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.

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.

Episode 152: The Legend of Johnny Shiloh

 

There are many legends from the Civil War surrounding drummer boys on the battlefield. Arguably, the most famous of these is about Johnny Shiloh, who gave the ultimate sacrifice on the Shiloh battlefield in Tennessee. The problem with this legend is that it is probably based on a boy named John Clem, who not only didn't in battle, he wasn't even at Shiloh. He did make a name for himself at Chickamauga, though.

Through a series of fortunate events, Clem not only survived the war, but was able to continue his service and become an officer after the war.

Clem ended up service in the Army for more than fifty years, and when all was said and done, he attained the rank of major general.

When he died at age 85, he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 2, Grave 993 and despite his senior rank, he chose to highlight his exploits are a drummer boy on a civil war battlefield.

While John Clem was the youngest sergeant in US Army history, bugler John Cook hold the distinction as the youngest soldier to earn the medal of honor for actions on the battlefield, by single-handedly manning a cannon at Antietam after its crew was all killed or wounded. At least, single-handedly until a general rode by, hopped off his horse, and helped man the gun.

Unlike Clem, after the war, Cook returned to civilian life but was awarded the medal of honor 30 years later. His military service and his medal qualified Cook for burial at Arlington and when he passed away at age 67, he was interred in Section 17, Grave 18613.

Episode 151: A Tale of Two Soldiers, Part III

This week, we conclude this tale of two soldiers - of Brigadier General Smith and Lieutenant Colonel Waller - with a court martial, but surprisingly it isn't for war crimes conducted by Smith... at least not initially.

Army Brigadier General Jacob Hurd Smith died on March 1, 1918 at age 78. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 3, Grave 1924.

Marine Corps Major General Littleton Waller Tazwell "Tony" Waller died on July 13, 1926 at age 69. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 4, Grave 3311.

Episode 150: A Tale of Two Soldiers, Part II

 

When US Army Brigadier General Jacob Smith issued an order that authorized the genocide of Filipinos during the Philippine Insurrection, only one of his subordinates stepped in and tried to stop it - Marine Corps Major Littleton "Tony" Waller, but a massacre of a US Infantry Company at the hands of Moro rebels made stopping the deaths of innocent women and children much more difficult.

Episode 149: A Tale of Two Soldiers, Part I

 

There is only one person buried at Arlington that I believe should be disinterred and moved elsewhere, an Army Brigadier General named Jacob Hurd Smith who should have been drummed out of the military decades before he became a general, but since he wasn't, he was allowed an opportunity to commit genocide in The Philippines. Only one of his subordinates, a Marine named Littleton "Tony" Waller actively tried to stop him.

Episode 148: The Life and Times of Astronaut Jim Lovell

After more months that I thought it would take, I am back! While I was away, we lost another Space Race pioneer: Navy Captain James Lovell, best know as the commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission. Many credited his coolness under pressure as the one of the main reasons he and his shipmates survived that ordeal. He was laid to rest next to his wife Marilyn, who preceded him in death, at the Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, Maryland.

There were also come cool updates about the Harlem Hellfighters and seven Nisei members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team so 

Episode 139: The King of Swing, Part II

 

Because of  his age (he was 38) and needing glasses, Glenn Miller was unlikely to be drafted for military service, but like so many Americans of his day, he wanted to find some way to serve. Eventually the Army accepted him, commissioned him a captain, and put him in charge of all Army Air Forces bands.

After being stuck stateside for several months, Miller's desire to deploy overseas and perform for US troops became a reality when General Dwight Eisenhower personally requested Miller and his band come to England before the D-Day invasion.

In late-1944, Miller was promoted to major and received approval to move his headquarters from London to Paris following the liberation of that city. He flew to France on December 15, 1944 but his plane disappeared and he, his pilot, and his traveling companion were never seen again. They were all declared dead one year and one day later on December 16, 1945.

In 1944, at his daughter's request, a cenotaph was installed for Major Alton Glenn Miller at Arlington National Cemetery, in Memorial Section H, Grave 464-A. As far as I can tell, the trombone on the backside of his marker is unique to his headstone.

Before that time, his official memorial was his name engraved on "The Tablets of the Missing" at the Cambridge American Cemetery in Cambridge, England.

In Section 13 at Arlington, beneath an American Holly tree, is the memorial marker dedicated to the memory of Miller's Army Air Forces Orchestra.

Miller has a second cenotaph, this one installed by a fan who has no relation to Miller or his family, at the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut. 

Episode 138: The King of Swing, Part I

 

Glenn Miller was born in a small town in Iowa and decided early on that he wanted to be a professional musician. It took time and a lot of frustration for him to make his dream a reality but by 1938, thousands of dancers and millions of radio listeners knew and loved Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. In four and a half years they would feature in two Hollywood films, produce 121 singles, 69 Billboard charters, and 13 #1 hits before their band leader left to join the US Army Air Corps in World War II.

Episode 137: Sons of Hawaii, Part III

 

Senator Daniel K. Inouye served through the administrations of ten US presidents, including Ghost of Arlington, John F. Kennedy (above) and JFK's successor, Lyndon B. Johnson (below).

President Bill Clinton presented Inouye with the Medal of Honor when his Distinguished Service Cross, earned in World War II, was upgraded in 2000 (below).

Senator Inouye is one of only 38 people to lay in state in the US Capitol Building. Hundreds of people paid their respects, including life-long friend, fellow-wounded veteran, and senator Bob Dole (below).

After lying in state in Washington DC, he laid in state at the Hawaii Statehouse before being interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Section D, Grave 391-A.

Episode 136: Sons of Hawaii, Part II

Danny Inouye wanted to be a doctor when he grew up - specifically, he wanted to be a surgeon. When he was a senior in high school he was a Red Cross volunteer. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor he saw the planes flying over Honolulu and rushed to an aid station where he treated civilians injured by falling anti-aircraft shells.

As soon as he could, Danny enlisted in the army and was sent to Italy with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The war shattered his dream of becoming a doctor but a fellow wounded veteran, Bob Dole (yes, that Bob Dole) told him of his plan to become a lawyer and a politician in Kansas. Danny liked the sound of that, returned to Hawaii and entered politics as well. Little did he know he would become arguably the most influential politician in the history of Hawaii, whether the Kingdom, the Republic, or the State.

Captain Inouye (front, far left) next to Captain Bob Dole (left, profile, card in left hand) and other wounded veterans in a rehabilitation hospital that would one day bear both Inouye and Dole's names.

Episode 135: Sons of Hawaii, Part I

 

Already an Army officer before Pearl Harbor, Spark Matsunaga was one of the 100th Infantry Battalion's junior officers when that unit was stood up. He had hoped that by volunteering for active duty in the pre-war military would prove his loyalty but he was treated with the same suspicion as all Nisei US citizens.

After the war, Matsunaga used his GI Bill to attend Harvard Law School. Upon graduation, he returned to Hawaii and in 1959 was elected to that state's first state legislature. In time, the electorate of Hawaii would send Matsunaga to Washington, DC. First as a member of the US House of Representatives and then as a US Senator.

Matsunaga was well respected by members of both his own Democrat party as well as the opposition Republicans, including President Ronald Reagan (left).

US Senator and Army Lieutenant Colonel Spark Masayuki Matsunaga died on April 15, 1990, at age 73. He was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Section V, Grave 334-B under the epitaph "Beloved Son of Hawaii."