2026 Tribute to our Troops: Salute to a service and legacy

I'm Donovan Zerke, CEO of Fifth Avenue Furniture. Join us as we salute those who have proudly served our country. On behalf of everyone here at Fifth Avenue Furniture, it is an honor to present Fox 2's tribute to our troops in a commercial-free format. A heartfelt thank you to all the veterans and their families. We are deeply grateful for your bravery, your service, and your sacrifice. Thank you for joining us as we now present Fox 2's tribute to our troops. It was not a gift that Americans won easily after 250 years, and it is not one that we will ever, ever, ever surrender. For I believe that military service in the armed forces of the United States is a profound form of service to all humankind. Kind. England engaged in an effort to keep America safe at home, to protect our allies and interests abroad, to keep the seas and the skies free of threat. Thank you for joining us as we celebrate Veterans Day and honor the men and women who put their lives on the line for our country. I'm Rich Luderman. And I'm Amy Lang here at Freedom Hill. And each year, Fox 2 pays tribute to our troops. We especially like to salute the people from Michigan and with ties to our Great Lakes state who proudly serve. You know, on this day set aside to salute those who serve and more than two million people are active duty or reserve, it is important to remember the lives lost in the current war overseas. At least 21 U.S. service members have been killed in connection with the military operations against Iran. And this holiday comes just weeks after the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group returned to its home port in San Diego after an historic and extended deployment in support of the war effort. We thank those sailors and Marines for their service. Every veteran has a unique story to tell, especially our aging Korean War heroes who are now in their 90s. Join us as we take a look back with an Air Force veteran whose legacy of service and sacrifice is still inspiring new generations today. All veterans, young and old, no matter the branch, have their own unique story to share. And that is something to be treasured, especially for our aging Korean War vets from the 1950s, the youngest of which are now in their 90s. Conrad Baggins was born in Dearborn and grew up in Melvindale and now lives in a Sterling Heights retirement community. Well, I was an athlete in high school. I wasn't a very good student. He played ball and boxed. I fought middleweight, but I had about 160 pounds, and I had five fights and didn't lose any. He was a patriotic young man who wanted to serve his country. I joined the Navy Reserve in Grosse Ile Naval Air Station when I was in high school. And when I graduated, I transferred and re-enlisted in the Air Force. Soon after, in late 1952, he was on a strenuous voyage across the Pacific Ocean on a troop ship and found himself a long way from home. Well, I did not know whether I was going to be in combat or not. We put port in Seoul and left off troops and then we continued on to Tokyo where they put us on a train and sent us down to the southern tip of Japan. He arrived at Itazuki Air Base where he remembers the weather there. When I arrived we got there in rainy season and when they transferred us down southern Japan in our base it was raining. And I remember getting up one day and going out the door of the barracks and the motor pool was floating, the tents were floating down the road because of the water and the rain. In all kinds of weather, Conrad helped prepare planes and jets for combat over Korea. A dangerous job in many ways with heavy canisters of oxygen and acetylene and munitions too. Sustaining a back injury while on duty would not keep him down. And they hit me across the back and I dropped on the bed of the truck. And they took me off the truck, took me into the warehouse and put me in a chair and said I was to go to sick call. And I said... I don't go to sick call. I'm with a combat outfit. I don't go and I never went. Conrad spent 13 months in Japan, then another 27 months in Montana to fulfill his commitment, which ended in 1956. Duty and sacrifice, a loving family along with careers at Chrysler and Nationwide Insurance made Conrad a complete man. It has given me a great life with my family. My children, my grandchildren, and my wonderful life with my wife. Conrad's daughter looks at her dad and her own daughter, an active duty officer in the Air Force, in a very special way. So proud. So proud to know that she's part of such an amazing force. So proud to know that she's carrying on the... The legacy of my dad. Keenly aware that freedom comes at a tremendous cost, Conrad's injury still greatly affects him. I am on 70% military disability, and I have neuropathy in both legs, which means that the right leg is numb from the knee down, and the left foot is numb all the way, and they burn at night. Through it all. Conrad helps keep the service memorial where he lives up to date and looking good. I mean, you were down here, right? You were in the south of Japan. And he shares his message of dedication and sacrifice with those around him. A true patriot and a proud veteran, his words resonate. If I'm involved in a conversation with the young people, I'll tell them that we have an obligation to protect our country and to protect the people that live in it. Conrad, we thank you for keeping our nation free. Out of the 58,000, over 40,000 of those names were 22 years old. 22 years old. Out of those 40,000, 33,100 plus. We're only 18 years old. The numbers are sobering. So many young lives lost during the conflict in Vietnam. Community members at Heritage Park in Taylor getting the chance to visit a special traveling memorial. It's called the Wall That Heals, and it is a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Our Vietnam veterans who served our country are finally getting the recognition they deserve. And it's all thanks to Mid-Michigan Honor Flight, a nonprofit that continues to remind veterans that their service and sacrifice will never be forgotten. Our Jessica Dupnak takes us on a mission to Washington, D.C. Sometimes it's our quietest, most carefree moments that carry the the most weight. From the whistle of a friend to the sound of war. You have to look back at it as part of history now. There are sounds one never forgets. You got to live with what you see, saw. For John Swinson. You don't know what you're getting into. And dozens of others. And the average age is 19 over there. Yeah. Now we're all 80. It's the sound of Americans finally saying, welcome home. But to understand the magnitude of this moment, you have to go back to where this journey began. Flint Bishop Airport, September the 15th. Thank you for your service. Mid-Michigan Honor Flight lifting off to Washington, D.C., giving 75 veterans and their guardians a trip of a lifetime. I got to see a side of my father that I'd never seen before. We land in D.C. where the mission and memories begin. This is something else. Thank you. Ron Shero is awestruck. I will never forget it. All these strangers waving the stars and stripes for him. A lot of the Vietnam veterans and Korean War and World War II veterans, they just have the feeling that, well, I served and nobody really cares. And this is our way of proving to them that, yes, people do care about you and your service. She said, 55 years ago, my husband and I got married. She said, three months later, he shipped off to Vietnam. The man that came home is not the man that I married. For 55 years, I've been living with a stranger. She said, this morning, I have my husband back. First time in 55 years. And as the trip continues, so do the stories. I wanted so badly to adopt this little Vietnamese girl. I fell in love with her immediately and we were there to listen. Does it affect me nowadays? Yeah, it does because I often wonder. The little girl's name was Kim Locke and I think about her all the time. Arlington in the tomb of the unknown soldier. Our most somber stop. William Parker. Kenneth Nance Simplistic, but powerful. We're three brothers who are reunited, but only two stand before us. That's the sad part of every name on this wall. More than 58,000 names are etched into Vietnam Memorial, each one representing an American who never made it home. I'm honored that he served and that he gave the ultimate price. I'm sorry for him because he never got to experience life as we know it. Right here. Jessica Dupnak reporting. He was killed by a sniper in World War II, and for more than 80 years, he was missing in action. But now a hero from Sanilac County is finally home. DNA testing recently identified the remains of Corporal George Sefci, and the town of Croswell honored him with an extraordinary homecoming. Thank you so much for coming. Once lost, now found, the flag-draped remains of a native son, Corporal George Sefci, coming home to Croswell with the stars and stripes at half-staff on a summer day in Sanilac County after an extensive and impressive motorcade from Metro Airport more than eight decades after he died in New Guinea during World War II. He was in the jungle. He was killed by a sniper. It was 1942 and Corporal Sefci was a machine gun team leader, part of the Army's famed Red Arrow Division. They buried him when they could just makeshift along the trail. Nancy Duffy says her family knew her uncle's remains were among the many unidentified soldiers. Later moved to Manila to a large memorial of unknown soldiers. He remained missing in action. My mother was the only remaining relative in 2014 and she gave DNA. She died less than two months later before after giving that DNA. And that's what makes this day so remarkable that DNA helped identify Corporal George Sefci's remains in 2025 through the Army's grave registration service. We were able to pull off probably the greatest homecoming I've ever seen for somebody that's so well deserving. People waving, people showing their flags, people waving their flags, people with their hand over their heart, people saluting. And kids, they brought their kids. That's nephew Richard Steele, who has spent years working to get his uncle identified. Welcome home, George. Now welcoming him home with a little help from some friends. From the motorcade with Michigan State Police, dozens of other law enforcement agencies, and 90 motorcycles. To the park, now renamed in Corporal Sepsy's honor, the result of an Eagle Scout project that the Croswell American Legion, city council, and local businesses all made possible. This homecoming is 84 years coming, and it's the least we could do for a warfighter like him. It's a celebration for a soldier none of them knew. But now, Corporal George Sefci, finally known by all. You just feel that sense of pride and that Americanism in your soul when you're trying to bring somebody like this home, and he is home. His mother must have always felt he was coming back because at the same time she bought her plot, she bought his. We're pleased that he's going to be buried in the family plot next to his mother and father. And nobody has to travel to a military cemetery to see him. He's just, he's truly home. As a veteran myself, this annual tribute to our troops holds special significance for me. I was commissioned as second lieutenant through the Air Force ROTC program back in 1988, and I spent four and a half years on active duty as a weather officer. For six months, I was deployed to southwest Asia in support of Desert Storm. Just recently, I met Laverne Santangelo, also a graduate of ROTC, and she is a proud retired member of the Michigan Army National Guard. As the Vietnam War was winding down, and the draft came to an end late in 1972, the U.S. military became an all-volunteer force, and it remains that way to this day. Meet Laverne Santangelo, born and raised here in Detroit. She was a student at Northern Michigan University in the middle 1980s, where a friend of hers had a great idea, join the Michigan Army National Guard. And I was like, okay, well, I'll go if you go. So, that is really seriously how I ended up going, how I ended up joining the military. Listen, I was a mass communications major. I wanted to do broadcasting. Um... I had, yeah, because I had a broadcasting minor, I had taken dance for a good majority of my life. I was on the dance team at college. Listen, I was going to be a backup dancer, or I was going to be a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader. Those were big, those were my big goals. After serving in the U.P. as a new officer, Laverne took an assignment in Taylor with a military police unit. When you're National Guard, you have two missions. You can get called up for federal and you can get called up for state. Sure enough, her unit was federalized. I think I got over there September, October of 1995. And sure enough, it was like I pinned on my captain bars and next thing you know, they were like, you're deployed. They got to call up for Germany. She was there for nine months. The hard part was leaving her family behind. It was hard to stay in touch with family. The distance made it really, really hard. And I was working every day, and that wasn't, when you get called up for the deployment, that's not something, you know, your family can just come over and be there with you. So that was the hardest part, leaving an eight-month-old and a two-year-old. And the one thing that was just so frozen in my mind before I left, standing out at Selfridge. Yeah, we were, because we flew out of Selfridge, and I just will never forget the image. Thank you. I don't care how, it's been how many years, and seeing my now 31-year-old, you know, my husband's holding him and my other son is right behind, so. That's just, I will never forget that image of standing on the tarmac. The assignment in Germany kept her busy. We were doing law and order on the post. That's what we were in charge of, okay, because other units had gone downrange, the active duty units. Laverne knows that sacrifice and service go hand in hand. In 2001, right after the horrific events of 9-11, her unit was called up again. We went to Washington, D.C. We did security, law and order around Washington, D.C. Military District of Washington, they called it at the time. Her unit was doing a critical job in the nation's capital. She was there for about a year. Just very proud to be there. Again, to just serve and also backfill for the soldiers who had gone into Afghanistan, Iraq at the time. It just felt good to be able to know we were back protecting their families because that was even what the job was in, you know, in Germany, you know, there, you know, making sure that everybody was safe, you know, their families were safe. After 23 years, Laverne made the decision to retire as a major in 2009. Since then, she has authored several books and is in private practice as a mental health therapist and spends precious time with her husband. You got to have tough skin. You, if you want to do it, you hang in there, you push through, you believe, you have faith, and you get the job done. Veterans Day continues to be very special to her. Just thankful for all the people, thankful for my dad, thankful for my husband's grandfather. My uncles, you know, that all served and went in before me. Years of dedication and service have carried this soldier far. Laverne, thank you for keeping us safe. We salute you. Job well done. At 102 years young, a local World War II vet is getting a long overdue honor and showing no signs of slowing down. June Marheineke worked at a Marine City tank plant during the war, and she was recently awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for her service as an original Rosie the Riveter. We'll be right back. At more than a century, this pretty woman is still dancing, still laughing. An original Rosie the Riveter, June Marheineke, is receiving the Congressional Gold Medal. Overwhelmed is not the right word. I'm tired. It's almost too much. An honor she would never have expected or imagined when she worked in a tank factory in Marine City. She was among the more than six million women building tanks and ships and airplanes here at home as the men fought overseas. It was just two years ago that the Rosie the Riveters of World War II were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Two dozen Rosies made the trip to Washington, D.C. Others, like June Marheineke, receiving her medal and showing off her muscle at her senior living home in Rochester. Dancing away, Mara Heineke attributing her good health to exercising every day and all the love that surrounds her. I am so very blessed. I had two wonderful men in my life and their families are here supporting me at this event for which I am very grateful to you all. While guarding Checkpoint Charlie during the Cold War, a young MP in West Berlin witnessed history firsthand. Now working as an emergency management specialist in Oakland County, the veteran you're about to meet has many stories to tell. There was like a four or five-year-old little girl looking at us, and I think she put her arms up like this, and there was nothing, I mean, we stuck our hands over that wall. This is when Berlin, Germany was divided by a wall. To the east, Soviet Union troops with a communist stronghold. Just over that wall is doom and gloom and gray. Not freedom at all. And to the West, U.S. troops, its allies, and a 23-year-old military policeman, Michael Loper. When I was 19, I grew up in Fenton, Michigan. I joined the Army to see the world and not work at General Motors in Flint. It was the early 80s, and the Berlin Wall was a pawn on the global stage. I got a piece because I could get close enough. To get a piece of a wall. Loper was in uniform undercover at times, protecting democracy on his side near the infamous Checkpoint Charlie from 1980 to 83. As conflict among countries would wax and wane, so did Michael's relationship with the Eastsiders, the Soviet Army. When we were not playing games or having standoffs, we were actually kind of friendly with them and doing exchanges with them because they would trade just about anything for money. A music cassette or batteries or something from the West. This would be in the middle of the night when we're out there. We're out there for about a half hour. I remember one time a snowball fight between military police and Russian troops. And they started losing and then they cut it off real quick. They got AK-47, so we stopped. Ribbons of color in that very dark time in the region's history. And the soundtrack to it, so many of us know, born from the era in West Berlin. You and I in the... The English version went to near number one and was popular on MTV in the 80s. By then I was in Georgia, Atlanta, Georgia area, but I said, oh, I was there for that. The inspiration behind the song 99 Red Balloons by artist Nina came from a Rolling Stones concert in 1982 at an outdoor music venue near the wall. Loper was there. And I do remember near the end of the show, them releasing him. 100 or more balloons of multiple colors, some red, some other colors, and they went into the, like you've seen at festivals or at parades or events, they were released into the air and they seemed to, they were helium filled and they seemed to go oblong and all clumped together and went east. Focus on it. As folklore goes, the bundle of balloons heading over the wall to East Berlin almost sparked World War III. They questioned what they saw on radar, a blip on radar. And started to activate the Soviet air defenses because of this group of balloons that had crossed the East German border. The Soviet Army never fired. Those red balloons symbolized just how tense those times were until the Berlin Wall was torn down in 1989. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Michael Loper asking all of us this Veterans Day and really every day, just don't forget the freedoms we have. Jessica Dupnak reporting. Thank you for joining us and thank you to our hosts here at a beautiful Freedom Hill. Each year we end with a special honor for the servicemen and women who lost their lives fighting for our freedom. Their bravery, dedication and sacrifice for our country must never be forgotten. I forgot.