Macaroni’s Story: Why We Hit Record—and Why You Should, Too
When my daughter April had to choose a “known” and “unknown” hero for a school project, she picked Aretha Franklin—and my dad, Carmen Mastroianni.
April’s choice meant a lot to me. Not just because of who she chose, but because of how she knew my dad’s story.
She knew my dad as her grandfather. She knew him as someone who made her laugh. But after we sat down together and recorded a conversation with him—one that spanned his childhood in Schenectady, his time working in the family bakery, and his service during the Vietnam War—she knew him in a whole new way.
She knew him as a person with a story.
And that’s what this week’s episode is all about: using storytelling as a form of death readiness.
Why This Episode Is Different
If you’ve been listening to The Death Readiness Podcast for a while, you know we often get into the legal mechanics of estate planning, end-of-life documents, and the practical steps that make life easier for the people we leave behind. But death readiness isn’t just about having the right paperwork.
It’s about preparing your family for the day when you’re no longer here. It’s about preserving who you were—what you believed, what you lived through, what mattered to you.
And that kind of preparation doesn’t come in the form of a checklist. It comes in the form of stories.
That’s why this episode - Macaroni’s Story: A Granddaughter Records Her Unknown Hero - is special. We’re sharing an excerpt from The Mastroianni Family Podcast—and giving you the tools to create a private family podcast of your own.
What You’ll Hear in the Episode
April and I interviewed my dad, Carmen, in our living room with nothing more than a laptop and a little curiosity. We weren’t planning on starting a podcast – we just wanted to connect. In the episode, you’ll hear about:
What it was like growing up in Schenectady, NY, in the 1950s
My dad’s overnight shifts at the Mastroianni Bros. Bakery
Summer days spent at the horse stables
Getting drafted into the Vietnam War weeks after graduating college
How he earned the nickname “Macaroni”
The harsh reality of returning home from an unpopular war
A lifetime of resilience, loyalty, and lessons that still hold true
It’s funny. It’s heartbreaking. It’s honest in a way that lingers.
And it’s the kind of conversation that’s only possible when you take the time to ask—and record.
How to Create Your Own Family Podcast (Yes, You Can!)
At the end of the episode, I walk listeners through how I created ours—and how you can too. You don’t need fancy equipment or editing skills. You just need a quiet space, a couple of questions, and a willingness to hit record.
Click here for a Family Podcast Starter Checklist to get you going.
Final Thoughts: Start Small. Start Messy. Start with Love.
You don’t have to do it perfectly.
Our family podcast started with an ordinary Saturday afternoon, a curious teenager, and a man who had lived through a lot. What came out of it was connection, understanding, and a legacy April will carry with her forever.
So, if you’ve ever thought about capturing the voices and stories in your family—this is your sign.
Start now.
Questions? Email me at jill@deathreadiness.com.
Listen to the full episode here:
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Jill Mastroianni: (00:00)
Welcome back to The Death Readiness Podcast. I’m your host, Jill Mastroianni.
Before we begin today’s episode, I want to ask a small favor. My goal is to keep this podcast free and accessible to anyone who wants to better understand estate planning, family legacy, and preparing for what comes next—and there’s one small thing you can do to help support that mission.
First, just by listening, you’re already helping—so thank you. Engagement helps platforms recommend The Death Readiness Podcast to others, and every single listen counts.
If you’ve found value in this podcast, please take a moment to follow it. That simple tap on the follow button tells the platform, “Hey, this matters.” On the Apple Podcasts app, it’s the check mark in the upper right corner of your phone. On Spotify, it’s the “Follow” button just beneath the square podcast image. Thank you for taking a moment to do that—I really appreciate it.
Now, today’s episode is a little different. We’ve had some technically heavier episodes recently, and I wanted to give you a break from that. Sometimes, when we get deep into the legal mechanics of estate planning or end-of-life care, we lose sight of why it matters in the first place. It matters because we care about each other—not just about who we are today, but who we’ve been. Who raised us, shaped us, cheered for us, challenged us.
(01:49) Today’s episode focuses on family podcasts. I’ll be sharing an example from my own family—the first
episode of The Mastroianni Family Podcast—and walking you through how to create your own family podcast. It’s simpler than you might think, and it’s a beautiful way to preserve stories, voices, and
connections across generations.
My daughter April and I asked my father if we could interview him. You might remember my dad, Carmen Mastroianni, from Episode 7, in which he talked about his journey raising my older brother, Dan, who was born with Down syndrome in 1977. That episode was the most popular by far—turns out people love Carmen!
(02:42) We recorded the interview you’re about to hear over Zoom using nothing more than our laptop’s microphone and speaker. At the time, I wasn’t planning to start a podcast—let alone turn this into a podcast episode. We just wanted to connect.
And I share that to encourage you: if you’ve ever thought about preserving your own family stories, you absolutely can. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be meaningful.
At the end of the episode, I’ll share a little about how I create my podcasts today—the tools I use, how I
work with my editor, and how you can do something similar, whether on your own or with professional
support.
With that, let’s hear an episode of The Mastroianni Family Podcast.
April: (3:40)
Hi, and welcome to The Mastroianni Family Podcast!
Jill: (3:43)
I’m Jill.
April: (3:44)
And I’m April!
Jill: (3:45)
We created this podcast to preserve our family’s legacies and share the stories that connect us across generations.
April: (3:52)
Together, we’ll talk with our family members about their lives, their memories, and the moments that made them who they are.
Jill: (3:58)
We’re so excited to share these stories with you, and we hope they inspire you to connect with your own family’s history.
April: (4:05)
Thanks for listening—let’s get started!
Jill: (04:10)
Hi, and welcome to the first episode of The Mastroianni Family Podcast. I’m Jill.
April: (04:16)
And I’m April!
Jill: (04:18)
Today, we’re sitting down with my dad—Carmen Mastroianni.
April: (04:22)
Carmen has so many amazing stories to share.
In this episode, we’re focusing on two big parts of his life: growing up in Schenectady, New York, and his time serving in the Vietnam War.
Jill: (04:33)
My dad has always been a storyteller, and it’s been such a gift to capture these memories. From his childhood adventures in Schenectady to the life-changing experiences he had during the Vietnam War, his stories are full of wisdom, humor, and heart.
April: (04:49)
We’re so excited to share this conversation with you—it’s like stepping back in time and learning about a piece of our family history firsthand.
Jill: (04:56)
Let’s dive in and hear from the man himself, my dad, Carmen Mastroianni.
Jill: (05:04)
All right.
Carmen Mastroianni: (05:04)
So exciting, April!
Jill: (05:06)
So, we both have some questions that we're going to ask you, but you can answer however you want—or you cannot answer.
Carmen: (05:14)
Okay.
Jill: (05:15)
Could you tell us a little bit about what it was like growing up in Schenectady, what your childhood was like?
Carmen: (05:22)
Yes. I was a busy kid. I was in the Boy Scouts. I was an altar boy. I played Little League. I loved to ride horses, I worked at a horse farm. I taught people how to ride. I took people out.
The summers I worked all night in my father's bakery. I'd go in around ten o'clock and work to eight o'clock in the morning. And then I’d go home, and I’d sleep for three hours, and I’d get on my bike, and I rode to the stable. And I worked in the stable until night and then I—My mother would pick me up, I’d throw the bike in the car and I’d go home and start the whole routine all over again.
I was in a public school system up through eighth grade. And then my parents decided I was going to a private, all boys Catholic school run by Irish Christian brothers. And that kind of really changed me because up to that point, I probably wasn't hanging around with the best kind of kids, and no one really had aspirations to go to college.
Jill: (06:19)
Why did they decide you should go to a private school?
Carmen: (06:22)
Well, that's interesting. So, the Catholic Diocese made all the Catholics pledge money to build this high school. And it was a lot of money to them. So, they said, if we're doing this, you're going.
Jill: (06:36)
Oh, so your parents pledged money?
Carmen: (06:37)
Yeah, all the Catholics had to. Back then you did whatever the priest told you. They were very devout Catholics. So, they said, “Okay.” They did it. And then they said, “You're going.” So, I walked into the school in ninth grade with my arm in a cast because I had gotten thrown from a horse that summer and broke my wrist. I didn't really know anybody and started my four years of Bishop Gibbons.
Jill: (07:01)
They didn't send you there because they had aspirations that you would go to college and that would be a better place?
Carmen: (07:07)
I don't think so. And then I did well there. But I didn't know anything about college. So, I got sick my senior year. I was working at Stewart’s, and I got hepatitis around Halloween of my senior year. And I was home right through January. And then when I got back to school, everyone had their college acceptances. And I didn't even apply to anybody.
My mother had a friend whose son went to St. John's and his name was Ronnie Deangelis. She came over one day with an application and sat me down to fill it out. And then Ronnie took me down there to show me around and introduced me to—they didn't have dormitories, so I had to rent a room in a house—Mrs. Pizer. So, St. John's accepted me, and I went, and that was my beginning of my college life. So…
Jill: (08:05)
How did you pay for college?
Carmen: (08:06)
I had a region scholarship. So, I rented a room from Mrs. Pizer, and I think it was $10 a month, or a week, I forget. Anyway, mother would send me $13 a month—$10 to go to Mrs. Pizer and $3 was what I used to live on. That must have been a week.
So, I did extremely well my freshman year. I think I was ranked number one in my class. Then I came home for the summer, and I worked in a laundry at a nursing home all summer and that was interesting. And then I went back for my sophomore year, and I pledged for a fraternity.
So, my social life—actually my social life in high school was pretty much non-existent, and my social life my freshman year in college was pretty much non-existent—but once I got into a fraternity, it immediately changed my social life to a very active social life.
And then what was unusual—so I pledged for a fraternity that was a national business fraternity called Alpha Kappa Psi. And that same year, because they had a lot of people graduating, the same year I was elected president.
Jill: (09:17)
Your sophomore year?
Carmen: (09:18)
Yeah, I took office in my junior year. So, at the end of my sophomore year they had elections, and I ran against a couple other guys who were juniors going into their senior year—and then I won!
So now I'm president of this fraternity, and the owner of a local bar that catered to the fraternities and sororities—he wanted some of the presidents to work there. So, you know, we’d keep the fraternities and sororities coming. So, I started bartending there and then I started making money, so my mother didn't have to send me any more money.
So, I pretty much took care of myself from then on in. That, and the region scholarship—you know, it wasn't that expensive back then.
Oh, I had student loans. I borrowed the most I could borrow back then. But that was $10,000. And I remember—for 10 years I paid back $45 and 45 cents a month until that was paid off.
Jill: (10:12)
What did you think you were going to do when you graduated from college?
Carmen: (10:16)
So, I was a business major, and I had no idea what I wanted to do. It was a difficult, it was an awkward period. And I'll tell you a little story…
52 years ago on the 20th, November 20th, my best friend Donnie got killed in Vietnam.
So, I was supposed to graduate in 1968, and Vietnam was front and center in all our minds back then. So, I decided to reduce my credits and stay an extra year in hopes that the war would be over.
So, in the beginning of ‘69, now Donnie was a year younger than I, so he was normally going to graduate in ‘69 and I'm going to be a five-year guy.
Jill: (11:00)
Was he in your fraternity?
Carmen: (11:02)
Yes. And we were very close friends. So, we don't know what to do. We're going to graduate in June of ‘69. Everyone's getting killed in Vietnam. I mean, Vietnam was a very big deal. It was a real war, and we were losing a lot of young men.
Jill: (11:19)
Were other people delaying graduation to see if they could avoid…?
Carmen: (11:24)
Yeah. Here were your options: You could go in the reserves, but there was no room in the reserves. You could join, but that meant you would have to spend three or four years in the military. You could take your chances on being drafted, or you could go to Canada. And a lot of guys went to Canada, and they eventually were given amnesty.
But at that point in 1969, I'm saying, well, if I go to Canada, I may never be able to come back to the United States. So, Donnie and I decide we're going to go take a test for the Marines—become an officer.
The program was called the Platoon Leadership Class. So, we hop on the subway, and we go in, we take the test, we both passed. So, we're riding back in the subway and…
Jill: (12:06)
Was it a written test?
Carmen: (12:07)
Yeah. And so, Donnie says, “I'm going to do it.” Which means he's going to go into the Marine Corps for four years. I said, “I'm going to take my chances.” I mean, there was a minute chance I wouldn't get drafted.
We graduate. He goes into the Marines.
I graduated in June of 1969, and I was in basic training July 10th.
Jill: (12:32)
So, when did you get your draft notice?
Carmen: (12:34)
I got it like a week after I graduated.
Jill: (12:37)
And it just arrived at your parents’ house?
Carmen: (12:40)
At my parents’ house. Yep. It says, “Greetings” and then signed by the President of the United States.
Jill: (12:47)
What did your parents think about you getting the draft notice?
Carmen: (12:52)
My parents—my father didn't quite understand it, because I remember—he asked me, “is Pat going with you?” And I just shook my head. My mother did. She would send me care packages and she’d write me letters. You know—wrote me a lot of letters, too.
Jill: (13:08)
What kind of care packages did grandma send? She sent food?
Carmen: (13:13)
She would send raviolis and cans. Everybody in my unit would go nuts when the package would arrive because it was delicious stuff.
Jill: (13:23)
Arrive in Vietnam?
Carmen: (13:24)
In Vietnam. Yup.
Jill: (13:26)
Did you have some sort of dental procedure done before…?
Carmen: (13:31)
Yeah, I had it in my mind that I shouldn't rely on the army dentists. So, I went to our family dentist in Schenectady, Dr. Peter Cornell. It was two days before I'm going in the army, and he filled a bunch of teeth and then sends me home. You know he gave me Novocain when he's doing the filling, but he doesn't give me any pain medication.
And that night—well, that day—my brother-in-law, Jimmy, decides he wants to take me to play golf with his General Electric Golf League. I never picked up a golf club in my life. And while there, the Novocain wore off and I'm in excruciating pain, which lasted well into—maybe till midnight that night.
And back then, I don't know, I never even thought of calling the dentist to ask for some pain medicine. But the next morning I went into the army. I got drafted. So, what happened—I had to go to the draft board in Schenectady and they put me on a bus to Albany, where I had to take the oath.
So now I go to basic training, and they put me in the infantry, which is not where you want to be. So, I take my basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Then they sent me to Advanced Infantry Training in Fort Polk, Louisiana.
Jill: (14:47)
What kind of training in Louisiana?
Carmen: (14:59)
Advanced Infantry Training. [Oh okay]. And now at this point, because I scored well on their tests, they're trying to get me to become an officer. And I don't want to become an officer.
So, if you’re drafted, it's only two years. If you enlist is three or four years. If you go to OCS—which is officer school—OTS—Officer Training School, and then you have three or four years. So, I said, “no, I don't want to be an officer.”
So anyway, I go through the advanced infantry training, and they send me after that to Fort Benning, Georgia to become a Sergeant in the infantry, which was a volunteer program that I didn't volunteer for. So, I said, “I really didn't volunteer—you really, I, you know, I don't want to be here.” I was becoming a little bit difficult for them to manage.
Jill: (15:38)
How were you becoming difficult?
Carmen: (15:40)
Well, let's say in the morning you all get in formation and then you say, you raise your hand, and you say, “I'm sick.” And you have to go to the infirmary. And I learned if you rub the thermometer on your pants, you can get the temperature, you can get it up to the temperature level. These kinds of things are what I was doing. Finally, they said, “all right, we've had it with you, Mastroianni. You're going to Vietnam.”
April: (16:02)
How did you feel when you learned that you were being drafted?
Carmen: (16:05)
Not good. Not good. I got drafted and I got put in the infantry and sent to Vietnam.
Jill: (16:14)
We have one question before we get there.
April: (16:16)
What was it like preparing to leave for Vietnam?
Carmen: (16:19)
It was scary. And the funny thing, April, that happened to me in the military was that I had a drill sergeant, Sergeant Jennings. He was a big Southern guy and intimidating. And I was big then because I had gained a lot of weight my last couple years in college. And he was always on my back to run faster and everything. But he couldn't pronounce my name. And he called me, “Macaroni.”
He turned out to be a nice guy, I got to know him. And everyone starts calling me, “Macaroni,” and Macaroni is my nickname throughout my entire military career. No one ever called me Macaroni before or since.
So, I explained to you what happened in the States, and I finally get my orders to Vietnam. I get to Vietnam, and I land in Cam Ranh Bay, which is the southern tip of Vietnam, and they needed guys in the infantry to pull guard duty.
So, every night I'd have to go out to a bunker, and you know you set up your machine gun—they had these things called Claymore mines and you'd be there—I think it was like four hours on and one hour off, but you get a day off every now and then.
Jill: (17:32)
What were you looking for?
Carmen: (17:33)
The enemy!
Jill: (17:34)
What would you do if you saw the enemy?
Carmen: (17:37)
Well, if they attacked, we have to shoot, or but what we would do, we’d call—and this happened a couple of times.
So, you know, we're there in the bunker. If we felt like there was activity, if we saw someone in front of the bunker, every three bunkers had headquarters tower, and we’d tell the tower, “There’s activity in front of us. I'm in bunker number three.” And they’d call in the gunships, the helicopter gunships, Cobras. And they would spread the area with the machine gun fire. [oh wow]. And this would happen on a fairly regular basis.
So, I stayed there for about two weeks and then they sent me to the 101st Airborne Division. Now, I'm pretty worried because this is where all the action is and I'm in the infantry.
So, when you go into a unit, a new unit, you go through personnel, and you go through finance. And as I was going through finance, I apparently scored extremely well on the test they gave me. And the guy who was processing me into finance for the 101st Airborne Division said, “wow, he says, we could really use you in finance.” He says, “let me see if I can get the Colonel to meet you.” So, he brings me to the Colonel's office, Sergeant Major's there. And they said, “yeah, we could really use you in finance, but it's almost impossible to pull someone out of the infantry.”
So, I went off and played war for—I guess a long time—it just seems like weeks, maybe a month. And then one day a helicopter came and said, “you're being transferred to finance.”[Oh.] Yeah, saved my life.
Jill: (19:16)
What does that look like if you're in finance? You're still in Vietnam?
Carmen: (19:21)
Oh, I'm in Vietnam. I'm still in Vietnam and the 101st Airborne Division. Every three days, I'm pulling 24-hour guard duty. We used to get rocketed all the time. After a rocket attack, we'd have to go out and try to find people to throw in the rockets. So, it was a war zone, but I was no longer in the front lines.
But because we saw so much activity, everybody in the 101st Airborne got a bronze star. [Oh] They’re unit awards. It's not like you did anything heroic individually. The heroic bronze star has a V for Valor. But I think what I got was just a unit award.
Jill: (20:02)
Do you actually have a tangible bronze star?
Carmen: (20:06)
I do. It's upstairs. So, next to the pool table, there's two black cases. There's two medals. One's the bronze star. And I don't know, they gave me a metal for something else. And then on top of that, I have a silver bracelet, which is Donnie's POW bracelet.
‘Cause Donnie was shot down on November 20th, 1972. He was in a plane, and he was the co-pilot. And they got hit by enemy fire and pilot hit the ejection mechanism, which was supposed to be fail safe. Either the pilot or co-pilot hit the ejection mechanism—you're both supposed to eject. They rescued the pilot. They never found Donnie or the plane.
So, Mom and I are living in Queens and I'm best man for his wedding and I'm godfather for his first child. So that's—we were really close.
Jill: (21:05)
So, he got married before...
Carmen: (21:07)
He got married before he went in—so prior to graduation he got married. And I was best man. And so now I'm in Vietnam, but I take my R & R to go to Hawaii, and mom came and met me. And he was stationed there with Joanne—his wife and two kids. And we spent the whole week with them. He was embarrassed that I'm in Vietnam and he wasn't, because he wanted to go. I said, “Don't, it's awful.”
Because we knew—you know, so back when I'm in college—everybody's protesting against this war. You know, people were dying left and—every day in the paper, you know, names of the guys that got killed.
And we all knew it was just, it just wasn't being managed properly. And, and we were there for no reason, but it was—the military and I don't know. I don't know what the heck we were doing there. ‘Cause I think it was, we got in there based on a lie that, you know, North Koreans shot at some ship in the Gulf of Tonkin, but I don't think that was true.
Jill: (22:06)
The North Vietnamese?
Carmen: (22:08)
North Vietnamese. And what's interesting is that Kennedy, he got shot, President Kennedy, but he had pretty much signed everything that we were going to get out of Vietnam entirely. Then Lyndon Johnson became the president and just changed all that. Rescinded all those orders and then we just escalated, escalated, escalated.
When I was there, we had 550,000 soldiers. So, it was really ridiculous. So, we had protests all over the place. So, we're in Hawaii, Donnie wants to go. I said, “he'll do it.” So, we come home and then he comes back to the States. He and Joanne came to visit us in Queens, and he said he got his orders for Vietnam.
Jill: (22:50)
At his request?
Carmen: (22:51)
At his request, he volunteered. Left his wife and two kids. At this point, he said he wanted to make a career in the military. He was a captain.
So then on November 20th, 1972, he got shot down. And for years, you know, he was considered a POW, a Prisoner of War. And we had these bracelets. And that's upstairs on the top of my bronze star. So, if you want to, Google Captain Donald Brewer, it'll give you a little story about him. He was a nice guy.
Jill: (23:22)
How did you find out that he disappeared?
Carmen: (23:25)
So, I come home from work…
Jill: (23:27)
…out of Vietnam and just a civilian...
Carmen: (23:29)
Yeah, I'm working now in Manhattan, living in Queens. I come home and Joanne calls, hysterical, and said, “Donnie's been shot down.” He was actually shot down over Laos. So, I went to her house.
Jill: (23:43)
How old were the boys?
Carmen: (23:46)
They were probably like seven and five, you know, they're little kids. So, his parents were there, you know—sister. It was really sad. But they think he's alive. And they had to live with that until I guess after a certain number of years, they said, you know, they declared him dead.
They did send people. And if you're interested right there on that desk is a letter from his sister-in-law bringing me up to date on everything that took place. Because we tried to find all these MIAs, the military did, and they sent a crew into the area where they thought he was shot down. Somehow, they found his seat, the plane seat, but they never found him.
Jill: (24:30)
Was the seat still in the plane?
Carmen: (24:32)
No, was just out in the field, so I don't know.
April: (24:35)
What was it like returning to the US after the war?
Carmen: (24:39)
Ah. You're asking very good questions. So now when somebody comes home from Afghanistan or Iraq, it's, “thank you for your service.” You've heard people say that, right? “Thank you for your service.”
Vietnam was such an unpopular war that the population took it out on the soldiers, not the politicians. So, when I came home and I landed in Seattle—Tacoma, Washington, Fort Lewis, if it was—and then from there I flew to JFK. I was treated with disdain.
Jill: (25:14)
Were you in your army uniform?
Carmen: (25:16)
Yeah, I had my uniform. I didn't have anything else. And in the airport, on the plane, it was just awful. The stewardesses would, you know, disdain would be the right word.
So, I come home and now I have to find a job. And it was through mom's father that I got my first job.
Jill: (25:38)
Where did you go to live?
Carmen: (25:39)
Well, I lived in the basement of Pat's parents' house; mom's parents' house. And then we got an apartment. I was in the apartment until we got married. [Okay.] Bayside, Queens.
It wasn't fun coming home from Vietnam, April.
Jill: (25:53)
How do you think that Vietnam and your experience there shaped your life afterward?
Carmen: (25:59)
I don't know. I have very good coping skills, and I really don't think it affected me that much. I'm grateful that I got through it, without—and I had a couple of close calls. I always felt that I did have a guardian angel looking after me, because a lot of guys didn't come home. But I don't think it really affected me.
I was just, I was annoyed. Some of my friends that didn't have to go for whatever reason, you know, they had a two-year head start of me in terms of working and all that.
But, you know, then I started, my first job was $7,500 on 59th street and Madison Avenue, Meinhard Commercial, which is subsidiary of CIT.
Jill: (26:44)
That was the job that mom's father helped you get?
Carmen: (26:47)
Yes. So, I came home in February of ‘71, got the job. We got married in July of ‘71. And then I think I stayed there for a couple years. I did very well. I kept getting all these awards. So, Grandpa Collins was very proud of me. [Mmhmm.]
And then we wanted to buy a house. You know, this is back in the ‘70s. I says, “we're never going to be able…” I said, “it's going to be at least $10,000 to get a house and we'll have to go way out on Long Island.” I said, “it's lot cheaper to live in Albany / Schenectady area.”
So, we decided to do that. So, we left our jobs and moved up to Clifton Park without jobs. [Oh really?] Yeah. So, through the help of Aunt Gerry, mom got a teaching job at Shenendehowa and I, literally, ripped the yellow pages of banks. I took all the pages for banks, and I went from bank to bank.
Finally, somebody hired me. It was called Fidelity Bank of Colonie that just got purchased by Manufactures Hanover. And that's how I started my banking career.
Jill: (27:55)
I think we have one last question for you.
April: (28:00)
Are there lessons from your time in Vietnam that you want future generations of our family to know?
Carmen: (28:04)
Yes, avoid wars at all costs. When the Japanese invaded Pearl Harbor, we got into World War II, but we won the war. Since then, we've had Korea—38,000 dead. Vietnam—58,000. Iraq, Afghanistan—a few thousand. We didn't win any of these conflicts.
Unless there's a very good reason and you have a strategy, and your country is threatened, avoid war at all costs. It's awful. It's awful. And we, we haven't won anything since World War II.
You know, I'll tell you, I was thinking about this the other day. Alyssa was a swimmer, and I took her to a meet at West Point. And during intermission, the walls in the lobby were filled with young West Point graduates who had died in Vietnam. These were the brightest and the best. And they all died.
So, avoid war at all costs. That's the lesson.
Jill: (29:06)
Dad, thank you so much for sharing your stories with us today. It means the world to us to hear about
your childhood and your experiences during the Vietnam War. Your memories are such an important part
of our family’s history.
April: (29:20)
Thanks, Carmen. It was so nice to talk to you.
Jill: (29:22)
And to everyone listening, we hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as we did.
April: (29:28)
Thanks for being here, and we'll see you next time on The Mastroianni Family Podcast.
Jill: (29:33)
Thanks for joining us on The Mastroianni Family Podcast.
April: (29:35)
We hope you enjoyed today's conversation and that it brought you closer to our family's story. If you like what you heard, share it with someone you care about.
Jill: (29:43)
And remember, your story matters. Take some time to share it with the ones you love.
April: (29:49)
We'll see you next time.
Jill: (29:52)
And that's a wrap on the very first episode of The Mastroianni Family Podcast.
Now that you’ve heard an example of what a private family podcast can sound like, I’d love for you to consider why you might want to start one of your own.
Sharing stories and life lessons is a powerful way to keep family members connected—across generations and distances—in a way that social media just can’t replicate. A family podcast can document traditions, values, and experiences.
It invites multiple voices and perspectives. And if you’re using audio only?
No lights, no cameras—just real conversation.
You’ll need a few basic tools to get started, including cover art. I created mine using Canva. It’s the square image that shows up when you’re listening to a podcast, and the free version of Canva works
perfectly for this.
As for the equipment, don’t let the tech side overwhelm you. I’ll link everything I use in the show notes. I don’t have a soundproof studio—I record most episodes from the living room of our 800-square-foot house. I send our three dogs to my daughter’s bedroom. Sometimes I pause a recording to remind them that I’m working.
For virtual interviews, I use Riverside, which records each participant locally and uploads tracks progressively. That way, poor internet doesn’t affect the audio quality.
I record with an ATR-2100X microphone, which is about $50, and a foam windscreen, which is about $5. My subscription at Riverside costs about $30 a month.
To host and distribute the podcast, I use Simplecast for $15 a month. I upload the audio and Simplecast distributes it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms. You can also choose to make your podcast private so that it’s only available to family members.
When I record in person, I use a Zoom PodTrak P4, which is about $170 a month, and a second microphone and foam windscreen.
And the most valuable tool I have? My editor, Jon Gay. Jon is based here in Metro Detroit, but he works with clients anywhere. You can find him at jagindetroit.com, and I’ll include his information in the show notes.
My advice is to start small. Start messy. Start with love.
Not too long after April and I interviewed my father, April asked me if I had any photos of my dad from the Vietnam War. She was doing a project for school. She had to choose one known hero and one unknown hero to introduce to her class. She chose my dad as the unknown hero, soon to be known to her 8th grade classmates. And the known hero? Aretha Franklin.
April’s choice to include my dad in her school project is a powerful reminder of why this kind of storytelling matters. She wouldn’t have known these stories, his memories, or his perspective—if we hadn’t sat down with him on an ordinary Saturday a few months ago and hit record.
Creating a family podcast doesn’t have to be complicated—it just has to be real.
You may be surprised by how deeply it resonates—now and in the future.
Thank you for listening to this episode of The Death Readiness Podcast.
If you have questions or would like to suggest a topic for a future episode, email me at jill@deathreadiness.com.
