While on a tour of Arlington National Cemetary Ronny Ymbras discusses an intense PTSD flashback he suffered in front of his sons .
A portion of the tour is also included in the video. Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place of over 400,000 deceased veterans..
TRANSCRIPT – Transcript and Subtitles are generated automatically by YouTube and may contain errors.
okay okay here’s my platoon leader
philippine
was killed in our friendly fire incident
march 26 1968
with 12 other troopers from b company
first of the 502nd infantry
on the first airborne division sad day
very sad day
well let me get behind him
who’s behind the lieutenant god bless
you phil thank you
so he’s also memorialized in
the homedale new jersey vietnam veterans
memorial
in their circle of heroes they have a
plaque there
whose name is on there they do it
chronologically
the first day of the war anybody killed
in new jersey all the way to the last
day of the war
anybody killed that particular day was
also
listed on that thing this is a special
honor though that
sad day thank you
so much
those are mrs lee’s original stairs to
her garden should we go
uh where are you where are you guys are
you are you going to the dinner
okay so let’s we can um
that’s very interesting how we walked
right down to his spot
made the left turn and right now oh
maybe he was guiding us down here yeah
yeah well acceptance
just so tragic so many years later i
still have vivid memories of that
it’s like you know it’s kind of a uh
actually a lot of people say well it’s
kind of ptsd
i don’t think it is i think it’s it’s
acknowledging the facts
which is different and that calms me
down i don’t get anxious about
things like that and the more i get
involved with things about the war
and then things happened like this
day to day normally there was a doctor
that visited the cemetery from the va
uh in colorado that mentioned that
he said in treating veterans with ptsd
it wasn’t necessarily medication that
helped them it was service
going back that you know veterans served
right you serve
and you’re taken out of that in your
home and you’re no longer serving but if
you put veterans back
into service especially of serving other
veterans
yeah it’s it’s so healing yep absolutely
right i wrote
i wrote a piece like that in facebook
maybe uh two three hundred words
uh about my experiences with that
because it took me 40 years
to acknowledge that i had a problem i
had a big breakdown one day my two kids
were fighting in his backyard
i’m talking like a big yard uh
300 feet across 600 feet wide
i was up the hill they were down on
their swings and
across the creek at the back of the
property a decent-sized creek
lobster creek there they had a
batting range mini golf and
paintball so one morning about nine
o’clock in the morning
the kids are on the swings i’m outside
on the deck having a cup of coffee
and the paintball goes off
and i look at the across the creek there
they see the creek i see two
two three canoes going by and so zach
and josh and they’re like
three and five i said get down put some
fire into the tree line
let’s go get some cover in there and
i just said oh my goodness then i lost
it i started to weep
and a little while later my wife had
come by and said
what’s going on i go i gotta go check in
that was 20 years third no 40 years if i
got home
because 68 that happened in 2007.
yeah so that was a tough paratrooper
combat vet
you know nothing’s gonna bother me you
know what i mean but
then after that everything uh worked out
to uh
be more normal i could talk about it and
help talk to people about it
and write about it and just like now you
can see
normally just rolls off you my tongue
so uh yeah basically uh
took a little time but i mean
i’m so involved in it that every day i’m
eating
rice and beans or something from vietnam
you know what i mean other than that
yeah thank you very much thanks man
look at this
sure yeah
can you tell us about candy’s grave on
the way there yeah so there’s several
things we’re gonna see up there
uh well first of all the original brave
you know he was um
he was obviously shot and killed and
laid to rest here
and mrs kennedy lit the eternal flame
as time passed uh if i’m correct she had
with him i believe two children that
were still one was still born i think
in the small child sitting there
um and then of course mrs kennedy nasa’s
died and she was laid to rest there now
when president kennedy was laid to rest
there
she wanted the grave to have a
massachusetts field because he was from
massachusetts
so the stone that’s on the ground around
his grave is from massachusetts
and there’s clover
in between the stones all of that is a
is a throwback to massachusetts so in a
way it’s like he’s resting
resting in
can massachusetts explain that last part
one more time sure so the resting place
itself
of john f kennedy yes includes stone
on the ground from massachusetts
there is clover in between the stone
um as a decorative
aspect and it’s so that he’s resting in
massachusetts in a way
i see
this guy only has his first name on here
well because he that’s my name
because he’s a child i understand it’s
still born and died
born and died
no he’s his last name is rose right
ronald rose yeah
yeah but still like i never
knew that would happen so up this way
there’s lots of children
oh yeah i see a lot of women up and over
there over there you explain the thing
with the children
not being allowed anymore well it’s it
has to do with the space issue
so back prior um
what you notice like the 1950s for
example prior to jfk so let’s talk about
jfk for a minute when jfk
was laid to rest here uh it was
news around the world and so after he
was laid to rest here
so many veterans wanted to be laid to
rescue they were like all right i want
to be at arlington prior to that this
was not necessarily the hot spot to go
to to be laid to rest you were laid to
rest near your home
right yeah but with jfk here that
changed everything so in the 60s the
cemetery said okay we have a problem
because this is all we have for space
and now we have a lot of requests for
veterans to come in
so that is when um
arlington was able to take over the
property
that is see all those people walking
down there um on the other side that’s
lower that’s
below eisenhower they then took all of
that property
for burial space now
space didn’t become an issue until jfk
was laid to rest here
and the numbers started going up prior
to jfk being laid to rest
here if a veteran wanted to be laid to
rest here
he was still living and he his spouse
died or his child died
they could be laid to rest here in a
spot that would eventually include
him or her right so that is why you see
a lot of children now here’s the problem
i don’t know if it’s a problem depends
who you talk to uh
now that we are in 2021 and arlington is
running out of space
we are in a war we still have people
coming in
that are being killed in action in
places like afghanistan syria iraq
north africa etc we are running out of
space
and so you look back and see there are
many placeholders
in the cemetery right placeholders are
the dates now his father might still be
alive
it may end up here right but
there’s many that are here prior to 1958
that there’s no way that their
their parents are still living and you
know um
they’re now here taking up the place
that a veteran could be lying
can’t they buy properties and knock
houses down adjacent to you
i mean you know get real you want to eat
more
so they are expanding out that way they
have done that they are expanding out
by the air force memorial those will all
be uh
cremated remains in niches you know in
the wall
or if you notice this is eight foot
eight foot eight foot
okay the cremated remains are three foot
three foot so they save space
um now you can get a couple of rows
right in front of you
well it might be an irrigation issue
though
okay so i will tell you this there are
some stage places in here i found out
because a friend of mine was killed and
he was buried above eisenhower
supposedly above eisenhower there is no
more space
we’re above eisenhower so but that’s
not true because he was laid to rest
yeah matt amazing check out the the rose
how they go
from every direction look see everywhere
you look the roses
are like crazy
so you want to go to candies
yeah um we’re just gonna go right here
to the street
it’s easier than going that way
we’ll hear the medal of honor winner
matt
vietnam
april vietnam 71. whenever he was killed
in action seemed so
there was still actually going on yeah
oh you mean he might have been out of
the service
you got the medal of honor right there
you go are you
yeah actually we had a guy who came home
and did that happen to him
he came home they landed and fought
campbell over somewhere in
virginia three or four of them in the
car going home
and he got killed eating and they didn’t
make it home nuts
look at these wait a second why are the
heads why are these backwards
so because
the veteran has obviously been laid to
rest here so
for example oh they’re on the other side
the name
guaranteed children and wives
or scratch that children and spouses
of veterans go on the back side of the
stone
once the veteran is laid to rest that’s
the male and female customer the veteran
gets the full
honor right on this town okay
wow i don’t see that
see the veterans on the other
the veteran is listed on the front front
side and the
family member who died there with them
later
is on the back side okay
so so my father was laid to rest in
sarasota national cemetery
okay yeah when i die
i have the option of being laid to rest
with him my name will go on the back of
the stone
gotcha there’s a question if i want to
be buried here i better get moving on
with this right uh
forget about it probably eight million
guys in front of me you know what
they don’t check they just change their
eligibility requirements
and you’re going to live a long life so
there’s a good chance
they’re going to be filled up by the
time thank you
let’s move off to the side be careful oh
yeah
rpg’s
yeah right they had a private service
you know the
private family service it wasn’t uh
interesting
yes her husband was here first
and then she joined him wow we and john
martin got something on stone they kept
the united states navy
is that the name of family name weeks
yes okay they have a whole
bench today check that out
no you’re not going to get that today
really no there’s no way
you’re lucky to get a flag yeah you’re
getting up you’re getting a white sound
if you just uh stick close to me for the
audio just being played we’re gonna make
a right
here we’re gonna go this way
oh you hear the chirping of birds
oh this is cool his last name’s mister
here no dates no nothing
oh okay i got you oh staton got a couple
of family members with him
bubba
boy tell you the truth actually
every day i get older i’m 73 now right
so i say to myself
you know these days i think waking up or
something’s gonna happen
and uh you know i told my boys what they
got to do
with the stuff but this is so weird
you know you’ll be living a long life
yeah
exactly
he’s a world war ii here you go
so before we go up
there’s the eternal flame
[Music]
a little myth the kennedy family does
not pay for the propane
people often think that it’s being paid
for but it’s not true
when you go up and look the stone that’s
theirs from massachusetts the clover
that’s
between the stone is to represent
massachusetts so
it’s like he’s resting that’s what um
mrs kennedy wanted
so it’s like he’s resting in
massachusetts so
if we want to go up and look and then
we’ll visit the rest of the kennedys
so
thank you for being a gentleman
where’d she go
bed
good morning
the famous thing you ever said right
here so my fellow americans that’s not
what you could do your country could do
for
your country
that’s right
how many people today want the handout
you want to give them a hand up
so where are we going now we’re going to
meet the other kennedys that are resting
here
bobby kennedy who was assassinated
after his brother president
he put it on facebook in order to guys
put their friend abraham martin and john
by dion
and he uh he talks about what they what
good they
taught us but i i said to the guys on my
facebook page
the three of you guys from vietnam that
never came home in there it might turn
out to be phillip
glenn and john
oh that’s robert
right yeah
it’s a reflecting pool yeah
[Applause]
is
the next kennedy we’re going to meet is
ted kennedy
ted kennedy yes teddy yes teddy kennedy
is resting here
oh
i was 14 years old
that’s his fault no this is the eldest
kennedy this stone is a new stone that
was just added recently to arlington
joseph did not have a memorial stone
joseph was shot down over britain
and he was the eldest so it was him
and i i want to say president kennedy
was the next
second closest to bobby bobby
and then ted i think yes but he was the
eldest and he was a pilot
that’s his father’s that’s a
grandfather’s name yeah
but he was shot down so they never so
they never so here’s a little little
impulse from not in people’s way
a little info the in-memory headstones
so you have in-memory headsets
throughout the cemetery that means there
are no remains here
okay these are for people who were
missing an action
yes sure uh prisoners of war never
brought literally
just there are no remains so anywhere
you go any national cemetery and you see
in memory of
there’s no remains that’s fascinating
do that john what you’re learning yeah
you’re going to be quizzing yeah
sure okay so what we’re going to do uh
hold on a second well it wouldn’t have
been
man let’s get the video from there
okay so is there anything else you got
to show on the way back
one of the guys
he was for how many years
two or three two three years
is
you say it’s your relatives
his little name
an african-american soldier who was
killed in france during night
during world war one and his name on his
stone
is boom boom and he literally
he worked artillery yeah and so
how fantastic is that amen
wow
[Music]
now look at is pictures that are here
spanish american war world war one and
world war ii
purple heart recipient which one is that
distinguished service medal oh right
yes wow look at that it’s right
distinguished
[Laughter]
i think ronnie you’re the only one to
come up with that interaction
[Music]
okay
um
okay thank you for being with us on a
trip to monte national cemetery
i want to celebrate these lives that
they’ve served their country well
and they’re buried here in memoriam and
god bless their souls
and god bless america welcome home guys
