Ep. #41 Beirut Bombing Anniversary: with Johnny Harper, Jo Sommerhof and John Sommerhof: Never Forget

Stories of New Americans Podcast with Ron Klutho on NewsTalkSTL

Ron Klutho talks to Johnny Harper, Jo Sommerhof, and John Sommerhof about the 1983 Beirut bombing that took the lives of 241 heroes including First Lt. Scott Sommerhof.

MUSIC: Fanfare for the Common Man

Lee Greenwood - God Bless The U.S.A.

Next week Ron will talk about Nigeria with Anwuli Okwuashi

Stories of New Americans can also be heard Saturday nights from 10-11pmCT on NewsTalkSTL

Find out more about Ron at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://newstalkstl.com/stories-of-new-americans-with-ron-klutho/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

0:00 SEG 1 - Lost 241 heroes that day | First Lt. Scott Sommerhof died that day | Scott loved to play soldier as a kid | Joining the Navy ROTC with a Marine option | Why did Johnny join the military? | Did Johnny’s father support him? | Training at Paris Island | What were they fighting about in Lebanon? | Beirut had tunnels all over the place where fire fights took place

19:02 SEG 2 - Using a plane wing for protection | When did Jo and John find out that Scott got killed | When did Scott’s family hear from him last | Seeing a picture of where he was staying on TV | John joined the Coast Guard | Johnny teaching his son good values | Talking to schools

39:43 SEG 3 - There is a memorial at Camp Geiger | Johnny sends letters every year to radio and TV stations on the anniversary of the blast | Aunt Jo would like a commemorative stamp made | It took Johnny 30+ years to ask for help | 22kill is an advocacy group for vets | Johnny used to ride broncos | Semper Fi

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