the dixie. she sent her daughter off to the exclusive catholic school and she didn't know until she was in high school that her mother ran a bordello. she had an efficient system set up to preserve her patrons' privacy in that there was a system of locks and bells. and when a patron came in to go to one of the rooms with the girl, the rest of the room doors were locked until he was safely inside the room with the girl. and this was to -- in order that no other people might come out of the hotel room when he was going in. so that these people did not see each other and didn't have to acknowledge each other's presence in the hotel. tom james was a state representative and he was young and ambitious and idealistic. and there was a fear at that

time that national organized crime was going to come in and take over parts of texas. and he -- and the other members of the commission became named after him, because he was the chairman and he was also the most ambitious one. the james commission was a state legislature mandated group that came down, not just to beaumont and not just to jefferson county. but also to other parts of texas as well. galveston being one that comes to mind and they were to investigate the possibility that organized crime had already penetrated these areas. i don't think they found the national organized crime but they found lots of local crime. so there was a united citizens for law enforcement. ucle, that was formed. they began to try to get action taken. they were eventually indictments against some of the local officials. some of them were removed from

office. others were just not elected. the dixie was ultimately closed down although ms. rita continued to operate in another set of buildings and she operated out of her house for some years, but she died in the '70s. crockett street today, this part of it is wonderful. you can of course go dance at the dixie dancehall which is country and western venue that was made from the old dixie hotel. coming up next, the 14th annual conference and first we hear from general robert titus who served in the korean war and who received the distinguished flying cross. after that, we hear from francis "jeep" sanza who was dr. dwight d. eisenhower's driver during world war ii. this is about an hour.

b. >> good morning, ladies and gentlemen, i hope that those of you who were here yesterday enjoyed the proceedings. i thought we had a very full program of interesting panelists and speakers. i hope you agree. and should get even better today, i think. thank you for getting up at this early morning hour on saturday to be with us for a full day of adventure as we listen to some great stories from some great heroes from a number of conflicts that the country has been in over the past 70 years. we take pride in the fact that we have a lot of students come to the conferences. different groups all three days. we're expecting yet more to come in today. i'm also proud to say that for the first time we have representatives from all five of the service academies with us. the united states military academy at west point, the u.s.

naval academy in analysis and the coast guard and merchant marine academy which are new this year. we want to build this represe representation up every year. we're about the youngest generation and imparting the lessons of war and even peacetime from the great veteran heros that speak. we want to impart those lessons to the young people here today and during our conferences in general and hopefully they'll get something out of this, which will be helpful to them as they pursue a career in the military or even not if they're going to civilian life. a lot of these lessons are applicable to everybody when it comes to leadership. i'm pleased to welcome to the podium or introducer for this morning's first session. he is peter impriale and he's with the united states coast guard. peter?

>> robert titus, he graduated from high school in norfolk, virginia. he served with the 82nd airborne division and then he attended virginia tech, studying engineering and he was commissioned in the united states air force in september of 1949. and served as the fighter pilot flying f-51s during the vietnam war. he subsequently graduated from the u.s. air force experimental test pilot school at edwards air force base in 1954 and was assigned to the fighter branch of flight test operations and participated in the flight testing of all century series flighters. he participated in the nato trials and he performed the f-100, zero launch program and flew an f-100 in the first jet

fighter crossing from england to alaska. he retired in 1977 with 32 years of service. and flew over 550 combat missions in korea and vietnam. his decorations include the air force cross, the silver star, legion of merit, distinguished flying cross, bronze star and the air medal. francis "jeep" sanza was a driver for general eisenhower and general patton while serving in the automotive company. he was selected for the allied invasion of occupied france and drove for him from d-day until the end of the war in europe in may 1945. later that year, general patton died on december 21, 1945, as a result of an auto accident. mr. francis sanza received five

medals and five bronze stars during his time of service. thank you. >> i'm brigadier general robert titus, u.s. air force retired. i did 27 years in active duty in the air force. my first ride in an airplane was in an open cockpit plane. and i rode in my father's lap. that was quite an experience. and ultimately, an air force recruiter told me i could be an aviation cadet an i asked him what the deal was and they explained that if i had passed through the pilot training program, they'd give me wings and a commission. and if i didn't, they didn't want me. so i said, that's a no-brainer.

you can teach me to fly and i can leave if i want to? okay. sign me up. >> we lost a lot of guys in korea. and i didn't expect to survive it. i met a friend of mine, i went to high school and college with on r&r in tokyo and i started to tell him what i should tell me mother? well, the probability of completing this tour is between zip and zilch. aren't you upset about that? no, that's what we do for a living. we lose, we lose. yeah, the f-100, that's 130,000 pounds solid rocket propellant

which was strapped on to the bottom of the airplane. >> f-100 super saver is being prepared for the kick in the pants. the system provides takeoff capability in much the same manner as the matador missile is launched. >> technique, you're sitting on back of the truck, elevated 45 degree, 30 degrees, whatever it was. check out your instruments and pull the trigger and you hit an additional 330,000 pounds of thrust and now you're doing 235 miles an hour. so i had the opportunity to demonstrate that at indian springs. i remember hoover was on the ladder with me. i said watch this i'm in a roll. oh, no, you don't. got a whole combat load, you

can't do that. anyway, i said -- why did you do that? well, you had a chance to shine your ride in front of the crowd. i had designed that flight plan and charlie mary wblair was out and i threw my map on the floor. i have the two with the navigational equipment in them. i thought maybe i'd do a fuller flight. >> there's a strange element that creeps into the equation when guys panic. that dictates their behavior.

i never understood it myself, but i have seen it a lot. shut up and die like a man. >> rolling in at about 15 seconds. >> i can't see it. >> okay. >> and we're coming down the ridge, and i said, i'm gone. followed him around and locked on to him. he's going downhill and they're saying fire, fire. in the meantime, my wing man is yelling brake. i said, no, time to guide the missile.

full bottom rudder. i'm passing everybody. and i go after him. we're all locked up on him. but he's going down. he's got too much clutter to pick him up on the side winger. so he's launching and got an et cetera -- expanding series. so i fire another missile. i fire a third, and this guy is going to turn down here and then i hit his -- hit his wing. oh, he's got a martin baker seat, just like everybody else. >> duty is ours. the result is god's. we talk about honor.

honor something that we can't get for ourselves and honor that which is accorded to us by our fellows. our come aedes. -- comrades. we can only act honorably by remembering that what we do is a measure of our character. country, country service to country is what it's all about. we raised our hand each of us and said we would. we will. and so we did. regardless of the outcome. >> how are you doing? >> all right.

>> well, those are aheheady day from my perspective. i was gifted and privileged to participate in a lot of things. but i had to volunteer for it for the most part. i had to fight to get those jobs. recall as the korean war kicked off, i spent a lot of time knocking on the personnel officer's door about once a week saying i want to go get in this war. i hit this world war ii. i got the jump on the 82nd airborne division, but i even got to march in the world war i i victory parade. led by general jim gavin. fine commander. i recall one time being on parade at ft. bragg, the whole division. and the general officers, and the colonels were appearing in

their staff cars, getting on the reviewing stand with their wives and so on. we're standing out there, waiting for the band to start up. and wondering when we're going to go. and off in the distance here comes the lone figure coming to the reviewing stand. that was general gavin. i thought that was the primary example of leadership. we were all thoroughly impressed. gavin was the selfless leader of men. great guy. i had the privilege of knowing him later on. and i admired and respected him. he was a guide. being from virginia i had two personal heroes. yankees wouldn't like this. robert e. lee and stone wall jackson.

and why? because they were selfless. they gave of themselves beyond anything which was ordinarily required. i look at the young faces here and say my god, how wonderful it is for you to be embarking on the military career opportunity. so learn what you can from your teachers at this stage of the game. find your own personal guide. let them tell you how to function, and give it your all. because what else is there? to the extent you can give of yourself, you then contribute. and then life is about contributing. we're giving them an honor by our maker. whom we serve. because we're really nothing. we get accolades, we wonder why.

we're rewarded for doing that which we love to do. i think my greatest experiences in combat were providing closed air support for my brothers on the ground. and when they were in desperate need, if you were there and had the opportunity with an appropriate weapons, to provide them some succor, let them survive to the extent that you had a capacity to provide that support, i had that experience one time in vietnam. i was airborne with napalm and 50 caliber flying f-5s at the time. and somebody was in distress and i heard it on guard channels. so i was given a frequency and i

was talking to a fellow on the ground. he was a member of the force team, these are special forces. green beret guys who had infiltrated. and they recruited young. these were chinese prisoners or criminals i suppose. but anyway they were released from jail in order to fight the viet cong and given the opportunity to be led by these teams, consisting of the captains and several sergeants. and meanest guys i've ever known in my life. dedicated guys. anyway they were encircled and they had dead and wounded and they needed a little bit of help. and i was privileged to be -- to be led down, and not knowing what was beneath us. it was a little hairy, wondering

if you were going to run into something. but we broke out below. this guy that i was talking to was whispering in the microphone. he was close to the enemy and trying to find him was another task. i said we'll pop some smoke. he didn't want to do that until he knew what the timing might be. he gave me a heading during the north or whatever. i finally managed to fly over his position and into the 270 he came back with the napalm. he wanted it right on his position which -- if that's what you want, we'll give it to you. that night i was in the squadron bar, at the air base, when some guy was at the door. asking for me. while my guy is reaching for the pistols, here's a guy in grease paint and a soft hat, camouflaged up and he had a bottle of champagne for me. i said, now that's gratitude.

but again, it was a real serious privilege to be able to deal with somebody like that. anyway, i was asked earlier ever had any close calls? i said i don't know. what do you call a close call? well, were you ever shot down? yeah. that's why -- did you survive? actually, the first time was in korea and i was flying a mustang -- b-51 mustang. i was hit by ground fire. the plane was very vulnerable to ground fire with a lot of coolant pipes running back and forth. 40 caliber bullet fuels, you run out of coolant, you run out of engine, time to get out. so you jump over the side and pull your rip cord, you hit the ground that quickly. and i remember i was quite low when i punched out. and i ended -- i ended on the

ground. i didn't know where i was. i knew i was in korea. but i didn't know where i was in relation to the enemy. but i soon found out i was in the middle of no-man's-land at the time in the demilitarized zone and i pull out my .45 because i saw some guys in pajamas headed towards me from the north. and i popped off a couple of rounds and they responded. i don't know. not going to work out too well. so i kept my head down and i was actually pretty tense for a few moments. when an american voice -- strong american voice just south of me, not too far of me, he said, keep your head down and crawl in this direction. the marines sent out a patrol to

give me some cover and i crawled back and i was grateful to the marines. that was a close call. i certainly didn't want to be a p.o.w. but that's all in a day's work. in the business of having a privilege of flying fighters. now and again you get a little -- that's the way it goes. over to you. >> you're on. >> my turn? all right. here we go. i'm going to give you a story of a great general.

and i'm go -- i don't know if he was shot or killed. i don't have my tape. i sent a tape here. i guess they won't show it. i made some series with the history channel and with war stories for oliver north. and i told -- i was told to give stories and i did and he put them on the tape and you might have seen them on hbo. first, where i met general patton. i met him in england when eisenhower told him he was taking over the third army. i was in the first army then. and they were looking for a build -- looking to build up the third army. the blood bank, that was there in england. we were there for a while and everybody is getting together

and then our company went up there. i went to two schools before the war. i was in the service in 1941, in april when the war started in '41 in december. and i was in school, i guess they went through my records and found out and they picked me. i had a chat with him for a couple of hours, this and that and the other and he gave me a pat on the shoulder, all right, you made it. so i was his driver for the invasion of france until the end of the war. and we were up and down and i did things and he did things that you won't believe happened but i'll tell you they happened. first, when he met me -- we went -- we had the invasion of france in june the 3rd. june the 3rd and the weather was so bad and they didn't know what to do. so they cancelled it. so they had a meeting with

eisenhower and bradley and montgomery. they had their meeting on the boat and so they cancelled it until june the 6th. and then they wondered why we picked june the 6th. eisenhower's son michael was born at 3:00 in the morning june the 6th. so they picked that date to invade france. so it was a good idea. he was -- he was a hard man. he was a hard man, but he was always who worried about the men. he did a lot of things he shouldn't do, but he did it. i'll tell you things that he did and surprise you. so here we go. first, i'd take him somewhere. he'd have to say -- one knee on

the ground and put your foot in the truck, the jeep, and say a prayer. then he'd get up and start swearing like hell. i'm gonna get them. every time he got in the jeep. the word hell was a great word. everything he said, hell this and hell that. that was the word -- he always said hell, hell. the drivers i was driving through a town, where are you going, general? i'm going to burn that son of a bitch paper tiger. he wanted to go to berlin and i had on the jeep. bradley called on the radio. he said, george, you're gonna stop right here. don't go no further. we're going to cut off your gas

and water and this and that and then the telephone and you can't talk to nobody, so forth and okay. so he got back, he wondered why, and he told him, russia was going to take berlin instead of him going in there. he had tears in his eyes. this is where he wanted to go. berlin was his to take over. he wanted to be in there and let them know who he was and so forth. he was afraid to go there in the first place. he was afraid to go there. so, okay, got back and got his jeep all ready. he wanted a dome. he wanted a dome to put on top of the jeep in case when he gets into berlin they wouldn't take a shot at him. all the airplanes, they were blown down on the ground. i went out to see if i could get the big dome from the back. like i could put on top of the jeep, but they were all full of holes, they couldn't use them. so i picked up other pieces of plastic and then we made it for

his jeep. we modified the jeep for him. i had a beautiful picture to show, but they didn't show. we modified this jeep to get him ready to go to berlin and then he didn't get to go. so he was getting ready, so he had -- he owned two helmets. one he had for when he goes around in speeches. one was for the front lines. you guys know the interliner? okay. we got that liner, and he wanted to shine it. so our captain, e.b., he went down and got a gallon of lacquer. see nice that hat shines? we had lacquer on that baby. then he had pistol. he wanted his pistol, i guess you heard about that story.

pearl handles. so we did -- we could fix it. i brought some pieces of plastic back from the airplane. a guy by mcdonald, yeah, we can fix it up. he gave us the pistol. the handle. he got this plastic and he carved it. a wonderful job. so he painted it inside, all nice and white. a little lacquer. he was happy. then went down and in the war, he couldn't go -- he couldn't go to berlin. he felt bad. he went back and stayed for a while. two days later he called me. he said he's going to take me to austria. where in austria? i'm going to ride the white horses. he used to be a countryman in louisiana. they closed down the -- he said the jeep took over his horses. so