(L-R) Jack Bewly, Dan Pederson, BBG, Scott Bader Top Gun founder Dan Pederson began his Navy career as a mechanic. Thanks to a great mentor, he would become a pilot and play a critical role in creating one of the most storied Fighter Weapons Schools in the world. He wrote “Top Gun: An American Story” to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Despite dominating air to air combat in World War II and Korea, the Navy kill ratio early in [...]
War correspondents have been covering human conflict for centuries. Some civilian correspondents are well known like Ernie Pyle, who was in the trenches with soldiers during World War II and Joe Galloway, who famously picked up a rifle to fight off the enemy at the Battle of La Drang Valley. Military war correspondents are the focus of Marc Phillip Yablonka’s latest book “Vietnam Bao Chi: Warriors of World and Film”. The book shares the stories of over 30 military war [...]
National Vietnam War Veteran’s Day is an appropriate time to bring back in one of my favorite guests. Captain Dale Dye served two tours of duty in Vietnam and was awarded three Purple Heart Medals and a Bronze Star with Valor. Following his career with the Marine Corps, Dale went on to build a very successful Hollywood career. His latest mission is the production of a new World War II film called “No Better Place to Die”. The film will [...]
Koh Tang Island may have been Alex Wright’s ONLY combat time in the cockpit, but it was sufficient to leave a lasting impression. Also known as the “Mayaguez Incident”, the battle was the last “official” action of the war in Indochina. The names of the personnel who lost their lives are engraved on the last panel of the Vietnam War Memorial. BBG w/ Alex Wright On May 12, 1975 Cambodian Khmer Rouge forces boarded the US merchant ship [...]
Catkiller was the call sign for the Army 220th Aviation Company over Vietnam. They flew light, slow, single engine aircraft with virtually no armament. Ray Caryl was one of them. The role of these Birddog pilots is described in his new book “Catkiller 3-2: An Army Pilot Flying for the Marines in Vietnam”. Ray and his fellow “Birddog” pilots flew the O-1, a military version of the Cessna. Perhaps not very sexy but the O-1 has been called the deadliest [...]
Michael Reagan has drawn more than 2,000 portraits of celebrities and other notable persons. But this world renowned artist made an open ended promise to President George W. Bush after the 9-11 attacks. He has fulfilled that promise by providing free hand drawn portraits for Gold Star families through his Fallen Heroes Project. He joins us to share his thoughts on Memorial Day. His mission is to never forget and never let anyone else forget as long as he has [...]
Ed “Moose” Skowron accumulated more than 15,000 hours in the cockpits of both civilian and military aircraft. Some were combat missions over Laos that were not credited. However, it was his 99th combat mission in Vietnam that he remembers most. Ed wanted to be a pilot since he was a child. He wanted to fly for the Air Force or Navy but admits he didn’t like school all that much, which limited his options. The Air Force had a navigator [...]
Colonel John Dale had an adventurous 32 year Air Force career including involvement in the very first drone programs. Many of the programs with which he was involved were just recently declassified. John graduated high school during the Korean War and wanted to fly but hadn’t earned a college degree so he joined the Aviation Cadets program. He earned his wings in 1954 and was hoping to become a “hot shot jet pilot” but the end of the Korean War [...]
Roger Staubach is a football legend. You may know he coined the phrase “Hail Mary Pass”, but did you know that he is also a Navy Veteran? Staubach is the last member of the Naval Academy to have won the Heisman Trophy and the first player to win both the Heisman and Super Bowl most valuable player. Diagnosed as color blind, Staubach was prohibited from serving in many Navy line officer commands so he became logistics officer. At a time [...]
Russ Violett was raised on a Montana farm. Much of his early life was spent with oil burning stoves, gas burning lamps and an outhouse. He considered the Air Force as a reasonable escape route from the frigid Montana winters. Little did he know that this decision would take him to the much warmer jungles of Southeast Asia and the deserts of Saudi Arabia before he retired at the rank of Major General. Violett’s squadron would be assigned their first combat [...]