AMERIcA'S VETERAN'S STORIES
Interviews and conversations with U.S. veterans from all branches and years of service.
SHOW ARCHIVE
WWII P-51 Fighter Pilot Dick Gibbs
WWII P-51 fighter pilot Dick Gibbs flew 43 combat missions during WWII. Gibbs shares the stories of shooting down four German aircraft.
Operation Downfall
August 1945, President Truman made the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
WWII Nurse Leila Morrison
WWII Army Nurse Leila Morrison arrived on the beaches of Normandy about 30 days after D-Day with just her duffle bag. This is a rebroadcast of a show recorded in 2021 to honor Leila's memory. She passed away July 16th, 2022.
World War II Veteran Fred Wiese (Part II)
99 year-old WWII B-17 bomber pilot Fred Wiese flew 35 missions over Europe. Sunday Fred talks about some of his missions.
World War II Veteran Henry Tagtmeyer
Henry Tagtmeyer grew up during the Depression and lived through the Dirty 30’s in Goodland, Kansas. Sunday Henry shares stories of the Dust Bowl and his Army experiences late in WWII.
World War II Veteran Fred Wiese
Fred Wiese shares stories of his childhood and joining the Army in December of 1941.
Bringing Home World War II Sailor Wilbur Francis Newton
Kim Monson, Jane Perkins, and Linda Crumbaker share their story of bringing home the remains of their second cousin, World War II Navy veteran, Wilbur Francis Newton.
Shot Down: The True Story of Pilot Howard Snyder and the crew of the B-17 Susan Ruth
WWII pilot Howard Snyder’s B-17 was shot down over Belgium in February of 1944. Snyder evaded capture for seven months
Korean War: Manert Kennedy (June 2022 interview)
Manert Kennedy joined the Marines in 1947 on his 17th birthday.
Vietnam: Ted Gostas
April 1967 Ted Gostas had just five more days before his tour of duty in Vietnam was up. Gostas was captured and spent 5 years, 1 month, and 15 days as a Prisoner of War.
Vietnam: Trisha Hood (Widowed Spouse Interview)
Donald Hood volunteered for the 82nd Airborne so that he could parachute in with front-line soldiers to repair their damaged glasses quickly. Sunday Trisha Hood shares the story of her husband who passed on in 2012.
Lt. Col. Bob Russell Ret. USAF
Russell shares his Air Force experiences beginning with his first duty in aircraft maintenance, three years in Germany and information gathering in the Pacific region.
Ret. Marine Lt. Gen. Lewis Craparotta and Paula Sarlls
Ret. Marine Lt. Gen. Lewis Craparotta explains the importance of Memorial Day. Vietnam-era Marine Veteran Paula Sarlls invites us to the Memorial Day ceremony at the Marine Memorial located at 6th and Colfax in Golden, Colorado.
United States Air Force Veteran Mark Hardcastle
United States Air Force veteran Mark Hardcastle recounts the life-changing experience of helping edit the book Echoes of Our War: Vietnam Veterans Reflect Fifty Years Later. The ten contributors to the book finally unleashed their stories without remorse.
World War II Veteran Wilbur Newton’s Return Home
Jane Perkins and Linda Crumbaker share the story of WWII veteran Wilbur Netwon, who died during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Manert Kennedy
He dropped out of school and joined the Marines on his 17th birthday. Manert Kennedy needed some discipline so he joined the Marines in 1947.
Ret. Air Force Lt. Col. Bill Rutledge: Part 2
93 year-old Ret. Air Force Lt. Col. Bill Rutledge has interacted with thousands of individuals throughout the world. Sunday Lt. Col. Rutledge shares a number of vignettes of these many stories
Ret. Air Force Lt. Col. Bill Rutledge
Ret. Air Force Lt. Col. Bill Rutledge was a teenager during WWII. Sunday Col. Rutledge describes what it was like to live on the coast of Florida during WWII with German submarines in the waters nearby.
Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Hartsook (Retired)
Ret. Lt. Col. Anthony Hartsook joined the Army in 1988. In this America’s Veteran’s Stories interview, Hartsook shares the history of his deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Combat Contrails: Vietnam
Vietnam era Air Force Veteran and author William B. Scott introduces his new book, "Combat Contrails: Vietnam," which captures 18 of these stories, most of which have never appeared in print.
Nurses and the Continental Army
George Washington was ahead of his time regarding battlefield medics. At the Battle of Concord, only one surgeon was available and soldiers who might have lived, died. General Washington decided to pay nurses $4.00 a day to treat Continental soldiers and it made a difference.
Patton’s Christmas Prayer
The forty-day bloody Battle of the Bulge was fought December 16th, 1944 thru January 25, 1945. Patton needed a miracle. So he prayed for one.