medal of honor Archives -

Ep 105 | Medal of Honor Recipient Mike Rose – Vietnam

May 29, 2023 By Thad Forester

Gary Michael Rose (Mike) joins me in person to share what happened in Laos during Operation Tailwind in 1970. During these 4 days, Sergeant Rose exposed himself to the enemy many times in order to treat the wounded. And then, the helicopter carrying Rose and others crashed further injuring him and the other wounded on board.

Despite his numerous wounds from the past three days, Mike Rose continued to pull and carry unconscious and wounded personnel out of the burning wreckage and continued to administer aid to the wounded until another extraction helicopter arrived.

It’s a remarkable story of selflessness where Rose said “we should not have survived.”

“I really take pride in the fact that I can go to my grave knowing that at least one person- I did something one day that caused him to live another 42 years,” Rose said.

This Special Forces Medic is credited with saving numerous lives over that 4 day period. You can read his Medal of Honor Citation here.

I loved having him in studio to talk in person. You can also watch this interview on YouTube here.

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Ep 102 | Darrell Utt – Army Special Forces (Ret.) and National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation Chief of Bus. Ops

March 13, 2023 By Thad Forester

MSG Darrell Utt retired from the U.S. Army Special Forces in January of 2017 after 26.5 years in the Army.

For this episode, he joins me in person and we have a great time covering the purpose of the National Medal of Honor Museum being constructed in Arlington, TX and why TX was chosen over Colorado. It seems Jerry Jones had something to do with it too.

He shares some Medal of Honor recipients who most resonate with him and what the Medal of Honor recipients want this museum to actually be–focus on courage, sacrifice, commitment, integrity, citizenship and patriotism.

We also discuss his time in Iraq in 2006 with Operation Parliament. He and his team were able to rescue a hostage unharmed after letting the kidnappers know in no uncertain terms that it would be in their best interest to release her to avoid further action against them.

In addition, we cover his favorite books, IEDs, his Alive Day of April 17, 2006–how 1″ made the difference, leadership lessons from Iraq, control what you can control, can’t fake preparation, calm breeds calm and more. Thanks for visiting me in Huntsville Darrell!

Mentioned in this podcast:

Burn the Boats book
Darrell on Combat Story podcast
Where the Red Fern Grows book
Last Out – Elegy of a Green Beret by Scott Mann
Ep 29: Larry and Janice Brown, parents of Adam Brown
Ep. 69: Woody Williams
Ep. 62: Sammy Davis

*Big thanks to M. Troy Bye at Our Town Podcast for hosting us in his studio.

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Ep 064 – Dan Schilling | Alone at Dawn

January 28, 2019 By Thad Forester

In the predawn hours of March 4, 2002, just below the 10,000-foot peak of a mountain in Afghanistan, a fierce battle raged. Outnumbered by Al Qaeda fighters, Air Force Combat Controller John Chapman and a handful of SEALs struggled to take the summit in a desperate bid to find a lost teammate. Chapman, leading the charge, was gravely wounded in the initial assault. Believing he was dead, his SEAL leader ordered a retreat. Chapman regained consciousness, finding himself alone with the enemy who was closing in on three sides. Thus began the most difficult and exceptional fight of his life.

For the U.S., the battle proved the deadliest entanglement of Operation Anaconda. We lost 7 men there at Takur Ghar, including Jason Cunningham and Neil Roberts.

On August 22, 2018, Pres Trump posthumously awarded the medal of honor to John Chapman. My guest today, Dan Schilling, has written a book, Alone at Dawn, to capture the life and legacy of this American Hero.

Although the book doesn’t come out until June, I loved getting an inside scoop on Chapman’s life leading up to his final mission and how Dan became involved.

We also talk about his extreme sports and why he set a Guinness World Record for 201 BASE jumps in 24 hours.

Pre-order Alone at Dawn here plus check out Dan’s other books.

Watch drone footage of Chapman’s incredibly heroic final stand here.

Rock Tune by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Artist: http://audionautix.com/

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Ep 062 – Sammy L. Davis | Medal of Honor Recipient – Vietnam

December 17, 2018 By Thad Forester

Image of Sammy Davis with Medal of Honor around neck.

Sammy Davis joined the Army because he loved his daddy. He wanted to make him and his grandads proud. He was just a kid out of high school. If he hadn’t joined the Army, he wanted to be a member of Hell’s Angels.

Regarding war protestors at SFO I asked, “Did you look them in the eye?” Davis’ response: “I looked every one of them in the eye.”

On November 18, 1967, his team was ambushed by the Vietcong and the Americans did what they were trained to do. Davis was knocked unconscious, then woken up by a beehive round strike to his body. Although he didn’t think he’d live to see the light of day, he saw his brothers across the river and he rescued them. One of those men was Jim Dyster, who had been shot thru the head and was for sure dead. Turns out, he wasn’t.

During our conversation we get to hear from his wife, Dixie too. She’s by his side at all his appearances. She wrote a book about their life, which is linked below.

This is another great, selfless American that kept a smile on my face the entire interview. And you may be interested to know he’s the real life Forrest Gump. Watch his Medal of Honor ceremony with Pres Johnson and you’ll see why.

Below are some resources to learn more about Sergeant First
Class Sammy L. Davis:

Medal
of Honor citation

His book: You
Don’t Lose Til You Quit Trying.

Dixie’s book: Endless
Love and Second Chances

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Ep 054 – Doug Sterner | Military Times Hall of Valor

April 9, 2018 By Thad Forester

Ever wondered if your deceased father received any awards for valor while serving in the military? Ever been told a relative received a medal, but you’ve never seen it? Or, do you feel someone is flat-out lying to you about their service accomplishments? My guest today is helping answer all those questions. Doug Sterner has created a searchable database of valor award citations. Sterner, a Vietnam veteran and Military Times contributing editor has consumed himself with verifying this data by source material such as official award citations, narratives and/or synopses from individuals or records from the National Archives.

The Hall of Valor is an ongoing project. It is a monumental effort to identify the half-million men and women who received the highest U.S. military awards, in addition to the millions of others who received other awards.

The Hall of Valor database currently includes all recipients of the Medal of Honor and all of the second-tier valor awards: Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross and Air Force Cross. They are also in the midst of a multi-year effort to identify recipients of Silver Star and below.

Doug and his wife Pam also created the Stolen Valor Act (SVA) that was signed into law by George W. Bush in 2006.

Additionally, Sterner warns us of calling out stolen valor; because, what if you’re wrong? Is it worth it?

I had a great time talking with this Patriot today. He even surprised me by the amount of info he had on my brother Mark.

Doug Sterner’s Amazon Author Page with his numerous books.

*My podcast is on Patreon. Please check out how you can help the cause and get insider access!

Rock Tune by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Artist: http://audionautix.com/

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