I am very sad to report that Papa Bear passed away on March 11th, 2014, at the corner of O'Farrell and Larkin, unofficially of an apparent heart attack. According to a witness that I found, the paramedics were able to bring him back twice, but the third time he didn't come back. If I am able to find out any more information, I will post it here.
Party Of The Third Part I hope he has a special place in Heaven for heroes. I know this video has been up for a while, but a Gentleman like this deserves as much praise from his fellow Americans as we can give him. Don't worry, men like him will not be forgotten.
How sad to discover (from the comments) that Papa Bear has since passed. I am just watching his videos for the first time.Thank you for helping him. Rest In Eternal Paradise Papa Bear.
Meet "Papa Bear", a homeless Vietnam veteran living on the streets of The Tenderloin in San Francisco. Declared dead while in the service, but survived to be with us today. This video is part of an ongoing series of conversations/interviews with panhandlers and/or homeless and/or street people that I happen to run across, mostly in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. I don't pretend to have any solution for, or special insight into, the "homeless problem". I'm just interested in hearing people's stories, whoever they may be and whatever their situation may be. And perhaps it puts some names to, and stories behind, some of the faces you may see on the street. I ask whatever I feel like asking and wherever the conversation takes us. I'm certainly not the world's best interviewer, but maybe I'll get better at it over time. #homeless #interview #panhandlers #vietnamvet #sanfrancisco
I noticed today that this video has surpassed 3,000 views. Papa Bear would be quite happy about that. Whenever I would see him on the street he would always want to know how the video was doing.
💔 Agree... Our Veterans deserve better....They deserve the best. They Served Our Country....It breaks my heart to see any Veterans living on the street....Also not being able to receive the proper medical care...It is ashame. God Bless all Our Veterans always...💞 Never To Be Forgotten.🇺🇸 Love and Peace to all....💞✌️
Being a United States Marine and a war veteran, I have to say what he's saying sounds very shaky. His story is fairly far fetched, and if he actually had been awarded 3 purple hearts he wouldn't have any trouble getting rated for disability through the VA. He didn't seem to have any trouble at all mentioning having killed 200 hundred people. That is a very high number, and no veteran that I know would so openly and easily talk about killing a great number of people. He just doesn't sound sincere. Maybe he is a veteran, but his stories seem to be just that... stories. It doesn't add up.
Bear told me today that he was in a store (in the Tenderloin) and someone recognized him and said that they saw him on RUclips. He's on his way to becoming famous! Won't be long before Hollywood is calling...
Every U.S. military veteran deserves some degree of respect. They don't need to ''qualify'' for respect. If they served their country, I don't want to hear about some people mistreating them because I've been there. I'm a Persian Gulf War-era veteran (U.S. Coast Guard), who will die on Wall Street. I was punched in my eye out of fear. The guy, who did that to me will be running from the police for life!
At least you seek out the vets, most folks won't even look in our direction! Pappa Bear's story is all to common, many homeless vets die in anonymity, alone, yeah, thanks for your service!
A wonderful interview - Papa Bear seems to have been an inspirational spirit. I wish he was around so I could somehow set up a Spirit In Action interview with him. I think you must have all kinds of interviews that would make an excellent broadcast - talk to me. Thanks and great work.
ball bust, I fear that with that level of cynicism, you must have lost much much more than "Papa Bear" has. You see, it doesn't matter whether the story is true. It's like the bible I guess. The deeper truth is BETWEEN the lines. If the story he tells is a lie, or a partial lie, then we must ask "Why is his REAL story not "good enough"? What is that about? His ego has been taken so low that he has had to "make up" a life, a past. That speaks volumes. Blessings.
I can't follow any of this , nothing he says is clicking with me , I spent nearly 3 yrs in Vietnam from 65 to 68 , the cats dead so I'm not gonna post foul anything but I will say this , any combat vet is gonna have a shit ton of wtf moments listening to this .
+Michael Ledford I just have conversations with people on the street and ask them to tell me their stories. I'm not an "investigative journalist" or anything, so I don't attempt to verify what they say... I'm sure there may sometimes be embellishment.
+Party Of The Third Part This video is worth a look if were interested in hearing someone spin a yarn or we want insight into this guys fantasy life and skill as a fundraiser; it is not what it purports to be however, a homeless guys story. And you ensure its going to be completely inauthentic by dangling an unstated payment, you force a desperate guy to work as hard as he can to say what he thinks you want to hear to maximize the amount he gets out of you! And so we end up with 20 minutes of hokum about people thinking he was dead till the coroner cutting him open revived him, and a supposed vet saying countless things vets never say, and his children are responsible for him becoming homeless, and he was a hairdresser to the stars, and holds a graduate degree... and this is what you call "embellishment" but of course it is actually TRANSPARENTLY ALL BULLSHIT... After 20 minutes we know NOTHING in particular about this guy and thats because youre a dummy, as banal and gullible as can be, you dont ask any informed questions and you accept every ludicrous answer, whats the point of this? As far as I can tell its a vehicle for you to show what a great guy you are supposedly documenting his story and giving him all the money you had... BUT YOU DIDNT HELP HIM, YOU HURT HIM!! You perpetuated his lying to himself that his kids somehow made him homeless and he remains homeless because of PTSD instead of facing up to whatever problems he has. Hes not getting any job with his imaginary Masters degree and he likeley dropped out of high school and may even be illiterate and your validating this lie wont spur him to face it and go to adult literacy classes or get a GED. And hes not getting a place to live with any fantasy law suit either... you really are a schmuck
Wow did this thread turn into a white guilt fest fast lmfao I'm darker skinned than 90% of black America & can tell all you kids if you call for this stupidity you deserve your balls cut off . The only real racism in America is now,and has always been a product of control,manufactured by the Democratic party . Men don't give a shit what color other men are,all we care about is the date interaction between people taking place " that moment " ,everything else is think tank stupidity carried forth by children indoctrinated in US colleges to accept failure,or have a boogy man to blame . If you can't make it it America it isn't white privledge,it's more likely brown illegal immigration,I've watched 50,000 traditional black jobs in Detroit be awarded to illegal Hispanics & I call them out,I tell black youth who their enemy is and it's not the white man living next door,it's the illegal Hispanic living next door who sends 60% of his income out of Detroit and in to Mexico . The entire premise " everybody is racist " is utter bullshit ,if you have problems that cause you to look down on others don't attribute your weakness to " all men ' ,because most men simply don't care about race .
Yes, actually: The bandage has been removed, and the finger is functional, but doesn't look very good (it has obviously been mangled), and Bear says it has some chronic pain. In fact, we joked that it is more difficult for him to give "the finger" to anyone now because it is shorter now than it is supposed to be, but of course he doesn't do that kind of thing anyway. Thanks for asking.
Trent McCormick Hey, just thought I'd mention that there is a new video with Bear, and he talks about how his finger is doing at a little over 13.5 minutes into the video. The video is here: ruclips.net/video/PkZljUYXD6Q/видео.html
It's hard for me to understand how family can "disown" someone who made a mistake and went to prison. Didn't their pride in him mean anything? You just don't give up on family like that. I don't get it. God bless Papa Bear.
If what he says is true he would be drawing a fair amount of compensation to get him off the streets. Secondly if he's a Veteran he would be eligible for a small pension. The VA awards both go the above.
Why can the government do something about them , gosh this are PEOPLE they don't deserve living In the street, regardless if they are mentally ill or drug addicts this are Human bean, elderlies, etc.they don't choose to be out there if you see one or two or more help them for God sake built them a shelter just get them OUT OF THE STREET
There are no car crashes, sexy women, cute animals, funny pranks, catchy music, or those sorts of things, so this video's probably not going to be going "viral".
I believe your story PAPA bear we will miss u or I will I have a few questions Ques#1: Did the 56 hour surgery hurt afterwards or were you in a coma?Ques#2: Did you like it In the streets? (one dumb question I can ever ask)Questions#3: Did you like the interviews?Oh and... R.I.P PAPA BEAR YOUR SUPPORTERS WILL MISS YOU SERENELY I WILL MOSTLY! LOVE YOU PAPA BEAR..-Jakyia L. McCallum
GOD BLESS YOU ALWAYS AND FOREVER SIR I PRAY YOUR LIFE IS BLESSED WITH THE RICHEST LOVELIEST BLESSINGS!!! MAY YOU ALWAYS HAVE GOOD HEALTHY FOOD, CLEAN WATER A SAFE WARM HOME FULL OF EVERYTHING TO MAKE YOU COMFORTABLE AND HAPPY!!! MAY YOU PROSPER AND THRIVE FOR BEING A FAITHFUL LOVING GOLDEN HEARTED SERVANT AND CHILD OF GOD! MAY YOU GET OFF THE STREETS SOON SWEETIE! I AM SORRY YOU VETERANS SUFFER THIS INHUMANE NEGLECT ABANDONMENT AND ABUSE! SINCERELY I LOVE YALL CHARITY ANN FERGUSON****
thank you for your wonderful thoughts and words.all vets deserve better than living on the streets. our goverment has thrown our veterans out to make it the best way they can.some say he is full of it,i say it is not my job to judge him or anyone else thanks again.
Sf is heavied with hippies: a war zone for the vets. But the city weather is nice. I recommend joining the police forces because the hippies people gonna be your boss after your daddy passed away; no, drugs are not the only thing keeping them happy, it is about tolerate others like Vietnam vets and their children.
However colorful the character being interviewed is, and no matter how insightful or penetrating the details (verifiable or not) to his story are. to the human condition, recent world events, or even more current affairs, it becomes easy to forget the lens and camera frame this is all occurring within. So that maybe even more insightful to the human condition, world events, and current affairs, is the question of why someone with a high definition camera would spend 20 minutes 27 seconds to record this homeless man, and then beam it out to the rest of the World. According to Papa Bear his body count in the Vietnam War was over 200 kills, i wonder if the videograophers involved in this production would also have a similar score sheet in terms of how many recorded interviews they've conducted. With the larger question of course being, why? Would the answer be similar to the soldiers, in claiming that it was their job? Let's just hope the film makers here would be better compensated and appreciated in the future, compared to war veterans at present. The detail about how Papa Bear may have had his disability pay check stopped during the Bush Administration, because of his ethnic Muslim ancestry is an interesting detail, but of course that is no less interesting than hearing that he is a qualified hairdresser with a degree in psychology and 3 purple heart decorations to his name. And for all those people who are willing to at least entertain the possibility (like me) that all this couldcarry some bit of truth, I wonder if such people could also be easily convinced to part money for some piece of swamp land, if it's sold with enough of wit and good spirits
I am very sad to report that Papa Bear passed away on March 11th, 2014, at the corner of O'Farrell and Larkin, unofficially of an apparent heart attack. According to a witness that I found, the paramedics were able to bring him back twice, but the third time he didn't come back. If I am able to find out any more information, I will post it here.
Party Of The Third Part I hope he has a special place in Heaven for heroes. I know this video has been up for a while, but a Gentleman like this deserves as much praise from his fellow Americans as we can give him. Don't worry, men like him will not be forgotten.
You can tell he use to have his life together, He just needs a chance to get his life together. God Bless him 🙏
💔 Heartbreaking....Our Veterans....Never should be homeless.💔 God Bless this caring man and keep him safe.💞
How sad to discover (from the comments) that Papa Bear has since passed. I am just watching his videos for the first time.Thank you for helping him. Rest In Eternal Paradise Papa Bear.
Tracey Mctreacle Bear wasn't perfect (no one is), but he was well-known and generally well-liked around the neighborhood.
Meet "Papa Bear", a homeless Vietnam veteran living on the streets of The Tenderloin in San Francisco. Declared dead while in the service, but survived to be with us today.
This video is part of an ongoing series of conversations/interviews with panhandlers and/or homeless and/or street people that I happen to run across, mostly in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. I don't pretend to have any solution for, or special insight into, the "homeless problem". I'm just interested in hearing people's stories, whoever they may be and whatever their situation may be. And perhaps it puts some names to, and stories behind, some of the faces you may see on the street. I ask whatever I feel like asking and wherever the conversation takes us. I'm certainly not the world's best interviewer, but maybe I'll get better at it over time.
#homeless #interview #panhandlers #vietnamvet #sanfrancisco
I noticed today that this video has surpassed 3,000 views. Papa Bear would be quite happy about that. Whenever I would see him on the street he would always want to know how the video was doing.
That's sweet, sad to hear he passed on the side walk so sad.
I allways try to help people if i see them in need.. Makes me feel good
My Father lost some friends to the Vietnam war. Very sad how they were treated when they come back
It's heartbreaking to see homeless veterans. The least these people deserve is a home. Shame on the American government.
Thank you 4 your support
💔 Agree... Our Veterans deserve better....They deserve the best. They Served Our Country....It breaks my heart to see any Veterans living on the street....Also not being able to receive the proper medical care...It is ashame. God Bless all Our Veterans always...💞 Never To Be Forgotten.🇺🇸 Love and Peace to all....💞✌️
Being a United States Marine and a war veteran, I have to say what he's saying sounds very shaky. His story is fairly far fetched, and if he actually had been awarded 3 purple hearts he wouldn't have any trouble getting rated for disability through the VA. He didn't seem to have any trouble at all mentioning having killed 200 hundred people. That is a very high number, and no veteran that I know would so openly and easily talk about killing a great number of people. He just doesn't sound sincere. Maybe he is a veteran, but his stories seem to be just that... stories. It doesn't add up.
welcome home papa bear. your viet nam brother, 69/70/71,NAKA
Bear told me today that he was in a store (in the Tenderloin) and someone recognized him and said that they saw him on RUclips. He's on his way to becoming famous! Won't be long before Hollywood is calling...
The man is a gentleman & a treasure. Too bad he's no longer with us.
What a real, well spoken man. RIP Papa Bear.
God bless this old guy I hope the VA is helping him
R,I,P poppa bear ,,an there's thousand of Veitnam veterans on streets homeless they not getting no pension forgotten ones ✌️
Amazing person. Rest in peace
1:17 WHAT???!!! DID HE ASKED TO HAVE HIS REAL NAME CENSORED??!! 😳 AND WHY IS HIS NAME CENSORED IF HE PASSED AWAY?!
Rest in peace Papa Bear, you were a wise and beautiful person.
God bless Papa Bear. Rest in peace! Very grateful for His service to His country.
Every U.S. military veteran deserves some degree of respect. They don't need to ''qualify'' for respect. If they served their country, I don't want to hear about some people mistreating them because I've been there. I'm a Persian Gulf War-era veteran (U.S. Coast Guard), who will die on Wall Street. I was punched in my eye out of fear. The guy, who did that to me will be running from the police for life!
At least you seek out the vets, most folks won't even look in our direction! Pappa Bear's story is all to common, many homeless vets die in anonymity, alone, yeah, thanks for your service!
A wonderful interview - Papa Bear seems to have been an inspirational spirit. I wish he was around so I could somehow set up a Spirit In Action interview with him. I think you must have all kinds of interviews that would make an excellent broadcast - talk to me. Thanks and great work.
Mark Helpsmeet Thanks for the comment and glad to hear you're enjoying the interviews. I'll be in touch.
I'm looking still to hear from you - it's a new year....
Mark Helpsmeet Hi Mark, I sent a private message to your RUclips account about 2 weeks ago...
0:48 Is that East Cleveland?
Whether his story was fake or fact. Him being a homeless is a fact.
breaks my heart
papa bear thank you for your serves
ball bust, I fear that with that level of cynicism, you must have lost much much more than "Papa Bear" has. You see, it doesn't matter whether the story is true. It's like the bible I guess. The deeper truth is BETWEEN the lines.
If the story he tells is a lie, or a partial lie, then we must ask "Why is his REAL story not "good enough"? What is that about? His ego has been taken so low that he has had to "make up" a life, a past. That speaks volumes. Blessings.
I can't follow any of this , nothing he says is clicking with me , I spent nearly 3 yrs in Vietnam from 65 to 68 , the cats dead so I'm not gonna post foul anything but I will say this , any combat vet is gonna have a shit ton of wtf moments listening to this .
+Michael Ledford I just have conversations with people on the street and ask them to tell me their stories. I'm not an "investigative journalist" or anything, so I don't attempt to verify what they say... I'm sure there may sometimes be embellishment.
+Party Of The Third Part This video is worth a look if were interested in hearing someone spin a yarn or we want insight into this guys fantasy life and skill as a fundraiser; it is not what it purports to be however, a homeless guys story. And you ensure its going to be completely inauthentic by dangling an unstated payment, you force a desperate guy to work as hard as he can to say what he thinks you want to hear to maximize the amount he gets out of you!
And so we end up with 20 minutes of hokum about people thinking he was dead till the coroner cutting him open revived him, and a supposed vet saying countless things vets never say, and his children are responsible for him becoming homeless, and he was a hairdresser to the stars, and holds a graduate degree... and this is what you call "embellishment" but of course it is actually TRANSPARENTLY ALL BULLSHIT...
After 20 minutes we know NOTHING in particular about this guy and thats because youre a dummy, as banal and gullible as can be, you dont ask any informed questions and you accept every ludicrous answer, whats the point of this? As far as I can tell its a vehicle for you to show what a great guy you are supposedly documenting his story and giving him all the money you had...
BUT YOU DIDNT HELP HIM, YOU HURT HIM!! You perpetuated his lying to himself that his kids somehow made him homeless and he remains homeless because of PTSD instead of facing up to whatever problems he has. Hes not getting any job with his imaginary Masters degree and he likeley dropped out of high school and may even be illiterate and your validating this lie wont spur him to face it and go to adult literacy classes or get a GED. And hes not getting a place to live with any fantasy law suit either... you really are a schmuck
Wow did this thread turn into a white guilt fest fast lmfao
I'm darker skinned than 90% of black America & can tell all you kids if you call for this stupidity you deserve your balls cut off .
The only real racism in America is now,and has always been a product of control,manufactured by the Democratic party .
Men don't give a shit what color other men are,all we care about is the date interaction between people taking place " that moment " ,everything else is think tank stupidity carried forth by children indoctrinated in US colleges to accept failure,or have a boogy man to blame .
If you can't make it it America it isn't white privledge,it's more likely brown illegal immigration,I've watched 50,000 traditional black jobs in Detroit be awarded to illegal Hispanics & I call them out,I tell black youth who their enemy is and it's not the white man living next door,it's the illegal Hispanic living next door who sends 60% of his income out of Detroit and in to Mexico .
The entire premise " everybody is racist " is utter bullshit ,if you have problems that cause you to look down on others don't attribute your weakness to " all men ' ,because most men simply don't care about race .
@@michaelledford4751Excellent
Wishing you all the best from Rumania,Europe.
Respect .
Many thanks, all the way from San Francisco!
Any update on how Bear's finger is doing?
Yes, actually: The bandage has been removed, and the finger is functional, but doesn't look very good (it has obviously been mangled), and Bear says it has some chronic pain. In fact, we joked that it is more difficult for him to give "the finger" to anyone now because it is shorter now than it is supposed to be, but of course he doesn't do that kind of thing anyway. Thanks for asking.
Trent McCormick Hey, just thought I'd mention that there is a new video with Bear, and he talks about how his finger is doing at a little over 13.5 minutes into the video. The video is here: ruclips.net/video/PkZljUYXD6Q/видео.html
a lot of poppa bear sounds strange to me. but i am not going to judge him it is not my job.
It's hard for me to understand how family can "disown" someone who made a mistake and went to prison. Didn't their pride in him mean anything? You just don't give up on family like that. I don't get it. God bless Papa Bear.
Yes, his story has some holes in it...but at least someone stopped and listened. I think that's all that matters.
If what he says is true he would be drawing a fair amount of compensation to get him off the streets. Secondly if he's a Veteran he would be eligible for a small pension. The VA awards both go the above.
I can't help but think Stolen Valor.
Stunning story!!
America not respect for the Veterans Heroes the SHAME🙏🏻💔🇫🇷
Why can the government do something about them , gosh this are PEOPLE they don't deserve living In the street, regardless if they are mentally ill or drug addicts this are Human bean, elderlies, etc.they don't choose to be out there if you see one or two or more help them for God sake built them a shelter just get them OUT OF THE STREET
There are no car crashes, sexy women, cute animals, funny pranks, catchy music, or those sorts of things, so this video's probably not going to be going "viral".
If he has all those injuries, he could apply for a pension. I'm sure he could get some money. I'm a vet and this guy is either crazy or lying.
vietnam vet.....should be getting disability, medical and several other benefits
Did he ever get to the caribbean?
Alas, he never did.
too bad he didnt save his money and go to school. he was doing what he chose
I believe your story PAPA bear we will miss u or I will I have a few questions Ques#1: Did the 56 hour surgery hurt afterwards or were you in a coma?Ques#2: Did you like it In the streets? (one dumb question I can ever ask)Questions#3: Did you like the interviews?Oh and... R.I.P PAPA BEAR YOUR SUPPORTERS WILL MISS YOU SERENELY I WILL MOSTLY! LOVE YOU PAPA BEAR..-Jakyia L. McCallum
He doesn’t have to be homeless I think there people out there that can help him get a 100 percent disability rating from the VA….
I cannot figure out why you would not spend 5 minutes cleaning up the audio
GOD BLESS YOU ALWAYS AND FOREVER SIR I PRAY YOUR LIFE IS BLESSED WITH THE RICHEST LOVELIEST BLESSINGS!!! MAY YOU ALWAYS HAVE GOOD HEALTHY FOOD, CLEAN WATER A SAFE WARM HOME FULL OF EVERYTHING TO MAKE YOU COMFORTABLE AND HAPPY!!! MAY YOU PROSPER AND THRIVE FOR BEING A FAITHFUL LOVING GOLDEN HEARTED SERVANT AND CHILD OF GOD! MAY YOU GET OFF THE STREETS SOON SWEETIE! I AM SORRY YOU VETERANS SUFFER THIS INHUMANE NEGLECT ABANDONMENT AND ABUSE! SINCERELY I LOVE YALL CHARITY ANN FERGUSON****
thank you for your wonderful thoughts and words.all vets deserve better than living on the streets. our goverment has thrown our veterans out to make it the best way they can.some say he is full of it,i say it is not my job to judge him or anyone else thanks again.
I rebuke all you evil serpents and everything disgusting you stand for. wretched unworthy excuses for government
God bless the innocent in Jesus name and I hope God chokes all you eternally out wicked jerks!!!
You will give an account one day ha ha ha
Hope I'm there when He slams the door shut on you evil worms
If he was awarded three purple hearts he would very easily be able to get benefits.
Keith Richards Liver Purple Heart is 30 percent. IIRC. My buddy got one in the Gulf War, he gets a nice little check. Doesn't take long either.
Sf is heavied with hippies: a war zone for the vets. But the city weather is nice. I recommend joining the police forces because the hippies people gonna be your boss after your daddy passed away; no, drugs are not the only thing keeping them happy, it is about tolerate others like Vietnam vets and their children.
However colorful the character being interviewed is, and no matter how insightful or penetrating the details (verifiable or not) to his story are. to the human condition, recent world events, or even more current affairs, it becomes easy to forget the lens and camera frame this is all occurring within. So that maybe even more insightful to the human condition, world events, and current affairs, is the question of why someone with a high definition camera would spend 20 minutes 27 seconds to record this homeless man, and then beam it out to the rest of the World.
According to Papa Bear his body count in the Vietnam War was over 200 kills, i wonder if the videograophers involved in this production would also have a similar score sheet in terms of how many recorded interviews they've conducted. With the larger question of course being, why? Would the answer be similar to the soldiers, in claiming that it was their job? Let's just hope the film makers here would be better compensated and appreciated in the future, compared to war veterans at present.
The detail about how Papa Bear may have had his disability pay check stopped during the Bush Administration, because of his ethnic Muslim ancestry is an interesting detail, but of course that is no less interesting than hearing that he is a qualified hairdresser with a degree in psychology and 3 purple heart decorations to his name. And for all those people who are willing to at least entertain the possibility (like me) that all this couldcarry some bit of truth, I wonder if such people could also be easily convinced to part money for some piece of swamp land, if it's sold with enough of wit and good spirits
weewilly2007 do I smell a PT Barnum reference? There's one born minute right? lol
Nice man
this man needs a second xhance
may the cab quy never know peace
This is an over the top lie and exaggeration, research for 2 years for an out of body experience.
You can't be dead for a day and a half and come back to life.
Why not? Quick reincarnation
I always ask for a va! Can be fake as well i know.
omg 200 hundred kills thats about 8 nukes bro, gj!
Coached.bum for a lefty video.
horsenuggets