Veterans Chronicles

Kaj Larsen did not follow the typical route to becoming a U.S. Navy SEAL. He was admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy but left after two years to focus on playing water polo at the collegiate level. A few years later he enlisted in the Navy and immediately tried to get a slot in Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL (BUD/s) training in Coronado, California. Those billets are not usually given to men who...

Allison Black surprised her family by deciding to enlist in the U.S. Air Force after high school. She did it to be part of a mission bigger than herself. After basic training, Black spent the next several years as a Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape - or SERE - instructor, teaching service members what to do if shot down, stuck behind enemy lines, or captured.  After several years of that...

Rudy Meekins grew up in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Most young men from that area joined the U.S. Merchant Marine or the U.S. Coast Guard. However, Rudy initially opted for the Army National Guard but then enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in September 1949. He endured boot camp at Parris Island and was eventually assigned to a 105mm howitzer team. In this edition of Veterans Chronicles , M...

Michael Gilpin had an interest aviation at a young age but had never pursued flying. He joined the Army with an option to pursue Officer Candidate School near the end of his college years. Even as he became an officer and started training, he was still in the infantry. But soon he would switch to pilot training - specifically helicopter pilot training. He deployed to Vietnam in 1971 as a Huey pilo...

Derek Jones was following in his father's footsteps when he pursued military service after high school. His father had been a prominent and highly respected musical leader in both the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps. Derek chose Air Force ROTC at Samford University in pursuit of becoming a fighter pilot. He succeeded and became an elite, Top Gun-winning pilot in the F-111. When that plane...

Esteban Valenzuela was a talented high school football player and could have continued playing in college. Instead, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1966, while he was still in high school. Several months later, he was in Vietnam on a tour lasting well over a year and took part of some of the intense fighting connected with the enemy's Tet Offensive in early 1968. In this edition of Veterans Chr...

James Taylor enlisted in the Army in 1956. Several years later, he successfully completed Officer Candidate School (OCS) and was commissioned as an Army officer. By 1967, he served as executive officer inside a squadron in the 1st Armored Cavalry that was headed to Vietnam. Later that year, his love and concern for his men under heavy enemy fire led to actions that would lead to him receiving the...

Richard Coachys went to Indiana University on a football scholarship but also joined the Army ROTC on campus. After commissioning, he expected his early training to be followed by a deployment to Germany. But those plans were disrupted by the Vietnam War, and the young officer was soon leading his platoon on patrols and into combat. In this edition of Veterans Chronicles , Coachys tells us about h...

In our previous episode, we learned how U.S. Air Force pilot Robert Jefffrey was shot down over North Vietnam during his first mission of the war. He suffered burns and spinal injuries as the plane was hit and he ejected. Jeffrey was captured as soon as he parachuted to the ground. After that, he was interrogated, nearly executed, and repeatedly tortured. Today, we hear more of Col. Jeffrey's stor...

Robert Jeffrey became fascinated with aviation at a young age after his father got a pilot's license. By the time he was preparing to graduate high school, Jeffrey knew he wanted to be a pilot and that he wanted to fly in the U.S. Air Force. He joined in 1960 and excelled in pilot training. By 1965, he was flying the F-4 earlier than most of his peers. Late that year, he deployed to Thailand to fl...

Harvey C, "Barney" Barnum, Jr. arrived in Vietnam in late 1965 with 2nd Battalion, 12th Marines in the 3rd Infantry Division. In the final days of Operation Harvest Moon, Barnum served as a forward observer for H Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines. On December 18, 1965, the company was ambushed by North Vietnamese forces. The company commander was mortally wounded and Barnum soon found himself co...

Luke Focer was not sure what he wanted to do after high school but after reading many books on the military and being impressed by a teacher who had served, Focer enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 2005. He would go on to serve two tours in Iraq and three in Afghanistan over the next 14 years. He also became a sniper and part of Marine Corps Special Operations (MARSOC). In this edition of Vetera...

Roderick Pugh enlisted in the U.S. Army less than three months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Eighteen months later, he was partr of 1st Brigade 2-7 infantry from Ft. Stewart, leading the way into Iraq. He would serve two tours in Iraq, In between, he completed airborne school and became the first African American sniper in U.S. Army history. In this edition of Veterans Chronicles , Pugh detai...

Jason Redman learned love of country and the importance of service at a young age. His grandfather was a decorated World War II veteran and his father served during the Vietnam War. Before finishing high school, Redman enlisted in the U.S. Navy with one goal in mind: becoming a U.S. Navy SEAL. In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Redman tells us about the unexpected health challenge he faced in...

Dick Ramsey's family had it tough lduring the Great Depression. He quit school when he was 15 years old and started working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a pipefitter. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he started helping to build battleships. In 1943, Ramsey joined the U.S. Navy and was assigned as coxswain on the  USS Nevada . In this edition of Veterans Chronicle s, Ramsey takes us throu...

On August 26, 2021, an ISIS-K terrorist attack killed 13 American service members and wounded many others at Abbey Gate outside Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan. Scores of Afghan civilians were also killed and wounded. Nine of the American service members killed that day were U.S. Marines from G Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines. Their company commander was then-Captain Geoffrey Ball....

Mike Elmore was born in Illinois into a family with a legacy of military service. He joined the U.S. Army in 1987 with no immediate intention of pursuing special forces. But he loved the idea of a new challenge, passed selection and qualifying, and earned his Green Beret. By the time of the 9/11 Al Qaeda terrorist attacks, Elmore was part of Operational Detachment (ODA) 595, a group that would lat...

Bob Boeke was 16 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Nearly two years later, he enlisted in the U.S. Army as part of a program to help get a college education and become an officer. But the program soon closed down. After basic training, Boeke was assigned to an intelligence and reconnaissance unit within the 86th Infantry Division. In this edition of Veterans Chron...

Michael "Rod" Rodriguez was born into a family with a rich legacy of military service. His father and grandfather both served during wartime. Rod decided he wanted to serve after watching what the U.S. military accomplished in Operation Desert Storm. Within months of enlisting in 1992, he was off to Somalia. A couple of years later, Rodriguez decided to pursue Army Special Forces and then became a...

Steve Bleigh is the son and grandson of Army veterans. He joined the U.S. Army in 1986, fully expecting to be an infantryman throughout his service. When he returned to civilian life eighteen years later, Bleigh had spent 14 years in Army Special Forces and was a veteran of Afghanistan, Iraq, the Gulf War, and the conflict in Somalia. In this edition of Veterans Chronicles , MSG Bleigh tells us ab...

Dominick Critelli was born in Italy and came to the United States as a child. He was 20 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and launched the U.S. into World War II. Critelli became an airplane mechanic as part of the U.S. Army's 95th infantry Division.  In this edition of Veterans Chronicles , Critelli tells us what the toughest part of basic training was for him and how his sergeant...

Russell Sattazhan was 15 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and forced the U.S. into World War II. in 1944, he  was drafted and was placed in an infantry replacement unit. Replacements were needed so badly that training was cut short and Sattazhan's unit was sent to Europe and folded into the Army's 1st Infantry Division in January 1945. Two months later, Sattazhan's war would be ov...

In the early 1960's, the U.S. Army developed a new way of moving troops into and out of strategic locations. It was called Air Cavalry and operated under the theory that moving forces by helicopter was faster and more precise than driving them or having them jump out of airplanes. One of the earliest and best known Air Cavalry engagements came in the Vietnam War at Landing Zone X-Ray during the Ba...

Patrick Brady was born in South Dakota and he originally had no intention of serving in the military. He was recruited by several schools to play college football, but he decided to pursue the "foxy chick" from his hometown as she went to Seattle University. The school did not have a football team, but it did have mandatory ROTC. Brady hated it and even got kicked out. But he was given a second ch...

Clarence Singleton joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1967 while was still in high school. The valedictorian then went through boot camp at Parris Island and was eager to join the fight in Vietnam. He arrived in early 1968 and endured a major rocket attack on his first night there. He would be seriously wounded just days before his tour in Vietnam was set to end. Several years later, he joined the Ne...