The Michael Berry Show

Dr. Hal Cushion rolled in the US Army while a medical student at the Medical College of Virginia in 1965

In August of 67 he deployed to Vietnam as an army flight surgeon.

Not four months later during a dark and rainy evening, Kushner was aboard a helicopter

that crashed into the side of a mountain in South Vietnam.

Kushner was quickly picked up by enemy soldiers.

He spent the next few years in the jungles of South Vietnam

surviving with other POWs on spoiled rice and incredibly desolate conditions. In 2018 he gave an incredibly

powerful Memorial Day speech at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It's a long

one but you're going to want to hear the

entire thing. We'll play some of it now and then the conclusion in the next

segment you're going to want to hear this. Good afternoon, General

McNair, General Williamson, Colonel Black, Mr. Knotts, my family, Sharon, Debbie,

Maddie, and Gail.

Thank you so much for being here and particularly. and

particularly you gold star parents.

We're all so grateful for your sacrifice.

Thank you, Jim Knox and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund for allowing me the singular honor.

I am humbled and privileged to be able to speak on this sacred day at this sacred place where we honor

our fallen and particularly those from the Vietnam War.

I personally have a close association with many, too many, names

on this wall of polished granite. Memorial Day for me is a time of somber reflection and profound gratitude.

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