Veterans Chronicles

Frank Wright joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1942, when he was just 16 years old. Before long, he became one of the famed Marine Raiders. After deploying first to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, Wright contracted malaria and had to spend time recovering. After that, he was part of Marine landings on many different islands in the Pacific, including Saipan, Guam, and Iwo Jima. A few weeks ago, w...

Lee Brousard enlisted in the Navy with the intention of joining the Naval Air Corps. But as he was traveling to Florida for flight training, the Navy changed those plans and sent him to San Diego for naval training. After completing basic training, Broussard then finished at the top of his class at Pacific Fleet School at Pearl Harbor. That led to him joining the staff and ship of Adm. William "Bu...

Mike Ergo originally joined the U.S. Marine Corps to play his saxophone in the Marine Corps band. But a short time after joining the Corps in 2001, Ergo changed his mind and asked to be transferred to the infantry. Soon, the U.S. was at war in both Afghanistan and Iraq. After an uneventful first deployment to Iraq, Ergo returned in the summer of 2004 with A Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines. A f...

Aaron Cunningham started thinking seriously about military service after watching Operation Desert Storm unfold in 1991, the year he graduated from high school. He began college without being sure of military service. Now, Col. Cunningham is retired after 29 years of service. But the service that he is most proud of is serving as commander of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, which includ...

Kenneth Wells was planning to join the U.S. Navy in World War II but the U.S. Marine Corps recruiter at the office told him he was joining the Marines instead. And so he did. His background as an athlete and working on the family farm helped Wells do well in boot camp. Soon he would be halfway around the world, fighting in some of the toughest combat in World War II on the island of Okinawa. In th...

Vincent "Bill" Purple joined the U.S. Army Air Corps following the Japense attack on Pearl Harbor. Like most young men interested in joining the Air Corps, he wanted to be a fighter pilot. But the Army had different plans. Soon Purple was training on multi-engine planes in preparation for being a B-17 Bomber pilot. He was deployed to England as part of the 379th bomb group inside the Mighty Eighth...

Frank Wright joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1942, when he was just 16 years old. Before long, he became one of the famed Marine Raiders. After deploying first to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, Wright contracted malaria and had to spend time recovering. After that, he was part of Marine landings on many different islands in the Pacific, including Saipan, Guam, and Iwo Jima. In this edition of...

Clayton Hutmacher enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1978. Six years later he jumped at the chance to go to Army flight school and pursue a career in special operations. He would later see action in Panama, Desert Storm, and in both Iraq and Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Maj. Gen. Hutmacher shares his story of service, including what was requir...

In the first half of our conversation with retired U.S. Navy Commander Porter Halyburton , we learned about the day he was shot down over North Vietnam, how he was captured and tortured, and the bond he formed with fellow POW Fred Cherry. Today, Halyburton explains the biggest shock of all during his imprisonment, how the prisoners kept their morale up in worst possible conditions over the years,...

Porter Halyburton was born in Florida and grew up in North Carolina. After college, he got married and joined the U.S. Navy with a clear goal of becoming a naval aviator. He got his wish, flying the F-4. Shortly after becoming a new father, he was deployed to Vietnam in May of 1965. He wouldn't come home for more than seven years. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," you'll hear the first hal...

Ron DiFrancesco moved to the New York City area in 2000 to take an investment job with a firm based in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. He was already at work on September 11, 2001, when the first plane hijacked by Al Qaeda terrorists struck the North Tower. People working in the South Tower were immediately told their building was fine and they should continue working. Soon a friend cal...

In 2022, we presented the oral history of U.S. Marine Corps veteran Rob Riggle, who later became famous as an actor and comedian. Riggle told us all about his service in Kosovo and Afghanistan and how his time in the service was a huge asset in his pursuit of a career in show business. During that interview, Riggle also mentioned being a USMC reservist in Manhattan on 9/11 and working in the searc...

David Rodriguez has a legacy of military service in his family, but his real motivation for joining the Army was to move on from working in the family business of farming. Soon he was off to Ft. Lewis, Washington, for basic training. He was then trained as a combat engineer. By late 1966, he was off to Vietnam. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Rodriguez tells us about his first time in co...

Ernie Mogor wanted to join the U.S. Navy during World War II but he was rejected for being colorblind. He then chose the Army over the Marines and was soon off for "vigorous" infantry training. He became very proficient with the M-1 rifle, only for the Army to have him switch to a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) not long before he was sent into combat. Much to his surprise, he loved the BAR even mo...

John Dailey remembers the day he decided to become a U.S. Marine. He was a young boy at a U.S. bicentennial parade in 1976. When he saw the Marine in dress uniform, he was hooked. Eleven years later, fresh out of high school, Dailey enlisted in the Marines. Soon he was guarding the U.S. embassy in Hungary while the Iron Curtain was teetering and later held the same role in Argentina. He also passe...

In last week's edition of "Veterans Chronicles," U.S. Marine Corps veteran Darren Walton told us about his role on a seven-man reconnaissance team in Vietnam from 1969-1970. He explained his role of point man, what the team's most common objectives were, and how life and death decisions had to be made within seconds. He also described how the jungle itself was also a fierce enemy. In this week's "...

Darren Walton grew up north of San Francisco and stood out as a distance runner in high school. When he found out he would soon be drafted into the U.S. Army, Walton joined the Marine Corps, intending to be part ofthe track team. Things did not turn out that way, and Walton was soon undergoing all sorts of elite special forces training and eventually being assigned to a USMC reconnaissance unit. I...

Last week, we began sharing the story of Col. Frank Cohn, U.S. Army (Ret.). He told us about growing up in a Jewish family in Nazi Germany, how his family fled to the U.S. after Kristallnacht in 1938, and how he was drafted into the Army after turning 18 years old in 1943. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Cohn continues his story of service, including his Army training and the issue that...

Frank Cohn was born in Breslau, germany in 1925. His Jewish family lived very comfortably there. But soon anti-Semitiam was on the rise, even before Adolf Hitler rose to power in 1933. Within a few years, his family fled to the U.S. and within a few more years, Cohn would be at war against his homeland. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," we bring you the first half of our conversation with...

Dick Nelms was fascinated by flight at an early age. Born just five years after the end of World War I, he still vividly remembers what an event it was to see a plane in the sky when he was a child. Not long after the U.S. entered World War II, Nelms volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps. He would eventually pilot or co-pilot 35 missions aboard a B-17 bomber. In this edition of " Veterans Chroni...

Michael Trotter, Jr. was born into a family with a rich tradition of military service, but that had nothing to do with his decision to join the Army in 2003. By his own admission, he had made a lot of mistakes and his life needed to change course. So he joined the military just a a couple years after the 9/11 attacks and the same year the war in Iraq began. Soon he was a supply sergeant in theater...

James Baynham had never flown a plane before entering the service in 1942. In fact, he didn't even have an interest in aviation. What he did know is that he did not want to be in the infantry, so he volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps. Soon he was off to training, eventually being assigned as a B-24 pilot with the Mighty Eighth Air Force based in England. By mid-1944 he was flying missions, bu...

In this second half of our interview with retired U.S. Navy SEAL Mark Greene, we will focus on Lt. Greene's deployments - first to Iraq and then to Afghanistan. And he discusses his work helping veterans transition from the military back into civilian life. Greene shares what sound was so common in Iraq that it served as an alarm clock just about every day. He also details the role his SEAL team p...

Mark Greene grew up in a military family but his dream was to play quarterback. And he was doing well until an injury suddenly ended his career in college. After half-heartedly (at best) trying to finish college and taking other jobs, he and a friend joined the U.S. Navy with dreams of becoming Navy SEALs. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Lt. Greene discusses how he wound up in the Navy,...

Jake Larson joined the U.S. Army National Guard in 1938 in order to earn money and help his family during the Great Depression. He was just 15 years old. By late 1941, he was preparing to leave the service. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the Army required him to stay. By 1942, he was in England helping to train American forces assigned for invasions in North Africa and in the European theater....