WEBVTT

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So we are conducting a long march .

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We're following the footsteps of Air

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Force service members and British

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service members who Are being pushed

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from one location to another pretty

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much . I know that it's when the

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German army during World War II marched

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their POWs out of the camps westward

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when the Soviets were counterattacking

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into Poland and eastern Germany . We're

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doing a 60 mile rock in the span of 3

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days for the 80th anniversary for the

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Long March . Just kind of staying

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exactly where they've been staying

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there was a barn site where a separate

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group stayed in , and that's one of the

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spots that the service members that

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were doing the actual long march 80

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years ago were where they stayed at and

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I , I would say like after looking at

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those conditions it was truly austere .

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Where they stayed at like I could

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imagine them not getting any sleep

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during that entire period just because

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it would be frigid , like extremely

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cold and whatnot . But also we did a

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wreath laying ceremony in honor of

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those service members that made that

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march . I've been laying the wreath

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down at every ceremony we've done . At

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first I was really nervous only because

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I've never done anything like it before

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so I was pretty nervous about it , but

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after a while I was like , OK , that's

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fine and then they called me again to

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do it at first I was like , oh gosh ,

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not again , but it was better to do it

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the second time I wasn't as nervous .

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The wreath symbolizes , uh , veterans

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of our past . My great grandfather was

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actually one of the POWs . It's

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important to do things to honor those

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who come before us because . Uh , for

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example , like the rough march or any

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other big thing like it helps us

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remember the history and , you know ,

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learn from it and understand it and

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just take inspiration and pride of

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those who came before us and do them

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proud . By participating in this rock

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march , I do believe I'd be honoring my

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great grandfather . We , we definitely

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have better conditions than they do ,

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but um it it is an honor to come and

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walk in the same footsteps as the POWs

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did and being able to . You know ,

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remember them in a very deliberate way .

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The lessons at each stop , the the

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little uh . Tour guide stops are very

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cool because we get to learn about why

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we're marching . Uh , I'm honestly

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learning a lot about it and just having

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the family members here following us

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and just like engaging with us while

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we're at these uh historic stops is

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pretty uh it's very amazing . They have

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shown great dedication to come out here .

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They endure this march with us it's

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pretty cool to see . Them share their

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own stories . I feel like it's similar

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like the way that . The people who did

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like the original Long March , I feel

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like it's similar because it's just .

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It's tiring things hurt , but at the

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end of the day it's doing what my great

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grandpa did , but just , you know .

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With a bit of a heavier load on my back ,

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you know , just . Making sure me and my

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My fellow soldiers , you know , just

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stay in it together . Yeah we get

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breaks every once in a while and they

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probably didn't but it just . There's

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still the struggle there of you know

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instead of starvation and tired and

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it's a heavy ruck on your back .