Welcome to Episode 34 of the Voices to Veterans podcast. This episode features the story of Sergeant Kenny L. Esmond, U.S. Army.Kenny spent harrowing evenings standing perimeter guard duty at Phu Bai and Fire Base Bastogne near Hue City in the Republic of South Vietnam during 1970 and 1971. Holding his position with enemy rocket-propelled […]
It takes a special person to endure a long career in the military. Wartime deployments, long family separations with missed birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays, and the strain of command compete against the strong sense of duty, camaraderie, and public service officers feel as they decide whether to continue in the military or leave to pursue a civilian career. Colonel Tom Thompson, U.S. Army (Retired), experienced all these factors and more as he navigated his twenty-six-year career in the Army that included two combat deployments to Vietnam. Throughout it all, he balanced duty and family as best he could to make both sides win. This is his story.
Welcome to Episode 31 of the Voices to Veterans podcast. This episode features the story of Medal of Honor recipient, Colonel Walter “Joe” Marm, U.S. Army (Retired).With the Vietnam War intensifying, Joe knew he would be drafted after graduating from college. Instead of waiting, he took control of his own destiny and enlisted in the […]
Welcome to Episode 30 of the Voices to Veterans podcast. This episode features the story of Staff Sergeant Jim Belshaw, U.S. Air Force.Jim enlisted in the Air Force in 1962 shortly after graduating from high school. He volunteered to become a working dog handler during his first tour at a fighter base in England, charting […]
I’ve had The Other Side of the World by Dean Moss on my reading list for quite some time and finally picked it up to give it a try. Now I wished I’d read it earlier because I thoroughly enjoyed it. Here’s why.Dean Moss served in the Air Force in Vietnam from May 1968 through […]
Welcome to Episode 28 of the Voices to Veterans podcast. This episode features the story of Colonel, Hank Hoffman, U.S. Air Force (Retired). Hank’s Air Force career can only be described as extraordinary. A 1963 graduate of the Air Force Academy, he began his career by flying B-52 nuclear deterrence missions, including circling over the […]
Sometimes people are presented with options having life changing consequences. Such was the case with Sergeant Russell J. Wright, U.S. Army, when he received his draft notice in May of 1970. With the war in Vietnam winding down and protestors clamoring for draftees to flee to Canada, Russ could have evaded the draft and kept himself safe from a war that had already killed tens of thousands of Americans. Instead, he chose to do his duty and report for service because he knew it was the right thing to do. Now, looking back on his service in the jungles and rice paddies of South Vietnam over fifty years later, Russ is proud of his service and would do it all again. This is his story.
Master Chief Petty Officer Donald Gohman, U.S. Navy (Retired) is a humble man. When we began to talk, he told me his career was routine and he didn’t think he’d done anything special. Then he told me about how he helped keep planes flying from Henderson Field during the six-month long battle for Guadalcanal during World War II and kept carrier aircraft in fighting shape for missions over Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Needless to say, I was spellbound. Weaving in and out of peacetime and war, Don’s career is a thirty-year American history lesson taught at the individual level. I could not get enough of it, and I think you will share the same view. This is his story.
Welcome to Episode 25 of the Voices to Veterans podcast. This episode features the story of Specialist Billy Terrell, U.S. Army.Billy Terrell has one of the most incredible stories I’ve encountered. He had just started to pull himself out of poverty by writing a song that was recorded by the Duprees in 1965. The same […]
Welcome to Episode 24 of the Voices to Veterans podcast. This episode features the story of Specialist Jack Murphy, U.S. Army.Twenty-five years after patrolling the rice paddies of the Mekong Delta and the triple-canopy jungles of Vietnam, the moment of inspiration Jack had been waiting for finally arrived. He picked up his guitar and composed […]