Army

When Self-Preservation Becomes Self-Sacrifice: America’s Medal of Honor Recipients

Bill Thompson

The Congressional Medal of Honor is America’s highest and most distinguished military award. It recognizes extraordinary courage, valor, and sacrifice. Since the metal was first awarded in the 1860s, only about 3,500 service members have received that honor, many of them posthumously.

Get your copy of Nicholas Kehoe’s book

In 2003 the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation published a commemorative book profiling metal honorees.

At the time, the president of the Foundation was retired Air Force Lt. General Nicholas Kehoe, and it was him that I interviewed about the book.

We actually spoke the day before Veterans Day in 2003, as the US was newly embroiled in war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So here now, from 2003 Nicholas Kehoe.

Bob Dole’s Incredible Story of Survival in World War II

Bill Thompson

In April 1945 the war in Europe was nearing its end. But battles were still raging, And on April 14 one such battle left a young American 2nd Lieutenant gravely wounded.

His name was Bob Dole, a 21-year-old from Kansas who had joined the Army in 1942.

The German shell that hit him that day in Italy in 1945 was nearly fatal. Miraculously Dole survived, but it would be another three years before he was out of the hospital.

Dole, of course, went on to a long, illustrious, and successful political career, culminating with the 1996 Republican nomination for president.

More below video:

Get your copy of Bob Dole’s book

In 2005 Dole wrote a memoir of his World War II experience, a book called One Soldier’s Story. I met with him in his Washington DC office one day that spring to talk about it, some 60 years after he nearly died on that battlefield in Italy.

So here now, from 2005, Bob Dole.

Bob Dole died in 2021 – he was 98.

Honoring Vietnam War Heroes: Col. David Hackworth’s Most Important Book

Bill Thompson

Veteran’s Day was originally known as Armistice Day, marking the end of World War I on November 11th.

So perhaps it was fitting that a baby born on Armistice Day in 1930 would be destined for an illustrious military career,

David Hackworth joined the Army shortly after World War II, and was decorated for his service in the Korean War.

By the late 1960s Hackworth had become the youngest Army colonel in Vietnam.

Get your copy of David Hackworth’s book

He helped form what became known as Tiger Force.

After the war Hackworth became a journalist and author, and in 2002 wrote a book about the ragtag battalion he was sent to lead in 1969. He called the book Steel My Soldiers’ Hearts. He and I talked about the book that spring, including his wife’s essential role in writing it.

So here now, from 2002, Col. David Hackworth.

David Hackworth died in 2005 at age 74. He’s buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Colin Powell

Bill Thompson

The United States marks Veterans Day tomorrow. And very recently, we lost one of the most revered veterans of modern times.

The son of Jamaican immigrants, Colin Powell was a lifelong soldier.

He joined the ROTC while in college in the 1950s, then served two tours of Duty in Vietnam in the 1960s. In 1979 he was promoted to Brigadier General, and by 1989, he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

When George W Bush was elected in 2000, he named Powell his Secretary of State. a post Powell held for Mr. Bush’s first term.

I met Colin Powell in 1996, when he was promoting his autobiography, a book called My American Journey.

So here now, from summer 1996, Colin Powell.

Colin Powell died last month. He was 84.

You may also like these episodes:
Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Adm. Elmo Zumwalt