Stay ConnectedWe explore the oral histories of World War II veterans from interviews conducted by your hosts Tony Lupo and Ryan Fairfield.
We play selected clips from these veteran interviews to explore their experiences in their own words with the hosts providing compelling commentary and historical context. Be ready to get some mud on your boots!
Copyright: © 2022 Warrior Next Door, LLC
Steve Bichler served with a military transition team (MiTTs) during the last year of US occupation as a communications officer in the US Air Force. During this time, Steve worked closely with Iraqi government officials and, by extension, interpreters from Iraq who signed up to help with the transition. One of these interpreters was Azeez "Simon" Alrifaie, who was featured in an earlier podcast series.
Please join us as Steve shares his experiences with the MiTTs team in 2011 as the US forces pulled out of Iraq and how it affected him to learn of the fate of many of of Iraqis he served with and advised, including Azeez who was featured in Series 35 of The Warrior Next Door podcast.
Steve Bichler served with a military transition team (MiTTs) during the last year of US occupation as a communications officer in the US Air Force. During this time, Steve worked closely with Iraqi government officials and, by extension, interpreters from Iraq who signed up to help with the transition. One of these interpreters was Azeez "Simon" Alrifaie, who was featured in an earlier podcast series.
Please join us as Steve shares his experiences with the MiTTs team in 2011 as the US forces pulled out of Iraq and how it affected him to learn of the fate of many of of Iraqis he served with and advised, including Azeez who was featured in Series 35 of The Warrior Next Door podcast.
Steve Bichler served with a military transition team (MiTTs) during the last year of US occupation as a communications officer in the US Air Force. During this time, Steve worked closely with Iraqi government officials and, by extension, interpreters from Iraq who signed up to help with the transition. One of these interpreters was Azeez "Simon" Alrifaie, who was featured in an earlier podcast series.
Please join us as Steve shares his experiences with the MiTTs team in 2011 as the US forces pulled out of Iraq and how it affected him to learn of the fate of many of of Iraqis he served with and advised, including Azeez who was featured in Series 35 of The Warrior Next Door podcast.
This series features an interview TWND conducted with Lucky Luckadoo, a B-17 co-pilot in the 100th BG, along with the author of his biography, Kevin Maurer, titled "Damn Lucky". This interview took place while Masters of the Air was being broadcast on Apple TV where Lucky was featured in the coda to Masters of the Air: The Bloody Hundredth, narrated by Tom Hanks.
Listen in as Lucky, who was 102 at the time of recording, describes in vivid detail what it was like to be a part of the 100 BG of the 8th Air Force when the USAAF was still learning how to fight the vaunted Luftwaffe that would result in 77% of the men he trained with to fly in the 100th BG being killed, captured or wounded.
This series features an interview TWND conducted with Lucky Luckadoo, a B-17 co-pilot in the 100th BG, along with the author of his biography, Kevin Maurer, titled "Damn Lucky". This interview took place while Masters of the Air was being broadcast on Apple TV where Lucky was featured in the coda to Masters of the Air: The Bloody Hundredth, narrated by Tom Hanks.
Listen in as Lucky, who was 102 at the time of recording, describes in vivid detail what it was like to be a part of the 100 BG of the 8th Air Force when the USAAF was still learning how to fight the vaunted Luftwaffe that would result in 77% of the men he trained with to fly in the 100th BG being killed, captured or wounded
This series features an interview TWND conducted with Lucky Luckadoo, a B-17 co-pilot in the 100th BG, along with the author of his biography, Kevin Maurer, titled "Damn Lucky". This interview took place while Masters of the Air was being broadcast on Apple TV where Lucky was featured in the coda to Masters of the Air: The Bloody Hundredth, narrated by Tom Hanks.
Listen in as Lucky, who was 102 at the time of recording, describes in vivid detail what it was like to be a part of the 100 BG of the 8th Air Force when the USAAF was still learning how to fight the vaunted Luftwaffe that would result in 77% of the men he trained with to fly in the 100th BG being killed, captured or wounded.
Welcome to Episode 3, the final episode of the George Menkoff series: the story of a B-17 bomb ordnance officer stationed in Great Ashfield England as part of the 385th BG during WWII. We rejoin him in this episode as he tells us about the danger of arming the bombs mid-flight as well as the ever present danger of mid air collisions.
Welcome to Episode 2 of the 3 part George Menkoff series: the story of a B-17 bomb ordnance officer stationed in Great Ashfield England as part of the 385th BG during WWII. In this episode we follow him to Great Ashfield England where he describes the daily routine of loading the bombs and ammunition on his B-17’s sometimes several times per day.
Welcome to the George Menkoff series: the story of a B-17 Bomb Ordinance officer of the 385th BG stationed in Great Ashfield England during WWII. In episode 1 we meet George Menkoff as he enters military service and trains as an ordnance officer literally all over the US. We also meet his son David Menkoff who is our guest co-host for the series.
TWND is honored to have the granddaughter of Leo Westerholm, Sarah Westerholm, as a guest on our podcast!
For those new to our show, Leo was featured on TWND podcast in 2023. He was an 101st Airborne trooper who was captured on D-Day and suffered terribly in the POW camps.
Sarah's google search to learn more about her grandfather brought her to our website, thewarriornextdoor.com where she was able to access the interview we conducted with him and much more.
Join us for a reunion of sorts as Sarah shares her memories of her grandparents and how important it is to have found the interview we conducted with Leo.
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