Lynne Black Jr., as member of RT Alabama – a recon team of the legendary MACV-SOG (“Study and Observations Group”) – fought in one  of the most amazing missions of the eight-year "secret war" during the Vietnam War.  

As their Kingbee helicopter spiraled downward toward the target west of the dangerous A Shau valley in Laos, Lynne and his team observed an NVA flag planted atop a nearby knoll surrounded by thick jungle. From his days in the 173rd Airborne Brigade, he knew that the presence of an NVA flag meant that there was at least a regiment of NVA soldiers in the area. That meant that the nine men of RT Alabama would be up against the approximately 3,000 NVA they were sent to find.

It was Lynne’s first mission into Laos and one he will never forget, including stepping up to lead his group, dodging napalm and grenades, and experiencing temporary deafness from non-stop AK-47 gunfire.

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

In 1911, experts believed that the psychology of different races was distinct, and so, like other states, the state of Maryland founded Crownsville, a mental asylum administered by an all-white doctor and nursing staff expressly and exclusively for African-Americans.
 
From her book "Madness," author/Peabody Award-winning journalist/on-air NBC correspondent Antonia Hylton describes how the physical building was built through the labor of actual patients; how many African-Americans over the years were wrongfully sent to Crownsville, and how its medical practices didn’t expect patients would ever leave, let alone be healed. Hylton walks us through the dubious history of this institution, and the dramatic hiring of its first African-American staff. 

Crownsville ultimately closed its doors only in 2004.

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

In 1968, SSgt. Richard Fitts Sr. was a member of the legendary MACV-SOG team based in Vietnam, fighting in the ‘secret war’ in Laos, when the helicopter he was flying in crashed in the jungle in a ball of flames. Richard was declared Missing in Action while his wife and 3-year-old son back home in Massachusetts were given no other information. 

For the next 21 years, Richard Fiits Jr. grew up without a father; not knowing if he would ever return. It wasn’t until 1990, when his father’s remains were finally found and buried with military honors, that Richard Fitts Jr. finally began to learn the truth of his father’s heroic career. 

Now a musician, Richard Fitts Jr. talks about growing up with only one memory of his dad, and the journey he took to solve the mystery of who his father was and discover himself along the way. As the 20+-year secrecy oath binding living SOG veterans expired, Richard was able to make some surprising discoveries which resulted in his making a documentary, “21 Years—A Folded Flag,” to honor his father’s legacy, and to also help the children of other Gold Star families.

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

In late April 1968, John K. Cordsen was a U.S. Marine on his second tour of duty when he became engaged in one of the most fiercely fought yet little-known battles of the Vietnam War. Over three days, a single battalion of 860 U.S. Marines fought against nearly 10,000 North Vietnamese soldiers over control of a river that was a critical supply line. Casualties were high and both sides claimed victory, but U.S. forces ultimately prevailed. 

Part of the storied 2nd infantry, 4th Marines known as the “Magnificent Bastards” led by Brigadier General “Wild Bill” Weise, John shares his experiences and his dramatic journey to survive after sustaining grievous injury. This interview is part of our partnership with the Library of Congress Veterans History Project.

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Howard Snyder Jr. was a B-17 pilot bombing Nazi targets during WWII—when in February 1944 he and his ten-man crew were shot down over Nazi-held Belgium, close to the French border. His son Steve Snyder details how eight of the men, including his dad, survived the crash before scattering into the countryside.
 
Howard survived through the bravery and largess of local Belgians, who tried to help the stranded American soldiers. Howard ultimately worked for the Resistance in Belgium until he was able to make his way to the Allied forces and return to London, and eventually, home to the U.S. He made lifelong friends with the people who had helped him, and their families. All of this is chronicled in Steve's book "Shot Down," including his own meeting years later, with the German pilot who shot down his dad’s plane.



Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

During the Iraq War, U.S.M.C. Infantry Major Scott A. Huesing led Echo Company, 2nd battalion, 4th Marines through some of the worst combat in Ramadi, in Al Anbar Province in Iraq. He shares his account of the harsh realities of dense urban combat, and what helped his men persevere—especially their sense of camaraderie and 'family,’ that persists decades later as his soldiers and their families continue to build their lives stateside.
 
Scott served in the Marines for 24 years. His book "Echo in Ramadi" follows his company through a classic account of modern warfare, and he notes the leadership lessons he absorbed as he  worked to help the young people in his team—some still teenagers!—survive  under the most terrible conditions imaginable. 



Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

David Ambroz was one of three kids raised by a single mother with mental health issues. In his book, "A Place Called Home,"  he describes his Dickensian childhood surviving a flawed parent, life on the streets, and a social services system seemingly designed to deprive his family of the help they needed. 
 
When his mother grew too violent, David was initially relieved to be put in the foster system, despite being separated from his siblings. But things went from bad to worse, until finally he found a family that helped him find acceptance and balance into his young adulthood.
 
David overcame the odds and went on to become very successful--completing college, and earning a law degree. 
 

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

In his book, “Poisoner-in-Chief,” (Henry Holt & Co.) former New York Times reporter and prolific author, Stephen Kinzer describes the shadowy man responsible for setting up one of the most infamous U.S. government programs. In 1953 during the “Cold War,” MK Ultra was initiated to develop techniques to brainwash people to act as our ‘programmed’ agents, in response to the paranoid misconception that Communist regimes had already succeeded in this objective, as in the film “Manchurian Candidate.”

Kinzer describes how Sidney Gottlieb coldly led this CIA-sponsored program based on heinous human research salvaged from the Nazis and Japanese, unleashing brutal experiments involving drugs, torture, sensory deprivation, and sexual abuse on human subjects. Gottlieb next went on to establish his moniker “Poisoner-in-Chief” as he led efforts to develop assorted poisons and delivery techniques, arming the CIA as it sought to assassinate various figures and world leaders including Fidel Castro. 

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

"Damn the Valley" is the mantra of every soldier from 2 Fury who fought in this infamous Taliban stronghold and is also the title of guest Will Yeske's memoir. Operating as the gateway to Kandahar, this area saw months of the fiercest combat—yielding a 52% casualty rate as coalition forces attempted to pacify this hotspot in 2009 and 2010. At one point, the entire prosthetics unit of Walter Reade Hospital was filled with men who had patrolled that deadly area, and yet it garnered little attention from government officials or the media.
 
Serving in the 1st platoon, Bravo Company, 2-508 Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 82nd Airborne, Will shares his dramatic and moving account with the aim of making us all aware of the price paid in blood and tears  when we deploy military forces overseas.


Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Elmer Miller was born in upstate New York into a large farming family that was part of a strict Amish community. Standing under four feet tall as a grown man, Elmer talks about the reality of life inside this group; how he confronted his own limitations and rebellious spirit; and ultimately his decision to leave and pursue life in the wider world with the "English."


Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com