Story Behind the Stone

Broadcasting live from the Military Women’s Memorial next door to Arlington National Cemetery, this episode tackles a profound and difficult question: What if the biggest threat to veterans' heritage isn't time, but silence?

To help answer that, we welcome Michael "Rod" Rodríguez, the President and CEO of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) Memorial Foundation. Rod is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret with ten deployments under his belt , coming from a deeply rooted, multi-generational military family. From his early days as a young private delivering food during a famine in Somalia to his time serving as a sniper , Rod shares how a lifetime of service inspired him to take on a sacred mission: leading the historic, congressionally designated effort to build a national memorial right on the National Mall in Washington, D.C..

 What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• A Historic First: Learn how this landmark breaks history as the very first National War memorial to be planned and authorized during an ongoing conflict.
• The "Impossible Bill": Rod details the grueling legislative battle to secure an exemption from the Commemorative Works Act of 1986—which originally required a conflict to be over for ten years before a national memorial could be built—ultimately leading to a bill signed into law by President Biden.
• Honoring the Unseen: Discover how the memorial is designed to be the most inclusive tribute ever built, honoring not just 3.7 million post-9/11 uniformed service members, but also the more than 3,400 non-uniformed personnel who stepped up to serve.
• The Core Pillars: Explore the four foundational tenants driving the project's mission: Honor, Heal, Empower, and Unite.
• A Moving Design Preview: Rod shares a unique sneak peek into the upcoming design unveil, including a footprint motif featuring steel inserts to depict the heavy weight of war , as well as empty footprints acknowledging those lost to the invisible wars fought at home.

About the Guest:

Michael "Rod" Rodríguez is a retired Green Beret whose entire family embodies a legacy of service. He is the grandson of World War II veterans, the son of a Vietnam veteran, the husband of a 21-year military veteran, and the proud father of an 82nd Airborne Division soldier with four deployments of his own.

Where to Listen:

Story Behind the Stone is available on the Wreaths Across America Radio Network via iHeartRadio, Audacity, and TuneIn. You can also catch the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Adapt or Die — Reimagining Sacred Spaces with AJ Orlikoff

Welcome to a very special, live Memorial Day edition of Story Behind the Stone, recorded on location at the Military Women’s Memorial at the footsteps of Arlington National Cemetery!

In this exclusive fireside chat (minus the actual fire, thanks to the summer heat), host Matthew Stewart sits down with AJ Orlikoff, the Director of Programming at Washington D.C.’s iconic Historic Congressional Cemetery. Inspired by his provocative article, "Adapt or Die," featured in American Cemetery & Cremation magazine, AJ challenges us to radically reimagine how we activate history. Together, they tackle a vital question: How do we keep the legacies of our veterans alive in a fast-changing, modern world without losing an ounce of the reverence they earned?

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• Portals to the Past: Why historic cemeteries should be viewed as open-air history museums
• The Postmodern Audience: How shifting cultural views on mortality have isolated modern burial grounds, and why younger generations are starving for authenticity 
• How Dogs (and Live Theater) Saved a Cemetery: The incredible comeback story of how Congressional Cemetery went from an endangered, neglected site in 1997 to a thriving community space through unorthodox programs like the Canine Corps and "Soul Strolls".
• Walking the Line: The delicate moral and professional balance between dynamic public engagement and maintaining solemn dignity for the interred.
• A Call to Action for Local Communities: Practical advice on how everyday citizens and small, regional cemeteries can step up to preserve and dynamically share veteran history.

About the Guest:

AJ Orlikoff is a dedicated public historian who has spent his career humanizing history. Before directing the programming slate at the Historic Congressional Cemetery, he served as an educator for the Hampton Roads Naval Museum and as a lead education specialist for the National Museum of the United States Army.

Tune In & Connect:

• Story Behind the Stone airs every Friday at 11 a.m. Eastern on the Wreaths Across America Radio Network 
• Subscribe and listen on-demand via Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
• To learn more about the cemetery's tours and events, visit CongressionalCemetery.org

What if the greatest threat to our veterans' heritage isn't the passage of time, but our own silence?

This Memorial Day, Story Behind the Stone brings you a front-row seat to a powerful live event recorded at the gates of Arlington National Cemetery inside the Military Women’s Memorial. In this special episode, "The Future of Veterans Heritage" (brought to you by our friends at Wreaths Across America Radio), we look at how cutting-edge technological innovation and grassroots community action are ensuring the names engraved on our national headstones never fade into history.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• The Power of Human Connection: Army veteran and CEO Kristin Sargent opens the event with a deeply moving tribute to Captain Doug Sloan, reminding us to use modern tools to bridge the gap between the past and present.
• The Main Panel (Record, Route, & Ritual): Moderated by Ryan Mullens (Co-Founder of Memory Anchor), this powerhouse panel features Monica Mohindra (Library of Congress Veterans History Project), Nick Miller (former CIO of Arlington National Cemetery), and Amber Caron (Wreaths Across America) discussing the digital future of remembrance.
• Adapt or Die: An exclusive fireside chat with AJ Orlikoff (Historic Congressional Cemetery) on how we must radically reimagine and activate historical spaces for a modern audience.
• Honoring an Ongoing Conflict: A closing address from retired Green Beret Michael "Rod" Rodriguez (President and CEO of the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation) on the historic mission to build the National GWOT Memorial on the National Mall.

Hit play to discover how we can permanently anchor the humanity, photos, and stories of our fallen to their final resting places.

"These aren't just names. These were people who had wives, brothers, fathers, mothers, girlfriends at home. Lives cut short. They should be remembered."

This week, we speak with Julie Verne from the Normandy Memorial Trust. As we approach the 82nd anniversary of D-Day this year, Julie shares the moving history behind this sanctuary overlooking Gold Beach in France, which serves as a permanent home for over 22,000 individuals who fell under British command. We explore the site's architecture, the ongoing research adding long-lost names to the Roll of Honour, and the groundbreaking education initiatives connecting today's youth to a generation of heroes.

In this episode:
- Explore the site's brilliant architecture and symbolism, which features 160 stone columns converging into the geometric shape of a Union Jack
- Discover the immersive "Operation Remembrance" package at the Winston Churchill Centre for Education, which engages young students through tactical strategy activities, virtual reality reconnaissance missions, and conversational AI modeled after real veteran testimonies
- Learn about the unique Youth Ambassador project led by 11-year-old Alexander Churchill, the great-great-grandson of Sir Winston Churchill, who conducts personal video interviews with World War II veterans to pass their wisdom down to his own peers

"My service wasn't going to be necessarily dedicated to a full-time career in the military. It doesn't mean that I can't continue giving back and serving my community and my country."

This week, we speak with Alexander Landry, a defence and security professional at Babcock Canada and a military engineer officer with over 14 years of leadership experience. Alexander shares his journey from the Royal Military College to NATO assignments in Turkey and Operation Unifier in Ukraine. We explore the evolution of modern warfare, the strategic importance of Arctic sovereignty, and why a commitment to public service remains the through-line of his family's long military lineage.

In this episode:
- Explore the shift in NATO’s defence posture and the importance of Article 2, known as the "Canadian Article", which emphasizes economic prosperity and shared democratic values as essential pillars of global security
- Learn about the unique role of the "Sapper" and how the Canadian Military Engineer Association provides a vital safety net for the engineer family through advocacy and programs 
- Hear about the 150th anniversary of the Royal Military College and the Alumni Association’s ongoing mission to bridge the generational gap between "the old brigades" and the current generation of cadets

"This story was never lost. It was just waiting to be told."

This week, we speak with Alicia Costello, a historian with the Texas Historical Commission, and Ta'Na Alexander, a descendant of an original Choctaw Code Talker. We delve into the collaborative effort to establish a historical marker in Fort Worth that honors the Native soldiers of the 142nd Infantry who utilized a code that was never broken.

In this episode:
- Discover the significance of the Camp Bowie marker, located on the very grounds where Choctaw soldiers trained in 1917 before deploying to provide a critical advantage in the Great War
- Learn about the "Under-Told Markers" program, a special initiative by the Texas Historical Commission that funds markers for stories historically overlooked or missing from the landscape
- Understand the legacy of the Telephone Warriors, whose contributions remained a classified secret for decades until public recognition began to flourish following a 1989 visit from the French government

"Sometimes that quietness of a place is what makes it so profound."

This week, we speak with Dr. Geoffrey Bird, lead of the War Heritage Research Initiative at Royal Roads University. Dr. Bird discusses the transition of remembrance into an activity of learning, the unique resonance found only by standing on historical ground, and how we must ethically navigate the heritage dissonance that technology can bring to sacred memorial sites.

In this episode:
- Explore the power of place and why standing on the actual undulations of a battlefield allows visitors to connect with the past in a way that documents and documentaries alone cannot achieve
- Navigate the ethics of technology in commemoration, specifically the risk of heritage dissonance where digital noise or simulations might interfere with the profound, meaningful silence of a cemetery
- Discover the Story Pole project, a film highlighting the experiences of Indigenous veterans and the universal values of justice, peace, and truth anchored in our national monuments

"Remembrance has to be something that carries on no matter how many years go by."

This week, we speak with Steve Smith, a veteran battlefield guide and author who has dedicated his career to uncovering the personal stories of the Great War. Steve shares the journey of tracing his own great-grandfather’s service, the unique challenges of personalizing tours for families traveling from across the Atlantic, and the enduring power of the Menin Gate ceremony.

In this episode:
- Discover how digital trench maps and original war diaries allow Steve to guide families to a specific field and pinpoint the exact position where their relative served, transforming anonymous history into a deeply personal pilgrimage
- Explore the enduring mystery of the 5th Battalion Norfolk Regiment, a unit that disappeared from sight at Gallipoli in 1915, leading to theories ranging from wartime executions to extraterrestrial abductions
- Hear about the "torch of remembrance" and the next generation, as Steve explains how he engages school groups to ensure that the stories of the fallen continue to resonate a century later

"At the core, the goal is really just to turn records into a form of remembrance, one name at a time."

This week, we speak with Miriam Friedman, who leads the #everynamecounts project at Accenture. In partnership with the Arolsen Archives, Accenture leverages Artificial Intelligence to make Holocaust-era documentation searchable for families and researchers worldwide. Miriam explains how technology acts as a bridge to the past, allowing volunteers to restore the names and stories of individuals who were once treated as mere statistics.

In this episode:
- Discover how AI and human validation work together to process millions of documents from the Arolsen Archives, reducing the burden on manual indexing while keeping the "human pass" essential for dignity
- Understand the shift from physical to digital memorialization, enabling people without local access to a Holocaust museum to engage directly with primary historical sources
- Hear Miriam’s personal connection as a descendant of survivors, and how her work helps others find family documents they never knew existed

"I think anybody who puts on a uniform and goes to fight and defend a country, especially one they've never met, deserves our respect."

This week, we speak with John Bocskay, Director of International Affairs at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea (UNMCK). In today's episode, John details the cemetery’s logistical history, the moving ceremonies held for veterans returning to be buried with their comrades, and the upcoming 75th-anniversary commemorations.

In this episode:
- Discover the unique status of the UNMCK as the only United Nations cemetery in existence, a "quirk of history" resulting from the first and last time the UN fought as a unified combatant in a war
- Learn about the "Wall of Remembrance" and national monuments that honor the 22 sending states, including a special look at the humanitarian legacy of Brigadier General Richard Whitcomb
- Explore the evolving relationship between the cemetery and the city of Busan, from strict residential development limits to the powerful impact the site has on young students who see their own ages reflected on the headstones