Story Behind the Stone

"We owe it to our men and women to say there's no time limit on recognizing valour and recognizing extraordinary citizens." This week, we speak with the Honourable Erin O'Toole, former Minister of Veterans Affairs Canada, a Royal Canadian Air Force veteran, and the current President and Managing Director of ADIT North America. Erin's expansive career began with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF),...

"She could say thank you every day for the rest of her life, but it would never be enough. For her, liberation was a very personal thing." This week, we speak with Alan Amelinckx, Program Manager of Interpretation and Education with the U.S. National Park Service at Springfield Armory National Historic Site and Coltsville National Historical Park.  Alan shares how his childhood in France, hearing...

"People can come together with courage, with compassion, with unity in the aftermath of exceptionally difficult events." This week, we speak with Dr. Elizabeth Hillman, President and CEO of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, as she discusses preserving historical memory and engaging new generations as the 25th anniversary of September 11th approaches. A former U.S. Air Force officer and university pres...

"No one who went to work that morning at any firehouse in the city understood what was going to be happening." This week, we speak with Clifford Chanin, Executive Vice President and Museum Director of the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum, as he shares his two-decade journey helping build the institution from Ground Zero. Clifford discusses the complex architectural decisions made beneath the orig...

"Young people are the future. They're the future leaders, the future managers, the future decision makers. So it's good to educate them about their historic responsibility, bring them together, and let them shape a better future." This week, host Matthew Stewart visits the headquarters of Volksbund, the German War Graves Commission, to sit down with Head of Communications Danny Chahbouni and histo...

"Having these public spaces where people can escape to reflect or feel inspiration or just be alone with their thoughts or take a quiet walk with friends is becoming increasingly more valued by a world that just keeps moving faster and faster." This week, we speak with Matthew Stephens, President and CEO of the historic Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1831 as the firs...

"The hardest part of surviving combat is living for most people." This week, we are joined by retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Walter E. Piatt, CEO of the Wounded Warrior Project. Walt shares his incredible 42-year journey from a 17-year-old enlisted infantry private to a three-star general and Director of the Army Staff. We dive deep into why he used poetry as combat therapy, the moral and hu...

"...it has to outlive us. You know, it's been here for a hundred years. It will be here for a hundred more, and a hundred more than that, and a hundred more than that. So it's our responsibility to ensure that the cemeteries are taken care of." This week we sit down with Shayda Frost and Timothy Amoui, a couple who left their fast-paced careers in Los Angeles to unexpectedly take over the Lincoln...

"It's really wonderful to be able to turn headstones that say, 'Known unto God' into named people that we now know are in those graves." This week, we speak with Lynelle Howson, a historian for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). As we mark the 110th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme this July, we explore the incredible operations of an organization that maintains the graves and me...

"The transformation is real. They've tattooed that anchor on your heart and you're going to be a Marine for life." This week, we sit down with Major General James W. Lukeman, President and CEO of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. We explore his 40 years of continuous military service and his current mission protecting 250 years of Marine Corps history. Major General Lukeman discusses the upcom...

Broadcasting live from the Military Women’s Memorial next door to Arlington National Cemetery, this episode tackles a profound and difficult question: What if the biggest threat to veterans' heritage isn't time, but silence? To help answer that, we welcome Michael "Rod" Rodríguez, the President and CEO of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) Memorial Foundation. Rod is a retired U.S. Army Special Fo...

Adapt or Die — Reimagining Sacred Spaces with AJ Orlikoff Welcome to a very special, live Memorial Day edition of Story Behind the Stone , recorded on location at the Military Women’s Memorial at the footsteps of Arlington National Cemetery! In this exclusive fireside chat (minus the actual fire, thanks to the summer heat), host Matthew Stewart sits down with AJ Orlikoff , the Director of Programm...

What if the greatest threat to our veterans' heritage isn't the passage of time, but our own silence? This Memorial Day, Story Behind the Stone brings you a front-row seat to a powerful live event recorded at the gates of Arlington National Cemetery inside the Military Women’s Memorial. In this special episode, "The Future of Veterans Heritage" (brought to you by our friends at Wreaths Across Amer...

"These aren't just names. These were people who had wives, brothers, fathers, mothers, girlfriends at home. Lives cut short. They should be remembered." This week, we speak with Julie Verne from the Normandy Memorial Trust. As we approach the 82nd anniversary of D-Day this year, Julie shares the moving history behind this sanctuary overlooking Gold Beach in France, which serves as a permanent home...

"My service wasn't going to be necessarily dedicated to a full-time career in the military. It doesn't mean that I can't continue giving back and serving my community and my country." This week, we speak with Alexander Landry, a defence and security professional at Babcock Canada and a military engineer officer with over 14 years of leadership experience. Alexander shares his journey from the Roya...

"This story was never lost. It was just waiting to be told." This week, we speak with Alicia Costello, a historian with the Texas Historical Commission, and Ta'Na Alexander, a descendant of an original Choctaw Code Talker. We delve into the collaborative effort to establish a historical marker in Fort Worth that honors the Native soldiers of the 142nd Infantry who utilized a code that was never br...

"Sometimes that quietness of a place is what makes it so profound." This week, we speak with Dr. Geoffrey Bird, lead of the War Heritage Research Initiative at Royal Roads University. Dr. Bird discusses the transition of remembrance into an activity of learning, the unique resonance found only by standing on historical ground, and how we must ethically navigate the heritage dissonance that technol...

"Remembrance has to be something that carries on no matter how many years go by." This week, we speak with Steve Smith, a veteran battlefield guide and author who has dedicated his career to uncovering the personal stories of the Great War. Steve shares the journey of tracing his own great-grandfather’s service, the unique challenges of personalizing tours for families traveling from across the At...

"At the core, the goal is really just to turn records into a form of remembrance, one name at a time." This week, we speak with Miriam Friedman, who leads the #everynamecounts project at Accenture. In partnership with the Arolsen Archives, Accenture leverages Artificial Intelligence to make Holocaust-era documentation searchable for families and researchers worldwide. Miriam explains how technolog...

"I think anybody who puts on a uniform and goes to fight and defend a country, especially one they've never met, deserves our respect." This week, we speak with John Bocskay, Director of International Affairs at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea (UNMCK). In today's episode, John details the cemetery’s logistical history, the moving ceremonies held for veterans returning to be buried wi...

"There is life after that knock. After the knock, there is hope, there is meaning to go find, and there are stories to share." This week, we speak with Amy Dozier, Director of Outreach at the Woody Williams Foundation. Amy discusses the legacy of World War II Medal of Honor recipient Woody Williams, the foundation's work establishing over 160 Gold Star Families Memorial Monuments, and how her own...

"You can't understand yourself unless you understand where you've come from and you can't understand the culture in which you grow up unless you understand what created that culture." This week, we speak with Jock Phillips ONZM, author and former Chief Historian of New Zealand. Jock shares his journey from studying the culture of masculinity to uncovering the deeply personal diaries of First World...

"We’re trying to show that Congressional Cemetery is really a microcosm of American history." This week, we speak with Kurt Deion, a public historian and author on the education team at the Historic Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. Kurt shares his journey of visiting over 3,000 notable gravesites, the stories behind some of the most unique presidential monuments in America, and what it’s...

"We want to remember the individual and we want to give them a voice." This week on Story Behind the Stone, we speak with Karen Worcester, Executive Director of Wreaths Across America. Karen shares the incredible journey of how a surplus of wreaths led to a viral moment at Arlington National Cemetery, the logistics of coordinating 3 million volunteers to place wreaths at 5,994 ceremony locations,...

"It's never lost on any of us what a privilege it is to do what we do." This week on Story Behind the Stone, we speak with Dr. James Bulgin, Head of Public History at the Imperial War Museums. James shares how the museum preserves the stories of conflict from the First World War to the present day, how the Holocaust galleries emphasize individual stories, and why engaging younger generations remai...