Episode 105: The Ultimate Wingman

When he was a major, Air Force Colonel Bernard Francis "Bernie" Fisher volunteered for a tour in Vietnam when that conflict was just beginning to expand beyond US troops advising South Vietnamese fighters. 

In March 1966, the day after actions that would see him awarded the Silver Star, Fisher saw a fellow pilot shot down by enemy fire. Lieutenant Colonel "Jump" Myers survived the crash but was still in terrible danger. Thousands of enemy soldiers were quickly closing in on him and an evacuation helicopter would not be able to reach him in time. Unwilling to leave a comrade behind, Fisher landed his plane, pulled Myers up into the cockpit, and managed to take off again after his own plane took serious damage from small arms fire while on the ground.

The fallowing January, Fisher and his family traveled to the White House where the pilot was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

The Air Force became an independent service in 1947, but used the Army's design of the Medal of Honor until 1965. Bernie Fisher was the first Air Force pilot to receive the service's newly designed medal. He was also the first pilot in the Air Force's history to survive the action for which he was presented the nation's highest award for valor.

Fisher retired from the Air Force in 1974 as a colonel and settled in Kuna, Idaho, about 20 miles southwest of Boise. He remained active in the veteran community and often traveled to share the story about his Medal of Honor.

Colonel Bernard Francis Fisher passed away in 2014 at the age of 87. He was interred at the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery in Boise, ID in Section 12-1-142.

Episode 19: The U-2 Incident

The show trail of American pilot Francis Gary Powers

Known as the Dragon Lady - the U-2 was the first aircraft built to fly to the edge of space. With an unclassified maximum ceiling of 70,000 feet, it was though the Soviet built radar would not be able to track it and that Soviet antiaircraft missile would not be able to reach it. Both of those assumptions proved to be wrong.

Still flying more than 65 years after her maiden voyage, today's U-2s, operated by the Air Force and not the CIA, have been updated with state-of-the-art avionics that will keep them airborne for years to come. at 70,000, U2 pilots have to wear pressurized spacesuits in case the cockpit depressurizes.

The U-2 and a lot of other really cool planes were the brainchild of aeronautically engineer Kelly Johnson, seen here with Frank Powers when the two worked together at Lockheed after the U-2 Incident.

Needing a super-secret location to build and test the U-2, Johnson picked the location in the Nevada desert that would become infamous as Area 51.

Francis Gary Powers was recruited into the CIA's U-2 program to keep an eye on Russia after the Korean War. President Eisenhower said it was a vital national security need to prevent another Pearl Harbor.

Powers was shot down on the morning of May 1, 1960, by the near-miss of an SA-2 missile. He was able to bail out but was caught by Russian authorities, taken to Lubyenka prison, the infamous KBG headquarters in Moscow, and questioned for months on end. The U-2 wreckage was put on public display at Gorkey park and the incident ruined any hope of a Cold War thaw at the upcoming Paris summit. Some of the wreckage is still on display at the military museum in Moscow.

When KGB authorities were finished questioning Powers, he was put on a show trial for the world to see. Facing the death penalty, he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment - 3 years in prison, followed by 7 years hard labor.

In the 1950s, Soviet Colonel Rudolf Abel (real name William Fisher) was convicted of espionage in New York and sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. He was eventually exchanged for Powers and an American college student being held in East Germany. The Steven Spielberg movie Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks tells this part of the story. They were exchanged at the Glienicke Bridge in Berlin in February 1962. Powers was in Soviet custody for nearly two years.

Though officially cleared of any wrongdoing after his return, much doubt about the incident (much of which was kept classified due to its sensitive secret nature), many government officials, politicians, and private citizens continued to criticize Powers for allowing himself to become a pawn for Soviet propaganda and international policy.

He continued to work for the CIA after his release but eventually left and went to work for Lockheed. After that, he worked as a traffic reporter in Los Angeles so he could continue flying. On August 1, 1977, a traffic helicopter he was flying crashed, and Powers was killed. He was 47. Power's second wife, know by all as Sue, fought for her husband, still a pariah to many, to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Her efforts, and those of CIA officers still friendly to Powers, were successful and he was laid to rest in Section 11, Grave 685-2.

Sue joined him there in 2004

Power's son, Francis Gary Powers, Jr. spent more than 30 years digging into the U-2 incident to find out the truth about his father who died when he was 12 years old. After decades of Freedom of Information Act requests, interviews, and document declassifications, it turns out that his dad was, in fact, a hero and conducted himself admirably during an incredibly trying time. After the truth came to light, the US military has about-faced on its ambivalence towards Powers and awarded him several medals posthumously, including the POW Medal and the Silver Star. The CIA has since awarded him the coveted Director's Medal.

Check out Mythbusters!'s Adam Savage taking a flight in a U-2 

Episode 15: September 11, 2001

The first funeral of the day on September 11, 2001, started after the planes struck the twin towers in New York City. About half an hour later, the mourners, who were transitioning between the chapel and graveside portions of the funeral, recoiled as a tremendous blast shook the windows and walls of the cemetery's reception center. As they left to head towards the Columbarium (where the deceased's cremated remains were to be placed), they were stopped by military police officers who informed them that the Pentagon had just been hit - they were still allowed to proceed (the Columbarium is only a few hundred yards from the Pentagon) but many of the military personnel, including those who would have folded the flag, would no longer be accompanying them and the rest of the service would be abbreviated. In an era before everyone carried a camera in their pocket, one member of the funeral party had a camera in her car and after the service, took this photo of the Pentagon billowing smoke over Arlington's white headstones. Thank you for this unique perspective, Ms. Ruth Anne Rosati.

A year after the attack, the Pentagon memorial - officially called the Pentagon Group Burial Marker - was unveiled in Section 64. The memorial, pentagonal in shape, has the names of the 184 victims of the terrorist attack on the Pentagon, either in the building itself or on Flight 77.

Because of extensive damage to the remains, five sets of remains were buried together in a single casket, covered with a special vault cover. The memorial sits directly above the vault cover.

One of those killed in the Pentagon was Army Lieutenant Colonel Kip Taylor

Kip and his wife, Nancy, had struggled with infertility for years but had eventually conceived and had a son, Dean. A month after his death, Nancy gave birth to their second son, Luke. While in the hospital for the birth, Nancy was diagnosed with breast cancer and died two years later. The boys were adopted and raised by Kip's brother and his wife. They are both currently attending college, courtesy of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

Both Kip and Nancy Ann Melvin Taylor are buried in Section 64, Grave 4877

The first American killed in Afghanistan post-9/11 had been a captain in the Marine Corps but was a CIA officer at the time of his death. Johnny "Mike" Spann didn't qualify for burial at Arlington but was granted an exemption from President George W. Bush. He was killed in a prison riot when Taliban detainees got into an Afghan Northern Alliance arms room. One participant in the riot was the so-called American Taliban member John Walker Lindh. 

His family, particularly his children, have been vocal about their displeasure with Lindh's release from prison, three years before the end of his 20-year sentence and his father had harsh criticism for the way the Biden administration withdrew US troops from Afghanistan. Spann is buried in Section 34, Grave 2359.

The first Iraq War Soldier buried at Arlington was Army Captain Russell Rippetoe who was killed by an IED while rushing to help a pregnant Iraqi woman.

This member of the 75th Ranger Regiment is buried in Section 60, Grave 7860

Because Army Sergeant First Class Jerald Whisenhunt, a 22-year veteran at the time of his death, was not a Sergeant Major or commissioned officer, so he was only authorized a standard honors funeral. Sergeant First Class was livid with the distinction and in time, his campaign led to a policy change authorizing anyone killed in combat to receive a full honors funeral regardless of rank.

Whisenhunt is buried in Section 60, Grave 8563