Willie Woods joined the U.S. Marine Corps at a time when commanders believed black service members could not measure up to their white counterparts. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt opened up the armed forces to all races, but units remained segregated. In the Marine Corps, the first African-American units were trained at Montford Point, North Carolina, near Camp Lejeune. In this edition, Willie Woods discusses his decision to join the Corps, the discrimination he faced at various times,...
Aug 25, 2021•41 min
As we watch the troubling news out of Afghanistan, we continue to honor the courage that American service members demonstrated there for twenty years. One of those unforgettable veterans is Clint Romesha. Raised in California, Romesha followed his grandfather, father, and two brothers into the service. He joined the U.S. Army the day after his eighteenth birthday. Two years later, the 9/11 attacks propelled the U.S. into war. After deployments to Germany and Korea, Romesha served two tours of du...
Aug 18, 2021•46 min
When August Bolino's draft number came up, he immediately signed up with the U.S. Army Air Corps. His good grasp of numbers got him assigned as a navigator on a B-17 bomber crew in the 8th Air Force operating out of England. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Bolino demonstrates his encyclopedic memory of his service in World War II. He describes his earliest missions, his actions that earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross, and his two separate missions on D-Day. He also explains how ...
Aug 11, 2021•50 min
Ed Manley joined the U.S. Army and was trained as a paratrooper and a demolition man. He is now immortalized in history in the famous photo of Gen. Dwight Eisenhower addressing the airborne troops on the eve of D-Day. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Manley takes us through his jump into Normandy, the confusion after he landed, and his disobeying of orders in those first hours in France. He also discusses the battle for Carentan, his role in Operation Market Garden in Holland, and how h...
Aug 04, 2021•31 min
Tom Toski was drafted into the U.S. Navy in 1943 and was deployed on a destroyer escort to the Pacific theater upon completion of his training. By the end of the war, just two years later, Toski had earned five battle stars, including Leyte Gulf and Okinawa. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Toski shares his story of service, describes his memories of those critical battles, and explains why he is so proud of his service during the war.
Jul 28, 2021•37 min
Scott Taylor signed up for the U.S. Navy while he was still on high school and he knew from the start he wanted to be a SEAL. It was training that would serve him well when he was deployed to Iraq just a few years later. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Taylor describes the grueling BUD/S training that only he and a small fraction of his original class was able to complete. Also trained as a sniper, Taylor describes the service of his platoon in Iraq and how he was seriously injured. Fi...
Jul 21, 2021•42 min
Those who serve in our military go through rigorous training and elite forces must reach even more difficult standards. Perhaps the most famous and most demanding training belongs to the U.S. Navy SEALS. Candidates are tested physically and mentally in many different ways over many months but perhaps the most intense crucible is Hell Week. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles" author Scott McEwen joins us to discuss his new book, "Hell Week and Beyond: The Making of a Navy SEAL." McEwen takes...
Jul 14, 2021•43 min
John McCarney joined the U.S. Air Force shortly after deciding he'd had enough of college football. He trained to be a medical corpsman and was by late 1974 was on his way to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. Upon arriving he was stunned to learn he was assigned to the obstetrics ward of the hospital. It was just a few months later that President Gerald Ford authorized Operation Babylift, which was designed to rescue mixed-race babies and other children out of South Vietnam as the communi...
Jul 07, 2021•44 min
In 2011, U.S. Army Lt. General Patricia Horoho became the first nurse and the first woman to serve as Surgeon General of the U.S. Army. Prior to the that honor, she provided excellent emergency care in the immediate aftermath of two major disasters and commanded some of the nation's most critical military medical facilities. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Gen. Horoho walks us through her response to the Green Ramp Disaster at Pope AFB in North Carolina and her actions to save lives at...
Jun 30, 2021•29 min
Frank DeVita joined the U.S. Coast Guard in World War II thinking his job would be to protect the American coast. But his war service would be much different than expected when the Navy decided to use Coast Guard personnel the responsibility of manning many of the landing crafts used during invasions. DeVita was assigned to a Higgins boat headed for Omaha Beach in the early hours of D-Day, June 6, 1944. And it was his job to drop the ramp, knowing full well that many of the soldiers on his boat ...
Jun 23, 2021•38 min
George Dramis joined the U.S. Army during World War II and was sent to Europe with many other soldiers to defeat Nazi Germany. But his unit was very different from all the others. Dramis was a member of the Army's 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, better known as General George S. Patton's "Ghost Army." In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Dramis explains how the 23rd was tasked with deceiving the Nazi forces to keep them guessing about American intentions and to lure them away from the are...
Jun 16, 2021•18 min
Maj. General Mari K. Eder shares her story of joining the U.S. Army in 1977 and embarking on a 36-year career, in which she rose to be Deputy Chief of U.S. Army Public Affairs during U.S. military action in Kosovo and Afghanistan. Gen. Eder also discusses her years serving as Deputy Chief of U.S. Army Reserve and the challenges she faced while holding that position during wartime. Gen. Eder is also an accomplished author. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," she explains the premise of her ...
Jun 09, 2021•45 min
Carl Felton joined the U.S.Navy after graduating from high school in 1943, even though he didn't know how to swim. Felton was then trained in communications and sent to England to be part of the pivotal effort to attack Hitler's Atlantic Wall and establish a western front against Nazi Germany. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Felton shares his memories of the vast armada of ships off the coast of Normandy, later escaping an attempted attack from a German soldier in France, and surviving...
Jun 02, 2021•39 min
Douglas MacGregor was commissioned as a U.S. Army officer after graduating from West Point in 1976. He soon developed expertise in armored cavalry and tanks that proved extremely valuable in the short, decisive ground campaign during Operation Desert Storm. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Col. MacGregor tells the story of how he turned an underperforming armored cavalry squadron into one of the most effective fighting units of the Gulf War. He also discusses his book, "Margin of Victor...
May 26, 2021•41 min
James Wright joined the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating high school. His three years of service in the Marines fell during peacetime, but just a few years later American found itself fully immersed in the Vietnam War. Wright followed the war carefully at the time, but it was years later as an academic that he began studying the war very closely. For his book, "Enduring Vietnam: An American Generation and Its War," Wright interviewed many Vietnam veterans and family members of those who never ...
May 19, 2021•46 min
Steven Fenves and his family enjoyed a nice middle class life in Hungary for his first ten years. In 1941, Hungarian authorities began discriminating against Jewish families. Within three years, he and his family were headed for the notorious concentration and death camps. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Fenves provides incredible detail as he describes the persecution his family faced from 1941-1945, his time at the brutal Auschwitz camp, moving to a smaller facility near Buchenwald, ...
May 12, 2021•44 min
From a young age, Mike Dowe knew that he wanted to attend the U.S. Military Academy and serve our nation in uniform. In 1950, he graduated from West Point and was immediately sent to Korea. After months of successfully pushing the North Koreans back to the north, American forces suddenly faced an endless surge of enemy Chinese soldiers pouring across the border. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Col. Dowe discusses his his time in combat, being taken prisoner, the horrific conditions in ...
May 05, 2021•36 min
Tom Fitzpatrick grew up in Pennsylvania and had never been on an airplane before joining the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II. Before long, he was serving as a radio navigator on a B-17 bomber crew. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Fitzpatrick explains his role on bombing missions, the close calls his crew endured, targeting the critical Nazi oil facilities in Ploesti, and how his plane and many others were protected by the Red Tails of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen.
Apr 28, 2021•30 min
Retired U.S. Army Major General Victor Hugo, Jr. takes us through his distinguished Army career, from West Point through Vietnam to perfecting the Patriot Missiles that served us so well during the Gulf War. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Gen. Hugo describes his time in Vietnam shortly after the French left in the mid-1950s as well as his critical assignments throughout the war. You'll also hear about his duty in the Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery, his thoughts about how the...
Apr 21, 2021•1 hr 10 min
Dakota Meyer decided to have some fun with the U.S. Marine recruiter visiting his high school. Within minutes he had a change of heart and signed up to serve. Meyer would serve in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a horrific day in September 2009 would change his life forever. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Meyer shares the very difficult story of watching from a a mile away as his fellow Marines came under deadly enemy fire. Defying orders, Meyer spent the next several hours against nearly i...
Apr 14, 2021•34 min
Charles Temple Jr. was a skilled craftsman by the time he was a teenager and when he joined the U.S. Navy near the end of World War II his skills were put to immediate use. Temple served aboard a refueling ship that was deployed to the Pacific and arrived there in the spring of 1946. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Mr. Temple explains the process of refueling aircraft carriers, battleships, destroyers, and other vessels. He also describes his first-hand experience with the Communist re...
Apr 07, 2021•32 min
Bill Dawson joined the U.S. Navy shortly after World War II. His first choice was submarine duty but the Navy had other plans. Dawson and other sailors were chosen as part of the new Naval Combat Demolition Unit, known informally as "frogmen". Their job was to clear mines and other booby traps to allow U.S. forces to land on enemy shores - from Normandy to the island-hopping campaign in the Pacific. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Mr. Dawson describes the stressful training he received...
Mar 31, 2021•36 min
R.V. Burgin joined the U.S. Marine Corps because "it's the best that Uncle Sam had." Serving in the Pacific, Burgin saw action as a mortar man and as a leader of his unit at New Britain, Peleliu, and Okinawa. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Burgin describes the fierce combat at all three battles, how he adjusted to what the Japanese were doing, and the admiration he has for the Marines he served with.
Mar 24, 2021•24 min
Whitey Johnson was a farm kid from Minnesota who had the chance to fly a crop duster when he was a teenager. The day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he stood in line to join the U.S. Army Air Corps. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Johnson describes his excitement at being assigned to the Flying Tigers, serving on the Shanghai Raids and his heart-pounding drama of being shot down and nearly captured while being hidden by the Chinese.
Mar 17, 2021•46 min
Harry Miller was so intent on joining the Army in World War II that he found a way to enlist at the age of 15. He soon found himself and his tank battalion at the Battle of the Bulge. Miller tells us about the battle, the bitter cold, and the capture of a Nazi tank that led to a lengthy effort to make sure his unit got credit for it. Miller also discusses his little known assignment following the war that became one of the first standoffs of the Cold War, why he left the Army and joined the Air ...
Mar 10, 2021•35 min
Retired U.S. Army Major Jeff Struecker served our nation in two very different capacities, both as an Army Ranger and as a chaplain. In this vivid and gripping oral history, Struecker shares his experiences in Operation Just Cause in Panama and in the Persian Gulf in the aftermath of Operation Desert Storm. He then walks us through his moment-by-moment memories of leading his task force to rescue the helicopter crews shot down in Mogadishu, Somalia. Immortalized in the book and movie, "Blackhawk...
Mar 03, 2021•1 hr 10 min
Ten years ago, on February 27, 2011, America's last World War I veteran passed away. Frank Buckles was 110 years old. Four years earlier, we visited with Mr. Buckles to learn his story. In this special edition of "Veterans Chronicles" narrated by Greg Corombos, you'll learn about the determination of Mr. Buckles to join the Army despite not being old enough, the reaction in Europe when the Americans arrived and when the war ended, how he ended up in a Japanese prison camp for more than three yea...
Feb 26, 2021•9 min
James McEachin joined the U.S. Army before turning eighteen, fascinated with the idea of being part of answering Uncle Sam's call to join the United States military. During his years in uniform, McEachin experienced the integration of the U.S. Armed Forces and deployed to fight in Korea in 1952. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Mr. McEachin describes his first combat experience and what it felt like to take another life. He also recounts being ambushed and nearly left for dead, until th...
Feb 24, 2021•37 min
Mae Krier grew up in North Dakota during the pain of the Great Depression. Shortly after the war, she went to visit Seattle. While there, she learned of a very good job for Boeing, working as a riveter on the wings of B-17 bombers. Later, she also worked on B-29 bombers. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Krier shares what it was like to be an original "Rosie the Riveter," how the men in the factory reacted to women entering the workplace, and what it means to her to have worked on so man...
Feb 17, 2021•36 min
James Pierce joined the U.S. Army National Guard as he finished high school in the spring of 2001. Within months, America was at war and Pierce eventually served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Pierce describes his duties in both countries and details the devastating injuries he suffered when an Afghan police officer became a suicide bomber targeting American service members. Pierce details his injuries, his grueling recovery, and his new work with the Nat...
Feb 10, 2021•27 min
