Cold War Series: Cold War In The Middle East
In wrapping up his Cold War Series, Mark revisits his conversation with Dr. Kate Tietzen about the turmoil in the Middle East during the difficult years following WWII to the final days of the USSR. Cold War studies often focus on events in Europe. However, the Cold War quietly and sometimes loudly raged in the...
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Cold War Series: Europe With Dr. Steve Bourque
In continuing the Cold War Series, Steve Bourque joins Mark to discuss his experiences in the U.S. Army during those years. We get the perspectives of a young enlisted man stationed in western Europe during the Cold War. We also get to look at the situation from another vantage point—when he returned later as an...
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Christmas in Wartime – Part II
In Part II of the Christmas in Wartime podcast, Mark reviews some of the happenings that American and Allied soldiers experienced during WWII. There are a few items from the home front and some from where the fighting occurred, as well as a few segments from POWs. First, a mention that I forgot to include...
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Christmas in Wartime – Part I
War brings few joyous moments. Over the years, Christmas time has provided a few glimmers of warmth. From a surprise victory for George Washington, to mules masquerading as reindeer in the Civil War, to a flare-lit soccer game between Brits and Germans in WWI, Mark shares some wartime Christmas memories.
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Cold War Series: Soviet Naval Challenge with Reid Senter Part II
Mark returns to the Cold War with Part II of the Soviet Naval challenge, this time covering surface operations. His guest is Reid Senter, a retired U.S. Navy Captain who served in the Mediterranean. They discuss various aspects of serving in an Amphibious Ready Group, facing the Soviet Navy whose main interest was protecting the...
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Cold War Series: The Soviet Naval Challenge with John Lindstedt Part I
In the first of a two-part interview, Mark speaks with John Lindstedt, who was a junior officer serving aboard a nuclear submarine in the Cold War years. They discuss the qualifications and training involved, the constant readiness, and the differences between U.S. and Soviet vessels. They also highlight the ever-present threat of the Soviet Navy...
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Cold War Series: Cuban Missile Crisis
October 28, 1962 marked the 13th and last day of the Cuban Missile Crisis. 58 years later, Mark kicks off his Cold War series by revisiting the origins of this conflict between superpowers, the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The two-week confrontation—October 16-28, 1962—kept the world on edge and in fear of escalating tensions that...
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Autumn Events in History: From the American Revolution to WWII
On this week’s podcast, I take a look at some historical events that happened in autumn from the American Revolution to the Civil War, World War I and World War II. I discuss the 1918 Meuse-Argonne offensive by the America Expeditionary Forces and the French army. Launched against the Germans on the Western Front, this...
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Lewis & Clark Expedition
September 25, 2020 marks 214 years since Meriwether Lewis and William Clark finished their Corps of Discovery Expedition. In honor of one the greatest scientific expeditions ever, Mark revisits his conversation with Lewis and Clark historian Hal Stearns. Recorded at Fort Clatsop, the expedition’s winter camp on the Pacific Coast of Oregon, they provide a...
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Leadership: Dick Winters and Easy Company
Lt. Dick Winters and Easy Company of the 101st Airborne were made famous by the Band of Brothers TV series, based on the best-selling book by Stephen E. Ambrose. Historian Chris Anderson, who spent hundreds of hours with Winters talking about his WWII experiences, joins Mark to discuss leadership and the the man who led...
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The Legion’s Fighting Bulldog: The Civil War Correspondence of William Gaston Delony
Mark revisits his conversation with Vince Dooley about his book, The Legion’s Fighting Bulldog: The Civil War Correspondence of William Gaston Delony. Greatly loved by those who served under him, Lieutenant Colonel William Gaston Delony possessed three admirable attributes: “commanding presence, bull dog courage, and superb generalship.” Through the letters of Delony and his wife Rosa,...
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August History Happenings: American Civil War and WWII
This week, Mark takes a look at some of the events that happened during the month of August in the American Civil War and WWII. He discusses the infamous Quantrill’s Raiders, a group of pro-Confederate partisan guerrillas that included Jesse James, Nathan Bedford Forrest’s raid on Memphis, the 872-day Siege of Leningrad, and the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression...
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USS Indianapolis
On the 75th anniversary of the bombing of the USS Indianapolis, Mark revisits his interview with best-selling author, Lynn Vincent, and National Geographic Historian, Sara Vladic, about their book, Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man. Just after midnight on...
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July History Happenings: WWII and Civil War
This week, Mark takes a cursory but analytical look at a few key July historical events. He discusses WWII, including the Einsatzgruppen SS mission in the Soviet Union, as well as the Civil War battle of First Manassas (Bull Run). He also takes a look on the lighter side—how Louisiana took an innovation from the...
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Interview with WWII Veteran Mort Sheffloe: Part II
Just a few summers ago Mark was traveling in France with WWII Veteran Mort Sheffloe. While walking the sands of Omaha Beach and Utah Beach, sitting in cafés in Normandy or dining in Paris, Mort shared his memories of the war, and his battles in Normandy and Brittany in 1944. In the second of the...
Interview with WWII Veteran Mort Sheffloe: Part I
Just a few summers ago Mark was traveling in France with WWII Veteran Mort Sheffloe. While walking the sands of Omaha Beach and Utah Beach, sitting in cafés in Normandy or dining in Paris, Mort shared his memories of the war, his battles and serious wounding from a German sniper and his recovery and return...
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D-Day: Beach Landings
This week marks 76 years since American troops stormed Omaha Beach on D-Day 1944. Mark and historian Marty Morgan discuss the invasion operations, Omaha Beach landings and Vierville Draw, a key part of the brutal battle against the entrenched Germans that led to the success of Operation Overlord and eventual Victory in Europe.
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D-Day: Airborne Operations
In continuing our study of D-Day for this 76th Anniversary Year, Mark talks about the invasion airborne operations. He and guest historian, Marty Morgan, discuss the airborne operations and actions of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne and the British 6th Airborne Divisions on D-Day. They cover the details of the paratroopers, including “the greatest...
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Operation Overlord Part II: Deception Plan
Mark continues his series of podcasts dedicated to the 76th Anniversary of D-Day, discussing Operation Overlord, the planning of the D-Day invasion. He discusses the crucial deception plan, Operation Fortitude conducted to fool Hitler and his staff about the location, strengths and leadership of the upcoming invasion. He includes excerpts from the lectures of historian...
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Operation Overlord Part I: D-Day Preparation
Mark begins his series of podcasts dedicated to the 76th Anniversary of D-Day, discussing Operation Overlord, the planning of the D-Day invasion. He includes excerpts from WWII lectures that historian Stephen E. Ambrose gave at the University of New Orleans, covering the preparation the Allies made for Operation Overlord. By December of 1943 the United...
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U.S. Grant’s Civil War Spy Network
In conducting his Civil War campaigns in Mississippi in 1862-63, Union General Ulysses S. Grant put together a network of spies to provide him with military intelligence. He recruited a young brigadier general to run the operation and they often provided valuable information that enabled him to win several major battles and carry out a...
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April Events in the American Civil War History
During the American Civil War, April lived up to the moniker later bestowed by T.S. Eliot as the “Cruelest Month.” The start of hostilities at Fort Sumter in 1861 initiated the war that defined America and President Lincoln’s assassination in 1865 both occurred in April. The Battle of Shiloh and the Fall of New Orleans...
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April Events in History: Civil War and WWII
Mark takes a look at some significant events that took place in April during the Civil War and WWII. “April is the cruelest month” according to T.S. Eliot, but how accurate is that historically? You decide. Here are some major happenings and a few occurrences that are not so well known: Fort Sumter, Shiloh, Eel...
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Armchair Travel to the Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House
This Good Friday, Mark goes back to Good Friday of April 1865 and President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s Theatre in Washington with Dorothea Barstow, the curator of the Dr. Samuel Mudd House and Museum. Later that night, assassin John Wilkes Booth, on the run and in desperate need of medical attention for his broken leg,...
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Women in History
In a retrospective of Women’s History month, Mark takes a look at notable women starting with Medieval times and jumping to the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War and WWII. He features a range of heroines from Joan of Arc, who at age 17 led a French army in the Hundred Years...
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