Eyewitness History

This episode, I speak with Vince Speranza. Speranza was drafted into the United States Army on October 25, 1943, and officially entered the service on November 15, 1943. He was sent to Camp Upton in New York where he stayed until he was sent to Fort Benning in Georgia where he trained for the Infantry with the 87th Infantry Division. He volunteered for the Parachute Infantry and was sent back to Fort Benning for training. He was sent overseas with Company H, 3rd Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division from Camp Shanks on board the Queen Mary. His unit arrived in France and would later fight in the Battle of the Bulge.Speranza spent 144 days in combat. For his service, and other medals of distinction, He received two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars. After the war, Vince became a teacher at Curtis High School — most recently, he recounted the events attached to his years in the military in his books, “Nuts! A 101st Airborne Division Machine Gunner at Bastogne,”.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Encircled by Nazis and left abandoned after a team of British secret agents failed to secure their escape, eighteen U.S. airmen were left with little choice: flee or be killed. Lost Airmen: The Epic Rescue of WWII U.S. Bomber Crews Stranded behind Enemy Lines is a riveting narrative of survival and brotherhood told by the historian son of one of those gritty survivors, Charles E. Stanley Jr.In winter 1944, Yugoslav peasants looked to the sky to see American airmen—dozens of them—parachuting from crippled bombers. Some landed in safety. Others were slaughtered by German fire. Lost Airmen is the shocking true story of the eighteen men who beat all odds to escape the grip of the Nazis. Some found harbor with the Chetnik royalist faction led by General Mihailovic. Most were herded by Marshal Tito’s Partisans into a small town. There they were trapped. Extreme weather closed the skies for an air rescue. The Germans blocked the path to the sea. British secret agents extracted sixty-six airmen but had to leave the rest behind. The Partisans were desperate to rid themselves of the soldiers and forced them to attempt the treacherous winter crossing of the Dinaric Alps at the prodding of a gun, and no turning back.Drawing on over twenty years of research, dozens of interviews and previously unpublished letters, diaries, and memoirs written by the airmen, Stanley recounts the deadly journey across the blizzard-swept Dinaric Alps during the worst winter of the twentieth century—and the stories of the heroic men who fought impossible odds to keep their brothers-in-arms alive.In this episode, Joe Foto tells his story. Also, check out author Charles Stanley, Jr, and feel free to go to this website at https://www.charlesstanleyjr.com/the-lost-airmen-book/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Martin Cooper is an engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, and futurist. He isknown as the “father of the cell phone.” He led the creation of the world’s first cell phone atMotorola—and made the first public call on it. Over nearly three decades at Motorola, Coopercontributed to the development of pagers, two-way radio dispatch systems, quartz crystalmanufacture, and more.A serial entrepreneur, he and his wife, Arlene Harris, have cofounded numerous wirelesstechnology companies. This includes Cellular Business Systems, SOS WirelessCommunications, GreatCall, and ArrayComm. Cooper is currently chairman of Dyna LLCand a member of the FCC’s Technological Advisory Council. He was the first to observe theLaw of Spectrum Capacity, which became known as Cooper’s Law.In 2013, Cooper became a member of the National Academy of Engineering from whom hereceived the Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering. He was awarded the Marconi Prize“for being a wireless visionary who reshaped the concept of mobile communication.” He hasbeen inducted into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame and Wireless History Foundation’sWireless Hall of Fame. The Radio Club of America awarded him a Lifetime AchievementAward in 2010. He is a lifetime member of the IEEE, was president of its VehicularTechnology Society and received its Centennial Medal. In 2007, Time magazine named himone of the “100 Best Inventors in History.” He is a Prince of Asturias Laureate.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Benjamin Sledge is a wounded combat veteran with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, serving most of his time under Special Operations (Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command). He is the recipient of the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and two Army Commendation Medals for his actions overseas. Upon returning home from war, he began work in mental health and addiction recovery. A prolific communicator, Benjamin has authored several viral articles in addition to being the author of two books. His work ranges from fiction, self-help, and investigative journalism to Christianity and the military. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with his wife, daughter, and son.Find out more about him at https://benjaminsledge.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jim DeFede joined CBS4 News in January 2006 and serves as an investigative reporter for the station, as well as host of its Sunday morning public affairs program "Facing South Florida."Between 2002 and 2005, DeFede was a metro columnist for The Miami Herald.His first book, "The Day The World Came To Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland," was published in 2002 by HarperCollins and was recognized with a 2003 Christopher Award for its ability to "affirm the highest values of the human spirit."DeFede has won five regional Emmy Awards for his work on CBS4 News.Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/personality/jim-defede/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dallas native Jenyce Gush was only 14 years old when President John F. Kennedy was killed. Although she was too young to vote, she was nonetheless an admirer of the handsome, young president and his glamorous, socialite wife. On the morning of the presidential entourage's arrival, Gush and a friend were so determined to see JFK and Jackie, they skipped school. Positioning themselves along the parade route, the excited friends scarcely had time to finish their daily beauty routines before the president's arrival. "It was such an impulsive thing," Gush told ABC News, "We both had pink rollers the size of orange juice cans in our hair. We had no makeup and were right there on the curb as the motorcade came by."Source: https://www.grunge.com/258808/what-it-was-really-like-witnessing-jfks-assassination/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mr. Paoletta served for a decade as Chief Counsel for Oversight and Investigations for the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the U.S. House of Representatives. During his tenure, Mr. Paoletta managed nearly 200 investigative hearings, many of which involved high-profile issues and investigating some of the largest U.S. corporations. Many of those investigations led to substantial revisions to federal law, regulations and public awareness on significant issues of the day.Mr. Paoletta most recently served as General Counsel for the Office of Management & Budget in the Executive Office of the President during the Trump Administration. As General Counsel to what many consider the most powerful agency in Washington, D.C., Mr. Paoletta worked daily with agencies across the federal government to ensure programs were implemented consistent with the President's policies. Mr. Paoletta also worked closely with the other component offices within OMB, such as the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which reviews and signs off on every regulation issued by federal agencies. Mr. Paoletta also served as Counsel to Vice President Pence during the first year of the Trump Administration.During his time in the Trump Administration, Mr. Paoletta helped prepare many nominees for confirmation hearings, including Cabinet nominees, several Court of Appeals nominees, and two Supreme Court nominees. Mr. Paoletta also served in the White House as Assistant Counsel to President George H.W. Bush. In that position, he played a key role in the successful confirmation effort of United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.Source: https://www.schaerr-jaffe.com/mark-r-paolettaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the crush of chaos after two planes hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, Michael O’Connell raced from his home on Long Island in New York to his firehouse in Queens, where he was training as a probationary fireman for the FDNY.From there the then 25-year-old joined a busload of firefighters to the burning buildings. During the trip, their chief announced that the World Trade Center’s twin towers had collapsed.Despite what has since been confirmed as a widespread, deadly health hazard from work there amid the dust and fumes — and despite his own health struggles, years later — everyone O’Connell knows would go back and do the same work without a second thought, he says.Currently, he serves as Team Lead of Feal Good foundation in the fight of the Zadroga bill passing for 90 years.Info: https://fealgoodfoundation.com/ Source: People - https://people.com/politics/911-responder-michael-o-connell-contracts-rare-disease/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thorne Dreyer, a political activist and progressive journalist most of his life, was a pioneer of the ‘60s-70s underground press. He was a founding editor of The Rag in Austin and Space City! in Houston, two of the most influential of the era’s underground newspapers. Dreyer is a director of the New Journalism Project, is editor of The Rag Blog, and has hosted Rag Radio on KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin for the last 13 years. He is the author of Making Waves: The Rag Radio Interviews, published in 2022 by the Briscoe Center for American History and distributed by the University of Texas Press, and an editor of Celebrating The Rag: Austin’s Iconic Underground. Newspaper (2016), and Exploring Space City!: Houston’s Historic Underground Newspaper (2021). In Austin, Dreyer joined the Students for a Democratic Society where he was active in civil rights and the movement against the War in Vietnam. Dreyer grew up in Houston where his mother was a prominent artist and his father was a writer and editor at the Houston Chronicle. Their Dreyer Galleries was the center of a large community of artists, intellectuals, and political activists, and was often under fire from the Ku Klux Klan because of the family’s support for human rights. He worked as a political consultant in Houston, as a correspondent for Texas Monthly, managed KPFT, the Pacifica radio station, ran a public relations business, and worked as an actor and music producer. He currently lives in Austin with his dog Picasso.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many people learn about history as a collection of names, dates, and places. History is so much more interesting than that. It is the stories of the men and women who made those places and events matter. It is the story of the private soldier as much as it is the story of the great general. It is the story of the farmer in the field as much as it is the story of the man in the Oval office. Join our newest Parthenon Podcast Network member, Chris Mowery, as he leads you on a dive deeper into the forgotten stories of our past, and into the details of the stories we thought we already knew.Website: https://www.spreaker.com/show/vlogging-through-historyWe are doing a giveaway of 5 three-month subscriptions to the Great Courses for everyone who leaves a review on VTH's Apple Podcast page.To enter, go to vloggingthroughhistory.com for instructions. You must enter by Friday, July 8.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.