Episode 171: A Terrorist Attack Against a Sitting US President

Leslie "Les" William Coffelt is the only secret service agent to be killed while protecting the president. It was a terrorist attack, in Washington, DC, in broad daylight, perpetrated by two US citizens. 

 

Episode 170: To the Top! The Post-World War II History of the 10th Mountain Division

 

The 10th Mountain Division burst onto the world stage fighting the Nazi's in Italy, but they have continued to be at the center of world-wide US military operations down to the present day.

Episode 169: One Soldier's Story; Bob Dole, Part VI

 

Bob Dole never fully recovered from his wound in Italy, but in time he was able to look past them. He set aside his shattered dreams to become a doctor. He stopped looking at all the things he couldn't do and instead chose to focus on what he could do. He could get married. He could be a father to his daughter. He could go to law school. He could rise to become the senior ranking senator in the US Senate.

US Army Captain and US Senator Robert Joseph Dole is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 4, Grave 3-A.

Episode 168: One Soldier's Story; Bob Dole, Part V

Bob Dole Returns home to Kansas, but aside from the actual moment of his battlefield injury, it is twice in the States - once in Kansas and once in Michigan - that he comes closest to death during his long road to recovery.

 

Episode 167: One Soldier's Story; Bob Dole, Part IV

Lieutenant Bob Dole and his platoon are part of the larger effort of the Allies to take Hill 913 from its German defenders. Little does Dole know, that fight will just be the beginning of his struggle to survive.

Episode 166: One Soldier's Story; Bob Dole, Part III

World War II continues in Europe and the Pacific, while Bob Dole continues to train on the home front and wonders if he will ever make it overseas, like his younger brother Kenny who is an experienced combat veteran by summer 1944. When Dole get another chance to attend OCS and become an officer, he jumps at it - and this time get a class slot. The Army has a shortage of lieutenants and needs to quickly train more. Dole is happy to replace an LT but never stops to ask why so many need to be replaced.

 

Episode 165: One Soldier's Story - Bob Dole, Part II

 

Bob Dole finishes the 1942-1943 school year at Kansas University and is almost immediately called up for active duty. His training timeline is changed multiple times - as does the military job he is training for - but once the Allies successfully land at Normandy on D-Day, he know that his time is coming. After being afraid that the war would end before he got into it, he is now sure he will be heading to the European Theater of Operation. 

Episode 164 - Climb to Glory!

The pre-World War II history of my 10th Mountain Division.

 

Episode 163 - One Soldier's Story; Bob Dole, Part I

 

Before he was a Senator, and even before he was a soldier, Bob Dole (right rear) was the second oldest of four children in a family in Russell, Kansas

In high school he was a three-letter varsity athlete. He played football; he ran track; but basketball was his first love, and it is partially why he became the first person in his family to go to college.

[REPLAY] Episode 13 - I Could Stay Here Forever

This week is a REPLAY of Episode 13, when I initially talked about JFK's funeral as part of the story of the history of the history of Arlington National Cemetery, but is a fitting finish for the story I've been telling these last few months.

 

Episode 162: The Other PT 109 Survivors; JFK, Part VIII

 

The survivors of PT 109 led distinct and varied lives. All but one of them survived the war, most of them survived their skipper, Jack Kennedy, and a few of them lived into the 21st century. Several of them worked on JFK's presidential campaign in one way or another, and a handful were even given the chance to travel to Japan in the early 1960s and meet with crewmembers of the Amagiri.

What they all had in common was a love for their commander and not a single one of them ever had a negative thing to say about Lieutenant Kennedy - at least not in public. That tends to be the sign of a good leader!

Episode 161: The Rest of the Story; JFK, Part VIII

 

After Jack's rocky year in the House of Representatives, he runs for the Senate and beats a guy who hasn't lost an election in years... and he wins it with the help of an endorsement from an old adversary who has become a new friend.

He really settles into life as a senator and, as you probably know, he goes on to become the second youngest president in US history. But I promise there are a few details you don't know about the rest of the story, so I hope you listen.

 

Episode 160: Jack's War is Over; JFK, Part VII

While the PT 109 survivors's saga comes to an end, it is not the end of the story. In this episode we learn why JFK decides to get into politics after the war - it was NOT his decision - and when his political career plateaus, we'll see the insane thing Joe, Sr. has his son do to take his political career to the next level.

 

Episode 159: Castaway; JFK, Part VI

After PT 109 is ripped in two, the eleven men who miraculously survive spend the next four days looking for rescue before they die of dehydration and before the thousands of Japanese troops surrounding them become away of their presence... This is also why JFK will have a coconut on his desk in the oval office.

 

Episode 158: Forged in Fire; JFK, Part V

In the chaos following PT 109's collision with INJ Amagiri, Jack Kennedy does everything he can to rescue his shipmates and when it becomes obvious that no one is coming to rescue them, he choses an island deep inside enemy territory and hopes it is small enough to be of no strategic value to the Japanese; but only time will tell if it is garrisoned or not.

Episode 157: Ripped in Two; JFK, Part IV

 

Jack Kennedy finally takes command of a PT boat in a combat zone and begins to settle into what turns out to be a fairly rough existence in a place that turns out to be less than the paradise it looked like at first glance.

His commander, not a PT man himself, comes up with a plan to attack a Japanese convoy, but the plan isn't great to start with and after it's implementation,  everything that can go wrong, seems to; which will nearly cost JFK his life.

Episode 156: In the Navy; JFK, Part III

 

After graduating form Harvard, JFK isn't sure of his next steps. He knows that he needs to find a way to serve - the world is at war and everyone is sure the US will soon join the fight.

With the help of his father, he follows his brother's footsteps and joins the navy, but soon both Kennedy boys realize their dad is likely pulling strings to keep them out of harms way... and having raised children taught to fight for what they want, both eventually go behind their father's back and get into the fight.

Episode 155: Harvard, London, and a World at War; JFK, Part II

 

JFK's collegiate path was never in doubt - his application essay (which I read in full on the podcast) is evidence of that - but after he begins university, his father's new senior position in the US government gives Jack a front row seat to the collapse of peace in Europe and leaves his struggling with how and why it happened.

Fortunately for him, that gives him a great idea for his senior thesis, which becomes a best selling book, but also leaves his grappling which what his role will be when the United States inevitably enters World War II.

Episode 154: Brookline to Hyannis Port - Growing Up Kennedy; JFK, Part I

 

Jack Kennedy - Age 10

More than four years ago - way back in Episode 13 - I shared the story of President John F. Kennedy's funeral as part of the series on the establishment of Arlington as a cemetery. At that time I said that I would probably share the story of how Kennedy became eligible for burial at Arlington (specifically his military service, not his election as president), and that time has finally come.

Jack Kennedy (left) age 2 and Joe, Jr age 4

But before we get to his time in the Navy, I am going to talk a little about his childhood, which was not as idyllic as it may have seemed from the outside (just wait until you hear younger brother Bobby's recollection about what Joe, Jr. like to do to poor Jack when they were young).

JFK - age 8 (second from left) and his siblings at Hyannis Port, MA

Episode 153: A Soldier of Three Armies

 

US Army Major Larry Thorne is the only known SS officer buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He was also an officer in the Finish army that fought the Russians several times during World War II and he was one the early US Army Special Forces (Green Berets) officers.

In his Finnish Uniform

Thorne's story is a truly remarkable tale about a man who went to great lengths to try to keep his county out of the Soviet Union's sphere of influence, and when that failed, he looked for other ways to continue the fight against communism. He also stepped on multiple land mines at a time he should have really been watching where he placed his feet.

Major Larry Alan Thorne is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 60, Grave 8136.