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Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery; Winter Rush in War Zone; Foreclosure Help: Steps for Borrowers in Distress

Aired November 11, 2008 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: It is Tuesday, November 11th, Veterans Day. And here are the top stories this hour from CNN.
AIG bailed out on your dime, holding a conference at a lavish desert resort. Are taxpayers footing the bill? The company says hold on a minute, looks can be deceiving.

Citi reaching out to help at-risk borrowers stay in their homes. Gerri Willis is here, and we will outline their offer to a half- million customers.

And on this Veterans Day, we spend time with the men and women in uniform still hard at work on the front lines in Afghanistan.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Eleventh hour of the 11th day of the 11th month on this Veterans Day. This hour, you just watched the wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Also ahead, the brand new Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, where President Bush will speak later this hour.

There is new anger and suspicion this morning focused on the taxpayer bailout of insurance giant AIG. CNN affiliate KNXV reports a number of senior execs from AIG were at a posh resort in Phoenix last week. The station says AIG took considerable steps to disguise its conference, making sure there were no AIG signs or logos.

A resort employee told KNXV they were told not even to say "AIG." Just yesterday, the government repackaged the AIG bailout, pushing the cost to $150 billion. Now one congressman wants the new CEO fired.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: All I'm saying is that if you want the American people to bail you out, then do me a favor. Make sure that you don't go out and basically spend their money, their hard-earned tax dollars, to have a nice time. Get your company straight. Use that money for resurrecting your company and not partying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: AIG says sponsors will reimburse most of the $340,000 conference expenses, and the company bill will end up being less than $25,000. A spokesman also says no top AIG execs were in Phoenix, despite our affiliate's report otherwise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK ASHOOH, SR. VP COMMUNICATIONS, AIG: We've certainly done some things in the past that have been worthy of criticism, but this one has really been mischaracterized. This was a conference for independent financial planners and not AIG employees.

We had a few employees there to put it on, but these are people who sell our products. Most of the cost, over 90 percent of the cost, was paid for by the attendees or by sponsors. And these are people who sell an awful lot of business for us, which is very important for us to stay healthy and pay back our loan from the U.S. government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Misgivings about AIG money surfaced days after the initial bailout was announced. That was in September. That's when AIG spent close to $500,000 on a California retreat.

Citi says it is working to keep people in their homes. The bank is putting a moratorium on foreclosures for at-risk homeowners. It will reach out to a half-million customers who may qualify for better mortgage terms.

Citi estimates 130,000 borrowers will end up in the program. The workout is worth $20 billion.

Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis will have steps to prevent foreclosures. She is with us here in Atlanta. Her top tips in about 10 minutes.

And you can bank on American Express. The credit card giant is turning into a full-fledged bank. Customer deposits will give American Express a new source of funding. Previously, it bundled its loans into securities and sold them to investors, but that market has dried up with the mortgage meltdown. Bank status will also let American Express to tap money from the $700 billion government bailout.

Two roadside bombs explode back-to-back in Bagdad. Iraq's Interior Ministry says the blast killed two people and wounded 17. One bomb detonated near a newspaper truck. The other exploded beside vendors and laborers nearby.

This comes a day after a triple bombing in Baghdad. At least 32 people were killed in what Iraqis call the deadliest attack in the capital in almost four months.

This Veterans Day, as we honor the millions of troops who have served in the nation's armed forces, we also want to acknowledge those still in combat.

Our Nic Robertson takes us to the front lines in remote parts of Afghanistan as the military prepares for the onset of winter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Winter is coming in the Afghan mountains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elevation is 1,600 -- over.

ROBERTSON: And with it, a rush to get to get the remote outposts high in the Hindu Kush ready. There is a simple logic, why soldiers up here near the Pakistan border will soon be enduring subzero conditions in flimsy, plywood huts.

LT. COL. JAMES MARKERT, U.S. ARMY: You have to control the high ground to move or you put yourself at risk. Control in the high ground takes time, takes resources.

ROBERTSON: Further down the valley, a mammoth resupply convoy lurches towards it along a broken dirt road, past the relics of previous ambushes.

Captain Stacy Sutter's job is help protect the mile-long snake of food and equipment.

CAPT. STACY SUTTER, U.S. ARMY: I've been attacked once farther up the valley. Had another element attack once. And then we've actually had locals that have been attacked several times up and down this valley.

ROBERTSON: The road parallels the border with Pakistan. On any given day the threat varies.

MAJ. MIKE CREEDON, U.S. ARMY: Sometimes the threat is a Taliban threat. And sometimes the threat is an al Qaeda threat. Sometimes the threat is just a bunch of thugs who are trying to make a buck.

ROBERTSON: With transport helicopters scarce, roads are the only backup.

(on camera): Without these supplies, bases further up the valley could quickly begin to run out of essential items. Exactly what's in the trucks when they travel is a closely-guarded secret, but it means keeping this road open is a top try priority.

(voice-over): In this village and others nearby, there is one simple tactic that's helping keep the roads open, money in the form of reconstruction projects intended to help build support for central government.

CREEDON: To the extent that it makes the contractors and the owners of the project better off and the locals better off, and the locals better off, then that's certainly a side-effect that's welcome, and we work through it.

ROBERTSON: As we drive up the valley, the rugged road, rather than the bandits, takes its toll. A truck breaks down, troops cross- load supplies as villagers watch with interest. No secret now what was in the precious hold. Rebuilding the roads can't come soon enough.

Back up at the mountaintop, at the end of the supply line, now it's clear why the porous border with Pakistan is so hard to control.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you try to put an outpost up on that actual border, like we would see along the border with Mexico, there's no way to get to it, there's no way to resupply it. And it would be very difficult to sustain that operation.

ROBERTSON: As it is, even before the snow does come, sustaining life here is already a complex challenge.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Nuristan, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: We'll take you live to Iraq next hour. We will find out how troops in the war zone are coping on this Veterans Day.

And keeping more Americans in their homes. Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis has your top tips. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Oh, we love when Gerri is here in Atlanta.

Citigroup says its new mortgage assistance program will help 130,000 borrowers. What if your bank isn't so helpful?

Here she is, Gerri Willis, as promised, right here in Atlanta.

Geri, good to see you.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Good to see you, Tony.

HARRIS: A couple pieces of business to get to here. Let's talk about Citigroup. Citi has announced a new plan.

WILLIS: That's right.

HARRIS: What's in it?

WILLIS: Well, let's talk about this program from Citi.

HARRIS: Yes.

WILLIS: You know, this is expansion of what they were already doing. What's really interesting here, they're being proactive. They're picking up the telephone and calling half a million homeowners out there to see if they need help with their mortgage.

Now, understand that they're targeting people who haven't necessarily defaulted on their loan. These are people who are absolutely paying their mortgage as it is right now, but because of the type of mortgage they have, they could get in trouble. And Tony, I want to tell you, you know, you were talking before about how they're extending the moratorium on foreclosures, all these kinds of things.

HARRIS: Yes.

WILLIS: They are really looking at people who are in trouble in parts of the country that are really under water here.

HARRIS: So this is really targeted.

WILLIS: The Southwest, California, the Midwest, where there's so many problems with foreclosures. You name it.

HARRIS: Yes. And what I love about this -- and we were just talking about it a second ago -- Citi knows where the problem is. They know about the debt on their books, right?

WILLIS: That's right. Yes, these are loans that they're holding on their books that they're going to be rewriting. And let me tell you, they're going to be forgiving some debt, bringing down interest rates.

HARRIS: Nice.

WILLIS: Anything could happen here. It's going to be really interesting to see. If you have a Citi loan, you might call them yourself, today.

HARRIS: Right. How about get a little proactive about it?

And there is something new that the federal government is offering, Gerri?

WILLIS: That's right. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac actually have a new program that's being talked about in which they may reduce mortgage debt to 38 percent of the holder's income.

Now, think about it. Mortgage guidelines are about a third of your income. It's typically what they want you to pay. And if you'll remember, during the last couple of years what's happened is people have allowed that mortgage debt to balloon, 40 percent, 50 percent of income. It's just impossible to sustain.

Now the federal government may come in and rewrite some of those loans. We're just getting details of that now, but, you know, lowering the principle, lowering the interest rate, lots of different things.

HARRIS: Well, it's going to have to happen, it sounds like, given the mess that we're in right now.

WILLIS: Right.

HARRIS: And if you're in a mess in your own home right now, what do you do right now? WILLIS: Well, I think the first thing you want to think about -- and this may not be obvious, because we've been talking about calling your lender for a long time.

HARRIS: That's right.

WILLIS: I think I've been saying this for six months. And you may have done that. And you may have found that your lender couldn't help you.

Call them again if you're in trouble now, because these new programs, they change. They're different. You may fit their criteria. Contact your lender if you can.

Look, a lot of people, Tony -- I want to say this -- who have mortgage problems have other debt problems.

HARRIS: Yes, credit cards and the like. Yes.

WILLIS: You might want a debt counselor. NFCC.org, a great place to go. If you want help with the mortgage, call the feds, pick up the phone. Go to www.hud.gov. That's the Department of Housing and Urban Development. They have counselors in neighborhoods, maybe in your neighborhood if you're having trouble.

HARRIS: What was that first Web site? Let's get that lower third again. What was that?

WILLIS: All right. NFCC.org.

HARRIS: What is that?

WILLIS: This is the National Foundation of Credit Counselors.

HARRIS: Great. Great.

WILLIS: That's somebody who's going to come in, help you figure out all your debt, how you're going to pay it. And then HUD would help you get that new loan.

HARRIS: But you have always told us to be proactive about this.

WILLIS: You've got to call on your own. You can't wait. I mean, we talked about Citigroup calling people, contacting people, but you can't necessarily wait for that.

HARRIS: Love having you here in Atlanta. Are you going to do "OPEN HOUSE" from here in Atlanta?

WILLIS: I wish, but no. I have to go home.

HARRIS: You're going back?

WILLIS: I have to go home. Fabulous being here.

HARRIS: Are you back tomorrow? WILLIS: Yes.

HARRIS: We're going to put you to work tomorrow.

Good to see you, Gerri.

WILLIS: Great to see you.

HARRIS: OK.

And as the most serious credit crisis in decades really rocks your finances, CNNMoney.com has advice and answers. Just check out our special report, "America's Money Crisis." Again, there you go, the lower third there, CNNMoney.com.

Just as you can find financial help online, veterans and families have plenty of resources on the Web. Grab your pen and paper. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: As we honor our nation's veterans today, iReporter Renee Sperato from Syracuse, New York, submitted these pictures of her father.

Raymond Sprague went to Vietnam in 1969. He fought in the Army for three years. He was decorated with two Bronze Stars and the Army Commendation Medal of Heroism.

Sperato says her father won't tell her much about what he did during those three years. She says he still has nightmares about the war and is now on disability. Sperato says she just wants to get his story out there and say how exceptional her father is.

Raymond Sprague now lives in Florida, an American hero.

Helping veterans connect online. Veronica De La Cruz joins us now with some terrific resources for those who have served our nation on this Veterans Day.

Good to see you, Veronica.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's nice to see you, Tony.

You know, times have definitely changed. It used to be that maybe veterans of wars past could head down to the American Legion to reconnect with old military buddies, maybe even grab a beer. But these days veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are reconnecting online.

So I want to tell you about a new social networking site that is allowing new veterans to do that. It's called communityofveterans.org.

It was set up by the Ad Council and the nonprofit group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. And if you take a look at the Web site, you can really tell this is a place to come share your stories so maybe your transition from military to civilian life is an easier one.

Now, you must be able to verify that you did serve in the military. And because of that, they're hoping to make it a veterans- only destination where likeminded people can discuss very personal issues, like maybe perhaps coping with PTSD. There's also lots of information available on the site from a section dedicated to navigating the VA, the GI bill. There are scholarship programs, retreats.

It even allows you, Tony, to rate some of the programs and services that you might have used. So a great Web site.

And another social networking site that I wanted to tell you about, Tony, this one is geared towards veterans of all wars. This is usvetspace.com.

Of course it's a U.S. veterans community where vets can gather, share their experiences, help one another, make new friends. You know, catch up with old buddies to read about current events. So that's another great resource.

And then, Tony, I want to remind you out there, just in case you aren't a vet, you want to honor our nation's heroes today. I want to tell you about a place online where you can do exactly that, our very own Web site. It is Impact Your World.

That's going to give you a list of charities where you can donate to the organization of your choice. Of course you can find it online at our Web site. It is CNN.com/impact.

So lots of great resources on the Web -- Tony.

HARRIS: Awesome. OK, Veronica. See you next hour. Thank you.

Bailouts, bonuses and you. AIG in the news for another hoity- toity meeting. Did taxpayer money pay for it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: We are going to be taking you back to New York City in just a couple of moments and to the Veterans Day ceremony and rededication ceremony of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. We are just moments away from President Bush delivering remarks. And when the President begins, we will certainly take you back to New York City.

President-elect Barack Obama takes time today to honor the nation's veterans.

Jessica Yellin live now from Chicago with more on the president- elect's day.

Jessica, good to see you. I understand the president-elect is taking part in a wreath-laying ceremony.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, he is, to honor Veterans Day today, Tony.

And we will see video of that. But that's all we're going to see from Barack Obama today. He is focused the rest of the day on transition meetings and calls with his team. He will be here in Chicago.

But I want to tell you a little bit more about the meeting he had with President Bush yesterday at the White House. CNN is learning that Barack Obama and President Bush did discuss a number of these pressing economic issues, specifically, Barack Obama told President Bush that he thinks it's very important the president get behind efforts to support the auto industry, accelerating financing, that $25 billion that's to go to them, and finding other levers inside the existing system to help bolster the auto industry that's suffering right now.

Barack Obama, we're also told, talked to President Bush about the need for an economic stimulus package. As you know, there's been quite significant tension between the White House and Congress over this very issue. The Democratic Congress pressing for a stimulus package, not all of which President Bush is willing to accept. So we understand Barack Obama, pressed him on that issue, while President Bush, in return, urged Barack Obama to get behind a plan to support a free trade agreement with the country of Colombia. And that is an important initiative for President Bush he'd like to see realized before he leaves office.

The incoming chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel, made it clear over the weekend that he doesn't think there should be any linkage between support -- getting Bush's support on the economic stimulus plan in exchange for Barack Obama's support on a Colombia free trade deal. I will tell you that I was not explicitly told that anyone in that meeting made it a quid pro quo, I want this in exchange for that. Just that it all came up.

These are all very important issues to the American economy -- Tony.

HARRIS: That's very interesting. OK, Jessica Yellin, a bit of the flavor of yesterday's meeting in Washington. Jessica joining us from Chicago.

Jessica, thank you.

And check out our Political Ticker for all the latest news on the transition. All you need to do is just logon to cnnpolitics.com, your source for all things political.

Insurance giant AIG holds a conference at a first-class resort in Phoenix. A legitimate part of doing business even while it's taking a government bailout? Or, is AIG wasting taxpayer money. CNN's Christine Romans joins us from the business desk in New York. And Christine, just a little heads up here, we may have to jump out of our time together here just to get to the president in New York City.

But let me ask you, the company can certainly explain this, but the PR of this looks pretty bad.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It just shows you, Tony, I think that this company is under a microscope. This company, now that the American taxpayers had to bail it out, now that it's gone with its hand out to the American government, not once but twice, and said look, we need help, every single move it makes is really being scrutinized.

So here is the story. A local Phoenix news station used an undercover camera and followed executives -- or AIG advisory employees to this big conference at a Hilton there, Squaw Peak Hilton. And what they found was 150 financial planners who were being told by AIG executives, and a bunch of other people, frankly, from a lot of other financial services firms, about these financial services products. So here is the thing. Is this just a regular sales conference? This is how you sell products, right? If you're AIG and you're trying to save your business, well you're going out there and you're shopping your products around to the people who are going to sell them, financial planners.

But there's a lot of concern about every move this company makes. They want to make sure that no taxpayer money has been spent. I want you to listen quickly to what a spokesperson for AIG said about this after the controversy erupted.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was an event to help sell our product to independent financial advisers, not employees. And most of the costs were paid for by others, not by taxpayers.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ROMANS: So it cost about $343,000 for this event. The company says about 90 percent will be covered by its sponsors. It was about 150 financial planners. And they canceled an appearance, according to this affiliate, they canceled an appearance by Terry Bradshaw when it became clear that a $40,000 or so expense for Terry Bradshaw would not meet up to snuff with taxpayers. So they canceled that experience.

So depending on the way you look at it, it is either -- people who work for AIG at a nice resort having meetings around a pool when taxpayers are footing the bill, or it is just the way business is conducted in the insurance industry and they were out there selling their products.

HARRIS: Well, Christine, let me understand this. We now, taxpayers, have a stake in AIG through this bailout, correct?

ROMANS: That's right. That's right. HARRIS: So we have a stake in AIG being successful, correct?

ROMANS: That's right.

HARRIS: And at least, according to AIG, this is part of doing business and most of the costs were paid for by others and not by tax payers, correct?

ROMANS: Yes.

HARRIS: The question then is do we take them at their word.

ROMANS: Well, Congressman Elijah Cummings earlier this morning asked for the CEO of this company to step down over this. He said people are losing their jobs in this country, and he had been assured that there would be no pool-side anything with people who work at AIG because they do not need to be next to a pool, is basically how he feels about it. He had called for their -- for his resignation.

HARRIS: Well let's talk about this again next hour.

ROMANS: I think we should.

HARRIS: Yes, let's do that.

All right, Christine, thank you.

Quickly now let's get you to Rob Marciano in the severe weather center.

And Rob, the president is up in New York about to deliver some remarks there on the deck of the Intrepid. The weather looks fantastic.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It does. It couldn't be a more glorious day for the festivities out there on the West Side of Manhattan. A little bit chilly, but that chillness --

HARRIS: What you expect right now.

MARCIANO: Exactly. No humidity, though. This is the time of year where New York feels pretty clean.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: That's right. How about that wake up for Washington State?

MARCIANO: I try to give a shoutout to our folks on the West Coast.

(CROSSTALK)

MARCIANO: It is 8:37.

HARRIS: How about that as you get your day going? Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: All right.

HARRIS: Veterans Day in America, and the commander-in-chief is at the newest military museum. We're awaiting remarks from President Bush and we we will bring that event to you when it begins right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: As you know the military is an extremely close knit and caring community, often finding creative ways to honor fallen heroes. We get one example this Veterans Day. CNN photojournalist Jeremy Moorehead brings us the story of Nate's Open Door Pantry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAMONA VAZQUEZ, NATE'S OPEN DOOR PANTRY: We are at the Coast Guard base in Curtis Bay, Maryland. I'm Ramona Vazquez, a U.S. Coast Guard spouse. I have three boys. I'm really fortunate that I'm able to not just be a civilian employee on base and be part of the spouses.

Hi, Mrs. Leslie (ph).

We have a variety of different associations and groups that you can participate in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just to think, we started here in this little trailer and it is getting ready to move in right by the exchange. What a perfect place to be able to help the families.

VAZQUEZ: This was a trailer that had been used previous as a work site. If we take it and we clean it and get it in usable working condition, can we have it? And because we were under the watchful eye of the chaplains and because of it being one of his activities, we were able to utilize it.

What the pantry offers is a little bit of relief for those that are living paycheck to paycheck. So we have two sides, we have a girl's side and a boy's side. We have used and new clothes. Slowly but surely we had a grand opening almost a year to the day after Nate Bruckenthal was killed in Iraq.

He was deployed on his second tour to Iraq. And at that same time he was expecting his first child. Harper is his daughter. Just seeing him in that Coast Guard uniform and his face flash on the news, you knew that it was like losing a brother. And at that point you kind of think somewhere in the back of your mind, I want to do something great one day to honor his memory.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Chaplain Brian Jacobson (ph). Probably the saddest thing is to understand that Nate gave his life, but yet at the same time he's giving life to everybody that's around him.

VAZQUEZ: We had the Bruckenthal family -- they were just recently invited. And Mr. Bruckenthal was here to come see the pantry that was named after his son.

The clothes are set up according to size are our primary mission started off with just the Coast Guard. But then we found that our Coast Guard civilian family members are also in need and we opened it to them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Out of death, life came forth. And it's unfortunate that any service member is placed in harm's way. But the basis of Nate's Open Door is to truly show the Coast Guard as a whole, along with all of our other branches of service that get to use this facility, is that family is the most important thing. And when you can go home at night and look in the eyes of your wife and look at your children and know that their needs are met, there's nothing greater in life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Nate's Open Door Pantry.

The American flag, made in China?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: U.S. flags with a 'Made in China' label -- many veterans find that a bit disturbing. And some in Congress are pushing to keep foreign made flags from being sold in the United States.

That story now from Lisa Sylvester.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Old Glory has been a symbol of courage, inspiration and patriotism for more than 200 years. But many of those American flags are made not in the United States, but in China.

MARK DARLING, VETERAN: It's a symbol of the United States freedom. It's what we fight for when we're in combat, it's what we stand for. And it should be manufactured in the United States.

SYLVESTER: Last year, 4.7 million dollars worth of American flags were imported. $4.3 million worth of those flags came from China, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

MARTY CONATSER, AMERICAN LEGION: The major symbol of our country should absolutely be made in America. It should show the pride we have in our country. As a military person, I have a great deal of pride for the flag I served under.

SYLVESTER: Congress is taking up the issue. One bill would require the federal government only buy flags that are 100 percent American-made. Another bill, introduced last year and co-sponsored by U.S. representative Brad Sherman would out right prohibit foreign-made U.S. flags from being sold in the United States.

Sherman says it's disturbing to see an American flag with a Chinese label.

REP. BRAD SHERMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: It makes me remember that this was and is a great country, but it's a country that was built on making things, built on middle-class jobs, and that a 'Made in China' flag is just a symbol that we've made some very bad decisions over the last few years, and that we are on the wrong road.

SYLVESTER: Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Many of our veterans are haunted by the painful memories of war. But we want to introduce you to a Vietnam veteran who is finding peace by helping his former enemies improve their medical system.

That story is from CNN photojournalists Brian Gassen and Frank Bivona.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT ETHERSON, RETIRED COLONEL: You folks say the war ended 40 years ago. And I tell you that the war has never ended for me. This is my war, every one of my forefathers had their war. You're taught to kill people and you kill people. Then you come home here and you're taught to respect people.

I was called by one of the majors in the fourth infantry division to bury a soldier, apparently an NVA officer. I was given the task as the youngest lieutenant to take that naked body and get rid of it. So we dug a hasty, shallow hole and we threw him in it.

When we threw him in it, he landed face-down. Many years after I came back I began thinking about this man lying face-down, naked in an unmarked grave. He was in my dreams constantly. I wanted to go back for one reason -- find the grave, and send him home. We did in fact find the body of that soldier. We reported it to the Vietnamese government. They have that right now as to resurrect that body.

I believe every soldier should go home, and I wanted to repatriate this fellow. When we were in Vietnam we did a little sightseeing. As I'm an EMS personnel here, I wanted to go see what kind of emergency medical services they had in Hanoi, in Vietnam. The answer was simple. There wasn't any.

Dermott (ph) and I were in a hospital, they brought a young boy in. Couldn't have been more than 18. And as I looked down, waiting for somebody to come over to help this boy, he died at our feet. You just can't leave a group of people like that without trying to do something.

I'm going to go back to Vietnam in February to assist them with the establishment of an emergency medical services system. Once we have it established in Hanoi, if it works well, it will be promulgated throughout the entire country of Vietnam. There's an old saying that smoke, when the battle's cleared, and the guns are quiet, at one point in time you have to reach down and lend a hand to your former enemy. Only in doing that, that little act of generosity, do you find the war is really over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And for more amazing stories about our veterans, logon to cnn.com/specials and click on the link to our "Veterans in Focus" section at the top of the page.

And once again, we're going to take you back to New York City in just a couple of moments. The Veterans Day ceremony and rededication ceremony at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space museum. President Bush to make remarks in just a couple of moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: CNN i-Reporters sharing their family stories with us on this Veterans Day. This one from George Sidler of Macon, Georgia. This is a good one. He joined the Marines in 1973 and served for 26 years. He says his oldest son joined in 1995 and is now in the reserves. He's been to Iraq twice now. Sidler's youngest son joined in '06. His first assignment was to Iraq. Both Sidler boys were there at the same time. The elder Sidler says it probably wasn't as tough for them as a military family as it would be for a non-military family. The youngest Sidler is back at Florida State now trying to finish school, but he is still working for the Marine Corps Reserves.

Veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with scars. Some are finding novel therapies. Team River Runner put the vets on the water. Recently, U.S. Olympians dove in to help.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW TAYLOR, ADVENTURE SPORTS CENTER INTL.: This is the inaugural Olympic Team River Runner challenge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All forward. All forward.

DANA ALEXANDER, TEAM RIVER RUNNER: It's health and healing through whitewater boating.

LANCE CPL. BRIAN OVERFIELD, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Team River Runner and coming to do this event with them I couldn't pass up the opportunity to be with many Olympians.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a little weird kind of telling them what to do. I felt sort of like it should have been the other way around.

Good. All right, and relax!

OVERFIELD: When you're out there, the water's the only thing you're thinking about. And it's nice to kind of let everything else go for a while. SGT. JUANITA MILLIGAN, U.S. ARMY: It just kind of helps you feel a little more normal than the everyday struggles you might have.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go.

TAYLOR: The flow of water and flowing on water is therapeutic. It's exciting. It actually can heal your spirit, heal your mind and heal your body.

ALEXANDER: It started at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. We started taking people out on the Potomac River and different VA hospitals and medical centers across the country called and said, we love your program, how do we get programs like yours?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really, there's no way to describe the way it feels to have a wave that's kind of bigger than you are sitting down in a boat and ripping through it.

CASEY EICHFELD, U.S. OLYMPIAN: They were really determined to go out there and -- they were giving me suggestions and they were great suggestions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It gets you out of a hospital environment, allows you to be with your fellow service members. And out here, regardless of branch, we all get along and sit down and talk. And on a number of different levels, it's really good.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And you can find out more about Team River Runner on the organization's Web site -- teamriverrunner.org.

Hello again, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Here are the headlines from CNN for Tuesday, November 11, Veterans Day.

President Bush honors duty and sacrifice aboard the Intrepid museum this hour. The rededication in New York harbor.

Live pictures now from the USS Midway Museum in San Diego. The Homeland Security chief swears in new citizens. All are serving in the U.S. military.

New questions about AIG and how it's spending taxpayer bailout dollars. The company says don't jump to conclusions just yet.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.