Heroes Behind Headlines

Thrown into a chaotic and deadly maelstrom of combat during the $785B Iraqi War, you can almost feel the bullets whizzing past as Benjamin Sledge speaks about how he came through his literal 'trial by fire.' 

Though raised in a family with generations of soldiers, Benjamin's experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq were still shocking, and the psychic armor he developed to survive transformed him into someone he didn't recognize. In his eleven years in combat, Ben earned a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.


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

When policeman David Yuzuk first befriended the diminutive Richard J. Flattery living on the streets of Aventura, Florida, he assumed he was just another man down on his luck. Then in Spring 2015  Richard started to share his life story -- one filled with heroic combat as a platoon leader in Vietnam and later, secret missions for the CIA. He warned that by doing so, he was taking a risk. Officer Yuzuk dismissed it as the delusions of a troubled mind. 

Then days later, Richard was killed in a hit-and-run accident. And David set out to find the truth about the shortest person to ever serve in the military -- Silver Star recipient Capt. Richard J. Flattery, the "Giant Killer."


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

Chuck Mawhinney grew up hunting in the Oregon woods on his grandfather's farm, and was selected for sniper training his first day of shooting practice in the Marines. Serving in Vietnam for 16 months, he went on to post the Corps' highest number of confirmed kills (103), and the highest number of probable kills (216).  Hear his journey of skill, survival and helping his fellow soldiers.

When he returned to the U.S. he was released from the Corps as part of the Reduction in Force policy. He returned to his native woods and made a stateside career in the U.S. Forestry Service. 

Chuck is a legend in the Marines and an inspiration to many in the armed services. His own authentic account of his experience is a uniquely American one. Read more about his experience in Vietnam and afterward in his biography "The Sniper" by Jim Lindsay.


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

In the early '80s, undercover DEA Agent Frank Panessa posed successfully as a made member of the Sicilian mafia in order to combat an international $1.6B heroin smuggling ring that operated through pizza parlors across the U.S, and from various global locales in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. 

Frank takes us inside the colorful and highly successful operation, describing the unique mafia culture he encountered in his guise as a mafioso, including the surprising divide between the Sicilian and the American mafia families who worked with each other 'at arms length.' 

His  undercover work and his team's stellar efforts ultimately resulted in over 19 arrests and 18 convictions after a 17-month trial completed in 1987. This case was one of the first "super-indictments," seeking to simultaneously impact a whole criminal organization, not just a handful of perpetrators, and it sent shockwaves through international crime circles.




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

In 1944, Sgt. Donald D. Fida was tortured and gutted by Japanese solders and left to die in the Philippine jungle, when his childhood friend miraculously came upon him and saved his life.  Because of this experience, Donald survived and continued to fight til the war's end, living to finally tell his tale at age 99.

Twice a Purple Heart recipient, Donald shares his first-person account of his numerous adventures as an Army Scout in the wartime Pacific Theater, describing his combat in the Aleutian Islands, the Marshall Islands (Sitka, Attu), the Philippines (Leyte), and the brutal Battle of Okinawa.

This video is airing posthumously; we salute and honor the spirit of this remarkable yet humble man, and are proud to help his voice reach across time and inspire all of us.


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

Tony Lyons, President and Publisher at Skyhorse Publishing, shares a cautionary tale of encountering both subtle and overt censorship, as he worked to bring Robert Kennedy Jr.'s manuscript The Real Anthony Fauci  to market. Tony describes the systematic hurdles placed in his path to block the book's publication and then discredit it. The book went on to sell over 2 million copies. 

In his book, RFK Jr. - known for his legal advocacy work - challenges "Big Pharma" and Anthony Fauci's role in our modern healthcare system. Tony is joined by RFK Jr.'s research assistant, Sofia Karstens, who also assisted Skyhorse with editing the final manuscript, as they describe their shared experiences.



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

A living legend of MACV-SOG and the Green Berets, John "Tilt" Stryker Meyer shares some of the most daring first-person stories of combat ever told! Inserted by Kingbee helicopter into the dense jungle along the Ho Chi Minh trail in  Laos and Cambodia during the height of the Vietnam War, Tilt and the US and indigenous members of Strike Force Idaho  deployed on  one impossible  top-secret  mission after another, spying on, harassing  and taking it to the North Vietnamese and Vietcong despite a  casualty rate of over 100%.

Top-secret, all-volunteer SOG teams soon became the bane of the NVA's and Vietcong's existence, and despite overwhelming odds and  sometimes  having to face battalion-size enemy detachments, Tilt describes how these small US-indigenous units bravely soldiered on achieving a combined kill ratio of 158 to 1 – the highest in US military history.

Bravery like that described by Tilt is not only inspiring, it changes the way we perceive the Vietnam War. 


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

A living legend of MACV-SOG and the Green Berets, John "Tilt" Stryker Meyer shares some of the most daring first-person stories of combat ever told! Inserted by Kingbee helicopter into the dense jungle along the Ho Chi Minh trail in  Laos and Cambodia during the height of the Vietnam War, Tilt and the US and indigenous members of Strike Force Idaho  deployed on  one impossible  top-secret  mission after another, spying on, harassing  and taking it to the North Vietnamese and Vietcong despite a  casualty rate of over 100%.

Top-secret, all-volunteer SOG teams soon became the bane of the NVA's and Vietcong's existence, and despite overwhelming odds and  sometimes  having to face battalion-size enemy detachments, Tilt describes how these small US-indigenous units bravely soldiered on achieving a combined kill ratio of 158 to 1 – the highest in US military history.

Bravery like that described by Tilt is not only inspiring, it changes the way we perceive the Vietnam War.  




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

Kelsi Sheren grew up in rural Canada, joining the Canadian military at 18, where she was trained to fire the powerful M777 howitzer. 

Deployed  to Afghanistan in 2008, Kelsi was assigned to multi-national teams serving alongside British and American soldiers, responsible for searching Afghan women as the team entered villages, a task forbidden to her male comrades in that Muslim country.

On one mission, the dramatic death of a fellow soldier and friend to an IED triggered a very debilitating case of PTSD. Kelsi's harrowing journey of loss and recovery makes up the dramatic spine of her book, Brass & Unity.

In this podcast, Kelsi shares her brave journey and how creativity helped her reclaim her life.



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

Since fleeing Communist Poland and arriving in the USA in 1984, Drago Dzieran has daily pledged to become a better American in gratitude for his life here. He describes growing up in post-war Soviet-controlled Poland, where he and his family knew fear, hunger, and oppression. Jailed for being part of the Soviet-toppling Solidarity movement, he relates what it is like to speak out against censorship and totalitarian rule. He then jumped at the chance to emigrate to the U.S. and live in our free and open society, and in 1991 he both proudly became a citizen and joined the U.S. Navy. During his distinguished career as a SEAL on Teams 2 and 4, he was part of over 100 direct combat missions as a lead breacher in Iraq. This is his amazing story.




Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer: Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Orchestra & Score provided by www.ExtremeMusic.com