Episodios

  • Andrew Card, Chief of Staff for Pres. George W. Bush, 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

    Andrew Card, Chief of Staff for Pres. George W. Bush, 9/11 Terrorist Attacks
    Sep 3 2025
    Andrew Card served more than five years as White House Chief of Staff for President George W. Bush. Less than eight months into Bush's first term, Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four U.S. airliners. Two were flown into each of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Another was used to crash into the Pentagon. The fourth plane was headed to Washington, but was forced down in a Pennsylvania field by the heroic passengers of United Flight 93.

    In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Mr. Card takes us moment by moment as he learned the disasters in New York City were actually deliberate acts of terrorism by Islamic extremists, told the president the news in a Florida elementary school classroom, gave orders to get Air Force One ready to depart early, and figured out where they were going next.

    He also takes us inside the intense debate he had with the president about whether to return to Washington and the first decisions Bush had to make, including whether to shoot down airliners refusing to obey air traffic commands.

    Card also discusses President Bush's speech after returning to the White House, his impromptu message to Ground Zero recovery workers on a bullhorn, his emotional meeting with first responders and families of those lost on 9/11 and much more.

    We'll also hear why Bush asked Card to take one high-ranking national security official "to the woodshed" and the shocking thing British Prime Minister Tony Blair told Card after Bush's speech to a joint session of Congress. And we'll learn how both Bush and Card were scolded after Bush said he wanted Osama bin Laden captured "dead or alive."
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    41 m
  • Timothy Brown, FDNY, 9/11, South Tower World Trade Center

    Timothy Brown, FDNY, 9/11, South Tower World Trade Center
    Aug 27 2025
    Timothy Brown was serving as supervisor of field operations in New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's office of emergency management on September 11, 2001. He was already at work near the World Trade Center when terrorists flew the first plane into the North Tower. He was in the lobby of that building when he got word that a second plane controlled by terrorists struck the South Tower. He immediately rushed over there. Less than an hour later, the South Tower collapsed while Timothy Brown was still inside.

    In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Brown walks us from when he heard of the first attack through the horror of the South Tower coming down all around him. He explains what it felt like and sounded like as 110 stories crashed down around him. He also describes emerging from the rubble and getting out of the area just as the North Tower came down.

    Brown believes his life was spared in order to share the heroic actions of firefighters and other first responders on 9/11. And he tells multiple stories of those heroes, many of whom were friends he lost that day.

    Finally, Brown offers his thanks to the veterans who took the fight to the terrorists in the wars following 9/11.
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    36 m
  • MAJ Christopher Brewer, U.S. Army Special Forces, Colombia, Panama

    MAJ Christopher Brewer, U.S. Army Special Forces, Colombia, Panama
    Aug 20 2025
    Christopher Brewer grew up as an Army brat and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1973 because he wanted to be a Ranger. Even though he had never jumped out of a plane prior to joining the Army, Brewer learned quickly and passed the rest of his training to become a Ranger. He later took on and successfully completed intense training while serving overseas that served him very well in Special Forces.

    In 1989, he was deployed to Colombia to assist government forces fighting against the drug cartels. The next year, he was in Panama, dealing with the volatile aftermath of Operation Just Cause.

    In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Major Brewer walks us through his intense training as a Ranger and in Platoon Confidence Training. He also takes us moment by moment on the training mission where his primary parachute failed and it took every bit of his expertise to survive.

    Then Brewer takes us to Colombia, where he could not officially serve as a member of Special Forces. He explains what the overall mission was and his critical efforts to thwart drug kingpin Pablo Escobar from attacking and destroying an American radar station.

    Finally, he tells us about his deployment to Panama, confronting unrest from many different directions, sniffing out intelligence about a possible coup attempt, and dealing with turf wars within the military.

    Brewer is the author, most recently, of In the Shadows Between the Wars: Becoming a Special Forces Operator.
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    36 m
  • SMSgt. Tom Young, Air National Guard, Iraq, Afghanistan, 'The Mapmaker'

    SMSgt. Tom Young, Air National Guard, Iraq, Afghanistan, 'The Mapmaker'
    Aug 13 2025
    Tom Young grew up on his family's farm in North Carolina. From a young age he was fascinated by his grandfather's stories of being part of a bomber crew during World War II. That helped to spark his interest in both flying and in service. Young served in the Maryland and West Virginia Air National Guard, serving as flight engineer for C-130 Hercules and C-5 Galaxy transport planes. Missions took him to the war zones in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He is also a military novelist and his latest work is The Mapmaker, which focuses on the French Resistance during World War II.

    In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Senior Master Sergeant Young tells us all about the C-130 and C-5, his role of flight engineer during flight, and coming under enemy fire in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Young also takes us into the world of the French Resistance, how it was so creatively organized, and the critical role it played in helping the Allies before and after D-Day. He also talks about how dangerous it was to be part of the resistance, especially in the face of the speakable cruelty of the Nazi Gestapo and SS forces towards the people of France
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    41 m
  • PFC Hilbert Margol, U.S. Army, World War II, Dachau Liberation

    PFC Hilbert Margol, U.S. Army, World War II, Dachau Liberation
    Aug 6 2025
    Hilbert Margol was the first of twin boys born to his parents in February 1924. He was nearly finished with high school when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Soon, Margol and his brother, Howard, were in the Army, training on 105 mm howitzers with the 42nd Infantry Division. They saw their first combat in southern France in January 1945. After that, they fought into Germany, crossed the Rhine River, and helped liberate the Dachau concentration camp near Munich.

    In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Margol explains how his Jewish family was very concerned about the advancement of Nazi forces and ideas long before the U.S. was at war with Germany. He shares the concerns his family had for loved ones in Lithuania and how he learned decades later about the horrible fate they suffered.

    He also tells us how his mother's letter to President Roosevelt kept him and his brother in the same unit. He also describes his training on the howitzers and what his first combat experience was like.

    Finally, Margol goes into great detail about how he and others discovered the Dachau concentration camp in April 1945, what he saw there, his tireless efforts to share the truth about the Holocaust, and how it deeply impacts him 80 years later.
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    36 m
  • CPL Walter Stitt, Jr., U.S. Army, World War II, Battle of the Bulge

    CPL Walter Stitt, Jr., U.S. Army, World War II, Battle of the Bulge
    Jul 30 2025
    Walter Stitt, Jr. was a senior in high school when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He and his friends all assumed they'd be drafted. When that did not happen right away, Stitt enlisted in the Army. He was eventually assigned as a gunner for a tank crew in E company, 33rd armored regiment, 3rd armored division and joined the war just a month after D-Day.

    In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Stitt will tell us how he was injured on his first day in combat but pushed back into action the very next day. He describes combat against Germans while moving across France and fighting against a tank company commanded by a notorious SS officer at the Battle of the Bulge.

    Stitt also tells us what life was like in the tank both in and out of combat and how he was wounded a second time in early 1945, ending his time at the front.
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    28 m
  • T5 Alan Kinder, U.S. Army, World War II, Battle of the Bulge

    T5 Alan Kinder, U.S. Army, World War II, Battle of the Bulge
    Jul 23 2025
    Alan Kinder was waiting to be drafted into the military during World War II, but when he arrived at the Army recruiter, he was told his eyesight was too poor. The next time he tried to join, his eyesight wasn't any better. This time, the Army took him anyway.

    Kinder was trained in sound ranging as part of the 14th Field Artillery Observation Battalion. His job was to determine how far away the enemies were and what vehicles they might have with them. The battalion landed at Utah Beach just a few weeks after D-Day. Months later it would be part of the Battle of Nancy, in eastern France, and the Battle of the Bulge.

    In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Kinder explains how sound ranging worked and how his unit helped to chase the Nazis from Normandy to the eastern edge of France. He will take us inside their work at the Battle of Nancy, almost being killed near the Battle of the Bulge, and his memory of the cost of war from the Bulge that he's only been able to talk about in recent years.

    Kinder will also share his memories of crossing the Rhine and the final weeks of the war before the German surrender.
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    36 m
  • Sgt. Hal Urban, U.S. Army, World War II, Battle of the Bulge, Mauthausen Liberation

    Sgt. Hal Urban, U.S. Army, World War II, Battle of the Bulge, Mauthausen Liberation
    Jul 16 2025
    Hal Urban grew up in a poor family hit hard by the Great Depression. Joining the military meant he would finally get three meals per day. He enlisted in the Army hoping to become a pilot, but less than perfect eyesight scuttled those dreams. He was trained on .50 caliber guns mounted on haltracks to protect American tanks and other convoys. Assigned to the 11th Armored Division, Urban arrived in Europe in late 1944 and was quickly sent to fight in the Battle of the Bulge.

    In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Sgt. Urban explains what combat was like with his guns - the sounds, the smells and more. He also describes the bitter cold at the Battle of the Bulge and how that impacted him. Urban tells us how he was injured and missed the final days of the Bulge but returned to his unit after the battle.

    Urban details what he saw during the liberation of Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria near the end of the war and how that experience remains very vivid by meeting people who were liberated and returning to the camp years later.
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    35 m