In this episode, Gene talks to Marine Corps Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Parks (Ret.) and Army Lieutenant Bryan Jackson, two of America's most highly decorated veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Army Col. Christopher Hughes, who currently serves as the division chief for the Army's House of Representatives Liason Division on Capitol Hill, is a combat veteran of Operation: Iraqi Freedom, where he commanded a battalion of the 101st Airborne Disvision. In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Col. Hughes talks about his book, "War On Two Fronts - An Infantry Commander's War in Iraq and the Pentagon."
Army Sgt. Bob Bearden was a young paratrooper with the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment when he jumped into the skies over Normandy on June 6, 1944 - D-Day. His was a remarkable story of battlefield action, capture by German forces, POW camp survival and a journey home that would take Bearden halfway around the world, by all forms a travel. Bearden is the author of the new book, "To D-Day and Back".
In this edition, we visit Army Lt. Col. Charles Krohn (Ret.), a combat veteran of the Vietnam War. Gene talks about Krohn's book, "The Lost Battalion of Tet: Breakout of the 2/12th Cavalry at Hue." The book has been recently revised to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Tet Offensive.
On April 14, 2004 on a road near Husaybah, Iraq, Cpl. Jason Dunham intentionally used his own helmet body to cover an enemy grenade, saving the lives of at least two of his fellow Marines. Cpl. Dunham, who was mortally wounded, would later become the first Marine to receive the Medal of Honor in Operation Iraqi Freedom, awarded on November 10, 2006 - the 231st birthday of the Corps, and what would have been his 25th birthday. In this episode, two Marines who served with Dunham on that day - Maj....
As Deputy Director of the Office of Provisional Outreach for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq, Lt. Col. R. Alan King worked first-hand with the Iraqi people in their attempts to build a better society. His experience, chronicled in his book Twice Armed, demonstrates that the United States' chances for success depend on our ability to understand and appreciate the people and culture of Iraq.
In one of the more amazing stories of World War II, John Dolibois, an immigrant at the age of 13 from Luxembourg, found himself back in the country of his birth in 1945. This time, he was an interrogator with the U.S. Army. Following the surrender of Germany, he became one of five men assigned the duty of interrogating some of the greatest criminals in human history - the top Nazi leadership, including Goering, Streicher, and Hess. This incredible American story continued when, years later, Pres...
Michael Thornton, a veteran of the elite Navy Seals, was a part of a five member team sent overseas to gather intelligence on North Vietnamese troop movements. They were discovered by the enemy and soon engaged in a five and a half hour fire fight against a larger force in which Thornton saved his superior officer, who was seriously wounded. His heroism led to his being awarded the Medal of Honor.
In this edition, Gene talks with Medal of Honor recipient George Joe Sakato, a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The all-Japanese American 442nd was created a year after more than 100,000 Japanese, many of them American citizens, were sent to internment camps and denied service in the U.S. Armed Forces following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The 442nd would become one of the most highly decorated units in U.S. military history, producing in all 21 Medal of Honor recipients.
In this edition, hear the story of Army Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall (ret.) who received the nation's highest military award, the Medal of Honor, 42 years after his heroic actions taken during The Battle of Ia Drang in 1965, during the Vietnam War.
This week, Gene's four guests are all veterans of World War II, all Marines, all pilots and all members of the original and later legendary Black Sheep Squadron led by ace pilot Greg "Pappy" Boyington.
John Del Vecchio is a decorated Vietnam veteran who wrote the highly acclaimed book "The 13th Valley." After serving in Vietnam, he later returned as a war correspondent. In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, he tells Gene of his wartime experiences...and his experiences as part of the media.
Army Major Jason Amerine is a leader of Army Special Forces who played a pivotal role in ousting the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The West Point graduate led a small U.S. force into the country to aid the guerrillas under Hamid Karzai against the regime which served as the protectors of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.
Retired Navy Captain Thomas Hudner Jr. recounts his days as a Naval Aviator flying combat missions over Korea. He earned the nation's highest award for military heroism, the Medal of Honor, in his rescue attempt of Jessie Brown, the Navy's first African American aviator.
William Davis III was thinking about a job interview he was going to have at RCA in Camden, New Jersey on December 5, 1941, two days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Shortly after the day of infamy, Davis joined the Naval Air Corps to go after the Japanese forces responsible for the attack. In this edition, he tells the story of how he would later go on to be credited with helping to sink the last Japanese carrier afloat that participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor.
SSgt. David Bellavia from Buffalo, New York was a theater major in college with no drama in his life. By joining the Army, Bellavia said he found something that gave him meaning. The former Army Staff Sargent has received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Conspicuous Service Cross and been recommended for the Medal of Honor for actions taken in a fierce urban firefight during the 2004 Battle of Fallujah. Bellavia, a member of the New York Veteran's Hall of Fame, tells us his story of being i...
Air Force Maj. General Edward Mechnbier (Ret.) was in the thick of battle in Vietnam two years after graduating from the Air Force Academy. He flew over 100 missions before being shot down and captured by the enemy, who imprisoned him in the notorious "Hanoi Hilton."
Gene talks to Major General David Jones (Ret.), one of the pilots during Jimmy Doolittle's raid, one of the most daring feats in US military history. Also, Greg Corombos spends time with Frank Buckles, the last living American veteran of World War I.
Sgt. Marco Martinez went from being a gang member as a teen to a hero in the United States Marine Corps. Sgt. Martinez tells Gene about his unconventional path to becoming the first Hispanic American during Operation Iraqi Freedom to earn the Navy Cross - second only to the Medal of Honor.
During the darkest days of World War II in April, 1942, then-Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle led a daring raid on the Japanese homeland, providing a tremendous morale boost for the United States military. Retired Col. Carroll Glines was a cadet pilot in training at the time. He is a noted historian who is the official historian of General Doolittle and the Doolittle raid.
Imagine being a doctor working in in a emergency room with explosions and bombs going off all around you. That's what happened to Navy doctor Commander Richard Jadick whose battalion was called into Fallujah in November 2004 for the toughest battle of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He recalls his story of being "On Call In Hell."
Lt. General Richard Natonski is Deputy Commandant of the Marine Corps for Plans, Policies and Operations. In 2004, He commanded the 1st Marine Division through counter insurgency operations, the Second Battle of Fallujah (known as Operation Phantom Fury), and the Iraqi national elections in January 2005.
It has been 40 years since Israeli Forces attacked the American surveillance ship USS Liberty on June 8, 1967. Since that time, the debate has continued about what happened and why. Officially, U.S. and Israeli policy contends the attack was an accident but former intelligence officials and the late Chief of Naval Operations contend otherwise.Three of the survivors, Joe Lentini, Glenn Oliphant and Dave Lucas, tell their story of what happened on that fateful day.
