213 - Growing Up In Germany During WWII ft. Brandon’s Oma | Unsubscribe Podcast Ep 213
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Say hi to Eli. He's racially ambiguous. Brandon, his hair is fucking fabulous. Donut, a dark, dope disposition. And there's a fat electrician. Welcome to Unsubscribe.

and then you're gonna drink all of it down yeah okay you can take a little sip if you want just if you want all right ready to go yeah three two one hi everyone welcome to unsubscribe podcast we are joined today in a very special episode we have brandon herrera brandon herrera's oma

Eli, DoubleTap, myself, Donut Operator. Thank you so much for joining us. It feels so weird being on this side. Really? I usually sit there every time. Oh, is this throwing you off a little bit? Yeah, I'm like, whoa. This is normally Eli's seat on the left side. This is the first time ever in 200 episodes. Hi, we're so excited to have you. Thank you for coming. You're welcome. Are you excited? Yeah.

Yes. You're excited? I'm really excited. I teased this, I don't know, maybe 20, 30 episodes ago. I just thought about it while we were recording. I'm like, oh man, my Oma's lived a lot of life and she's got some crazy stories and I think our audience might be interested in hearing some of them. And I pitched it by the guys. They said they'd love to come out here and talk to you. And here we are. Well, you want to hear an old lady's

childhood experience. Yes, of course! Amazing stories! Brandon has given us a brief glimpse of your history and it is phenomenal and I think that's where we start is you were, where were you when you were a kid? Where did you grow up at? I was in Mannheim and I remember I was about six years old. I went to school and everything was still quiet.

So I don't know if I was in school for one or two years. I'm not sure. And then when the sirens went off more often, we had less in the school. But then they bombed the surrounding areas, so the school was closed. And then we had an organization in Mannheim called

where they send children, they want to get out of the danger areas, they send them away to safe places. So get them out of Germany and to other places. So just real quick, when you were six years old, what time period was that? Like 1940? What year were you born?

1932. 1932. Okay, so this would have been like 38, 39. Gotcha. So my mom said, you've got to expose my brother, my youngest brother and myself.

So I was the first one to get picked. Of course, I was tiny. You were the pretty one. That was the way I always heard the story. And I really had good people. They took me in. They were rich people. And this was in France? Yes. It was outside of France. Small town. I forgot the name of it.

And I had a maid because they had only one son and he was a baker. Boy, the good cakes he brought home. And I really should have been happy there, but I wasn't because she wouldn't let me go see my friends, surrounding friends, you know. She wanted me to be more with her friends.

And I got more and more homesick. And my mom came and visited, and everything was still okay then. But then they mentioned to adopt me. That was it. I saved my money up. I had an allowance every week from them.

And one day I went on the train and went home. I left everything behind. So this is you're going from France back to Germany during this time? Because they said they wanted to adopt you, right? Yeah, they wanted to adopt me and that scared me. So I took off. Because you were six years old at this time? No, I was a little older maybe.

Eight, nine, I would say. And then what time did you separate from your parents? Eight or nine is when they separated you from and moved you to France from your parents? Yeah. And I didn't stay too long with my friends. I would say maybe six, eight months.

Okay. And then I went back home. But still at eight, that's wild. And my mom was so mad. And you went back alone? Yeah. Yeah. So alone. From France to Germany alone? Alone. And you bought a ticket by yourself. You saved up. Yes. I was every day on the train station. I said, I want to go home, but I don't have enough money, you know.

So I said, I'm going to save all my money on my allowance. And one day I did it. I just went, you know.

So like I said, most eight year olds today don't know how to order a pizza on the phone. It's true. I take my nine year old to the bus because I don't think he can make it. And that's two blocks away. Anyway, when I went home, she was pretty upset, my mom. And I said, don't send me back, please. You know, I don't want to go back. I want to be with you. So that was number one. Then

They were bombing Mannheim for the first time. And we had, at the time, we had a room in an underground bunker. Every night we spent the night there. Okay. Daytime we went home. But sometimes the siren went off, so we'd go to different cellars, you know, whatever we were close by. And that one day...

We were looking for food because we were rationed at the time and we had about half a little bread a week. You know? Yeah. We even eat, I hate to say that, horse meat. It was pretty good at the time. And we had nothing, right? Meat's meat. If you've ever had Taco Bell, then you've had it too. Yeah. So...

Where was I? I said the bunkers. Yeah. This is 1940-ish or? Oh, don't ask me for this. Oh, you're good, girl. You're good. I don't remember the years. All right. Early 40s, I would say. I don't know 100% the age either, you know. Yeah, you're good. But pretty close. So that day...

We went to bunker and there was a bomb. Matter of fact, one of the bombs hit the bunker, but it didn't injure nobody. Okay. And it was pretty close, but it was okay. And I don't know if I should tell you that story. We had bunk beds, two, four, six bunk beds in this room. There was my mother in the bathroom.

I was on the second, my brother was right on the second one and the other one and friends of ours were with us. They were good friends. And we always left the door open but like this so we get a little light into the room. And that's the door to like the outside hallway in the bunker or to the outside? Yeah, there was light on the outside.

Because this is underground, this is no light, it's just pitch black if that door is closed. No, there were lights. Okay, there is lights, okay. Yeah. But because we didn't want to sleep with the light on, we left the door open to get light from the hallway. So, I woke up, you ever smell somebody that smokes a lot? Yes, Connor. Yeah, Connor. No. No.

I mean heavy. I spoke a lot of cigarettes online, sorry. And I woke up and there was a tall guy standing right in front of my bed. I was uncovered, okay. I had pajamas on and I thought,

I was scared. Of course, I was a young girl, you know. And I didn't want to scream. So I just moved back from the bed to the wall. And I tried to wake my brother up. And my brother said, ah, there she goes again. She got a nightmare. Because I did have nightmares sometimes, you know, from the war. And I said, please, I beg somebody. No, he meant to close the door, see. And it was pitch black.

And that's what really scared me. And I said, "Please somebody get up and turn the light on. There's somebody in here." You know? Like I said, my brother says, "She's got nightmares." But the lady that we know, she says, "I get up here." She says, "I turn the light on." So he was laying on a bench in the room, right? Like he was sleeping. But he wasn't sleeping. You know, I know better.

And they called the manager from the underground bunker and the preacher, and they came in and they said, "Sir, you don't have a place to stay?" Or, "You need..." You know, he wouldn't answer, like he was sound asleep. I said, "He's not sleeping. He was just standing here," you know?

So my dad, the guys, they were across the hall, my dad and other guys. They came over and they got and shook him, you know, and says, look, you need some places to stay or what is it? You know, and all of a sudden he jumped up and he run out of the room and he said something in a different language. We didn't know what it was, but he had a German uniform on.

But it was not complete. He only had a jacket on, you see. And he went right, we were, I remember right next to the exit and the entrance.

He took off and we never seen him again. Who do you think he was, Brandon? A deserter? The way I'd heard the story before, I would have assumed deserter, but the other language was interesting. I don't know what, like, people cussing us out or something, you know, something like that. You had no idea what language? You knew it was different?

He was kind of, yeah. He was not sure. And he just snuck in in the middle of the night? And thankfully, was it the smell that woke you up? Yeah. He had a real bad smell, like a real heavy smoker. And maybe drinking, you know, something.

But anyway, from that day on they closed the doors in the bunker so nobody could go in and out, you know, after certain time. If only the Buffalo public school system could take some notes. It was Connor, dude. I really don't like the comparisons being made between me and this predator. But you look great for your age.

That would have been terrifying, especially when you're 8 to 10 years old at that time. Maybe I'm a little older, maybe 10. That's still... Because you would have been, so if you were born in 32, you would have been 12 to 13 when the war ended? I think I was almost 15, 14. 14, okay. Gotcha. So within that time span. Right.

In a way. And you'd go down there. So it was the evening, so during the day you would be up and then going home. We'd be home, you know, when the sirens went off, we said, I'm going to which place. Depends if we were out looking for food, of course. My mom and I, we used to go to the farmers and trade clothes or sheets, stuff, you know, for food because we didn't have enough food, you know. And...

Well, anyway, my brother and I, we used to look if our house was still standing, you know. So we walked home, of course looking, the houses were burning, you know, that nothing came down on them. And we came to this giant hole, I'll never forget that, giant hole. And I said, "What's this?" And the closer we got, we seen that big bomb, I mean, big one, that was not exploded, you see.

I don't know what they say in English, but we say "Blindganger." It didn't explode. Unexploded ordnance. And my brother, smart brother, he was only a year older than I. He said, "Don't move!" And I would freeze in there. "What do you want me to do?"

- He took off. He left me standing. - Dude, all I'm saying is me and my friends would have thrown rocks at it. - Dink, dink, dink. - Let's see what happens. - Why do women live longer than men? - Let's light this candle. - Hey Brandon, you ever wake up in your bed feeling like you just fought in a war?

All clear? Yeah, what do you ask? You ever wake up and feel like you slept in a sauna? Yeah, I believe that's called night sweats. Means you got a trash mattress, Brandon. Why are we talking like Macho Man Randy Savage? Because today we're talking about our premier sponsorship, GhostBed.com. GhostBed mattresses are built with cooling technology. So you're not sweating through your sheets like some street bump.

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Ooh, yeah. And you know what, brother? They don't just sell mattresses. They have bases, pillows, sheets, the whole empanada. Just pick your mattress and grab them.

Right now, prices are already lower, but you'll get an extra 10% off when you use code unsubscribe at checkout. Head over to ghostbed.com slash unsubscribe and get started today. That's ghostbed.com slash unsubscribe. Use the code unsubscribe. Or I'll start rattling chains under your bed until you do. Sleep better, stay cooler. And I said, why did you do that? I was tiptoeing backwards, you know? Yeah.

He says, I tried to get help. I said, you have to tell me to stop. But anyway. That's a funny explanation. Yeah. So... Just a big bomb just sitting in the middle of the road, especially at that age. Yeah. That was... Antique. Antique. How was your view at that time? Like with... What was your understanding at that age of what's going on? Like you understood there was a war going on. Yeah. But was it just like...

We're civilians. We're scared. We're just trying to get out of the war. No, my mind was, how long is it going to be? When is it over? Right? That's what I always said. But it was long, long, long. In a way, that day. Then my mom got kind of restless again. She says, the drone bombs now in our city, they're getting closer and closer and they're getting more and more. You know? So she says...

you need to go to our friends in the Black Forest. We had friends in the Black Forest. And it was safe there, they didn't bomb there, you know. And I said, "Mom, don't send me away again," you know. I didn't want to go. But meanwhile, before she sent me anyway, we went to, like I said, look where we get some food.

And the siren went off and said, it's too late to go to Abanga, where we were. We want a different place. Let's go home. I said, Mom, I'm hungry. You know, let's get something to eat. And we go in our cellar. And we did. And there was another funny story. It was on the 10th of May, a day before my birthday. I said, oh, they sent me a birthday gift earlier.

There's that dark humor. Yeah, I love it. It's generations deep. And, well, we made it through this one. But afterwards, we found out that cellar we used to go to when we were out, that was supposed to be bomb booth, okay? So they said. And we found out the bomb that came from the back in...

to the cellar and killed so many people. And we went there, of course, terrified. I remember that. Went there and I found that baby, you know, and I grabbed that baby and I cleaned the sand and the dirt and everything out, you know. And the mother screaming for her babies. She had half of her face missing. I seen that like yesterday. And the baby died in my arms, you know. But

There were no doctors, you know, hospitals, nothing. Everything was a mess. So we had to tell the lady, "We're okay, we got your baby," you know, just to get her calmed down, you know. And the rest of the bodies, they brought them to school areas or restaurants and they lined them up and covered them, you know.

And my brother was always gone, my dad. They had to help them, stupid Nazis, to build a wall by the water. We lived right by the water, you see. And they were put in like a safety wall or something. I don't know. So they were always gone. So we didn't know what happened to them. So we looked at everybody hoping we don't find them, you know. And...

Thank you so much. It's okay. And then it was, everything was filled up, they put the bodies up in trucks, just, you know, put them up in trucks. We don't know where they went or what. And anyway, another day, another alarm, right? So we went back to, I think it was Arcelor, yeah.

We heard commotions. There was an English plane was shut down over our city and the parachute, the guy came down in our street, you know, where we live. And of course some people, oh, there's one of them. You know how it was. It was war. Do you remember if it was American or British or who it was? It was not Americans. The English came in first. The English. And so my mom...

She was more outspoken than I am, but she went over there and she said, you leave that young man alone. You know, she said, I got a son, and he's in Africa in El Alamein. He got a prisoner in El Alamein and then shipped to the States, right? And she tried to protect that young man. There were two SS guys right there, and they arrested my mom.

They said she's a country trader. She was taken to the, I don't know where they were, you know, their offices or whatever. And they put a sign out with other people that she was a country trader. But I'm jumping ahead there because meanwhile, there was more stuff going on me at Backtrack. Absolutely. But to finish that out real quick, I think what...

And correct me if I get any of this wrong, because I've, you know, this is over the course of years here, and, you know, stories, some of them secondhand. But they said that they were, I was told that they were about to ship her off to a concentration camp. Right. And then they were liberated. That's why I jumped ahead. I just thought about it, because the English, they came,

That's why they didn't have time to ship my mom out, see? The NBA playoffs are here, and I'm getting my bets in on FanDuel. Talk to me, Chuck GPT. What do you know? All sorts of interesting stuff. Even Charles Barkley's greatest fear. Hey, nobody needs to know that. New customers bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets if you win. FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook.

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That's an area close to Switzerland. Okay. And they lived there, but they were good friends of ours. They moved there. And I felt good there because I knew them, you know. Is it a town inside a forest or is it just a city? No, it's a little city called Black Forest. Okay. And so I went to school there, you know, and...

Then my mom came to visit again and she got sick. The Black Forest. Oh, okay. It's real pretty. Beautiful. Oh my God, yeah. It's real pretty. Gorgeous. Yeah. So my mom got sick. She had gallbladder attack and they didn't have a doctor in that little town, you know. So they took her, but I would say, I don't know,

The pig pigs?

Yeah, yeah, boars do. Yeah, very aggressive. He said every time you smelled a boar, you were ready to climb a tree. Yeah.

Yeah. And this is like 12 years old? Probably younger. In a way, they were all nice. The hospital, they let me stay there because my mom, you know, and until she could travel. And then we took her back to the friends of ours, you know, but by train. And she stayed until she felt better. And then she said, honey, I got to go home. Does your brother, does...

her husband, you know. So she left and I said, "Okay." It was hard thinking she wasn't completely healed, you know. But I stayed a while and then I said, "No, I gotta go home." You know, I gotta take care of her. And I did it again. I saved my money and I went on the train, heading for Mannheim. And on the way to Mannheim, I heard sirens in the distance.

And the train stopped. And they said, everybody out, go to the woods. There were a lot of woods, you know. Because they used to target the bridges, the trains, you know, all this. So all the infrastructure that they could damage. Yeah, yeah. So we had to stay there for a while until we got the clear to go back, you know. So by the time I reached Mannheim, we couldn't go into the...

what they call it, barn hope, you know. The train station? Yes, the train station because they was bombed. So I had to have a mile out of the walk, you know, to go home. And I was glad I went home because mom's wounds didn't look good, you know, they were infected. So I had to take care of my mom, clean the wounds and just take care of her, you know. And that one day

The siren went off again. So I said, Mom, where are we going now? We don't want to go to our cellar. It's getting pretty bad. You know, they're bombing a lot lately. So I said, there's an underground bunker across the bridge. You know, we lived right by the Nicaragua River. And we thought we could make it good, but it was kind of late. So half of the bridge, my mom walked down. She couldn't walk.

She said, "I can't walk no more." I said, "You have to. You've got to get up because we've got to make it." You're pushing your mom so you're trying to, you're motivating her to do... Yes. And I tried to pull up. Nobody helps you. They all run for their lives, you know? And we finally made it, but I'd seen already the bombs, you know? And it seems like I'll never forget it, going down the steps with my mom, like,

close the door like they come in my letters you know the sound of it and all this so that went okay I guess and I already told you the story with that young man coming down and you know so well while we're there we kind of

If we could backtrack even a little bit more, because you mentioned in that story that your mom was saying, look, I have a son who was captured as well. Exactly. I want you to treat him well because I want my son to be treated well. Right. Can we talk a little bit about your brother? Oh, my brother, he was drafted to the army. What was his name? He was drafted. What was his name? Hans. Hans. Yeah. It was Hans and Willie, right? Yeah. He was my oldest brother. He was 10 years older.

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And like I said, he was in Africa and then he got captured in El Alamein. So he fought under Rommel with the North African campaign until... And first he came to the States. I forgot where he was. But he came to the States and he didn't have it as good, you know, in prison. But then he got transferred to England.

And he had a mate. He was striving for the higher colonel or mayor or whatever he was. He was a striver. He loved it there. He had a mate.

Way better than war. And were you allowed to talk to him at all, like any letters or correspondence? No. Okay. Well, when he was in Africa, we did, before he got captured. Right, right. That little bit we got, I'll never forget it. We always put a little bit of our food

not food, but candy or chocolate or something in his package. And we sent them real thin scarves because of the sandstorms they had. Oh, yeah. Oh, they had sandstorms. Oh, yeah. I know. They had sandstorms. Yeah. Anyway, the other story was, where were we?

So we were just talking about your brother being captured and then driving for the colonel and whatnot. Right. And a little later on, like I said, my dad was never there, my brother was never there. It was just me and my mom. They were off doing labor? They were off being forced to do labor? Yes, they were forced to. And...

So we had to look after ourselves, you know. Because your father was a lot older, right? Yes.

25 years older than my mom. Oh, okay. I'm recounting a little bit of family history that I think I know about. Please tell me if I'm wrong. I think that he was kind of a little on the older side during World War I, but he was part of the militia that they used for, not the young men, but it was called the Lundgewehr.

which was basically like a militia of older people that they won't send to the front lines, but still ready to fight. Gotcha. So they're reserves, like army reserves almost. Do you remember when your father was born? What year? Sorry, I know that was... I'm not putting you on the spot, but you said he was 25 years older than your mom. Okay, my mom was born in 01. Okay, so he would have been born in the 1870s? Yeah, 1876, 1875. Yeah.

Yeah, he was... So at this point in the war he would be in his 70s? No, he was younger, I think he was. Okay. Yeah. But still not a spry young man. No. But, oh goodness. Then, yeah, like I said, my mom was there, whole person. There was 30, I got them all, yeah. And my dad came finally home and...

We decided we'll go to the bunker that's closer to us because it was too far to go because you couldn't wait. The bomb, you know, you can't say wait till we get there. It's impossible. So we went to the bunker by the water. That's the upright bunker, the tall one, you know, supposed to be bomb safe. So me and my father, me and my dad,

We were going to get some food and mom was already in the bunker and my brother, I don't know where he was. So we went home, we got food and on the way to the riverside we heard them cannons, you heard the "vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

And one of them came pretty loud and we went into the doorway, you know, just covered ourselves. But we had to cross the field to get to the bunker. And the English were across the river already by then, you see. So they were shooting guns and everything. So we were crawling on the floor, on the ground, getting to the bunker, you know. And they were shooting. I just...

We made it somehow and they already closed the bunker, you know, and we were banging on them steel doors, open the doors, we need to get in, you know. Finally they decided it was us, you know, and we made it in. But that was really, really scary, really scary. They got shot at, it's terrifying. Totally.

Well, there was one story I found really interesting too about your younger brother, which would have been Willie, about him surrendering to the British. Oh, afterwards, okay. When the British came across, before they came across, they were right across the river, okay, when we went to the bunker, my dad and I.

And my youngest brother, we didn't know that until afterwards, you know, he was always gone. The mayor from my city, two other gentlemen and my brother for some reason, they went in the boat and they went across the river, two with the white flag of course, to give the city to, I don't know. Surrender the city.

And my brother forgot he had a gun, I mean a knife in his side pocket, you know. And just before he got all the way across, he realized that

So he grabbed the knife and let it go in the water. Dang, I bet you missed that one, don't you Brandon? Right. That knife? That would have been kind of cool. That would have been a cool heirloom. Yeah. But the, yeah, we've done that many times at TSA for the same reason. Yeah, tossed a couple of knives at the airport. Yeah. And the Germans, of course, they disappeared from the riverfront, of course, right?

Or my mom would have been shipped out. But she was in a time where she was just lucky, you know. I forgot to tell you the story. When I was back, I was maybe eight years old, something like this, where I thought, what is going on? You know, they were getting people out of their apartments.

And a lot of Jews had stores and everything. I said, "What's going on?" You know, we didn't know what was going on. So they told the people they're going to send the Jews to a new colony where all the Jews get together, their own, you know. - A little Jew colony. - Yes. And while they were gone, that's my clock. - Means it's six o'clock. - Yeah.

And while they were gone, they burned everything. I remember they torn furniture out of the windows. You know, it was terrible. There was a sight I'll never forget either. You know, they shipped them out and we didn't know where they were going. At eight years old, you have no concept for what's going on. You know? You're just seeing stuff thrown out one day. We did not hear about the concentration camps.

until the war was over. Honestly, we didn't know. And I couldn't believe it. Matter of fact, later on when I met Oprah, we went to a movie, the first movie we went to, they showed concentration camps and all this. I was shocked. I was shocked. And I said, my mom would have been there too, you know, after all you go through.

It was miserable. It was not a good childhood, put it this way. What do you take when leaving home? Phone? Wallet? Keys? Of course. What about naloxone? It's time to start. Find free naloxone at adoseoftruthil.com. And even my...

Mom and my dad, I shouldn't say dad, but 25 years is too much different in a marriage, you know. It was good in the beginning because she was young. He was still in his 50s, you know, it was okay. But later on is when it started, you know, because my mom wanted a new dress later on and

You know, she wanted to put my dad for chillers. It's crazy. Because my mom was a good looking woman, you know. So there were always fights. And where was I? Under the table, you know. So from small kid on, it was, you know, we didn't have no graduations or stuff like that, you know. When did you make your way to the United States?

Well, I was 18 and a half when I met her that day. All this time in Germany and she shacks up with the first Texan she meets. You met a Texan boy? Yeah.

Yeah, he was from Laredo. Laredo? Where did you meet him at? Freer, really. You know where Freer is? It's like Dilley. Oh, Dilley. Freer County. How did you meet a Texan boy? Well, my brother and I, we went to, what do you call it? A guest house, we called it. Okay. Western.

And they started first, the guy would play the harmonica. Accordion. And we go there on a Saturday. But my brother didn't let me go alone. I was almost 19. It's a protective brother. Yeah. And I met really my husband's friend first. You know, they were all in the same company. And

He was a darn good looking guy, I tell you, but he was, he likes to fight. Whenever a fight going on in the place, he was involved and I didn't like that, you see. So I said, no, that's not the guy for me. And one day he brought dad with him, Oprah, and now...

We were talking when he was gone, you know, and I said, yeah, I know he wants me to be his girlfriend, but I don't like it when somebody gets involved in somebody else's fights, you know. And he said, yeah, he's kind of,

He slid in them DMs. She would have hated us. He likes to fight. You want to go see a movie, though? Yeah.

That's funny. What movie did he take you to? You know, I don't remember. I think the first movie, one of the movies from Concentration Camp. I believe so. It could be. It's a hell of a thing for a first date. I know. It's a little harsh. A harsh first date. I'd love to take you on a date. How about Schindler's List? The what? He didn't speak German. Oh, yeah, he didn't speak German at the time. Oh. No. No.

I didn't speak English. Oh my god. Were you guys using hand signals to talk to each other? No. Point at cinema. Kiss. That guy? No good. So I said, okay, I go to English school, you know. And I did for a couple of weeks.

And every time I came home and I learned something and he said, what did you say? I couldn't understand. So wait, wait, you, you were living with him? No. Oh, okay. No. I thought you said you came home. To my mom's side. Oh, okay. I miss it. Okay. Hey, Brandon. You know what I can tell you about Surf Shark Brother? We are not doing this bit again. What bit are you talking about?

Go ahead, Eli. What is Surfshark? It's a VPN, Brandon. Oh, that's what the porn people use, right? And the servers offer the best speeds around by default. It's easy to install and you can run unlimited uses on a single subscription. Did you know you can overcome location-based price discrimination on plane tickets and car rentals by changing your VPN location? For real? Yeah, no, no.

I didn't even know that. It's always a good sign in the ad when that happens.

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It just sounds like the horny Kool-Aid man. Head over to surfshark.com slash unsubscribe and use code unsub10 to get an additional four months of Surfshark VPN. That's surfshark.com slash unsubscribe using code unsub10. And he says...

I don't know what you're saying." And I said, "Why I go to school for?" You know? I stayed another week or so and every time I come home he says, "I don't know." It was a school English and he just couldn't understand it, you know? And I said, "Forget it." So I quit and I said, "Now you're going to teach me." You know? It's amazing how much you can communicate when you have to. Oh yeah.

Right? Depends on what you're communicating, I guess. Certain things go beyond words, I assume. I live with a Mexican, Opa, and I don't understand half of what she's saying to me, but I understand it. Right? I don't know the words, but I know what she's saying to me. Even crazier because she speaks perfect English. Yeah. Dude, she hits me with flip-flops. She'll take her shoe off, and she'll hit me with her shoe. Chonkles. The chonkles.

I drove my husband crazy with TV. Every time we watched TV, I'd say, what she says, what she said. You know, I'd ask questions. That's how I learned. But by me trying to learn how to speak English, my kids never kept to German because, you know, I wanted to learn English. So I wanted him to keep speaking English. So I learned it.

First generation, it's... Oh, they understand words, you know. Especially the ones they're not supposed to say. That's the first... Well... Scheisse! Scheisse? Yeah, they don't know the bad things first. You had... Brandon told a story during war that you went...

There was a bomb. You were supposed to go into a different shelter and then it got bombed or someone was saying come in the house. Oh, like a house. Yeah, come in the house, but then you didn't go in the house and then something happened to that house? Oh, the back of our house got bombed. Yeah, can you tell that story? Well, that was when we checked my brother and I, you know.

The front was okay, then there is a, what do you call it, between the back house and this, there's not a garden but a common area. Yeah, and there was a bomb and our apartment, we lived on the second floor, the wall was that much, we could look up to the third floor.

It was just, you know, so we were lucky, I didn't think, we were very lucky, I tell you.

I don't know. I have so much more I know, but I can't think of it. There is one that I thought was really funny that I heard of where... I can't remember. I think it was your mother. But it was when the British came in and they busted into the house when they were first taking the city. They had some hot Texans with them. Apparently so. Very good-looking Texans with them. You know, when the first English came in, right? We were...

On the second floor, I was in the corner of a sketch, you know, because they were with guns, of course.

And they came, looked at the apartment, you know, and my mom tried to say, I laid it up. Wrong crowd, wrong crowd. How did they react? I think they didn't pay too much attention. They took all our jewelry, you know, and stuff, the English. And I thought I'd die when she did that. I said, Mom.

I hope they didn't hear you. But she was scared because she was taken. You know that she thought, I don't know what she was thinking. She thought they were Nazi Germany type soldiers. They were scared. Oh my goodness. Yeah, you're just covering it down. How did your family feel about the Nazis coming to power?

Poland.

You know, Poland and all this, he went slowly. He wanted more and more and more. He got greedy. And then when they went into Russia, that's when they made a big booboo. Yeah. Because the German army were not prepared for that cold weather. You know, the Russians were used to it, you know. So most of these people, the soldiers died. They froze, you know. That's when he lost it.

Well, so if I recall correctly, there was an instance where Hitler came to your town, right? He was, yeah. You got to see Hitler in person. Yeah. And what abouts was that? Was that before the war? Or was it... No, I think it was, oh, don't quote me on that. I know, I remember a lot of people lined up and he came in the

It seems to be a recurring theme. Generational.

Oh gee, butola, you better do what the others do or you'll be picked up. You know, that was before she got picked up, you know? Yeah. So you actually saw Hitler two degrees of separation away from Hitler, Brandon Herrera. One degree for me, two degrees for you guys. Oh, dang it. What is it, six, seven degrees from Kevin Bacon? Your mom didn't salute them, did she?

I remember one of the German army. I don't know if it was Goebbels or what's the other one? Hitler? One of them was a good guy, you know? Is it Rommel? Got it. Rommel? What was it? The good one. Rommel, because I think Rommel... Who defected to England, whose name is escaping me right now.

Because I think Rommel was kind of one of those. He was just a really good general, but I don't think he was exactly pro-Hitler. Connor, come here. Come here. Come here. Step in for a second. I'll be over here. Hess. Was it Hess? No. Oh. Was Scopers... Scopers...

or Rommel, one or the other. Yeah, I think Rommel was one of the ones that was not... He was a good general and he loved Germany, but I don't think he was a Nazi necessarily. He wasn't super down with the program. If I'm remembering correctly, this is all just history textbooks. He was really good too. There is one thing I thought was kind of funny that I wanted to bring up. Because it was a funny story. I remember we took a road trip at some point.

And I played a song for you. And it was Erica. Yeah. That song from World War II. You know, the soldiers would sing it a bunch and such. I was curious to see if you knew it. And you started singing along with it. And I thought that was very funny. Because the song is about, you know, a flower back in my hometown that is, you know, singing about a girl. Are they singing about Omar?

Well, so funny enough, what was your story? You said you heard the soldiers walking through town singing the song when you were a little girl?

What do you mean? I remember you saying at one point that the soldiers would be walking through town and you'd hear them singing the song. Yeah. And as a little girl, you're like, that's me. Yeah. I said, they're singing my song. With your two brothers, were they, when they got, they got drafted, correct? Yes. Only one got drafted.

Okay. My oldest brother. Oldest brother got drafted and your other one still... He had to do what the, what they call it, SS, the Nazis told him to do. The SS... They had to help build the wall by the river and all kinds of stuff. We never know what it meant. This would have been like Gestapo? Yeah. Because I think you guys had to do like kind of Hitler Youth kind of stuff, right?

Or he did at least. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, so he was told, hey, you have to do that. Now, when he surrendered for the town, you said, right? Yeah. So they were just, that would be terrifying. So it's just like go across the river on a boat and then just hope they don't shoot you. Yep. Yeah. That's wild. Of course. What items do you always take with you when leaving home? Wallet? Of course. Phone? Keys?

Yep. What about naloxone? With overdoses on the rise, it's important to bring it every time you head out. Naloxone can reverse an opioid overdose and save a life. Find free naloxone now at adoseoftruthil.com. That's adoseoftruthil.com. The Nazis were gone by then, you know. But the British who had just fought all the way to that point, they don't know that. Yeah. Yeah. There was...

Yeah. But I think he was later recognized by the city for that, wasn't he? Yeah. Matter of fact, I wish I had a letter from the governor, you know, what a brave and young man he was, you know, to do this. I don't know if I'll ever find it. I have it somewhere.

And they even wrote to me while I was here. In the US? Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. And my father, he wasn't scared of nothing. How did you feel about the British coming in? Were you afraid of them? Of course I was afraid. And look, I was still a young kid, right? And the first black man I seen, I was hiding. I'd never seen a black man.

You know, at the time. I never did. And we were scared of them, you know. You've never seen anything like it? No. Were you told they were going to hurt you? Yeah, we don't know. You hear stories, they're going to you, they're going to do, you know, stuff like this. And then later on, the GIs, the English, told Candace to the kids, you know. That was later on. And that was something. I'll never forget seeing the black guys.

My God. How did you get black? Just confusion. Yeah. That would be wild if you've never seen it. You're like, what the fuck? Tell that to Netflix.

So what age was it when you decided to move? Oh, you moved at 18 to America, but what made you to decide to do that? Did you move to America at 18 or was it years later? No, no. I was 20, I think. 20? So you'd been dating Opa for a year and a half or so? Yeah. Oh, so he was over in Germany. Yeah, he was in Germany. Oh, okay. He was an occupational force. Mannheim was in West Germany? Yeah.

um yeah well you met an american so you're in western can i ask a question real quick yes we call we call her opa oma oma oma means grandmother and opa is grandfather okay yeah okay gotcha yeah gotcha so both and did he bring you stateside together did you move to america together

Well, there was another big story. Uh oh. I may not know this one. Was it another one of his friends you'd like to fight? My mom might not know this story. She just looked over at your mom for confirmation. Let me poop in peace, God, or I'm not playing. Hi, Eli. Won't be needing this with today's sponsor, Tushy. How will I clean my butt? Oh, no.

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Instantly improve your health from the bottom up. For a limited time, our listeners get 10% off their first order by using code UNSUBSCRIBE at checkout. That's 10% off your first bidet order at hellotushy.com with promo code UNSUBSCRIBE. We wanted to get married, right? I said, I'm not going to the States, not being married. See? But he said he's got to go to the States first.

because of his father or something, I don't know, something, he probably was sick or something, I forgot. And I said, oh, there we go again. He goes to the States, he never come back, right? That's what you think. And I went to work, and one day, off work, I got out, there was my husband, you know. He wasn't my husband then. I said...

I can't believe it, you did come back. He said, of course, I told you I'd be back. Running out on a family in the 50s was so easy. You could move a town over and change names. You didn't have a family yet, that's adorable. How long was that before he came back? He was in the States maybe...

I would say three weeks, four weeks, something like that. Oh, okay. And then he just showed back up in Germany and knocked on your door? Yeah. And tell the truth, you waited on him? No, I thought he'd never come back. She found the fires. You started going back out with the fighter? No, I didn't go out with the fighter. But...

Omar was an attractive young lady. I'm here, I'm learning some family history today. Yeah, no, I'm in the work and like I said, he came and he surprised me at work, you know, and then he asked me, you want to marry me?

I looked at him and I said, I got to think about it. I was a bad girl. I got to admit, I was a tea set. You get one sip of claw in this woman. I told him, I got to think about it, you know.

And they said, why I told you? He flew back out here. He's like, I'm here. So? I don't care. You know what I did? He was on CQ. You know what CQ is? What is that? CQ is when you're on guard. CQ. You're on duty. He was there. So I used the towel around my face and I called his number.

And he answered and I said, "Oh, I heard about you. You want to go to the movie with me?" I pretended I was somebody else. 1950 relationship testing. Trying to see if he's going to go out with another girl. I tested him.

We are the same people just 75 years later. A girl sliding into your DMs, like the best friend sliding into your DMs to see if you'll answer back. That's what Alma was doing. Did he say yes? No. He said, oh, I'm sorry. I'm taken. Hung up. I know that was Eric. That German accent I know from anywhere. Laughter

Oh, my goodness. You'd never believe this. My girlfriend just called me through a towel. Well, he threw me off. And then when he came home, he told me about it. He said, would you believe some girl called me? Oh, he knew. He knew. He had... Some German girl called me. It sounded like she was talking through a towel. I said, what? What are you going to say?

You told him the story later, right? Yes. How long after that did you accept his proposal? Huh? How long after that did you accept his marriage proposal? Oh, it was... Oh, then I started lying to him, okay? Wait, what? I said, I don't know. I said, you don't know? I have a kid. I don't have a kid. She was testing him? Where kind of tests are these?

I have a child. I just came back to Germany for you. You know what he said? He said, really? You didn't tell me that in the beginning, you know, but can I see the kid? That's when I got in trouble. I didn't have the kid. I finally had to admit that I was, you know, destiny and

I finally told him, yeah, I'll marry you. Oh my gosh. He's like, I don't know. You put him through hell. Yes. Before that, she met several guys at the same corner. Oh, yeah. Wait, what? I was a teaser. Her excuse is, I was a teaser. I love it. I'm just a girl. There were so many guys who wanted to go out with me, you know.

Well, she matched her nails to her shirt and her necklace. I don't know what you're doing. I used to say, you know, good looking guys, right? And I said, okay, I'll meet you over there, wherever, on the corner. And then I went over there and see if he really showed up. And then I go home.

I didn't know. You were breaking hearts. I did. You broke so many hearts. Just for fun? One day I got caught. Doing what?

Like, just standing him up, essentially. Yes, that's what it is. That fool in the restaurant across the street. She runs across the street. Why did she do this to all of us? We can see her. Look, that asshole did what he said he was going to do. Now to wait for the one to come back from America and tell him I have a child. Yeah.

But was it Opa that caught you? Ruthless. Yeah. Opa was the one who caught you. No, he caught you. Before we were married, okay. Well, I hope so. What was special about Opa out of all the hearts you broke? He was not a fighter like some of the guys I met. But the only thing, I was a good dancer when I was young. You know, he couldn't dance. He danced for nothing.

So I had to teach him how to dance, you know. He stepped on my feet all the time. But he learned the poker and, you know, a couple of things. And if somebody asked... Your daddy was very jealous when somebody asked me to dance, right?

He was okay the first time, but he came back a second time. Now he's a fighter. She's not dancing right now. He was very chilly. And then you moved back to the United States after that? How long did you live in Germany? We left Germany, like you said, in 72, right?

Oh, the first time. First time was 50, let me see, 50... We'll say 53. 53, 54. Something like that. Yeah, around, you know. We went to Oklahoma, you know. But meanwhile, we had a couple of kids, you know. We got married, I was 21.

All grown up. Yeah, very grown up. Everything. You had real kids, not the fake ones you told them that you had. Right. I had real kids. So my oldest, Henry and Robert, were born German. But we had problems getting married. You never believed why.

We wanted to get married by church. My church were baptized in Germany. I wish I wouldn't marry us because he didn't have a baptism paper. So he said... Germany, very big on papers. Yes. And then I had to get a paper from the court that I'd never been in jail or in trouble, right? To marry you to get married. That's wild. Yes. So...

He sent to Texas that he get a birth certificate, right? But we had a date set when we want to get married. Everything was arranged and paper never came in, you know? So we got married in a way, but not in church. We got married in the courthouse. Yeah. In Germany? In Germany, yeah.

And so we never got married by truck, you know. So, Oma, was he still on duty with the army in Germany when you guys got married at the courthouse? Yeah. Okay. I think he stayed through, he was active duty with the military until after the Korean War. Oh, okay. But then, what I wanted to say, when he had to go back, right? Right.

I wasn't ready to go with him because my papers didn't, were all together from the court. I was from, you know. And so he went to the States and I stayed with the kids, two kids I had then. And talking about scared, I couldn't speak English. And I had to go on a certain time. I had to go over to meet him.

And I was tempted not to go, to be honest with you. I was scared to death, you know. So I went in a way and… To a country whose language you don't speak. Right. Alone with two kids. I arrived in New York, didn't know. He always tells me, he said, if I cannot make it to pick you up in New York, ask for the Red Cross to help you, you know.

And I had this in my head. So I came to New York. I stood there looking for him. He wasn't there. I said, oh my gosh. He gave you an address in New York, right? From the Red Cross. Okay.

I just go to New York. I'll find you. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just go to the red cross. You're not texting anyone and it's all snail mail. It's literally like, Oh, I'm here. That's it. I'll wait. They didn't notify him on time to catch the plane to New York in time. You see? So that's why he wasn't there. What items do you always take with you when leaving home? Wallet?

Of course. Phone? Keys? Yep. What about naloxone? With overdoses on the rise, it's important to bring it every time you head out. Naloxone can reverse an opioid overdose and save a life. Find free naloxone now at adoseoftruthil.com. That's adoseoftruthil.com.

So I said, well, he told me to go to the Red Cross. Where's the Red Cross, you know? He was off asking women on dates and just seeing if they'd show up. Yeah. So he said, go to the bus, take you to the Red Cross. So I went in the bus, suitcase, two kids. And then there were other girls that got married, you know, and one French girl I'll never forget.

She said, "Oh, you're traveling by yourself?" I said, "Yeah, my husband couldn't make it." And she said, "Where are you going?" I said, "He told me to go to the Red Cross. They will help me." She said, "You're in the wrong bus." I was in the wrong bus. So I had to take the kids again, suitcase, and go to the other bus that was in front. Were you speaking to her in French?

She spoke English. She could speak good English. Okay, so you knew a little English at this time then? No, I didn't even know the money. The guy on the airport, you know, that had my luggage, I said, oh my God. So I grabbed my money and I just put the hand. Not to the day I know what he took. Take what you need. Very trusting. Yeah.

It's the meme. Is this enough? Yeah. Have you watched 1923 yet? I've seen the first season. So like his wife is trying to come to England. It's the same thing. You don't know what you're doing. You're just arriving in a foreign country. You don't know what's going on. Right. She told the bus driver, please tell them to get off, you know.

So I got up, it was coming down rain. You can imagine with two kids, one little rascal that liked to run off right on my head. How old were they at the time? Let me see, Henry, he was about, I don't know, two years old. And the other one was still a baby, you know, and a big suitcase. I was soaking wet. I looked like a wet rat.

Anyway, we got to the Red Cross. You got to work on that self-talk, Oma. We didn't know it was closed, you know. So that French girl happened to be there. And she says, well, we got to wait till they open up. And I'm pretty sure they give you room upstairs to clean up, you know, and get the kids changed. And Robert was screaming, my baby.

And he wanted milk, of course. I never used to want milk. Where do I get milk? I couldn't get milk. Oh, my goodness. And then I want to change the kids in the restroom. I lost the key to the suitcase. So I had to break the suitcase open. Right. And so I changed them, you know. Meanwhile, the Red Cross opened up.

And the French girl helped me a little bit. She asked if they have milk or can get milk for the baby, you know. And they did. And I warmed the milk in the bathroom because they were used to warm milk, you know.

So I said, "No." If I can just interrupt for a second, it is amazing to me how vividly you remember this 70 years later. I'm amazed at myself. Well, this is your first time in America, right? This was your first time in America. Yes. So how do I close the suitcase? You know? I said, "Oh, I took the belt off." And I stripped it off the suitcase.

And then the lady from the Red Cross said, "Come on, there's a room upstairs. You can stay there till your husband comes. You can let the kids rest and all this." We made it up to the stairs, right? And I heard my husband's voice. He said, "This is not my wife." And I turned around, looked down, there were stairs, and there was a French girl.

So he could have gone bride shopping. Honey, hi. And then she said, if you're looking for your wife, she's right up there, you know. And we were still soaking wet, you know. And he came up and we changed, like I said, the kids and I changed and all this good stuff. We stayed there for a couple of hours. What did you do that couple of hours after? Oh, come on. Yeah.

Made Brandon's mom. So... You were happy to see me. Yeah. They read the Bible. They sung hymns. So...

I need another claw. So you're in New York City. You're at the Red Cross. Your husband has just showed up. We had only two hours, I believe. And then we had to leave, you know. It was just temporary. So we were all tired. So my husband went into the hotel room.

And it was so amazing. The bed had a box on the back. I'll never forget it. You put a quarter in and the bed goes.

And I said, great. I can put the kids there. They're going to sleep. What flavor would you like, buddy? Anything. Thank you. Look at this baby nap machine. I was told it's also a funny, funny story of you learning to drive stick.

Oh yeah, that's a good story too. But I'm not finished with this. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Go on with the bed story. Please continue with that. I'm ready for more vibrating beds. Yeah, continue with the vibrating bed story. I'm excited. I've never seen that before. There you go.

Brandon, thank you for inviting us here. I hope you're having a grand old time. And then the next day, next morning, we were relaxed. We went to Trans Station.

Oh man. Oh, stress melted away. I guarantee you, nobody who started the first 20 minutes of this episode thought it was going to be anything like this. So you were well rested, a little dehydrated, going to the train station. About 30 years too early for gay to rave. So we went in the train to Oklahoma.

And halfway the train stopped, let everybody out to eat, and they get stuck. And there was another shock for me. I was looking at a couple, you know, one was white, one was black, you know, it was so new for me. And the waitress said, "You can come in here, it's only for whites." I said, "Excuse me?"

They can come in here. I didn't say that. I was thinking that. There's still segregation. What year was that? Early 1950s. I was in shock. She said, you can come here and you got to go in that place where all the blacks go, you know. What state was this?

Oh, well. It was half-based from New York to Oklahoma. It was one of those states. One of the 25 on that half of the country. That would be so crazy because if you've never seen that. Never seen that. And I couldn't believe it. They had to eat outside because you don't want to separate from her, you know. That was crazy. And then we got to Oklahoma. Was that Fort Sill?

Was he stationed there or do you remember? Fort Silloclahom, yeah. Lawton, matter of fact, Lawton, Oklahoma. So right away they didn't have quarters for us, you know. So we rented a house on the outside, you know. Had a tornado bunker and everything, boy, the works.

And then we moved to a little town. I forgot the name of it too. And I learned how to drive, right? I couldn't drive then. And my husband, he had no patience. Every time I did something with a stick, you know, I did something wrong, he'd go, "Don't you get it?" You know? I said, "Okay." So one day he was at work and I went in the car. I said, "I'll learn myself," right?

So I went in the car. Funny, I am proficient at stick driving. Good news. The transmission's gone. Good news. I learned how to do it. Bad news. Car's smoking now. And I drove. I mean, I put it in the back and I chirped. And forward too. And I said, I hope I don't get in the garage. You know, I'm in the garage. I'm in the garage.

But I did pretty good. I said, "Hmm, I'm going to visit my girlfriend." She was halfway between London and, you know, that little town. And I did great and I drove, you know, was fine.

But I had a problem. Every time I stopped, the motor shut off. You stall it? Release the clutch. So I said, oh, well, I'll just start it again right now. Oh, no. Those curves are probably going further. So you had your kids home alone. You took all your kids with you, I'm guessing? Of course. Do you remember what kind of car it was? No. A manual. Yeah, yeah.

I went to the friends I met, you know, and my husband had to go by the highway to go home, you see. And he seen the car, you know, and he stopped and he said, "Who drove the car over here?" And I said, "They say what?" The rooms were destroyed. Yeah, there's another story.

Then, anyway, we stayed there for a while, and then when we got orders to go to Panama, right, we went to Panama. No matter the fact, this first time I drove a ship, the other one was not a ship, I don't think. Anyway, so Oklahoma, well, we got there and I died almost with heat. They had no air conditioning.

They had a giant fan and in them years I had migraines, you know, and that wasn't very good with the fan, you know. But again, I learned how to drive. We went to the commissary. It was up the hill, right. In Panama? Panama. And I drove up, everything good. My girlfriend was with me and we had a babysitter then, you know.

And they were guard house before you get into the commissary, you know. And we had to show our ID and okay, I got my ID, you know, and I was on the guard house and I said, oh my God, the car is going backwards. It's not real. It's not real.

I told the guard I'd be right back. Just look at it real quick. Even the guard doesn't know.

Oh, gee. Oh, my God. And it was so hot over there. Oh, my God. Yeah, that's tropical heat. That's that humid, humid, humid. And six months of rain. That was terrible. And the crabs, they had crab season. I never seen anything like it. The whole, everything, patio, everything was full of crabs. The fire department came and, you know. Yeah, it was that bad.

Oh, dude, there's documentaries with the crab migrations where they just go across the island. Yeah. Snow crabs? Yeah. That's crazy. And they go in your tires, you know, when you carve a part. They go in your tires. Everything infested with crabs. Kind of reminds me of Fable. So, in Panama, were there vibrating beds? No. No.

We're not going to let that one die. He's like, I have an opportunity. Germany, Oklahoma, Panama. Did you go anywhere else after moving around for the service? No, my husband went to Vietnam, Korea. And I had to take care of all the kids by myself. That was not easy. And I had to take the car to buy my husband.

in Germany I mean yeah Germany you know that was hard you had to take what now sorry I didn't my car I was had to take it on how do you explain that ship it like to get it transported yeah okay yeah transport it to Germany and oh Lord it was hard times you know

It was always hard times, but still funny when you think about it. Now something that is also, you just spurred my memory. We have some family, like family, well family yours, family mine, but that were on the other side of the Berlin Wall in East Berlin. It was my dad's family. I never met, I never met them.

Because the war was going on, they built a wall, you know. And for me, as an American, my husband said, you're not going to go. You're not coming back. My father, for me, it was too dangerous, you know, being married to an American. Right, those guns pointed inward. Yeah, so I never went.

That's amazing. You have lived quite the life, ma'am. Oh my goodness. I tell you. There's probably more I can't remember. No, I've always been impressed by, always, always been impressed by just how sharp you are and just how much you remember. I think I've got that, you know, that I still got my mind asking. I have a question though. Hold on.

Do you have any funny stories about Brandon? Like growing up as a little boy. He was a cute kid. Of course he's cute. Do you have any funny stories, though, about Brandon? I used to pick him up from school, right? Yeah. And I'd take him home, and he didn't want to go home. He wanted to stay at home. Why? I don't know. I'll wrap myself out on that one.

I always sneak into Oma's house because she'd have Nutella. Nutella. Which you always called nougat. Nougat. Straight sugar butter. Yep, just fattening me up. The fun time I had in my life is, I think, when we had all the campers.

My son had a camper, they had a camper, we had a camper, and we parked kind of, you know, all together.

And that's when Brandon, every morning, disappeared, came to the toilet. My parents would be looking for me. I'm just waving from the window with a new cello friend. Hey, guys. Brandon's got a jar on his head. It's all chubby Brandon. He's a little fat kid. That was so funny. Oh, my goodness. Then we got...

I was born in Germany. She's a German, too. Oh, she's German? You were born on an army base, right? On a base in Germany? Yeah. She remembers. She's like, I don't remember. I don't know. American. They weren't shot, it was a girl. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. We truly, truly appreciate your time. I never thought I would tell you. Because I'm not a...

How do you say? Storyteller? She can talk, but I can't. Yeah, not talking? Not like braggadocious or a storyteller? No, I don't.

Like a preacher, right, in church. He came and he said... Charismatic, yeah. He said, don't you want to tell your story? I said, what? I said, no, my daughter can talk, not me. Wise. You killed this. Amazing. I think you did really good. I'm sure the audience will agree, but I've always said that, you know, the stories that I've heard growing up and just, you know, picking this...

piece by piece and hearing bits of your story when I was six, eight, twelve, fifteen. You've got an awesome story and you're one of the most inspirational women I've ever met. Well, like I said, I see everything like it was, but I can't think of dates or how old I was. I can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday. Oh, yes.

Well, we truly appreciate your time. Thank you so, so freaking much. Well, I'm sure you guys have been nice to have met you. Okay? Pretty nice to meet you. Twin people, too.

Even you, Cody. Even you, Cody. Cut it a little bit. And he got the glasses on. I couldn't tell on one picture. He said, wait a minute, first blind. That was Eli's fault. He put my face on Brandon and Brandon's face on my face and people couldn't tell the difference. Nope. On first glance, it was a little confusing. Yeah, it was terrifying. It was confusing.

I was laughing. What picture was that you showed me? I had to look twice. I said, "Which one is mine?" I have a question. One last question for you. If you could give any piece of advice living the life that you've lived, if you could give any piece of advice to young people, what would it be? That they're very lucky today, what they got. Really. And a lot of kids today

do not appreciate what they got, you know? We appreciate every little thing. Let me tell you, we were hungry. And when we get our ration for the week, depends how many the family was, when the potatoes run out, we peeled all the potatoes and we fried them. There was another meal, you know, for us. I forgot something. Yeah.

When the British came in, you know, and they were still with their rifles and all this, but by then we were so hungry. All the stores were gone, you know. I'm sorry, I have a cramp. You okay? A cramp. Do you want some water or something? No, I'm fine. Okay. And so I said, well, let's go to the stores. They were bombed. We'll find some food.

You know, canned food or something, you know. So me, my brother, we went across the street, there were big, what do you call it, not a warehouse, but where they sell everything. Like a general store? Yeah, big store. And they also had a food store in there. We went in there and there was that English guy with a machine gun, you know.

And he just looked at us and we looked at him and we kept on going, you know, hoping he don't shoot us, you know. But he didn't. He understood, I guess, you know. So you're saying kids should be grateful for what they have now? Yeah. They do not. They don't know how good they got it, you know. They're not appreciated. Mm-mm.

I agree fully. Omar? Yeah. Omar, on a lighter note, I want to show you. So this is our faces swapped. So this is me and Brandon swapped. You kidding? No. Wow. That's my face on Brandon's head. That's not. That's Brandon. No. No.

So that's me with Brandon's face and that's Brandon with my face. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Wait, no, that's Brandon. That's Brandon. Oh, yeah. Cody's like, that's me. Even I'm confused. But yeah, that's Brandon with my face. Wow. So that's my head with Brandon's face. Am I the only person who thinks that you don't look similar at all? I mean, when you do the face swap, the face swap's pretty. The face swap faces.

That one I get. Even that one, I was like, wait. Certain pitch, not so much, but you know, he's got some in there, he had me. I know. That one, Larry. We tricked Oma. Cody's going to be over in Oma's camper with Nutella. Only if she has a vibrating bed. Oh, no. That one was a clear...

I enjoy you guys. I love you. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure. Cody, you want to close us out, you beautiful son of a gun? I hope I live a little longer so I can enjoy all you guys. I've been saying that, you know, on my life it was hard, you know. I had migraines for 25 years, you know, and had to take care of five kids, you know. My husband was always gone.

because I'm pretty confident. She said six kids. Is she the imaginary kid? She's making all sorts of confessions today. Five kids plus the other one. No, I'm sorry. Continue. So I enjoy life a little bit. I'm grateful that I can live still on my own in my age, you know, that I'm grateful for.

She wants me moving with her, I know, but as long as I can do for myself, I want to be here. And I think everyone feels that way, don't you think? Yeah, you're in better shape than I will be in five years. So I think you're doing great.

I'd try. I mean, I got my mom. You just turned 93 four days ago. Four days ago. Oh, happy belated birthday. Unmattest day. Happy belated Mother's Day, too. Did my grandson call me? No. I did. Oh, my God. I will pull up the receipt right now. Did he call? Look at that. Look at that right here. Hold on. I'm going to pull that up Sunday. We talked for 22 minutes.

Don't harm me. You wanted to yell at me. I can't believe I almost got shade for that. You did not leave a memory. Apparently, I'm sorry I bored you.

Just like, back to the vibrating fan. Why didn't Cody call me? They all look the same. He's straight up saying, Brandon's calling again. Is that why you declined my first three calls?

She's going to smack the hell out of you, Brandon. She probably will. But seriously, Oma, thank you so much. Thank you, Oma. Thank you, thank you. You take care of yourself. Oh, well, all right.

And I really enjoyed you guys. It's been a pleasure. Thank you so, so much. I never thought I can do that. She said you can. Killed it. Cody, you want to close this out? We're going to kill this one? Yes. Everyone, thank you for joining the Unsubscribe podcast. I was joined today by Oma.

Oma. Oma. Oma. Oma. Oma. Brandon Herrera, Eli Doubletap, King Trout's here with us, and myself, Donut Operator. Thank you so much for joining the Unsubscribe podcast. We love you. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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