November 12th of this year are eligible for the match. Learn more at vvmf.org/legacy. This year, we’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. To commemorate this milestone, every day at 3 p.m. eastern, we read the name of every Wall honoree who died on that date. This is in addition to the live in person reading of the names that will be held in Washington, DC beginning on November 7th. You can visit vvmf.org/rotn for more information about the daily virtual reading of the names and about the in-person event. And now back to Jim Knott’s interview with General George Price.

KNOTTS: [00:18:08] So after your time in Vietnam, where did you go?

PRICE: [00:18:15] Vietnam… I came back to the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth for a year. And when I finished that, I was assigned to Washington, D.C., to the Chief, Officer Reserve Components in the Pentagon.

KNOTTS: [00:18:27] Right.

PRICE: [00:18:27] And I stayed there for three years. And, uh, that’s when I did all the volunteering to go back to Vietnam. And, uh, they couldn’t seem to accommodate me. Okay. Be my guest. And, uh, I got promoted in the process, and so… I, uh, lost my patience, and was going to – and I worked for the Army Chief of Staff in his office at that time – and he had gone through the same trauma of trying to get an assignment in his career… And so I went over to the building and asked to be assigned to Vietnam, because the division commander had asked that I be assigned there, and so on, and so on, and so on… And so I said, okay, I’m going to stop by the Chief’s office when I go back to work and just be sure he knows that that’s, that’s what’s happening in these situations. And he said it was not going to occur. By the time I got from southwest Washington back to the Pentagon, I was offered a job as a battalion commander in Panama. And so I accepted that assignment because if I turned it down, that’s the end of that mission, you know? It’s not going anywhere.

KNOTTS: [00:19:40] They had other plans for you, and you had to say yes or get out of the Army. Right?

PRICE: [00:19:46] Yup. And that, you accepted, you accepted it or you might as well get out the Army, because it’s over. And so…

KNOTTS: [00:19:54] And that was, that must have been about 1965. Late ’64 or early ’65.

PRICE: [00:20:00] ’68 to, uh. Okay. All right.

KNOTTS: [00:20:03] So in those intervening years, while you were at the Pentagon, you were trying to volunteer and go back. And those were, um, really years where the activity in Vietnam heated up. I mean, we spent our first, uh, large scale ground unit ashore in Vietnam in March of 1965. Um, and so up through the beginning of 1968, all the troop levels started growing, um, exponentially it seemed, uh, the draft board’s ginned up, and there were a lot more people going into the Army that knew that they were headed to Vietnam. Um, and of course, the American public, for the very first time, were watching the war on TV in their living rooms. And so, um, there were more and more deaths of American service members. And, uh, the sentiment in the country started changing about the war. This time you were you were stateside, you knew what else was happening politically and socially, and, you know, I’m sure you got updates about what was happening in Vietnam. Um, and you could see some of that dynamic. What did what kind of changes were you seeing in our country related to the war in Vietnam, and what were your feelings about it?

PRICE: [00:21:24] Uh, I found one that, uh, either American or you’re not. Uh, and the philosophy that I have to this day is, uh, first you commit the country, then you commit the armed services. Uh, we are not, uh, uh, mercenaries. Uh, we are citizens, uh, the Army, military… And I’ve said this in our speeches at The Wall, the Army, or the military has never lost a war in the history of our country. A nation might have done some, but we haven’t, because we move at the will of the American people.

KNOTTS: [00:22:07] After your time in the Pentagon, you accepted the battalion command position in Panama. So you went down to Panama. And how long were you there?

PRICE: [00:22:18] Two years. Two years. I was I was in Panama. I got selected to go to the War College, uh, the War College in Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. But, uh, that that assignment in Panama was a great assignment because from the Command and General Staff College, we had such a great interaction with our fellow students from Central and South America until there were 25 countries that I could call people in and get a direct answer from somebody whom I’d been in, in, uh, Command and General Staff College with, and that that happened around the world.

KNOTTS: [00:22:55] You went to, uh, the War College at Carlisle. Um, were you a colonel by that time, a full colonel?

PRICE: [00:23:04] No, uh, no, I was a lieutenant colonel.

KNOTTS: [00:23:06] Okay.

PRICE: [00:23:07] And there was a class of 215… I want to say. I think that’s the number, I might be wrong. But there were three blacks in that class. Uh, Charlie Rogers, who had the Congressional Medal of Honor, uh, Herb Dowse, who was a Navy officer and myself. Um, uh, I’m the only one that’s still here, the best of my knowledge. But, uh, that class did great. Uh, as did the Command and General Staff College of ’64. Uh, it was enormous class. Uh, we had some great, great, great officers in there, and they proved their mettle. And so I consider that the great fortune to have, uh, been exposed to, uh, all of my classmates.

KNOTTS: [00:23:54] So that was about 1971.

PRICE: [00:23:57] Yeah. Mhmm. Class of ’71.

KNOTTS: [00:23:58] Okay. So, so after you graduated from the War College, where did you go?

PRICE: [00:24:06] I went to Germany to command a brigade. I was on the promotion list to colonel, uh, but they couldn’t get it done before I got to Germany. And so that was a great consternation whether I should take over this major command in the Third Infantry Division, which is where I started my career. Uh, I was and, uh, I had the Third Brigade and at Aschaffenburg. And, um, that was a great brouhaha because I’m taking over from a colonel and I’m a lieutenant colonel. And I said, if you let me sign the command line, I think I can manage. And, uh, so they hemmed and hawed and all that, but, uh, I got to command, and it worked out successfully.

KNOTTS: [00:24:51] So I want to get toward, uh, you know, the, uh, the time that The Wall was conceived by Jan Scruggs in 1979. Um, I know that you were one of the early supporters, uh, of the effort to build the Memorial. Um, when the design was unveiled, uh, it was very controversial… For a lot of reasons, you know. Maya Lin the designer. Um, there was, um, some controversy over the fact that she was very young, over the fact that she was Asian American, uh, over the fact that she was a woman in a very male-dominated field of architecture. Um, but the design itself was also controversial for a couple of reasons. You know, a lot of people expected a more traditional statuary type of component. Um, and the fact that it is made of black granite when almost everything else in DC is white. Um, so the design being below ground became, um, uh, part of an issue. And during all of this controversy, um, it was actually called the “Black Gash of Shame and Sorrow” at one point. And the controversy was so intense, uh, that construction of the Memorial was actually held up. And there were meetings about it, uh, up on Capitol Hill. And my understanding is you were in on some of those meetings. Um, so how did you get connected with the effort to build the Memorial?

PRICE: [00:26:32] I backed into, uh, serving on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund because none of our leaders, the African American leaders, were paying attention to it. They wanted no parts of it. They’d rejected it. And Bill Edward, who was a Marine. Very, very seriously wounded… Was the military advisor and committee chair of the National Urban League, and he had asked me to come in and and do some work with the Urban League because they were doing tutoring in New York… But, when the Memorial discussion was coming up, he needed somebody to represent one of the organizations, he couldn’t get anybody to come and even touch it. And so he called to me out of desperation and said, “I’ve got to have somebody go out, General Price. We can’t, we can’t let them start this monument and this magnitude without somebody being there.” And I said, well, when you need me… This was a day or day and a half out, I said, “Okay, you sure you can’t get nobody else you want me to try somebody?” He said, “No, I’ve tried them all. I’ve tried them all several times and nobody is interested.” I said, “I’ll be there.” And when I went down, I think I went the night before, somewhere they had a little meeting set so I wouldn’t go out there as a stranger. And I met Jan and all the top group that was… Doubek and all that, Wheeler…

PRICE: [00:28:08] Trying to get the final organization together. And I went in and I said, hey, I’m the I’m here to help and to represent, uh, Bill Edward and the National Urban League and all that. And I heard what they were saying, and I said, well, look, if you don’t mind, I’ll, I’ll help as much as I can, and I’ll stay here as long as Bill Edward tells me this not going to create a firestorm… And I’ll do it even then, I said, that doesn’t bother me. And so. I went to the… I guess was a groundbreaking ceremony or something like that… And but I got a chance getting to know them and see that they were serious and they had a great plan. And I thought it was worthy because I was very aware of, thanks to my great teachers, that there was very little representation on The Mall of anything that looked, acted or was like us. And that’s before all the decisions on color. And that was done. So I got all this background and what Jan knows we’re trying to do, and they’re trying to excite folk to raise the capital and all that business. And so I got involved with that. And, you know, from that point forward, I thought I was a part of the team.

PRICE: [00:29:21] Well, that was some people who couldn’t get what they wanted to do in terms of, of influencing how the Memorial going to be. They wanted this, “let’s punish the enemy, you know, the horseback riders,” and and you know, that kind of crap. And the simple fact of the matter was the decision was made to to have a national competition. And, uh, there were people who were being influenced, uh, by outside influences to satisfy their own requirements… And so we proceeded to go through the process of wherever it was… And so they organized the largest art, Architectural design competition ever. They had 1200 entries, if my memory serves me right, something in that magnitude, and the board went through, it was a world renowned group of artists. They made the decisions when they made the decision and everybody flipped out. Uh, and that’s when all those names that you mentioned were called: “Black Gash of Shame,” “She’s Asian, how is she gonna understand that,” And and I put up with it and I, you know, told them, we recruited on this, this is not going anywhere. That’s not, that’s not the way it’s gonna to be. The decision was made. We need to abide by the decision. That’s what we say we’re going to do. And, uh.

PRICE: [00:30:52] Then we went to another meeting, I want to say, in Senator Warner’s office, and they were discussing all of this business. And another one of these young bucks got up, well, “this is a Black Gash of Shame,” and that’s that one where it got so famous because I think the reporters were there, and “she doesn’t understand that she’s Asian. What does she know?” And a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of “Black Gash of Shame,” “And who wants something black out on The Mall?” And then I got up and jumped his ass like it was a new moon. And I told him, “You mentioned that one more time. I’m not sure what a black ass will do… I’m going to put a grenade with the pin out of it and put it in your goddamn mouth. You need to sit down and shut up and let the thing go.” And I told Senator Warner, “You need to vote for it up or down, one way or the other. We fooled around with this long enough. That was a classily run program. It needs to be approved. We need to get on with this. Otherwise we’re never going to get The Wall built. We need to do that right now.” And Senator Warner said, “okay.” And they asked who was what, and everybody raised their hand…

KNOTTS: [00:31:58] And that was that. Well, I mean, you’ve been quoted there, um, in one of those meetings where there were reporters, uh, as saying, “Black is not a color of shame. And I’m tired, I’m tired of hearing it called such by you. Uh, we’re all equal in combat, and color shouldn’t matter now.”

PRICE: [00:32:18] That’s true. I did say that.

KNOTTS: [00:32:20] And I think after your comments there, uh, it wasn’t called the the “Black Gash of Shame” anymore.

PRICE: [00:32:26] No. Maya Lin changed the way the entire world now does memorials. That’s the impact she had. She changed the whole dynamic. And there are more walls with names on it and tributes to people in little towns when you go through them. It makes your heart just burst with pride. When you see how much this young woman had an influence on how we celebrate the contributions of people in our country, and I think it’s phenomenal. And, you know, this wasn’t a frivolous, uh, art, you know, architectural competition. This was big time. I mean, really big time. And she won it and, and she deserves all the praise she can get, for turning our country and, quite frankly, turning the world around on how we proceed honoring people for good deeds.

KNOTTS: [00:33:29] And what do you think it has meant to our country? Um, in, in large?

PRICE: [00:33:37] I think The Wall represents what America can do when it puts its mind to it. It puts its energy to it. Uh, when we all come together. Uh, I was mentioning it to my wife last night, I said, I gotta remind Jim that we, one night, some veterans and I was sitting there talking, we said, what the country needs now is an organization called FACT, and that’s Free America from Contaminated Thinking. And, uh, that’s where we are. The thinking is so contaminated now, you can’t find out what’s clear water and what’s dirty water. And we really need to get back on track. And that’s, that’s what it’s all about. We need to get our country back where it can live up to its full potential. And, uh, that’s a great step in the right direction. And that, to me, is what she did. She got us back off this brouhaha… Let’s go stab somebody… To let’s just tell them we appreciate what you did. We’re sorry for your loss and be done with it.

KNOTTS: [00:34:41] What do you tell young people about the Vietnam War? Um, what do you hope future generations will learn about the Memorial, um, 40 years from now, when, um, our Vietnam veterans are gone?

PRICE: [00:34:58] I think, frankly, we have to start teaching history. In fact, as a part of the lifeblood of our education system. Not biased history, clean-cut history, uh, you know, freedom ain’t free.

KNOTTS: [00:35:16] I know you’ve spoken at The Wall a number of times, and I was watching the video of you speaking at The Wall in 1998, and, uh, you some you said something there that I thought was, um, was inspiring and something we don’t hear much of these days. Um, and your comment was to the effect that when we look at ourselves as a country, we have to remember we’re not as bad as we think we are, but we’re nowhere as good as we ought to be.

PRICE: [00:35:48] And I still feel that same way. We can do a lot better about each other if we stop worrying about trivia. It’s not worried about who got on first, when and how… We need more of is fortitude, persistence, participation, practical approach and, uh, get the job done. It’s everybody’s problem to solve, and every little bit helps.

HOST: [00:36:21] On August 28th. Just a couple of weeks from now, General Price will turn 93 years old. I hope we’re the first to wish him a very happy birthday. Since retiring from the Army, General Price has worked in telecommunications, engineering and consulting and as the personal manager for his big sister, Leontyne. Here she is performing “America the Beautiful” with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. We’ll be back in two weeks with more stories of service, sacrifice, and healing. We’ll see you then.

LEONTYNE PRICE (SINGING): [00:36:51] Oh, beautiful. For spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties, above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on Thee, and crown thy good in brotherhood, from sea to shining sea. Oh beautiful for pilgrim feet, whose stern impassioned stress, a thoroughfare for freedom beat, across the wilderness. America! America! God mend thine every flaw, confirm thy soul, in self control, thy liberty in law. Oh beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years, thine alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears. America! America! God shed His grace on thee, and crown thy good in brotherhood from sea to shining sea!

Full Interview with George Price

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