Heroes Behind Headlines

At Ground Zero In Nagasaki

Right after the U.S. dropped the bomb on Nagasaki, Victoria Kelly’s grandfather was sent there as part of the U.S. forces sent to occupy the city after its destruction. Victoria grew up curious about her grandfather’s experience there, as he’d died before she was born. Victoria has partnered with Karen Tanabe, whose family survived the bombing, to make “Atomic Echoes”: A documentary that details what it was like for the locals and the U.S. soldiers on the ground, and how they came together to help the afflicted, as they all struggled with the fallout of radiation.  Victoria joins HBH today, to share some of the amazing stories and people she and Karen discovered in their journey to make a filmed record of what it was like after an atomic bomb goes off.

Born From War: A Father’s Legacy To His Son

Patrick Naughton’s father served in Vietnam when he was a child, and shared accounts of his experiences and adventures – from infantry to serving in Special Forces as part of the MACV-SOG teams doing recon and battling across the fence” in America’s secret war with Northern Vietnam forces in Laos and Cambodia. Patrick felt the only path to truly earn his larger-than-life’s father’s respect was to enlist in the military himself, and he likewise joined the infantry and served in Iraq. His book “Born From War,” is a fascinating account of the parallel experiences father and son had, and the lessons about generational impact of military service learned by both. Heroes Behind Headlines Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

REPRISE: SOG Green Beret legend in "The Secret War" in Vietnam: Part II

The second half of this two-part interview from 2023 with one of our favorite Americans, in celebration of Memorial Day: A living legend of MACV-SOG and the Green Berets, John "Tilt" Stryker Meyer shares some of the most daring first-person stories of combat ever told! Inserted by Kingbee helicopter into the dense jungle along the Ho Chi Minh trail in  Laos and Cambodia during the height of the Vietnam War, Tilt and the US and indigenous members of Strike Force Idaho  deployed on  one impossible  top-secret  mission after another, spying on, harassing  and taking it to the North Vietnamese and Vietcong despite a  casualty rate of over 100%. Top-secret, all-volunteer SOG teams soon became the bane of the NVA's and Vietcong's existence, and despite overwhelming odds and  sometimes  having to face battalion-size enemy detachments, Tilt describes how these small US-indigenous units bravely soldiered on achieving a combined kill ratio of 158 to 1 – the highest in US military history. Bravery like that described by Tilt is not only inspiring, it changes the way we perceive the Vietnam War.

REPRISE: SOG Green Beret Legend in "The Secret War" in Vietnam: Part I

We're re-airing this two-part interview from 2023 with one of our favorite Americans, in celebration of Memorial Day: A living legend of MACV-SOG and the Green Berets, John "Tilt" Stryker Meyer shares some of the most daring first-person stories of combat ever told! Inserted by Kingbee helicopter into the dense jungle along the Ho Chi Minh trail in  Laos and Cambodia during the height of the Vietnam War, Tilt and the US and indigenous members of Strike Force Idaho  deployed on  one impossible  top-secret  mission after another, spying on, harassing  and taking it to the North Vietnamese and Vietcong despite a  casualty rate of over 100%. Top-secret, all-volunteer SOG teams soon became the bane of the NVA's and Vietcong's existence, and despite overwhelming odds and  sometimes  having to face battalion-size enemy detachments, Tilt describes how these small US-indigenous units bravely soldiered on achieving a combined kill ratio of 158 to 1 – the highest in US military history. Bravery like that described by Tilt is not only inspiring, it changes the way we perceive the Vietnam War.   Heroes Behind Headlines Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Daughter Of A Scoundrel: Karen Holt On CIA Cutout Dad Chauncey Marvin Holt

Karen Holt didn’t realize her childhood was anything other than normal--whether it was her father’s absence every Monday to Friday; their odd moves from town to town without any warning;  the FBI arresting her father; seeing Detroit mafioso Peter Licavoli on his ranch; or even visiting her father in his ‘country club’ prison. One of the most unusual figures in recent memory, Chauncey served as accountant and money manager for mobster Meyer Lansky, he was also an off-the-books CIA operative and specialist in forged documents and credentials, a ballistics expert, a circus performer and fine artist. He was also present at Dealey Plaza the day JFK was assassinated, November 22, 1963. In fact, Holt was pictured in Life Magazine as one of the three hobos detained as witnesses. Chauncey's outrageous life, which also included bootlegging, gunrunning, and maintaining multiple aliases, is captured in his autobiography “Self-Portrait of a Scoundrel,”  which reads like a CIA thriller. Heroes Behind Headlines Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com