Heroes Behind Headlines

Three lives collide and transform in wartime: The Japanese fighter pilot, Mitsuo Fuchida, who led the attack on Pearl Harbor; the U.S. pilot Jake DeShazer, who bombed Tokyo in retaliation and became a Japanese POW; and Peggy Covell, an American woman who felt compelled to help the Japanese-Americans interned in the U.S., despite her missionary family having been murdered by the Japanese military....

Lynne Black Jr., as member of RT Alabama – a recon team of the legendary MACV-SOG (“Study and Observations Group”) – fought in one  of the most amazing missions of the eight-year "secret war" during the Vietnam War.   As their Kingbee helicopter spiraled downward toward the target west of the dangerous A Shau valley in Laos, Lynne and his team observed an NVA flag planted atop a nearby k...

In 1911, experts believed that the psychology of different races was distinct, and so, like other states, the state of Maryland founded Crownsville, a mental asylum administered by an all-white doctor and nursing staff expressly and exclusively for African-Americans.   From her book " Madness ," author/Peabody Award-winning journalist/on-air NBC correspondent Antonia Hylton describes how...

In 1968, SSgt. Richard Fitts Sr. was a member of the legendary MACV-SOG team based in Vietnam, fighting in the ‘secret war’ in Laos, when the helicopter he was flying in crashed in the jungle in a ball of flames. Richard was declared Missing in Action while his wife and 3-year-old son back home in Massachusetts were given no other information.  For the next 21 years, Richard Fiits Jr. grew up with...

In late April 1968, John K. Cordsen was a U.S. Marine on his second tour of duty when he became engaged in one of the most fiercely fought yet little-known battles of the Vietnam War. Over three days, a single battalion of 860 U.S. Marines fought against nearly 10,000 North Vietnamese soldiers over control of a river that was a critical supply line. Casualties were high and both sides claimed vict...

Howard Snyder Jr. was a B-17 pilot bombing Nazi targets during WWII—when in February 1944 he and his ten-man crew were shot down over Nazi-held Belgium, close to the French border. His son Steve Snyder details how eight of the men, including his dad, survived the crash before scattering into the countryside.   Howard survived through the bravery and largess of local Belgians, who tried to help the...

During the Iraq War, U.S.M.C. Infantry Major Scott A. Huesing led Echo Company, 2nd battalion, 4th Marines through some of the worst combat in Ramadi, in Al Anbar Province in Iraq. He shares his account of the harsh realities of dense urban combat, and what helped his men persevere—especially their sense of camaraderie and 'family,’ that persists decades later as his soldiers and their famili...

David Ambroz was one of three kids raised by a single mother with mental health issues. In his book, "A Place Called Home,"   he describes his Dickensian childhood surviving a flawed parent, life on the streets, and a social services system seemingly designed to deprive his family of the help they needed.    When his mother grew too violent, David was initially relieved to be put in the...

In his book, “Poisoner-in-Chief,” (Henry Holt & Co.) former New York Times reporter and prolific author, Stephen Kinzer describes the shadowy man responsible for setting up one of the most infamous U.S. government programs. In 1953 during the “Cold War,” MK Ultra was initiated to develop techniques to brainwash people to act as our ‘programmed’ agents, in response to the paranoid misconception...

" Damn the Valley " is the mantra of every soldier from 2 Fury who fought in this infamous Taliban stronghold and is also the title of guest Will Yeske's memoir. Operating as the gateway to Kandahar, this area saw months of the fiercest combat—yielding a 52% casualty rate as coalition forces attempted to pacify this hotspot in 2009 and 2010. At one point, the entire prosthetics unit...

Elmer Miller was born in upstate New York into a large farming family that was part of a strict Amish community. Standing under four feet tall as a grown man, Elmer talks about the reality of life inside this group; how he confronted his own limitations and rebellious spirit; and ultimately his decision to leave and pursue life in the wider world with the "English." Heroes Behind Headlin...

Ryburn Dobbs breaks down his work as a forensic anthropologist and scientist and separates fact from fiction, as in TV programs like "Bones," explaining how real forensic investigations work. He shares details from his cases, and how his examination of bones help revealed critical clues as the police worked to solve murder cases. Now retired, Ryburn continues to consult episodically on c...

Moritz Fuchs was a private in the 1st infantry division, 26th regiment, when he was sent overseas after D-Da,y to help fight German forces in the Huertgen forest, which saw some of the worst fighting in the whole war and claimed over 30,000 U.S. casualties.     After being wounded and recovering, he later served in the Harz mountains of Germany. After the war, he was appointed bodyguard to the Chi...

As part of a military unit so secret that its team members are not permitted to speak about it--except now for the first time ever!--Adam Gamal (not his real name) is not who you might expect to find in such a unit. But he's exactly the person who's most effective. Born in Egypt, he emigrated to the U.S. to avoid Islamic extremists; worked two jobs while getting his degree; and then enli...

U.S. Army Major General Gregg F. Martin (ret.) was the epitome of a successful military officer—an inspirational leader brimming with energy, intelligence and creativity. He shot up the leadership ranks of the U.S. military. During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, he commanded the 130th Engineer Brigade as they cleared the way and rebuilt bridges to facilitate the takeover of the Euphrates River Vall...

David Holdridge served as a platoon leader in the U.S. Infantry outside of Chu Lai, Vietnam suffered a catastrophic injury, and has since devoted his life to delivering humanitarian aid to people suffering from starvation, exploitation, and in war zones around the world in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. From Saigon to Gaza, he relates his journey. Inspired to write his book "The Water Abov...

A different kind of war story and hero: Lt. Mary Balster was a charming Midwestern teenager (the apple of her father's eye) when she enlisted as a nurse at the outbreak of WWII. She proved invaluable on the front lines as a German-speaker, but was unprepared for the nonstop workload; the filth; the horrible injuries and desperation; the quickly formed friendships; having to care for enemy com...

Award-winning journalist Sam Quinones lays out the facts behind the meth and fentanyl drug crisis in the U.S.: He expertly describes how mass manufacturing has made these drug ubiquitous, cheap, and infinitely more potent, and thus unlike any other drugs--legal or illegal--ever consumed by human beings. Sam explains how today’s meth has triggered an abrupt rise in homelessness, and why these drugs...

Janina Melberg was a brilliant mathematician posing as a Polish Countess Janina Suchodolska to hide her Jewish identity during the Nazi occupation in WWII Poland. She simultaneously joined the both the Polish Welfare Council (RGO)--and secretly the Polish Underground--and bravely organized food and relief supplies for Poles incarcerated in the infamous Majdanek Concentration Camp. Co-authors Eliza...

Jim “Wild Carrot” Shorten-Jones served as a team leader (One-Zero) in MACV-SOG during the height of Vietnam War, and ultimately in the Army, Navy and Air Force. In another exciting chapter in America's "secret war" in Laos and Cambodia, Jim shares his adrenaline-fueled war stories  as team leader of RT-Delaware, and also recounts the non-stop life of adventure he has led since--incl...

Jim “Wild Carrot” Shorten-Jones served as a team leader (One-Zero) in MACV-SOG during the height of Vietnam War, and ultimately in the Army, Navy and Air Force. In another exciting chapter in America's "secret war" in Laos and Cambodia, Jim shares his adrenaline-fueled war stories  as team leader of RT-Delaware, and also recounts the non-stop life of adventure he has led since--incl...

When FBI Special Agent Nikki Badolato arranged a live meetup with a man looking to 'rent' her infant daughter as part of a sting, she was shocked to see how presentable and 'normal' this 30-something man was. Now, after a two-decade career, Nikki  and Rolling Stone journalist Alex Morris lay out the state of domestic human trafficking, how pedophile rings work, and what we shou...

U.S. Coast Guard Veteran Martha La Guardia-Kotite shares inspiring stories of bravery from her book, “So Others May Live—Coast Guard’s Rescue Swimmers: Saving Lives, Defying Death.” These brave men and women put their lives at risk to rescue people in the greatest peril. Among the stories is that of a baby rescued from a boat in the middle of a hurricane.   Heroes Behind Headlines Executive Produc...

One dark night in Austin, Texas, onlookers watched in horror as musician Gary Wimmer was struck head-on by a speeding car, ramming his head into the front grill and hurtling him into the air until he landed on the pavement. When he stood up minutes later, seemingly unharmed, people were confused and unbelieving at his lack of injury. So were the emergency room doctors. While unconscious, Gary expe...

In part two of this interview, Roger Lockshier lays out his dramatic experiences as a helicopter pilot serving in Vietnam. In 1968, at the height of the war, he was routinely sent in on his Huey gunship to support or rescue MACV-SOG Green Beret soldiers secretly operating in Laos and Cambodia. Roger shares his 'birdseye' perspective on several missions—including the most dramatic helicop...