Remembering John Defoore, a WWII Veteran Who Lived to 105
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 13 August 2025
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, John Defoore went to war at nineteen. He returned, raised a family, and lived through more change than most people see in two lifetimes. When he sat down with us at 103, he looked back on what had stayed with him. Some memories had softened with age, while others hadn’t moved at all. When he passed away in 2024 at 105, he left behind a story about time, memory, and what it means to live with history.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:14.1 | This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, |
| 0:18.3 | the show where America is the star and the American people. |
| 0:22.4 | To search for the All-American Stories podcast, go to the IHeart Radio app to Apple Podcasts or |
| 0:29.0 | wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:31.6 | We recently had the pleasure of bringing World War II veteran John DeFour, 103 years old, |
| 0:38.5 | into our studio with his entire family, |
| 0:41.8 | and listened to his incredible life story. |
| 0:45.2 | This next story is all him, |
| 0:47.9 | hearing a bit about his early life |
| 0:49.5 | and the unlikely events that led him |
| 0:51.6 | to serving in the army. |
| 0:53.9 | Here's John. |
| 0:56.4 | Sidon, Mississippi, when I grew up, had 250 people, |
| 1:02.4 | and it's cotton country. |
| 1:04.6 | I started to Greenwood High School, |
| 1:07.6 | and I was taking Latin, |
| 1:10.6 | and I asked a question and the teacher and this may have been my |
| 1:16.6 | imagination because I didn't have a very strong self-image but the teacher kind of made fun of my |
| 1:24.8 | question and so I just walked out of the class. I think I was a little |
| 1:32.2 | arrogant, maybe more than a little. But anyway, I walked out and I walked out of the building |
| 1:40.3 | and turned and go down the side of the building. And when I was walking down by the classroom, |
... |
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