Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Interview with Parents of Captured Pilot
Aired March 25, 2003 - 07:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: They didnt say a word and appeared to be unharmed, but the fate of two U.S. Apache helicopter pilots who were captured in Iraq after their helicopter went down is anything but certain.
Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Young, seen on the left in video played on Al Jazeera TV, is from Georgia.
And joining us now from there in Lithia Springs, his parents, Ronald and Kaye Young, sisters, Kelly Lively and Samantha Jolo (ph), and his brother, Mark Young, his wife, Stephanie (ph), and Ronald's other brother, Jessie Young (ph).
Nice to have you all with us this morning. Sorry it has to be at such a traumatic time for your family.
Mrs. Young, explain to us what the military has told you about your son and his condition?
KAYE YOUNG, MOTHER OF CAPTURED PILOT: You probably know as much about that as I do. Just that he is a POW, and that, you know, he looks good. He looks like he hasn't been harmed, and we're very thankful for that. And that's pretty much all we know. They said that -- they've given us numbers. We can call them if we have questions. And they would let us know just as soon as they knew anything. They've been wonderful.
ZAHN: But like any mother, I'm told you have that mother's intuition, and even though you say your son looks OK, there was something -- some sort of signal you got that things weren't going well for him. Explain to us what happened.
K. YOUNG: I just -- I had been worried about him all day. I had just -- and they had the three-hour conflict. And after that, I just had this feeling. I don't know. And it was so dramatic that I looked at the clock and I think that's probably about the time they went down. I'm not sure about that.
But I just felt like I was just embraced, and I just felt like I was -- I felt safe and I felt warm all over. And I just felt like that he was all right. And then when I heard it went down when I woke up at a quarter until 5:00 and I saw the helicopter, I wondered if that feeling -- you know, it immediately came back to me and I was afraid he was dead.
But you know, now I know that that was just a mother's feeling, and the spirit allowed us to I guess almost touch souls or something. I dont know, but it was -- it's been very comforting.
ZAHN: Yes, I think over time, everybody has learned never to second-guess the instincts of a mom.
K. YOUNG: I know.
ZAHN: Mr. Young, tell me about when it was confirmed to your family that in fact your son had been taken a prisoner of war.
RONALD D. YOUNG, SR., FATHER OF CAPTURED PILOT: Well, we found out about the situation, you know, over the radio. And then my wife called the company commander's wife out there in Texas, and she said that they would notify us, that they would probably come by the house. It wouldn't be anything like a phone call or anything like that.
And I went to take care of some errands during the morning, and I had been hoping all morning that it wasn't his aircraft. Of course, we had one out of six chances, because there were six Vampires in that unit. And she -- and when I came home, one of the friends of my son said that the Army is in there, so I knew right then that, you know, it was a bad situation. And they told us that he was missing-in- action. They didn't say he was POW or anything, just missing.
ZAHN: And then how long was it then that it took to find out that in fact he had been taken as a POW?
R. YOUNG: Well, that afternoon, we had been hearing rumors that they had captured the pilots and, you know, back and forth on the television. And at one time they said -- one of the rumors said that they had a couple of pictures of pilots who had dog tags from that area where he's from, and but that they didnt have any real clear-cut pictures. So I didnt know if it was something trumped up and they had done something to him and they were trying to pass someone else off as them, or if they were still uncaptured or what. And I was worried about him just being alive at that point.
And a lady brought a tape in to us, and Susie Candiotti brought a tape in to us and showed us a picture of him as being a POW and it was a great deal of relief at that point to me just to know he was alive.
ZAHN: Wow! You know, it's hard for the rest of us to respond to that knowing it was a relief that he was alive. You had so many doubts about that.
Mrs. Young, I think folks probably know out there the Apache is one of the most sophisticated helicopters in the world, and your son knew before going into Iraq that he probably would be involved in a dangerous mission. Did he ever talk about the possibility of what might happen once he was deployed?
K. YOUNG: We did. He actually had orders for Afghanistan after 9/11, and then they cancelled the orders. And we then had a night that we just embraced and cried and shared feelings, and it just really touched my heart. And I'm glad for that. And then when this time we just decided we'd already talked about that, and you know, of course, we talked about many things, and you know, we're very close. All of my children are very close.
And I just -- I know that he was prepared for if something happened. He had told met that if he was ever asked to give his life for his country that he hoped that he'd be able to that honorably. And he seemed very glad to do that if that was needed. He supports our president and he feels like that he's a great leader. And you know, he's just ready to do whatever he's asked to do.
ZAHN: Well, we really appreciate your sharing some of your time with us this morning at this very difficult time. I can see you find that embrace of your family very comforting.
K. YOUNG: Yes.
ZAHN: And we appreciate the whole extended family joining us this morning as well. Our thoughts are with your family. And if everything you say about the strength of your son is true, we all feel the same way that you do. We're very proud of the service and then wish him the very, very best.
K. YOUNG: Thank you.
Thank you again for joining us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired March 25, 2003 - 07:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: They didnt say a word and appeared to be unharmed, but the fate of two U.S. Apache helicopter pilots who were captured in Iraq after their helicopter went down is anything but certain.
Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Young, seen on the left in video played on Al Jazeera TV, is from Georgia.
And joining us now from there in Lithia Springs, his parents, Ronald and Kaye Young, sisters, Kelly Lively and Samantha Jolo (ph), and his brother, Mark Young, his wife, Stephanie (ph), and Ronald's other brother, Jessie Young (ph).
Nice to have you all with us this morning. Sorry it has to be at such a traumatic time for your family.
Mrs. Young, explain to us what the military has told you about your son and his condition?
KAYE YOUNG, MOTHER OF CAPTURED PILOT: You probably know as much about that as I do. Just that he is a POW, and that, you know, he looks good. He looks like he hasn't been harmed, and we're very thankful for that. And that's pretty much all we know. They said that -- they've given us numbers. We can call them if we have questions. And they would let us know just as soon as they knew anything. They've been wonderful.
ZAHN: But like any mother, I'm told you have that mother's intuition, and even though you say your son looks OK, there was something -- some sort of signal you got that things weren't going well for him. Explain to us what happened.
K. YOUNG: I just -- I had been worried about him all day. I had just -- and they had the three-hour conflict. And after that, I just had this feeling. I don't know. And it was so dramatic that I looked at the clock and I think that's probably about the time they went down. I'm not sure about that.
But I just felt like I was just embraced, and I just felt like I was -- I felt safe and I felt warm all over. And I just felt like that he was all right. And then when I heard it went down when I woke up at a quarter until 5:00 and I saw the helicopter, I wondered if that feeling -- you know, it immediately came back to me and I was afraid he was dead.
But you know, now I know that that was just a mother's feeling, and the spirit allowed us to I guess almost touch souls or something. I dont know, but it was -- it's been very comforting.
ZAHN: Yes, I think over time, everybody has learned never to second-guess the instincts of a mom.
K. YOUNG: I know.
ZAHN: Mr. Young, tell me about when it was confirmed to your family that in fact your son had been taken a prisoner of war.
RONALD D. YOUNG, SR., FATHER OF CAPTURED PILOT: Well, we found out about the situation, you know, over the radio. And then my wife called the company commander's wife out there in Texas, and she said that they would notify us, that they would probably come by the house. It wouldn't be anything like a phone call or anything like that.
And I went to take care of some errands during the morning, and I had been hoping all morning that it wasn't his aircraft. Of course, we had one out of six chances, because there were six Vampires in that unit. And she -- and when I came home, one of the friends of my son said that the Army is in there, so I knew right then that, you know, it was a bad situation. And they told us that he was missing-in- action. They didn't say he was POW or anything, just missing.
ZAHN: And then how long was it then that it took to find out that in fact he had been taken as a POW?
R. YOUNG: Well, that afternoon, we had been hearing rumors that they had captured the pilots and, you know, back and forth on the television. And at one time they said -- one of the rumors said that they had a couple of pictures of pilots who had dog tags from that area where he's from, and but that they didnt have any real clear-cut pictures. So I didnt know if it was something trumped up and they had done something to him and they were trying to pass someone else off as them, or if they were still uncaptured or what. And I was worried about him just being alive at that point.
And a lady brought a tape in to us, and Susie Candiotti brought a tape in to us and showed us a picture of him as being a POW and it was a great deal of relief at that point to me just to know he was alive.
ZAHN: Wow! You know, it's hard for the rest of us to respond to that knowing it was a relief that he was alive. You had so many doubts about that.
Mrs. Young, I think folks probably know out there the Apache is one of the most sophisticated helicopters in the world, and your son knew before going into Iraq that he probably would be involved in a dangerous mission. Did he ever talk about the possibility of what might happen once he was deployed?
K. YOUNG: We did. He actually had orders for Afghanistan after 9/11, and then they cancelled the orders. And we then had a night that we just embraced and cried and shared feelings, and it just really touched my heart. And I'm glad for that. And then when this time we just decided we'd already talked about that, and you know, of course, we talked about many things, and you know, we're very close. All of my children are very close.
And I just -- I know that he was prepared for if something happened. He had told met that if he was ever asked to give his life for his country that he hoped that he'd be able to that honorably. And he seemed very glad to do that if that was needed. He supports our president and he feels like that he's a great leader. And you know, he's just ready to do whatever he's asked to do.
ZAHN: Well, we really appreciate your sharing some of your time with us this morning at this very difficult time. I can see you find that embrace of your family very comforting.
K. YOUNG: Yes.
ZAHN: And we appreciate the whole extended family joining us this morning as well. Our thoughts are with your family. And if everything you say about the strength of your son is true, we all feel the same way that you do. We're very proud of the service and then wish him the very, very best.
K. YOUNG: Thank you.
Thank you again for joining us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
