Multiple Plane Wrecks And On The Run From Nazis For 3 Months, Robert Sweatt Is A 97-Year-Old Living Legend
Since I started Zero Blog Thirty, I’ve been able to interview some legends. Ive gotten to speak with Medal of Honor recipients, modern legends like Rob Oneill, celebrities and on and on. My favorite thing I get to do is sit down with gentlemen like Robert Sweatt.
At this point, I’m not one to get nervous. I speak in front of people all the time so those butterflies fade after a while. When I walked into Robert Sweatt’s home outside of College Station, I was nervous. I was breathing hard and it’s not because I’m a fat piece of shit. It was because I didn’t want to fuck the interview up. I had read and studied Bob’s story and knew it needed to be told the right way.
Bob is an unassuming guy. He’s 97 and lives in an assisted living community where he is obviously a star. When I met him, he was sitting in his wheelchair and talking with his son and grandson. I introduced myself. He replied with a big toothy grin, “Hey Chaps. Im Bob. Thanks for coming to see me. Would you like to eat lunch?”
We went to the dining area in his home and had a delicious, soft meatloaf of which he ate two bites.
“The food here isnt the best as you can see,” he laughed. After doing some light flirting with the ladies in his home, he guided us back to his apartment.
Over the next hour, he told me a story that made me get teared up. I kept imagining this young man from a small town in New Mexico. It was the kind of town that had 17 people in his high school to which he arrived on horseback. Next thing you know, this young man is flying in the skies over Nazi-occupied France and suddenly shot down. Hearing him tell the story in his own words is something that will stay with me for a long time.
We talked about fear, joy, relief, and overcoming obstacles for the rest of his long life.
I drove back to San Antonio inspired. I drove back shaking my head in disbelief about the things I had just heard. I venture to say that you’ll be doing the same after you listen to today’s episode of Zero Blog Thirty.
