VFW Foundation

But on a more personal, my father was a World War II veteran.

He was not over in E- uh, Europe, but he really wanted a veteran's, uh, fu- funeral with all the regalia and everything, and I could not do that because president had canceled all the active duty, uh, honor guards, and alls we could get was the VFW to do it.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

I understand, you know, shirking the whole, you know, insurance and lawsuits, but, like, there should have been a medical situation.

There should have been a 9-11 clinic, a thing to deal with, just like the VFW, I mean, the You know, the veterans hospital stuff.

There should have been something right way off the bat instead of just like years and years of denial.

It was only at least a decade after that they started coming out with this 9-11 illness.

We played in a bunch of towns throughout middle Georgia, Barnesville, Carrollton, Noonan, into South Atlanta.

And at VFW clubs and bowling alleys and YMCAs and just dance clubs.

So, yes to all of that.

You had to have been good to get that kind of following because you didn't have social media back then.

Right.

And, uh, tonight, the, uh, VFW Post in Proctor, the McConnell-Modin Proctor Post-

Okay

... used to be the Duluth Post-

but this is an actual ceremony where the public-

Yeah

... is invited that the VFW is putting on.

Starts at 5:00, and the VFW is located at 501 Third Avenue in Proctor.

But when you think about some of the places you were going, because you mentioned the Lakeland Civic Center, that's a larger space.

But imagine a lot of these other bands are playing smaller clubs and maybe VFW halls and that sort of thing.

So where were you going at this time to see some of those bands play?

Yeah, so like the larger punk bands, like some of my first bigger shows, like go and see bands like DRI and things like that were at the Armory in Tampa, which is – yeah, they did a lot of shows there back in the day.

they were immediately remembered just because of how hot it was that, that, that show was the hottest show I've ever been to.

I mean, after the show, when people were clearing out, the floor looked like it had been hosed down and it was just sweat, you know, I'm pretty sure that video is out there online.

If people look for it, it was Fugazi of the VFW, probably 1987, 88, probably 88, but it was insanely hot, but a great, great show.

And with all this music, what's your recollection of finding it at your local record stores? What places come to mind? And were there any influential people that you think played a part as well in your musical journey from those record stores?

And my parents found out where I was after I got home and they weren't happy about it, but like, whatever.

I spent a lot of time in neighborhoods like that going to VFW halls or some neighborhood bar or somebody's house in the backyard, keg parties and stuff.

A lot of times we...

There was a time when we...

And he did the demo cover for Get Rude and did it total punk rock style.

And we just Xeroxed it, cut it, went and bought cheapo Maxell or DSC tapes and whatever was on sale.

And we dubbed it and... you know, just wrote on the sticker strip, you know, Exhorter, Get Rude, and we'd sell them for five bucks a pop, and we'd sell the shirts for five bucks a pop, and sell the, you know, get into the gig at five bucks a pop, and next thing you know, we were pulling like 500 kids at these VFW Hall shows, so 2,500 bucks at the door, selling you know three or four dozen shirts at five bucks selling three or four we were rolling in some cash man so we saved up our money and went back into the studio and started the next summer we started doing Slaughter in the Vatican

yeah There's something I wanted to ask you that was sticking in my mind.

John Bagwell, who the Army had already reported dead, doesn't appear in the story at all.

So John has told it himself for 58 years, to VFW posts and church groups and school kids and a documentary crew, and now to you and me.

I feel confident in talking about Vietnam.

I have a lot of friends that don't want to talk about it.

Jim was a lifetime member of the Shullsburg VFW Post 10533.

He was a faithful member of the Ve- of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and took great joy in hunting, fishing, playing euchre, cheering on the Green Bay Packers.

For Jim, though, the center of his world was spending time with his friends and family.

Jim married his beloved wife, Becky Brune McGlynn, in Galena, Illinois on April 9th, 1999.

David Lindley at Twisted Fork.

Zach Squire's band at the VFW on 82.

The Denver

Bull Random.