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Stories of veteran service and sacrifice straight from the people driving today’s most important veterans causes and veterans organizations around the world. The show shines a spotlight on their inspiring projects making a real difference for veterans and their families, and along the way we'll hear the stories that drive them to do their best every day as they work to support veterans and their memory.
00:00:06:07 - 00:00:31:06
Speaker 1
Hey, it's Matthew Cudmore and welcome to Story Behind the Stone. On today's episode, we're joined by Amy Dozier, director of outreach at the Woody Williams Foundation and host of the After the Knock podcast on Reach Across America Radio. In today's episode, Amy shares her personal journey as a Gold Star spouse, the foundation's mission to honor families of the fallen through monuments and outreach, and to learn about her new show After the Knock, which provides a safe platform for survivors to tell their story.
00:00:31:08 - 00:00:42:13
Speaker 1
Amy, thank you for the heart and the vulnerability that you bring to this cause. And to our listeners, thanks for tuning in.
00:00:42:15 - 00:01:00:11
Speaker 1
Well, hello and welcome to Story Behind the Stone, a show where we talk service, sacrifice and story, connecting with the folks, changing the way the world remembers, and veterans commemoration and history. I'm so pleased to be joined by my guest, Amy Dozier, director of Outreach with the Woody Williams Foundation and host of the After the Knock podcast. Amy, thank you for coming on the show today.
00:01:00:12 - 00:01:02:23
Speaker 2
Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here.
00:01:02:23 - 00:01:11:23
Speaker 1
We have a lot to dig into today. I would love to just get a 30,000ft view of the Woody Williams Foundation, the mission and what keeps you busy and your role there.
00:01:12:04 - 00:01:32:10
Speaker 2
For those of you who don't know Hershel Woody Williams, you know, by Woody, by his family, Woody Williams was a medal of honor recipient from World War Two. He lost a lot of friends while he was serving, and even after his years of serving in the United States Marine Corps, he came back and he he said, you know, I want to continue my serving.
00:01:32:10 - 00:01:56:18
Speaker 2
I really want to take care of these families that were left behind after the war. These families are also known as Gold Star families. They are the families of the fallen. Those surviving family members who were left behind after service members passed in the war. So Woody came home and he worked with his family and and about 13 ish years ago, they started this foundation, the Woody Williams Foundation.
00:01:56:18 - 00:02:21:12
Speaker 2
Its sole mission was to serve those Gold Star families, those families that were left behind in various capacities. It started with building monuments that were kind of a way, a focal point in the community to bring these families together. So they could remember their loved ones and just have that togetherness, because there's nothing like being with somebody else who just gets it.
00:02:21:16 - 00:02:29:04
Speaker 2
So that was kind of his. His mission at the beginning of starting the foundation was is finding a place to bring these families together.
00:02:29:07 - 00:02:34:13
Speaker 1
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background and what resonated you with working at the Foundation.
00:02:34:13 - 00:03:01:00
Speaker 2
So I actually came to this work as a survivor myself. I lost my husband, Sergeant First Class Jonathan Dozier, in the war in Iraq, in 2008. And our daughter Emma had just turned one. And I just remember those those early days, those early years of just kind of wondering what's happening in, in my world. How will my daughter know her father?
00:03:01:02 - 00:03:28:18
Speaker 2
How can I move forward? How how will I find meaning in life again after this horrible tragedy that we've experienced and what started as a way to kind of share my husband John's story with, with our daughter became kind of a way of life and learning how I could take the things that I have learned in my grief journey with the help of so many.
00:03:28:18 - 00:03:50:01
Speaker 2
I mean, it really does take a village, right? It really became, a part of my my own personal story. How can I take the things that I've learned from others? How can I take the opportunities that have been given to us to heal and share those with others? And so I went back to school, got my master's degree, and I just dove right back into this work.
00:03:50:01 - 00:04:04:13
Speaker 2
And I just wanted to be there for a community that had done so much for our family. And then I found the Woody Williams Foundation, and they brought me on as their director of outreach and honestly, I can't imagine doing anything different.
00:04:04:17 - 00:04:12:04
Speaker 1
Tell us a little bit about the podcast After the Knock. Tell us a little bit about the name as well. For those that aren't familiar with that concept.
00:04:12:06 - 00:04:33:09
Speaker 2
In the military, this this knock is just kind of a known thing. When you send a loved one to war, you do hope and pray that they will come home alive and safe. For many of us, that is not the case. And the way we we get that notification is by a knock on our door, by usually those in uniform who come to give that notification.
00:04:33:09 - 00:04:56:09
Speaker 2
That literally just changes the trajectory of our lives. And when I came to the foundation, you know, I came here about three years ago and I started an outreach and we were doing a lot of resourcing, navigating the, you know, the whole grief journey and, you know, doing things like creating an event and finding ways to bring these families together and across America.
00:04:56:09 - 00:05:26:13
Speaker 2
Radio came to me, gosh, maybe 8 or 9 months ago and said, we would love to give you the opportunity to expand your outreach. Why don't you do a podcast? You know, you come up with a name and, you know, I went through several different names, several different iterations of the name. And when it came down to it, I had to look back at so much of what we do in this space of honoring our fallen heroes, taking care of their families.
00:05:26:13 - 00:05:49:11
Speaker 2
And one thing that I can tell you is that while it will always be true that we want to keep the legacy of these people alive, that will always remain true. I think what is also true, because two things can be true at once. I think what is also true is that the family members themselves, they kind of need a platform to.
00:05:49:12 - 00:06:14:13
Speaker 2
There is life after that knock. After the knock, there is life, there is hope. There is meaning to go find and there are stories to share. And I've heard a lot of stories and I have lived a lot of stories. And so when it came down to it, I thought, you know, after the knock, I am so interested in learning about these heroes and keeping their legacies alive.
00:06:14:15 - 00:06:28:03
Speaker 2
I am just as interested in hearing what's going on with these family members after. So after the knock was born about eight months ago, 6 or 8 months ago and it has just taken off.
00:06:28:08 - 00:06:38:10
Speaker 1
Again, I encourage folks to listen to the podcast, of course, but can you give us just maybe one story recent that has resonated with you, that someone has shared with you on the.
00:06:38:10 - 00:07:17:19
Speaker 2
Show? It's hard to pick one because I've had such a range, which is so lovely because I think I feel compelled to share this piece of of why I do this podcast is in our world. I think a lot of us feel this sense of disenfranchisement, where we feel like we don't deserve to speak up, we don't have the platform to speak, we don't even have the language to share what we're going through, or we have kind of been given a label or a stigma that that kind of keeps us in a dark corner, and we live our entire grief journey feeling like we can't share our truth.
00:07:17:21 - 00:07:40:21
Speaker 2
And so one of the things that I love about the guests that I've had is I've built connections with them to give them that space and that freedom and that safety, to share the things that they might not have shared before. One of those is the topic of suicide. So I've had a lot of those come on to share their their stories of suicide, loss and what that looks like for them.
00:07:40:23 - 00:08:01:22
Speaker 2
That's something that has been really meaningful and impactful to me because I've learned so much from them. It's a different loss than mine, and so I have a lot to learn. I've learned a lot about what it means to be a sibling loss survivor, and how we can step in to care for those siblings who are often less seen in the grief journey.
00:08:01:22 - 00:08:26:05
Speaker 2
I will say the most recent podcast really just it got me, it got me. And I think it's because it resonated with my own story in a particular way. So I recently spoke with a surviving sibling and she was so close. There were just about four years in between she and her brother, and she shared how he has such a commitment to his family and his community and his friends.
00:08:26:05 - 00:08:59:05
Speaker 2
He was such a good friend, very loyal, and he decided at the age of 17 that he wanted to join the Navy. And he went in right at 17 and sadly, he was killed very early on into his service. And the way that this sister talked about her brother and the the way that they viewed life together, kind of from a similar lens and the things that they shared as siblings, like the things that they were going to do as they grew older, they were going to raise their kids together.
00:08:59:05 - 00:09:20:10
Speaker 2
Just before her brother died, they were exchanging emails and he said, I've got a letter in the mail to you. Make sure you you read it when you get it, because it's it's a good one. And so she got the letter in the mail and the letter said something to the effect of today is a good day and tomorrow's going to be a good day to.
00:09:20:10 - 00:09:39:05
Speaker 2
And she explained what that meant to me. That was that was their way of looking at the future with a lot of hope, but also being very present in where they were in that moment. Because he was deployed, she was living life, you know, kind of as a scared sibling, like is I hope everything is okay. We don't get to communicate as much.
00:09:39:06 - 00:10:02:13
Speaker 2
So having that that written letter, having that handwritten letter that today is a good day and tomorrow's going to be a good day too, because that's the belief that we're going to live into. Fast forward, you tragically passed away and about a year later she found out she was expecting a child. And she recently had that baby, who is a little baby boy.
00:10:02:13 - 00:10:27:10
Speaker 2
And so one of the things that she and I were talking about was, how can she preserve the memory of her brother to share with this little boy who is his namesake, who will never have the chance to meet him? And so one of the things that she did was she went and she got a tattoo on her leg that says, today is a good day.
00:10:27:12 - 00:10:45:13
Speaker 2
And every day she looks down when she's putting on her shoes to go out for the day, to take her baby for a walk. She looks down, oh, she's tying her shoes. And she says, today is a good day and today is a good day because I'm going to remember my brother. Today is a good day because I'm going to remember a story that makes me smile.
00:10:45:13 - 00:11:23:07
Speaker 2
And I'm going to share it with my newborn son as he grows. And my son will know exactly who his heroic uncle was, who he was in this life, and not just who he is and his death. That struck me in such a way, because she's doing so many things for her baby, like getting things teddy bears made out of her brother's uniform with her brother's name plate on that, and she's getting things like that for her son so that her son not only grows up having a relationship with his uncle, but that he grows up knowing exactly what sacrifice means.
00:11:23:13 - 00:11:46:07
Speaker 2
I know from experience. I know from firsthand experience that little boy will grow up with such a sense of family, such a sense of service, and such a sense of what it means to sacrifice in this world. And he's going to be okay, and his days will be good. I just remember having tears in my eyes as we were having that conversation.
00:11:46:09 - 00:11:56:16
Speaker 2
Because I think it really just encompasses everything we stand for in grief and in hope and in what we can do after that not comes.
00:11:56:18 - 00:12:14:03
Speaker 1
Or I think about the impact that hearing the story on the radio, on the podcast must have on other surviving families. Tell me a little bit about that impact that you're having. You have the monuments, you have the podcast. What else is going on at the Foundation?
00:12:14:06 - 00:12:35:10
Speaker 2
It's interesting. With the foundation, I call it kind of like two sides of the house. So we've got the monument side, which we've got an incredible director of monuments. I'm Katie Howard, who is doing all things monument. She was working with the committees that build these. We've got, I think, gosh, 160 of them all over the country. And we've even got one in Guam.
00:12:35:12 - 00:12:59:05
Speaker 2
So several monuments that anyone can talk to Katie about, maybe putting one in their own community that's really specific to the community in which they reside. So we've got monuments and then we've got kind of the outreach side of the house, which is everything that I do from, again, like I said, resource navigation to events to bring these families together.
00:12:59:05 - 00:13:34:17
Speaker 2
And now this podcast, which is really cool because when I was given this opportunity, I said, no, because I'm a writer, I write. And, you know, then I stepped back and I said, this has to happen because one of the things that I really aim for in in my own personal work, something that's really passionate me, is when I'm working with these families of the fallen, so many of them don't know how to share their story, or they're scared to open up for any number of reasons.
00:13:34:17 - 00:13:57:11
Speaker 2
And I thought, you know what? Here I am scared. I'm scared to go in and be vulnerable and start this new project. But how beautiful could it be if I'm just open and honest about where I am in podcasting? And I share that experience with these families who are equally as terrified to get out there and be public.
00:13:57:13 - 00:14:22:18
Speaker 2
How beautiful it is that we can all learn together in this process. And oh my goodness, they've given me so much grace because I look back and I was so bad at it in the beginning. But you know what? That's not what matters. What matters is that these families have a place that is safe to speak. There's no judgment, and I want to give them that opportunity to share what's on their hearts.
00:14:22:18 - 00:14:44:00
Speaker 2
And I also want to do it responsibly. For those who are listening. So that's a lot where, you know, some of that editing comes in and, and how we frame things. That's one of the things that we're really trying to grow at the Foundation is more storytelling. There's so much power in storytelling and how healing it can be for so many people.
00:14:44:00 - 00:15:07:04
Speaker 2
So, you know, here we are. We're 12 episodes in. I'm still learning, but I'm here to be open, and I'm here to just make things as comfortable and safe for those who might be scared to open up as well, because these stories, it just matters so much. And everybody really does have a story to be told. And these stories, even the messiest of stories, can be used for good.
00:15:07:04 - 00:15:15:03
Speaker 1
What does this work mean to you? What legacy are you building and what does your daughter think of your work that you're doing to help so many families?
00:15:15:09 - 00:15:44:18
Speaker 2
That's such an interesting question. It's kind of a loaded question to you because it's something that is ever evolving, and I'm constantly learning things about myself and what this work really means to me and the legacy that I'm leaving. I've mentioned at the beginning that this all began over a decade ago, solely for the purpose, to share my husband with our daughter so that she'd have a relationship and know exactly who he was and who he is.
00:15:44:21 - 00:16:06:13
Speaker 2
And I've learned so much. I learned more about him in his death than I ever did in the short term we've had together in this life, and not just him. I've learned so much from the stories that have been shared with me. I've learned so much by doing the work, standing in the gap with people who are looking for something, even if they don't know what it is.
00:16:06:13 - 00:16:36:23
Speaker 2
I talk with my daughter like she's a freshman in college now. She's an art and education major and a French minor. It's beautiful to see how she has woven a lot of this into her own narrative, even as she kind of goes off to do her own thing in life. It's beautiful to see how she's woven so much of what we've learned together, and what she sees me do every day into her own narrative, and how she's kind of taking bits and pieces of that forward into the life that she's creating for herself.
00:16:37:00 - 00:17:03:07
Speaker 2
She just illustrated a book, and as she writes her bio, she's actually going to dedicate this first book that she's illustrated to her dad, which I think is just such a sweet, sweet thing. But as it kind of relates to everything, just kind of the culmination of everything, it really just feeds into a couple of ideals that I hold so closely and that is the idea of hope.
00:17:03:10 - 00:17:43:16
Speaker 2
There's so much hope out there, and my sincerest prayer is that the people that I connect with in any form, whether it's through the foundation, in any facet of the foundation, whether it's just on the street, just meeting people in general, my prayer is that they learn through me that there is always hope available. The other thing that I, I want to leave with everyone is just a sense of gratitude that I have not just because of the freedom and the opportunity that I have, because people have risked and given their lives for me to have these freedoms and opportunities.
00:17:43:21 - 00:18:10:09
Speaker 2
I'm incredibly grateful for that. I think what I'm also equally grateful for is the fact that so many survivors have allowed me into their lives to have this collective experience that just continues to grow, and it just feeds into itself over and over. Every day gets a little bigger. Every day the story becomes a little more meaningful. And that is the legacy that we are creating together.
00:18:10:09 - 00:18:16:00
Speaker 2
It's not just mine anymore, it is ours. And that's what I hope everybody gets to say.
00:18:16:06 - 00:18:22:17
Speaker 1
Amy, to any Gold Star families, surviving family members that are listening, what would you encourage them to do to engage with the Foundation?
00:18:22:18 - 00:18:47:22
Speaker 2
They can always go to our website, which is Woody Williams Dawg. All of our contact information is on there. How to reach out with a resource request, how to reach out with a you know, I want to I want to talk with Amy about potentially sharing my story about the podcast. And I promise when you reach out to me, you can say, I have a story and I, I don't know where to start.
00:18:48:00 - 00:19:08:18
Speaker 2
That's okay. We can work with that. I would love to work with someone to help craft whatever that story is that they want to tell. I'm a safe place. I'm an open book. Nothing scares me. So I would love to help somebody craft that story. And if it's something that they want to share publicly, let's do that. Let's get you on this podcast.
00:19:08:18 - 00:19:25:14
Speaker 2
Let's tell people about your person. Let's tell people about the things that you've experienced and what you're doing in your life right now. What do you Williamsburg. And again, my name is Amy Dozier, and I'm on the website under teams. And we can be found in any number of ways.
00:19:25:19 - 00:19:29:10
Speaker 1
2026 is a big year. Anything can look forward to that. You can share with us today.
00:19:29:15 - 00:19:48:12
Speaker 2
Yes, we have so many great events coming up. We've got a lot of sporting events coming up. Gosh, we've got a couple of trips that we're taking some folks on. We've got some retreats, we've got lots of really good stuff. And again, we've got the podcast that's really growing and taking off, and I'm just so excited to continue learning and growing with these families.
00:19:48:12 - 00:19:52:03
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's what 2026 looks like. So a lot more growth.
00:19:52:08 - 00:19:53:20
Speaker 1
When can we listen to your next episode?
00:19:54:00 - 00:20:06:16
Speaker 2
It's on every single Wednesday 11 a.m. eastern time. The next new episode would come out next Wednesday, 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Everything is archived on SoundCloud under After the Knock.
00:20:06:17 - 00:20:15:04
Speaker 1
Thank you again for coming on the show. Today is such a pleasure to chat with you and we are all cheering you on on your podcast journey as you help so many families tell their important stories.
00:20:15:04 - 00:20:23:10
Speaker 2
Thank you so much for having me, I appreciate it.
00:20:23:12 - 00:20:36:12
Speaker 1
Thanks so much for tuning in. Story. Behind the Stone is available on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, and on the Rise Across America Radio Network on iHeartRadio. Audacity and tune in to search for wreath.
00:20:36:14 - 00:20:37:15
Speaker 1
Thank you for tuning in.