[applause]. [applause]. [applause]. [applause]. [applause] as you were downstairs getting ready to start the ceremony, captain yellin was asking me, do i stand for the army or do i stand for the air force . Because he was in the Army Air Forces. And i said, sir, youre 93 years old, you can stand for anybody you want to. [applause] captain jerry yellin is an Army Air Forces veteran who served in world war ii between 1941 and 1945. He enlisted on his 18th birthday just two months after the bombing of pearl harbor. After graduating from Luke Army Airfield as a Fighter Pilot in august of 1943, at the ripe old age of 19. He spent the remainder of the war flying p40s, p51 combat missions in the pacific with the 78th fighter squadron. He participated in the first landbased fighter mission in japan in 1945 and has the unique distinction of having flown the final combat mission of world war ii on 14 august of 1945, the day combat ended. On that mission, his wing man phillip slomberg was the last man killed in a combat mission in world war ii. His experience as a Fighter Pilot in the theater are captured in his book published. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to, the recipient of the flying cross, world war ii veteran and Fighter Pilot, captain jerry yellin. [applaus [applause] thank you, sir. I have to begin by saying this is an unbelievable honor for me. T the throughout my air force career i was constantly reminded that the air force that i served in stood on the shoulders of giants and those giants were the men, no apologies to the women present, but in world war ii there were no women in combat. Not that none served. But you and your generation, properly referred to as the greatest generation, set the standard for what it means to fly, fight and win. Which is the basis of what is today the worlds greatest air force that i proudly served in. You gave us a warrior ethos that defines who we are and im talking about it from an air force perspective, but that same ethos, those same standards are present across all of our military services and its on account of men like jerry yellin and your generation that gave that to us. And i thank you. Im so honored to be up here with you. We had talked about some questions we were going to go through, but ive got to start with one. You talked in the bio, but flew different planes. And im the son of an aviator. And my son would say the corsair was the best. And i was in awe. Youve got to tell us, what was it like flying the p51 mustang. We learned to fly on 220 horsepower, and then a 400 horsepower, and then a 600 horsepower at6. Each one of those are planes you flew with an instructor and then we got the p40, which was a fighter plane, being used by general chenault in china against the japanese and then the p47 which we called the jug. A hard airplane to fly, it wasn wasnt and then we got the best plane every built, the mustang. You could fly it with your fingertips, the instant response of anything you wanted to do, thats what the p51 was about. Still the best airplane. I would agree with you. [applause] youve made reference in the bio were going to talk about that. It will be available know the bookstore and captain yellin will be available to autograph copies of the book. You share your experiences as a Fighter Pilot in world war ii, i think to start with although the book ends with it, but walk us through that last mission, okay, the last Fighter Pilot, the last mission, august 14th, 1945. We i landed on iwo jima on august 6th, the day that the first atomic bomb was dropped on hiroshima. My prop was still spinning and someone jumped up on the wing. We dropped a bomb. And i said what are you drinking . I want some. Its hard to believe. And then on august 9th, 1945, the second bomb was dropped on nagasaki and we thought the war was over, we would not fly any more missions. At that point in time i was with 15 guys who were killed. I never thought about them as being dead, they were transferred wed see them again some day and we were called to a briefing on august 13th, 100 plus pilots, roux many room this size and told we would fly another mission and someone said why are we going to japan again . He said the japs are negotiating, but we have got to keep them honest. And if we hear the code word utah, if that was said, a 19yearold said, captain if we go on this mission, im not coming back. And i said, what are you talking about . He says its a feeling i have. I went and told what phil slomberg, he said you cannot go, but a flight sergeant, he might get off the mission. I told him, and he said no way. Early on the morning of august 14th, i said phil, get on my wing and dont get off, just stick in close. Were never going to make it to japan. Well, we flew all the way to a drop tank where we had to drop our external tanks and we dropped our tanks and we went in a field somewhere over in japan. And we needed 90 gallons of fuel to get back to iwo jima. Somebody in the squadron called 90 gallons, and i looked over phil was on my wing i gave him a thumbs up, and he gave me a thumbs up and i led my four airplanes to heavy weather towards the b29 wed fly back on the wing in iwo jima. When i came out of the clear skies, he was gone. Just gone. No radio contact, no visual contact and when we landed back on iwo jima we found out the moment we had started to strafe, the war had been over for three hours. It was never broadcast to us, we never heard it. But that was the devastating day. It was the last of 400 plus thousand world war ii veterans who gave layer liv their lives, he was the last 19 years old. And you were 21 . I was 21, i was the old guy. The old guy, grandpa. You just made reference to the number of Close Friends and fellow pilots that were tragically killed either in combat or in flight accidents during world war ii. You relay several of those incidents in your book. How did the loss of so many affect you personally . Well, you have to understand that when you put the uniform on of the military, or the policemen, or the firemen, you dedicate your life to protecting your buddies. And when they go, you cant think about them as gone, being dead or gone, because if you did you wouldnt fly another mission, wouldnt get into the airplane. So i had some that were killed. One the 29th may. And danny shared a kill of a zero. I landed on iwo jima, i had a toothache. A dentist from South Carolina pulled four wisdom teeth. And grounded me. And danny mathis was given a place for my mission june 1, the squadron was led off into a front. 27 fighter planes went down. 25 guys were killed, including danny mathis in my airplane and its hard to tell you the truth, but i missed my airplane, i didnt miss danny, we were there to fight, and it was after i suffered. And i spoke to the guys, i thought about suicide, i couldnt work, i suffered from what is now known as ptsd, post Traumatic Stress and didnt get my life back until 1975 when i learned transcendental meditation for relieving stress. Combat is the killing of people for what they believe and thats the height of evil. We japan was evil, germany was evil, italy was evil. We fought against those countries and i dont believe im part of the greatest generation. General eisenhower, general marshall, general macarthur, they were all west point graduates. I was 18. I didnt know anything about the world. But admiral nimitz and admiral king, and annapolis graduates, they were the greatest generation. Tom brokaw wrote a book and catchy title and sold a lot of books, but the leaders were the men who served from west point and annapolis. Thank you for that perspective. The war ends in 1945, i think i heard you say downstairs you actually spent time in the reserve beyond the end of world war ii. But then like millions of world war ii veterans you returned from the war, you started a whole new life in the civilian world, the that returning work force and the work ethic, the belief in freedom that you brought back to our society really launched an incredible period in american history. How did your military service prepare you for that new life and what transpired after the war . I think that the military service for me was the greatest experience that i ever had in my life. We i graduated from high school in 1941. I had a scholarship to college, i was going to become a doctor, but i didnt have any money for books, didnt have any money for clothing or housing, so, i postponed entrance to college the Spring Semester of 1942 and when we were attacked at pearl harbor, december 7th, i made up my mind i was going to fly fighter planes against the japanese. I remember when i was 11 or 12 years old, i was preboy scoutment i went to Boy Scout Camp for two weeks. And two weeks gave me the fundamentals to join the military ap to be in the military. And the discipline that we learned, we were all quarterbacks, all guys who were cocky guys who could fly fighter planes, bomber pilots werent guys like that, but we were. And we became a squadron, we became more interested in protecting our buddies than we were interested in our own lives. And my life was all about you. Today i have six grandchildren. I have four sons and it seems to me that today life is all about me, not about you. And the military put me in na frame of mind of service to our country. Thank you for setting that standard for so many of us. You made reference to some of the things you struggled with based on your combat experience in world war ii, your dealing with pts, although we didnt have a name for it at the time. So, how has your experience as a veteran impacted your life since . Your triumphs, your struggles. How have you used those experiences . I enjoy speaking to people, i enjoy going to 8th graders, 10th graders, seniors in high school to talk about 10 of the population served in the military of world 2. 16 million of us served. We fought against evil, we conquered the people who were evil. Created democracies in germany, japan, and italy that exists today. As friends of america and the two countries that we fought with as allies, russia and china, seemingly to me are the enemies of the world. But what ive learned is were not the color of our skin, were not the language we speak, were not the religion that we believe. Were all human beings, all exactly the same and we have to preserve that, that feeling. Isis is evil today. Theyre willing to kill people for what they believe and thats evil. We have to protect, protect the people who believe that everyone is a human being, everybody is part of humanity. And try to give that message. Its probably the best time of my life other than when i was in uniform and i wear the uniform proudly of america. What, what would you say . Weve got several young people here, weve got the band, the choir, several young people in our audience. I know some rotc cadets, children of our chaplain, others. What would you say to them today . Those who are considering or maybe simply have an opportunity to make a decision about serving our nation as a member of the United States military. What would you say to them . I my mother used to read a lot of books and 80 years ago when i was 13 years old, i read a book by a minister called lloyd douglas. The books name was the magnificent obsession its the story of a small town lake george, new york state, where the richest son of the richest 20 or 21yearold boy was drowning and a beloved doctor, dr. Hudson was dying of a heart attack. And the Fire Department had one resuscitator, they served the young man and the old doctor died and then thousands and thousands of people came to his funeral. And his family discovered a journal that he had kept and had it translated from the code into english. The opening lines of that journal said do something good for someone else every day of your life and tell no one what you did because by talking about it, you might lose the benefit innered to you or to that other person. So i would suggest to everyone find a way to help somebody, find a way to do something for somebody every day, even if its a smile. The four professions that i admire in america are the three who put uniforms on, and the four teachers in schools would learn a subject and give themselves a way in using that subject to give other people knowledge. And theyre not as respected as i think they should be. My feelings are that we should be giving a little bit of ourselves away to other people every single day. Thats the advice that i would give. [applaus [applause] so for you, what you just described is those of us who wear the uniform, especially around veterans day, a lot of people will tell us thank you for your service, but what i hear you saying is, service is what our lives should be about every single day, doing something for someone else, so service is not just military service. Service is how we should lead our lives. I believe that very much p. Were all part of humanity. I think that the pure purpose of everything that is living on this earth, from trees to birds, to fish, animals, is to recreate ourselves, pass ourselves on and theres nothing or no one goes to recreation school, it all comes with the territory and that territory has to be protected, fathers pass onto their sons, mothers pass onto their daughters, whats good in life and we need you to keep doing that. We might have lost some of it, but thats, to me, thats what life is about. Wonderful. In a moment we are going to open it up to see if our audience has any questions they would like to ask you directly. Any final thought you would like to share before we open it up to the audience . No, im just proud to be a americ american. [applaus [applause] and continue to wear this uniform proudly and i cant tell you what an honor it is to me, for me to be in this audience on this day in 2017. I sort of live my life like a checking account. Yesterday is a canceled check, cant get that back anymore. Todays money in the bank, i can spend today and colonel thomas ends me a promissory note for tomorrow, and today is the day and im thrilled to be here. Thank you, sir. Wed like to open up for any questions that we have for captain yellin. We have a mic handler in the audience. We have time for a couple of questions. Please raise your hand, id come to you with the microphone. Id like to ask a question of captain yellin. This is being broadcast, really, worldwide via facebook, and its being recorded by cspan so weve got a very large audience. I know you said you suffered from ptsd for a number of years. What suggestion, what guidance might you give to somebody listening to this that might be in need of help. I was told that i had battle fatigue. The war was over, and you cant forget about it. And the veterans today, 20, 22 commit suicide over d every day, those who serve. They need something for themselves. We spend a lot of antidepressive and antipsychotic drugs which are sometimes addictive. And we can teach to a veteran, one time fee, t mchm. Org is a website they can find out about it. I still meditate 20 minutes a day, i think it kept me alive and its keeping me alive. Im an advocate of that. You cant force is on somebody, but something thats called remove the stress of combat. It did it for me and it can do it for others. Center section, sir. Hello, yes, my fatherinlaw, 94, world war ii flu c47, through the hump, over the himalayas from india, to india. Hes alive today and he does walk with a walker and today, i sat with a very good friend of mine at a breakfast who is 95 years old and flu co flew combat. And those who didnt read the book the greatest generation need to read the book and thank you very much, sir. I appreciate that. [applaus [applause] sir, in preparation in coming here, i read a little about your life after the war, and a little bit of some reconciliation you made through your family. I dont know if you would take a moment just to share that and i know thats probably a long story, but id like for everyone to hear a little about that. In 1983 i was a consultant to major banks in california and they asked me to go to japan to speak to a bank group. Well, i had been on iwo jima, you can replicate the sites. You can rhett mri kate the sounds, but you cant replicate of smell of these stories running in the son. I had no use for the japanese people and i said i cant go im too busy. And i told my wife i turned down a trip to go to japan. And she said jerry, you never asked me once if i wanted to go to japan. So being a dutiful husband in 1983 i found myself in japan. And i was completely overwhelmed by the culture, the education, the food, the scenery, the people, everything. And my youngest of four sons was then a senior at San Diego State and helene said we should give him a trip to japan for a graduation present. We did that. He signed a contract in 1984 to teach english in japan for one year and now its 2017 and he hasnt come back yet. So there. In 1988 he married the daughter of a kamikaze pilot who hated me as much as i hated him. And we became friends and family. I have three japanese, six grandchildren, three japanese grandchildren. He has a master in physics from mit of japan university. And one of 100 people who got a job from 23,000 applicants. His brother simon, named simon not after my father, but two japanese characters and graduated from the university of london four year course of philosophy awarded two year course in oxford to get a masters in philosophy which he graduated from in one year. And a granddaughter sarah, so my enemy is my family. My whole thought process of world war ii is to kill japanese and now i have three grandchildren in japan and family in japan. I found that that was the biggest learning experience that i could ever have. I wrote a book about that in 1988 called of of wars and weddings i dont like to promote myself, but thats a book on amazon. Im proud of them. Im proud of the three american grand children, and theyre all the same in my love for them. Off to your right, sir. [applaus [applause] we have time for one last question and well take that now and then hear from our choir and band, the traumatic battle hymn of the republic. Afterwards jerry will be available to autograph books, that are available in our store. Next question. Thank you for keeping us safe in america. Have you flown anything since your time behind the 51 . Have you ever maybe even gotten in a jet and experienced that. And having parents both in the navy i quickly have to say go navy, beat army. [applause]. What was the question . Hes asking you. Guest well, you know, you never lose the ability to make laws unless you get old and you never lose the ability to fly, i flew in phoenix two days ago. [applaus [applause] i flew a t6, the new t6, 12, 1400 horsepower trainer at Lackland Air Force base in december. And im going back to phoenix in january to get a ride in an f16. [applaus [applause] they have a very small cl