What Allentown, Pennsylvania can teach us about the changing face of America
CBSN
Gary Iacocca recalls his grandfather's hot dog shop in downtown Allentown, Pennsylvania consistently hosting non-stop crowds of people. That is, until what he described as a changing neighborhood forced the family establishment to operate elsewhere.
"I will tell you, the original Yocco's was open at 6 a.m. in the morning and we closed at 1:30 at night and we were busy all day," Iacocca told "CBS Mornings" co-host Tony Dokoupil. "Well, this was a blue-collar town. Third shifts, they would get off, they'd come down to Yocco's, they'd get a couple hot dogs, drink a beer and go home."
Iacocca says that as other restaurants of different cultural cuisines opened up in the area things "became a little more competitive" and the original Yocco's the Hot Dog King closed after more than 80 years, although other locations still exist in the area.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.