Slight intimidation ran through my body the minute my Journalism professor announced our next homework assignment. We were told to interview a veteran. Millions of thoughts came bashing across my brain. Much uncertainty was upon me with no interview experience behind me. I felt I was part of the “Men In Black” movies and everything that my professor taught me had vanished unexpectedly from my memory. Even though our professor equipped us properly for this assignment I still felt super unprepared.

Shortly afterwards, my classmate started conversing about all the veterans she knew. I had never met a veteran in my life! I felt so overwhelmed I had no idea where to begin. To my relief my professor announced that some veterans were going to visit our campus the following Tuesday. I was in luck, and things were looking brighter. Tuesday happened to be my only day off work that week. When the day finally arrived I was so lost. I didn’t know exactly where this meeting was going to take place. I remember running into a crowd of people asking them if they knew where this veterans meeting was. It was as if God was watching over me because the crowd I had run into were the actual veterans themselves.

They were touched to learn that I was there to interview them. I felt so comfortable with them. They carried a nice presence of humility and kindness. There were so many veterans; I didn’t know which one to choose. A few seconds later, a young trooper recommended a specific person, he told me that this person would be best.

I approached this chosen veteran and politely asked if he was available for an interview. He looked straight at me in the eye and simply said yes. We began to talk and laugh as if we knew each other from long ago. As we began to talk about his war experiences, an unfamiliar woman snatched him away from me. I became confused and alarmed; I didn’t understand why he was taken from me. I urgently followed my soldier into the aisle he was taken into; I refused to leave his side. He never stopped smiling at me and I had a good feeling he wanted to continue where we left off. We finally had another moment alone and we proceeded with our conversation. We began to talk and laugh again, but before we knew it another interruption occurred. I couldn’t understand why this man was being taken from me once again. I was ready to surrender and leave the room, but to my surprise I saw my trooper on the stage. It finally hit me, this whole assembly was mainly for him. Without even knowing it, I was interviewing one of the few remaining Tuskegee Airmen. These airmen were the first African-American military aviators who fought in World War II.

Everything was finally making sense to me. The fact that we were continuously interrupted just proved how much people admired him and how much they wanted to meet him. He gave a speech while he was on stage. He shared some of his war stories with the audience and told us how the Tuskegee “experiment” was a special experience for him. I sat and listened and taped his whole speech until he was finally finished. I quickly rushed to my interviewee, but a crowd quickly surrounded him. I started to feel discouraged again. Just as I was beginning to lose hope, a hand reached out of the crowd to hand me a business card. The business card read “Robert J. Friend”.

I was on my way to work the next day when I decided to give Robert J. Friend a call. I wanted to make an appointment for an interview, but I didn’t know what to expect anymore. There were so many moments that Robert J. Friend had been taken from me that I was ready to give up. It felt as if destiny and I were in battle and I was losing the war. The moment I called him he immediately recognized my voice. I realized that we worked in the same city within only a few minutes in distance. My plan was to conduct an interview during my lunch break, but Robert was going out of town and would only be available the following Tuesday. Unfortunately, my assignment was due the same Tuesday he would return. I was sure all odds were against me, and perhaps my only hope was to move forward and search for another veteran.

I had finally lost total hope. I had met this incredible veteran with so many titles under his belt that was so gracious and humble. He would have shared a great story with me. I felt that all my effort had gone to waste. About an hour had passed by and I resumed filing some paperwork at the office when a coworker of mine told me that an unexpected guest had arrived. I turned to see whom it was and to my shocking surprise Robert was standing near my doorway. Not only was he a war hero, but also now he was my hero! I rushed out to greet him with a huge hug. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was in shock to know that this marvelous person made time out of his busy schedule for a young student to interview him for a class grade.

We sat down together in the guest room to begin the interview process. We talked about some of his funny yet touching war experiences and also about his personal life. He told me many stories in which he and his airmen were discriminated against for the color of their skin. We laughed and talked for hours. I even ended up calling him “grandpa” by the end of the interview. He truly touched my heart, and made me recognize that there are great heroes in the world today. I felt an intense sense of gratefulness and appreciation to all those who have made this country the great nation that it is today, and on a personal note, I realized that this turned out to be much more than just a homework assignment. I didn’t just meet a veteran, I met a friend. Robert J. Friend.