Heroes Behind Headlines
Heroes Behind the Headlines: a new podcast featuring an explosive new story every episode. First-hand accounts of adventures and events which have shaped our world . The real stories behind the headlines you know, told by the heroes you don’t. Hosted by NYT and international bestselling author Ralph Pezzullo.
Episodes
160 episodes
Founding Member of Delta Force & Operation Eagle Claw
Born in Hawaii shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Wade Ishimoto grew up to help found the storied Delta Force special operations group. Wade shares the story of his amazing career in U.S. Army intelligence starting in Vietnam, to the pla...
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Season 4
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Episode 26
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1:00:37
Oswald, Monkey Viruses, and The Plot To Kill Castro
When New Orleans native Ed Haslam began his research into the curious life and shocking murder of brilliant Tulane medical professor Dr. Mary Sherman, he didn’t imagine that his inquiry would reveal a secret lab connected to some of the city’s ...
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Season 4
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Episode 25
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1:04:38
MacArthur's Bloody Butchers
Historian and author Brian Bruce vividly describes an often neglected but important aspect of the Pacific Theater in WWII: The campaign to liberate New Guinea from the Japanese and thwart their planned invasion of Australia. In his ...
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Season 4
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Episode 24
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57:26
The Last Afghan Commander
When the United States retreated from the chaos of Kabul in August of 2021, General Sami Sadat was still fighting until the end. He recounts how his troops were starved for ammunition for two years before the final pullout, while the U.S....
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Season 4
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Episode 23
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1:13:57
Marine Lieutenant Fights Chaos In The Vietnamese Jungle
Commissioned a Marine second lieutenant on November 8, 1967, G.M. Davis arrived in Vietnam less than a year later to lead a rifle platoon against the North Vietnamese Army in the northernmost province of what was then the Republic of Vietnam. I...
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Season 4
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Episode 22
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1:13:49
WW2 Radioman And Veteran Of D-Day!
Robert F McLean was just 19 years old when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy to do his part in WWII. Invited to join the Navy Seals, he declined and enrolled in the U.S.N. Patrol Torpedo Boat School in Melville, R.I. Upon graduation Bob ...
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Season 4
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Episode 21
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1:42:12
Berkeley to Berlin: How The Rad Lab Helped Avert Nuclear War
The success of the submarine-borne Polaris missile was a critical nuclear deterrent that helped President Kennedy stare down Khruschev during the 1961 Berlin Crisis. Ever since, this weapon has been a key strategic tool of the U.S. Tom Ramos's ...
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Season 4
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Episode 20
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57:09
USAF Combat Controller & Medal Of Honor Winner
Former U.S. Air Force Combat Controller Dan Schilling relates the heroic story of John Chapman captured in his book "Alone at Dawn" – a fellow combat controller who fought and perished on an Afghan mountainside, and was posthumou...
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Season 4
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Episode 19
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1:03:06
Financial Crimes Expert Discusses China
A financial investigator for Federal law enforcement, David Asher is an expert in the financial side of organized criminal activities. He has been working for decades 'finding the money' to help build cases against some of the most notorious cr...
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Season 4
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Episode 18
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1:25:51
UK Journalist Covers War In Ukraine
Shetland, Scotland native and independent journalist Jen Stout was in Russia in late February 2022 when the war with Ukraine broke out and quickly left for a border post in southern Romania to cover the great flood of refugees who were fleeing ...
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Season 4
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Episode 17
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1:12:08
UK Combat Medic's Report From Gaza 2024
Former SAS medical officer and current war surgeon, Richard Villar, volunteered to provide medical support in Gaza during the 2024 invasion following the October 7 Hamas attack. He found himself working in a 200-bed hospital overrun with 700 pa...
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Season 4
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Episode 16
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1:16:39
The Facts About Tren De Aragua With Gary Berntsen
Past guest and highly decorated former CIA operations officer Gary Berntsen is back and he's breaking down the facts about Tren De Aragua--the notorious gang of trained criminals at the heart of the illegal immigrant debate.Gary explains...
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Season 4
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Episode 15
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39:04
In Dealey Plaza: Witness To JFK Assassination Speaks!
CIA contract pilot William "Tosh" Plumlee is back—this time with his eyewitness account from the South Knoll of Dealey Plaza, in Dallas on November 22rd, 1963. Present as part of a Pentagon abort team, Tosh counted five shots, coming from at le...
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Season 4
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Episode 14
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1:15:50
Getting To Know The Son of Sam
Doctor of behavioral science and pastor Michael Caparrelli spent 100 hours with convicted serial killer David Berkowitz in an effort to better understand the reasons he committed the notorious Son of Sam murders, which terrorized New York City ...
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Season 4
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Episode 13
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1:14:31
The Most Harrowing Battle Of The Korean War!
Historian Hampton Sides describes one of the most brutal ground battles ever fought – the 17-day Battle of Chosin Reservoir, which began on the 27th of November 1950. The conditions were relentlessly difficult – frigid temperatures, frozen, roc...
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Season 4
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Episode 12
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1:04:20
K-9 Marine And Dog Search For IEDs In Afghanistan
When Alfred Brenner enlisted in the Marines, he was told that the K-9 unit got to travel with air conditioning so he volunteered, even though he didn’t really know anything about dogs. He was assigned a German shepherd named Grief and these two...
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Season 4
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Episode 11
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1:12:12
Embedded With The Hardest-Hit Unit In Iraq
"Desert Storm" vet and Army Times reporter Kelly Kennedy leapt at the chance to embed with an infantry unit to work on a story about PTSD. What Kelly couldn't have known is that her unit, Battalion 1-26, Charlie Company, was one of the...
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Season 4
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Episode 10
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1:06:10
Navy SEAL Commander On How To Achieve An Uncommon Life
Retired Commander Mark Divine served for over 15 years as a U.S. Navy Seal around the world in Asia Pacific, Africa, Bahrain, and Iraq. A native of upstate New York, and a lifelong student of karate and zen meditation, Mark entered the U.S. Nav...
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Season 4
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Episode 9
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50:37
High-Echelon Human Trafficking Survivor Describes Her Childhood Recruitment
Our remarkable guest from Season One returns explaining how a small group of powerful men create celebrities out of abused children:Anneke Lucas was only a small child growing up in a little town in Belgium, when her mother began taking ...
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Season 4
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Episode 8
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1:23:51
WWII’s Most Infamous Survival Story: The U.S.S. Indianapolis
Re-airing a Season One fan favorite:The most secretive mission of World War II ended in the largest scale shark attack of all time. The U.S.S. Indianapolis’ mission was so secret, the entire crew was unaware of their cargo: the component...
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Season 4
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Episode 7
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42:01
CIA Pilot Describes School Of Illusionary Warfare With Lee Harvey Oswald
This is the first part of a series of interviews with 87-year-old CIA contract pilot William “Tosh” Plumlee in which he describes being recruited into a top-secret military intelligence unit with other juvenile delinquents at the age of 16. Amo...
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Season 4
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Episode 6
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1:06:57
The Birth of Special Forces In The Civil War
Military historian Patrick O’Donnell puts a spotlight on America’s original Special Forces units:Founded in Missouri by Major General John C. Fremont, (and ‘named’ after his wife) the Jessie Scouts were a valuable intelligence cadre for ...
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Season 4
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Episode 5
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1:08:12
Dropped Behind Enemy Lines: The Lost Paratroopers Of Normandy
A fantastic WWII adventure: On June 16, 1944, the storied 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions accidentally dropped U.S. paratroopers off-target behind enemy lines in France near the ancient town of Graignes, Normandy, as part of the D-Day offensi...
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Season 4
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Episode 4
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59:13
Part Two: 300 Huey Combat Missions in the "Secret War" in Vietnam
Part two of our interview with Don Haase: Don joined the U.S. Army in 1966, and ultimately became crew chief with the 195th Assault Helicopter Company in the 2nd Platoon (“Ghostriders”) that —beginning in December 1967 — supported top-secret MA...
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Season 4
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Episode 3
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45:39
Part One: 300 Huey Combat Missions In "The Secret War" In Vietnam
Don Haase joined the U.S. Army in 1966, and ultimately became crew chief with the 195th Assault Helicopter Company in the 2nd Platoon (“Ghostriders”) that —beginning in December 1967 — supported top-secret MACV-SOG Recon teams during the deadly...
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Season 4
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Episode 2
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1:00:40