Pennsylvania Archives - Page 2 of 3 - StoryCorps

Jim Stockdale and Jasey Schnaars

Many Americans remember Vice Admiral James Stockdale as H. Ross Perot’s running mate during the 1992 presidential campaign. Standing on stage between Dan Quayle and Al Gore during the vice-presidential debate, Admiral Stockdale opened by rhetorically asking: “Who am I? Why am I here?”

Stockdale4Those questions immediately became a sound bite and a punchline for late night comedians, and for millions of Americans, they defined a man they knew little about.

Adm. Stockdale’s legacy goes beyond a few sentences spoken in a debate. Over the course of his Naval career, he earned 26 combat awards including two Distinguished Flying Crosses, three Distinguished Service Medals, two Purple Hearts, four Silver Stars, and in 1976 President Gerald Ford presented him with our nation’s highest military honor: the Medal of Honor.

In 1947, Adm. Stockdale graduated from the United States Naval Academy, and in 1965, then-Captain Stockdale’s plane was shot down over North Vietnam. He was then captured and brought to the Hoa Lo Prison, infamously referred to as the “Hanoi Hilton.”

As the highest-ranking Naval officer held prisoner of war, he became a leader among the other POWs establishing a code of conduct to help keep them from being used by the North Vietnamese for propaganda purposes. Adm. Stockdale, who was forced to wear leg irons for two years while held captive, at one point slashed his own face with a razor to keep from being put on camera, and according to his Medal of Honor citation, he once used glass from a broken window to slit his own wrist in order to “convince his captors of his willingness to give up his life rather than capitulate.”

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During his seven and a half years as a POW, Adm. Stockdale was able to send letters to his wife, Sybil, in California. Quickly, she figured out his correspondences contained coded messages and she coordinated with the CIA to continue their communications while her husband was held captive.

Sybil herself was a force to be reckoned with. She was a vocal advocate for the families of POWs and soldiers missing in action at a time when the United States government followed a “keep quiet” policy, asking relatives of POWs not to call attention to their family members (this policy was primarily for public relations purposes). And as a response, she helped found the National League of Families of American Prisoners Missing in Southeast Asia, a nonprofit organization that is still active today as The National League of POW/MIA Families.

Below: Listen to an excerpt from a February 1973 conversation between James and Sybil, speaking to each other on the phone for the first time in seven and a half years. Recorded by their son Stanford, James was at Clark Air Base in the Philippines at the time and would days later be reunited with his family.

In 1979, Sybil was awarded the U.S. Navy Department’s Distinguished Public Service Award, presented to civilians for specific courageous or heroic acts.

Stockdale2The citation that accompanied the honor noted, “Her actions and indomitable spirit in the face of many adversities contributed immeasurably to the successful safe return of American prisoners, gave hope, solace, and support to their families in a time of need and reflected the finest traditions of the Naval service and of the United States of America.”

In July 2005, Adm. Stockdale died at the age of 81, and in October 2015, Sybil died at the age of 90. They are buried alongside each other at the United States Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, Maryland.

Their son, Jim, a teenager at the time of his father’s capture, came to StoryCorps with his friend, Jasey Schnaars (pictured at left). Jim talked about his mother’s strength as they waited for his father’s return home.

Originally aired May 27, 2016, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Top: Jim Stockdale and his brothers, Taylor (right) and Stanford (left), greet their father, Navy Captian James Stockdale, at Miramar Naval Air Station on February 15, 1973, as he returns home after spending seven and a half years as a POW. (Photo courtesy of Jim Stockdale.)
Middle: Vice Admiral James Stockdale with his wife, Sybil. (Photo courtesy of Jim Stockdale.)

The Unedited StoryCorps Interview: Phil Avillo and Susan Scherr

“I wasn’t injured, I was wounded. Big difference. Your mother used to say, ‘Before his accident’ meaning, like, getting shot, I would say, “Linda, it wasn’t an accident, somebody was trying to kill me.”

Phil-Avillo-July-1965-Qui-Nhon,-Vietnam-512x348While you are used to hearing the audio pieces we share on NPR’s Morning Edition and our podcast, StoryCorps interviews are really much longer conversations—about 40 minutes—that take place between two people in a booth or other private space with a trained StoryCorps facilitator present.

Currently our archives house over 65,000 of these conversations, and because they are fascinating complete looks into people’s lives, and offer insight into the mechanics of a StoryCorps interview, we have started to bring these to you unedited.

This discussion, between Phil Avillo, 73, and his daughter, Susan Scherr, 36, was recorded in York, Pennsylvania, in November 2015, and covers two StoryCorps programs: the Military Voices Initiative (MVI) and Legacy. MVI provides a platform for veterans, service members, and military families to share their stories in order to honor their voices and amplify their experiences, while Legacy provides people of all ages with serious illness and their families the opportunity to record, preserve, and share their stories through partnerships with organizations across the country.

You may notice that Phil and Susan are pictured below not in a StoryCorps booth or medical facility, but in his home. The unique Legacy “train the trainer” model allows partner organizations like Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center (who have recorded over 30 interviews with StoryCorps), to train their own facilitators who then record interviews with participants in a variety of locations.

lsk001470_g1Phil, a former Marine who fought in the Vietnam War (pictured above in 1965), was recently diagnosed with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease).

Phil talks with Susan about how his recent diagnosis has affected his life, and sheds light on his approach to living with a disease with no known cause, cure, or long-term treatment. “It’s not like I’m 25, you know. I think this disease is—as insidious as it is—is cruelest, and think all diseases are cruelest, when they hit younger people. If I were forty and you kids were young and this was happening to me, I would be beside myself.”

He also reflects on his service during the Vietnam War where he lost his left leg in combat on December 7, 1965—making him, as he puts it, a Pearl Harbor Day survivor of sorts—and telling Susan that the amputation infused him with a confidence he never before had leading his life to take on a feeling of urgency.

Phil also discusses the loss of his mother at a young age, meeting and marrying his wife, and the full life he now enjoys despite the challenges he confronts daily.

Click here to listen to the interview.

Click here to download a PDF transcript of this interview.

Click here for more information about Legacy.

Click here for more information about the Military Voices Initiative.

Disclaimer: All material within the StoryCorps collection is copyrighted by StoryCorps. StoryCorps encourages use of material on this site by educators and students without prior permission, provided appropriate credit is given. This interview has not been fact-checked, and may contain sensitive personal information about living persons.

StoryCorps Legacy: Helen Ann McNulty

“In your high school yearbook, under your name, it says, ‘Goes for square-dancing in a big way.'”

Helen Ann McNulty (above right) sat down with her daughter, Janice McNulty, to record this Legacy interview in partnership with Forbes Hospice, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Listen to an excerpt from Helen’s interview:

Click here to read a transcript of the conversation.

Recorded in December 2014, they speak about Helen’s big family and about an outside brick oven that Helen’s father used to bake bread. Janice also hears about when her father first set his sights on Helen at a square dance, “Dad had seen you, and there’s all your sisters, and he said he wanted the one with the red hair.”

Helen talks about her life as a farmer, describing it as tough, but good living, “Important thing was to get your kids educated, so that they could have a better life than what we did.” The conversation ended with the mother and daughter wishing the sun would come out and sharing their love for one another, “I hope God let’s us be together for a long time.”

Click here to learn more about Forbes Hospice.

Click here to learn more about StoryCorps Legacy.

Disclaimer: All material within the StoryCorps collection is copyrighted by StoryCorps. StoryCorps encourages use of material on this site by educators and students without prior permission, provided appropriate credit is given. This interview has not been fact-checked, and may contain sensitive personal information about living persons.

Shengqiao Chen and Zehao Zhou

In 1993, a freighter called the Golden Venture ran aground just outside New York City.

Onboard were nearly 300 people who were being smuggled into the U.S. from China. Some paid upwards of $30,000 for passage on the ship, fleeing from political persecution.

After the crash, 10 people drowned trying to reach land. Many who made it were detained in U.S. prisons for years, waiting for political asylum.

Shengqiao Chen (left) was one of those survivors. He sat down for StoryCorps, with his friend Zehao Zhou (right). They met while Sheng was in prison; Zehao was his translator.

Originally aired June 7, 2013, on NPR’s Morning Edition. 

Bonnie Brown and Myra Brown

Bonnie Brown came to StoryCorps with her 15-year-old daughter, Myra.

Bonnie is intellectually disabled with a low IQ, and for the past 18 years she has worked at the same Wendy’s restaurant outside of Philadelphia.

Here, her daughter asks her about being a mom.

Myra is currently enrolled in gifted and talented classes at her high school. She hopes to attend Cambridge University after she graduates.

Originally aired February 8, 2013, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Craig Williams and Richard Bennett

Iraq War veteran Richard Bennett (R) talks with Craig Williams (L) about how they became unlikely business partners.

Penelope Simmons and Suzanne Wayne

Penelope Simmons remembers her mother, Cora Lee “Sug” Collins, in an interview with her daughter Suzanne Wayne.

Father Michael Duffy

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Father Michael Duffy received two unsettling phone calls following the 9/11 attacks. The first informed him that his close friend and mentor, Father Mychal Judge, had been killed at the World Trade Center. During the second call, he learned Father Mychal had requested that Duffy give the homily at his funeral.

The two Franciscan priests met in the 1970s, when they were assigned to the same parish in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Father Michael eventually settled in Philadelphia to work with poor communities there, while Father Mychal found his way back to his native New York where he ministered to everyone from the homeless to the mayor.

On September 11, Father Mychal was serving as chaplain to the New York City Fire Department. That morning he found himself where he always seemed to end up—right in the thick of things. He arrived at the World Trade Center shortly after the first plane hit.

Originally aired September 9, 2011, on NPR’s Morning Edition. 

Robert Stover and his daughter Valerie Anderson

Robert Stover tells his daughter, Valerie Anderson about growing up in the 1930’s.

Don Michaels and his daughter Jennifer

Don Michaels tells his daughter Jennifer about his fifth grade teacher.