Podcast
Medal of Honor: Stories of Courage
Hosted by Pushkin Industries · EN
Awarded for bravery that goes above and beyond the call of duty, the Medal of Honor is the United States’ highest military decoration. On the Medal of Honor podcast, we uncover the stories behind the medal. What those heroes did. What it meant. And what their actions reveal about courage and sacrifice.
In our third season, you’ll hear about people like the French-born immigrant who tackled a suicide bomber in Afghanistan, the Marine who overcame his disability to save his fellow troops during the Vietnam War, and the legendary Lawrence Chamberlain, who left his post as a university professor to fight in the Battle of Gettysburg.
New episodes drop every Wednesday. Beginning May 20th, you can binge the full season ad-free with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up on the Medal of Honor show page in Apple or at Pushkin.fm/plus and use the code MOH25 for 25% off an annual subscription.
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23episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Faith on a Sinking Ship: The Immortal Four Chaplains
3d ago00:34:18Tap to summarizeIn the early hours of February 3, 1943, the USS Dorchester was hit by a German torpedo in the icy waters off Greenland. As soon as they realized there weren’t enough life jackets to go around, four Army chaplains – a Catholic priest, a Jewish rabbi, and two Protestant ministers – took off their own and gave them to terrified soldiers, urging them to save themselves. We end this season with one of the most moving stories in military history: the ultimate sacrifice of George Fox, Alexander Goode, John Washington, and Clark Poling, the immortal four chaplains. Connect with the team: Follow Pushkin on social @pushkinpods Follow JR Martinez @iamjrmartinez Follow Meredith Rollins @meredithkrollins Email the team: medalofhonor@pushkin.fm Episode resource: No Greater Glory: The Four Immortal Chaplains and the Sinking of the Dorchester in World War II by Dan Kurzman (Random House, 2004)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Bayonets! Joshua Chamberlain’s Famous Stand at Gettysburg
1w ago00:31:37Tap to summarizeJoshua Chamberlain had never planned to be a soldier; he wanted to be a minister or a teacher. And yet, when the Civil War began, he felt it was his duty to enlist. He soon became a commander. And in Gettysburg, on a rocky hill called Little Round Top, he gave the order that helped the Union win the battle and made him a legend. But the courage Chamberlain showed in the months and years after this famous moment may be even more impressive. Binge the full season of Medal of Honor, ad-free, with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up and save on the Medal of Honor show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus. Use the code MOH25 for 25% off an annual subscription. Connect with the team! Follow Pushkin on social @pushkinpods Follow JR Martinez @iamjrmartinez Follow Meredith Rollins @meredithkrollins Email the team: medalofhonor@pushkin.fm Episode resources: On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain by Ronald C White (Random House, 2023) Autobiography of Joshua Chamberlain: The Major Writings edited by Thomas Desjardin (DownEast Books, 2024) Fanny & Joshua: The Enigmatic Lives of Frances Caroline Adams and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain by Diane Monroe Smith (University Press of New England, 2013) The War Between the Union and the Confederacy: and Its Lost Opportunities by William C. Oates (The Neale Publishing Company, 1905) Abraham Lincoln, Seen From the Field in the War for the Union by Joshua L. Chamberlain, 1909See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The Medic Who Gave Everything: Clarence Sasser’s Longest Night
2w ago00:31:04Tap to summarizeIn 1968, Clarence Sasser was a young combat medic thrust into a nightmare. During a reconnaissance mission in Vietnam, his company was ambushed in a rice paddy. Despite being shot in the leg and unable to walk, Sasser spent the next several hours crawling through the mud, doing his best to care for his fellow soldiers. It would be decades before he was ready to talk about what he saw and heard. Binge the full season of Medal of Honor, ad-free, with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up and save on the Medal of Honor show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus. Use the code MOH25 for 25% off an annual subscription. Connect with the team! Follow Pushkin on social @pushkinpods Follow JR Martinez @iamjrmartinez Follow Meredith Rollins @meredithkrollins Email the team: medalofhonor@pushkin.fm Episode resource: AMEDD Center of HIstory & Heritage interview with Clarence Sasser, 3/23/1987See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →A Helmet Lined with Letters: Joseph Rodriguez’s Love Story
3w ago00:25:50Tap to summarizeIn 1951, Joseph Rodriguez and his unit were on a ridge in Korea, pinned down by gunfire. There was seemingly no way out. But Rodriguez had something to steady him. Tucked inside his helmet were letters from his girlfriend back home, Rose. He grabbed a handful of grenades and sprinted up the hill to take on the enemy himself. What happened next would change both his and Rose’s lives forever. Binge the full season of Medal of Honor, ad-free, with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up and save on the Medal of Honor show page on Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin. Use the code MOH25 for 25% off an annual subscription. Connect with the team! Follow Pushkin on social @pushkinpods Follow JR Martinez @iamjrmartinez Follow Meredith Rollins @meredithkrollins Email the team: medalofhonor@pushkin.fm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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A Helmet Lined with Letters: Joseph Rodriguez’s Love Story
3w ago00:26:20Tap to summarizeIn 1951, Joseph Rodriguez and his unit were on a ridge in Korea, pinned down by gunfire. There was seemingly no way out. But Rodriguez had something to steady him. Tucked inside his helmet were letters from his girlfriend back home, Rose. He grabbed a handful of grenades and sprinted up the hill to take on the enemy himself. What happened next would change both his and Rose’s lives forever. Binge the full season of Medal of Honor, ad-free, with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up and save on the Medal of Honor show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus. Use the code MOH25 for 25% off an annual subscription. Connect with the team! Follow Pushkin on social @pushkinpods Follow JR Martinez @iamjrmartinez Follow Meredith Rollins @meredithkrollins Email the team: medalofhonor@pushkin.fm Episode resources: “A War Hero Speaks,” published in the California Civil Defense, February 25, 1952 Medal of Honor by Peter Collier et al (Artisan Books, 2011) America’s Heroes, edited by James H Willbanks (ABC-CLIO, 2011)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Sneaking into the Corps: Richard Pittman, The One-Eyed Marine
Jul 100:33:21Tap to summarizeRichard Pittman was legally blind in his right eye—a condition that should have kept him away from the front lines of the Vietnam War. But Pittman wasn't a man who took "no" for an answer. After sneaking his way into the U.S. Marines, he found himself on a trail in the jungle, single-handedly trying to save his brothers in arms. From a "medical disqualification" to a legendary stand with a machine gun, Richard Pittman’s story proves that true courage starts with the belief that you belong in the fight. Binge the full season of Medal of Honor, ad-free, with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up and save on the Medal of Honor show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus. Use the code MOH25 for 25% off an annual subscription. Connect with the team! Follow Pushkin on social @pushkinpods Follow JR Martinez @iamjrmartinez Follow Meredith Rollins @meredithkrollins Email the team: medalofhonor@pushkin.fm Episode resources: US Marines in Vietnam: An Expanding War, 1966 by Jack Shulimson (Department of the Navy, 1982) Operation Hastings websiteSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Sebastian Junger on Tribe, War, and the Cost of Coming Home
Jun 2400:26:08Tap to summarizeMalcolm Gladwell sits down with journalist and author Sebastian Junger to discuss his book “Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging.” After spending years embedded with American soldiers in Afghanistan, Junger found himself wondering: why do so many veterans struggle most not during war, but after returning home? Junger’s most recent book is “In My Time Of Dying.” He also has a substack called Tribe with Sebastian Junger.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Eight Seconds in Afghanistan: The Quick Heroism of Florent Groberg
Jun 1700:35:11Tap to summarizeIf you saw a suicide bomber moving toward your friends, would you have the courage to run toward him? That is the choice Florent “Flo” Groberg made on a dusty road in Afghanistan. In just eight seconds, he identified the threat, tackled the bomber, and saved countless lives. And yet, Flo says he still wishes he had run faster. Binge the full season of Medal of Honor, ad-free, with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up and save on the Medal of Honor show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus. Use the code MOH25 for 25% off an annual subscription. Connect with the team! Follow Pushkin on social @pushkinpods Follow JR Martinez @iamjrmartinez Follow Meredith Rollins @meredithkrollins Email the team: medalofhonor@pushkin.fm Episode resource: 8 Seconds of Courage: A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor by Flo Groberg and Tom Sileo (Simon & Schuster, 2017)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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A Scandal at the North Pole: The Legend of Richard Byrd
Jun 1000:34:50Tap to summarizeAdmiral Richard Byrd was one of the most famous explorers of the 20th century. He received the Medal of Honor for a risky flight to the North Pole. But soon after his death, the whispers began. Did he actually make it there? Or did he turn back early? Binge the full season of Medal of Honor, ad-free, with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up and save on the Medal of Honor show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus. Use the code MOH25 for 25% off an annual subscription. Connect with the team! Follow Pushkin on social @pushkinpods Follow JR Martinez @iamjrmartinez Follow Meredith Rollins @meredithkrollins Email the team: medalofhonor@pushkin.fm Episode resources: Race to the Top of the World: Richard Byrd and the First Flight to the North Pole by Sheldon Bart (Regnery History Press, 2013) To the Pole: The Diary and Notebook of Richard E Byrd, 1926-1927 edited by Raimund E Goerler (Ohio State University Press, 1998)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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America's Soldier: Why the U.S. Needed George Sakato
Jun 300:33:57Tap to summarizeWhen World War II broke out, Japanese Americans, including George "Joe" Sakato and his family, were treated as threats. But Sakato still joined the Army because he wanted to protect the United States and its people. And on a hill in eastern France, he launched a one-man charge that defied military logic and changed the tides of the battle. His story is an incredible tale of loyalty and friendship against impossible odds. Binge the full season of Medal of Honor, ad-free, with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up and save on the Medal of Honor show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus. Use the code MOH25 for 25% off an annual subscription. Connect with the team! Follow Pushkin on social @pushkinpods Follow JR Martinez @iamjrmartinez Follow Meredith Rollins @meredithkrollins Email the team: medalofhonor@pushkin.fm Episode resources: Honor Before Glory: The Epic World War II Story of the Japanese American GIs Who Rescued the Lost Battalion by Scott McGaugh (Grand Central Publishing, 2016) “442nd Regimental Combat Team” by the Densho Encyclopedia “Going for Broke: The 442nd Regimental Combat Team” by the National World War II MuseumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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