Medal of Honor: Stories of Courage

Admiral Richard Byrd was one of the most famous explorers of the 20th century. He received the Medal of Honor for a risky flight to the North Pole. But soon after his death, the whispers began. Did he actually make it there? Or did he turn back early?
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Episode resources:
Race to the Top of the World: Richard Byrd and the First Flight to the North Pole by Sheldon Bart (Regnery History Press, 2013)
To the Pole: The Diary and Notebook of Richard E Byrd, 1926-1927 edited by Raimund E Goerler (Ohio State University Press, 1998)
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When World War II broke out, Japanese Americans, including George "Joe" Sakato and his family, were treated as threats. But Sakato still joined the Army because he wanted to protect the United States and its people. And on a hill in eastern France, he launched a one-man charge that defied military logic and changed the tides of the battle. His story is an incredible tale of loyalty and friendship against impossible odds.
Binge the full season of Medal of Honor, ad-free, with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up and save on the Medal of Honor show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus. Use the code MOH25 for 25% off an annual subscription.
Connect with the team!
Follow Pushkin on social @pushkinpods
Follow JR Martinez @iamjrmartinez
Follow Meredith Rollins @meredithkrollins
Email the team: medalofhonor@pushkin.fm
Episode resources:
Honor Before Glory: The Epic World War II Story of the Japanese American GIs Who Rescued the Lost Battalion by Scott McGaugh (Grand Central Publishing, 2016)
“442nd Regimental Combat Team” by the Densho Encyclopedia
“Going for Broke: The 442nd Regimental Combat Team” by the National World War II Museum
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During World War I, Navy Lieutenant Edouard Izac was plucked from a lifeboat by a German submarine, where, for weeks, he lived among his captors. After secretly gathering intelligence on the movements of the German fleet, Izac knew this information could change the course of the war and had to be given to the Allies. But first, he had to get out of Germany. He would hurl himself out of a moving train, trek 120 miles through the mountains, and swim across the Rhine, but he would never, ever give up.
Binge the full season of Medal of Honor, ad-free, with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up and save on the Medal of Honor show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus. Use the code MOH25 for 25% off an annual subscription.
Connect with the team!
Follow Pushkin on social @pushkinpods
Follow JR Martinez @iamjrmartinez
Email the team: medalofhonor@pushkin.fm
Episode resources:
Escape by Dwight R Messimer (Naval Institute Press, 1994)
Prisoner of the U-90 by Edouard Victor Isaacs (Houghton Mifflin, 1919)
“Oral History: the Recollections of Lieutenant Edouard Victor Isaacs, U.S.N.” by the Department of the Navy, 1918
Medal of Honor by Allen Mikaelian (Hyperion, 2002)
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In 1968, in the dense jungles of Vietnam, a team of Green Berets was pinned down by an overwhelming North Vietnamese Army force. Their last hope was a young Air Force pilot named James Fleming. Despite being low on fuel and facing a wall of enemy fire, Fleming refused to turn back. The rescue mission seemed destined to fail, but a split-second decision would earn Fleming the nation’s highest military honor.
Binge the full season of Medal of Honor, ad-free, with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up and save on the Medal of Honor show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus. Use the code MOH25 for 25% off an annual subscription.
Connect with the team!
Follow Pushkin on social @pushkinpods
Follow JR Martinez @iamjrmartinez
Email the team: medalofhonor@pushkin.fm
Episode resources:
“SOG Combat in Cambodia: Under the Gun at Tango Five-One” by Randy Harrison, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, August 1982
Green Hornets: The History of the U.S. Air Force 20th Special Operations Squadron by Wayne Mutza (Schiffer Military History, 2007)
Secret Green Beret Commandos In Cambodia: A Memorial History of MACVSOG's Command and Control Detachment South (CCS) And Its Air Partners, Republic of Vietnam, 1967-1972 by Fred S. Lindsey (AuthorHouse, 2012)
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What turns an ordinary person into a legend? Host and Army veteran J.R. Martinez returns with stories of split-second decisions that changed the course of history.
Hear about harrowing escapes from prisoner-of-war-camps, daring flights to the farthest reaches of the globe, miraculous rescues, and acts of self sacrifice that will never be forgotten. These stories are about what it takes to become a hero and what happens after.
Binge the full season of Medal of Honor, ad-free, with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up on the Medal of Honor show page in Apple or at Pushkin.fm/plus and use the code MOH25 for 25% off an annual subscription.
This season, you’ll hear the stories of:
James Fleming: the Vietnam pilot who flew a helicopter into a death trap to save his men
Edouard Izac: the WWI sailor who escaped a U-boat and a moving train to deliver enemy secrets
George Sakato: the Japanese-American soldier who turned grief into a one-man army for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team
Richard Byrd: the world’s most famous explorer who might’ve faked his flight to the North Pole
Florent Groberg: the man who tackled a suicide bomber to save his team in Afghanistan
Richard Pittman: the one-eyed Marine who tricked his way into Vietnam to hold a jungle trail alone
Joseph Rodriguez: the Korean War soldier whose bravery was fueled by his love for a girl back home
Clarence Sasser: the combat medic who crawled through a flooded rice paddy trying to help as many soldiers as he could
Joshua Chamberlain: the college professor whose bayonet charge saved the Union at Gettysburg
The Four Chaplains: four men of different faiths who sacrificed themselves to save their fellow soldiers
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