Stay ConnectedVeterans Chronicles brings America’s military heroes to life through raw, first-person stories. Veterans recount the battles and moments that shaped their lives, from World War II to Iraq and Afghanistan. Powerful, personal, and deeply human, Veterans Chronicles preserves history one voice at a time.
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Last week, we presented our first interview with retired U.S. Army Green Beret Lt. Col. Scott Mann to discuss his military service, including several years in Afghanistan. Several weeks ago, Col. Mann was also part of a determined effort to rescue Afghan friends and allies while evacuation flight were still available at the airport in Kabul. This private effort was dubbed "The Pineapple Express."
In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," you'll hear how Mann and others used their many contacts to establish a network of people in order to shepherd friends and allies safely to the custody of U.S. Marines at the airport. You'll also learn about the immense danger involved in trying to navigate Kabul with vengeful Taliban at every street corner and mass chaos outside the airport. Mann will also tell what is happening now to assist our allies now that the U.S. military is out of Afghanistan.
Scott Mann knew he wanted to be a Green Beret when he was 14 years old. It would be another 10 years before he could realize that dream. A few years later, our nation suffered the 9/11 terrorist attacks and, like thousands of other American service members, Scott Mann would be headed to war.
In this first half of our profile of Col. Mann, he takes us into the life of a Green Beret and how it is different from other special forces, how he balanced his desire for revenge against the terrorists with his duty to build trust and rapport with the Afghan people and prepare them to fight the Taliban. You'll also hear his eerily accurate predictions about what would happen in Afghanistan.
In this 2019 interview, Mann also describes his work in print and on stage in helping veterans and their families make the difficult transition from military to civilian life and how storytelling is important to that process.
Col. Mann was also a critical player in the recent "Pineapple Express" operation conducted by American veterans to rescue the Afghan allies who worked and fought alongside them for years. Mann will share that harrowing story in the second part of our profile coming soon. Don't miss it!
For more than 30 years, the United States government considered Iva Toguri a traitor to our nation for her actions during World War II. Many Americans might still think of her that way, since they think of her as the radio host American troops labeled "Tokyo Rose". But the truth tells a completely different story.
In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," we'll share the story of Iva Toguri, an American woman who got trapped in Japan during the war and wound up as a host playing music during programming aimed at demoralizing American forces.
We'll discuss what she did during the war, how she was targeted by our government afterwards, the federal prosecution she faced, and how her name was finally cleared and honored.
Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered military planners to strike at the heart of Japan. This daring bombing mission was entrusted to Col. James Doolittle of the U.S. Army Air Corps.
On April 18, 16 bombers took off from the deck of the USS Hornet, with each bomber carrying five crew members. The engineer on the 15th bomber was Edward Saylor.
Mr. Saylor shared his story with us at the American Veterans Center conference in Washington several years ago. In this conversation, Col. Saylor discusses his preparations for the raid, the two great challenges as the Doolittle Raiders got closer to Japan, dropping bombs over the target, and his harrowing efforts to avoid Japanese forces after the mission.
Patrick Henry reluctantly joined the ROTC program at Seattle University and hated just about every minute of it. Within the next decade he would be witness to a chilling,seminal moment in the Cold War and serve two tours in Vietnam and be awarded the Medal of Honor.
In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Gen. Brady shares his deployment to Berlin and how life there changed drastically when the communists erected the Berlin Wall. He also takes us through his training as a helicopter pilot and his deployment as a Dustoff pilot, evacuating wounded service members, for two tours in Vietnam.
Brady explains how his mentor instilled a relentless commitment to reach our wounded troops regardless of enemy fire, what his Dustoff unit was able to accomplish during his time in Vietnam, and his actions in January 1968 that resulted in him being awarded the Medal of Honor.
Retired U.S. Army Brigadier Gen. Don Bolduc served 36 years in uniform, most of it in special forces, and spent ten tours of duty in Afghanistan. While there he earned five bronze stars and two purple hearts. He also rose to one of the top command positions for special forces in the Afghan theater.
In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Gen. Bolduc, details what it was like to be among the first Americans on the ground in Afghanistan after 9/11, his time as a horse soldier there, the strategies that did and did not work against the Taliban in the ensuing years, his years with special forces in Africa, and his unvarnished evaluation of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Andrew Biggio grew up in Boston as part of a family steeped in military service. In fact, he is named for his great uncle, who was killed in action in Italy during World War II. Andrew joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 2006 and was deployed as a rifleman to Iraq in 2008 and later to Afghanistan.
After leaving the Marine Corps in 2012, Biggio wanted to learn what really happened to his great uncle. That quest turned into a much bigger odyssey, as he interviewed scores of World War II veterans from all branches and who served in both Europe and the Pacific.
And he added a twist. Biggio bought a 1945 M1 Garand that he placed in the hands of the veterans as he spoke with them and each of them signed the rifle. The final result was his powerful book, "The Rifle: Combat Stories from America's Last WWII Veterans, Told Through an M1 Garand."
In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Biggio shares the story of his own service, discusses the stories of many of the amazing veterans he interviewed, and what he learned along the way.
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, his service as a prison guard on Guam after the war, and the legacy of the Montford Point Marines on the Armed Forces and our nation.
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 duty in Iraq. Shortly after returning from that second tour, he and his unit were sent to Afghanistan and stationed high in the mountains at Combat Outpost Keating.
In October 2009, Romesha and his unit faced a massive enemy assault of 300 fighters. Under withering fire, Romesha rallied his men, devised a plan to counterattack, and led a heroic effort to recover the bodies of his fellow Americans. For his actions, Clint Romesha was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2013.
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 he looks back at D-Day today.
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