Raised on her father’s stories as a Marine recruit, CJ Scarlet wanted to prove she could be as tough as her Dad. Like her twin brother, in 1981 she joined the Corps, and she excelled on the rifle range, became an expert marksman, and completed boot camp as an honor graduate. Scarlet planned on a twenty-year career as a photojournalist, but the constant sexual harassment she encountered at bases like Camp Pendleton turned her dream into a nightmare. 

For more powerful memories from veterans, visitthe PBS series, American Veteran, where you can also watch the television series and digital short films. 

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Harold Brown earned his wings as a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black aviators in the United States armed services. At the outset of his distinguished, two-decade-long career in the military, Brown flew for this ground-breaking World War II unit. On his 30th mission, his P-51 Mustang was shot down. He survived as a prisoner of war in Germany until liberation. Brown recognized the irony that the first time he experienced integrated living was in a POW camp.” 

For more powerful memories from veterans, visitthe PBS series, American Veteran, where you can also watch the television series and digital short films. 

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In Memoriam: Harold Brown (1924-2023) This episode features the story of Tuskegee Airman Harold Brown, who passed away on January 12, 2023 at the age of 98. A fighter pilot in WWII, POW, and Korean War veteran who later achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Brown experienced firsthand how the military's integration preceded and helped influence broader civil rights progress in America. We are honored to preserve his testimony about this pivotal chapter in our nation's history.

Nick Irving was a member of the elite Army Rangers, serving three deployments each in Iraq and Afghanistan.  He became a sniper and earned the nickname “The Reaper” for his deadly accuracy and high body count. But returning home wasn’t so simple. “Overseas,” Irving said, “I had all the control in the world. I just pull a trigger and anything that was bad went away.” Once he was stateside, he realized that the most dangerous enemies he faced were his own demons.

For more powerful memories from veterans, visitthe PBS series, American Veteran, where you can also watch the television series and digital short films. 

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Edie Meeks had two brothers, one who was serving in Vietnam and the other who was protesting the war. She loved them both but decided that if something happened to her brother in combat, she wanted him to have the best care. She volunteered for the Army Nurses Corps, one of 100,000 women who served in Vietnam during the war, working 12 hours a day, six days a week, fighting to save lives and haunted by those who died.

For more powerful memories from veterans, visitthe PBS series, American Veteran, where you can also watch the television series and digital short films. 

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As a teenager watching the 9/11 attacks, Clifton Hicks remembers that it was “our Pearl Harbor moment.” He joined the army as an M1 Abrams tank specialist and deployed to Germany, Kuwait, and finally to Iraq. There, his experiences in combat convinced him that what he was doing wasn’t glamorous or honorable.  He earned the enmity of many of his colleagues by speaking out against the war.  Then he made the risky decision to try and get out of the army as a conscientious objector. 

For more powerful memories from veterans, visitthe PBS series, American Veteran, where you can also watch the television series and digital short films. 

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Edward Field grew up feeling out of place in Long Island, New York, a gay, Jewish “interloper.” When he joined the Army Air Corps in 1942, he felt he’d “escaped from a world I didn’t like to one I did.” Field became a navigator and flew twenty-seven missions over Germany. One mission ended in a crash landing in the North Sea and an astonishing act of altruism.

For more powerful memories from veterans, visitthe PBS series, American Veteran, where you can also watch the television series and digital short films. 

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When she joined the Army, Shoshana Johnson figured that she’d “save some money, lose some weight, and come back home.”  It didn’t work out as planned: in her first month in Iraq, working as a cook in a maintenance unit, her convoy took a wrong turn and she was wounded and captured, becoming the first Black American woman to be held as a POW.  But her captivity was only the beginning.

For more powerful memories from veterans, visitthe PBS series, American Veteran, where you can also watch the television series and digital short films. 

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When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Frank DeVita wanted revenge.  He enlisted in the Coast Guard, his quickest way into service. His mom figured he’d “patrol a beach on Coney Island.” Instead, on D-Day, he ended up on a landing craft transporting soldiers to the slaughterhouse that was Omaha Beach and ferrying back shocking numbers of dead and wounded. It was a story that he bottled up for seventy years.

For more powerful memories from veterans, visitthe PBS series, American Veteran, where you can also watch the television series and digital short films. 

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In Memoriam: Frank DeVita (1926-2022) This episode features the story of WWII veteran Frank DeVita, who passed away on March 12, 2022 at the age of 96. We remain deeply grateful for his service at D-Day and for his courage in sharing his experiences with future generations.

In war and in peace, the veteran experience is part of the American Experience. Welcome to American Veteran: Unforgettable Stories, an 8-part series built around the direct testimony of a single veteran - from a Coast Guard gunner’s mate who manned a landing craft at Omaha Beach on D-Day, to an Army cook in Iraq who became the first Black American woman held as a POW to an Army nurse in Vietnam who struggled to do her part. This collection of riveting first-person stories provides a compelling portrait of the veteran experience over multiple generations.

Each episode revolves around a single veteran's unforgettable story, creating a powerful mosaic of military service across generations. These intimate accounts—raw, honest, and deeply personal—reveal the true cost and meaning of serving one's country.

The series is hosted by Phil Klay, a Marine Corps veteran featured in the “American Veteran” television series and author of the National Book Award-winning collection of short stories, “Redeployment." 

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A single act of brutality. A spark that would ignite a revolution. In this bonus episode, hear how Isaac Woodard's tragic story rippled through history, transforming Judge Waties Waring, mobilizing the NAACP, and setting the stage for seismic shifts in American justice. Join filmmaker Jamila Ephron, Judge Richard Gergel, and Harvard law professor Kenneth Mack as they reveal the extraordinary, interconnected journey from one soldier's suffering to landmark moments like military desegregation and Brown v. Board of Education – a testament to how individual courage can change the course of a nation.

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Credits: 

Lead Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Associate Producer: Meiqian He

Scriptwriter: Andrew Newman

Story Editor: Galen Bebee

Editorial Advisor: John Bredar

Sound Designer: Jack Pombriant

Narrator and Executive Producer: Cameo George