Medal of Honor Podcast Evergreen Podcasts

To celebrate 100 episodes of the Medal of Honor podcast we are revisiting the story of the first recipient, Jacob Parrott.
Jacob Parrott received the first Medal of Honor ever awarded for his participation in the Great Locomotive Chase during the Civil War.

Staff Sergeant Edward N. Kaneshiro served in the Army in Vietnam. On December 1st, 1966, two American squads were ambushed by an overwhelming North Vietnamese force. Rushing to their aid, Kaneshiro ordered his men to take cover while he crawled up to a fortified enemy trench. While laying on his stomach, he threw a grenade into the trench, killing the enemy soldier manning a machine gun. Kaneshiro jumped into the trench and proceeded to kill two groups of enemies with grenades, and one group with his M-16 rifle. He single handedly cleared a 135 foot portion of the enemy trench, stopping the fire that suppressed his allies.

Kaneshiro was originally awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, but a few years ago, his file was revisited. The US military has been reviewing past service member awards, particularly those of racial minorities, to see if they were overlooked for higher awards as a result of bias or bigotry. On July 5th, 2022, Staff Sergeant Edward N. Kaneshiro was awarded the Medal of Honor for single handedly averting disaster for his whole platoon.

Emil J. Kapaun served as a military Chaplain in the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean War. As a Chaplain, it was his job to move from unit to unit, leading prayer and passing words of encouragement. During battle, Chaplains provided emergency care to the wounded, and gave last rites to dying soldiers. Since they aren’t issued as weapons and aren’t allowed to engage in combat, being a Chaplain was quite a dangerous job.
On November 1st, 1950, Chaplain Kapaun and his unit were attacked by Chinese forces in what would later be called the Battle of Unsan. During the battle, Father Kapaun provided reassurance to his allies, administered aid, and helped pull 30 injured men out of no man's land. When he was given the opportunity to retreat with his unit, he declined. Instead he opted to stay and try to rescue more men, despite the risk of death or capture.
Eventually he noticed an injured Chinese officer among the American wounded, and convinced him to negotiate the American’s safe surrender. As a result, most of the men were spared from being killed in action, or executed. Later on, he saved another wounded American from execution by pushing away an enemy soldier and carrying his comrade away, leaving the enemy too stunned to act.
On their ‘Death March’ to a prison camp, Chaplain Kapaun’s words of motivation helped save the lives of several men. He encouraged healthy prisoners to help carry those who were wounded, ill or freezing, and could no longer walk by themselves. One prisoner said “I don’t know the name of that valley, but we called it the Kapaun Valley because that is where Father Kapaun instilled in us a will to live.”
At the prison camp, Father Kapaun continued to be a beacon of light. He stole food, led prayers, fashioned tools, made fires, and aided the sick. He was so influential that the guards wanted to kill him, but they feared that doing so would start a rebellion.
After about seven months in the prison camp, Chaplain Kapaun’s health deteriorated due to injury, sickness, and malnourishment. He was on track to recover, but the Chinese guards took him away from American doctors and threw him in their “hospital”, where he didn’t receive food or medical care. He died on May 23rd, 1950.
Chaplain Kapaun originally was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his for his courage at the battle of Unsan, and for saving a fellow American from execution. Over 60 years later, on April 11th, 2013, that award was upgraded to the Medal of Honor.

Today we are sharing an interview from our other show, Warriors In Their Own Words, which features Medal of Honor Recipient Earl Plumlee. Plumlee's story is almost unbelievable, and it's even more incredible hearing him tell it. We'll be back with another new episode of the Medal of Honor Podcast next week, but in the meantime, enjoy.

Next week we'll be sharing an interview with MOH recipient Earl Plumlee, which was recorded for our other show, Warriors In Their Own Words. In preparation, today we're re-airing our Medal of Honor episode about Plumlee. His story is one of the most incredible we've heard, so it's really worth taking a listen.
MSG Plumlee’s Medal of Honor story is straight out of a movie. When enemies with suicide vests attacked his base in Afghanistan, Plumlee was out gunned and outmanned. He fought multiple insurgents with little ammo, and miraculously emerged from the fight with relatively minor injuries despite being under heavy fire.

Private Dale Merlin Hansen served in the Marine Corps during World War II. On May 7th, 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa, Hansen took matters into his own hands and crawled into an exposed, advanced position. He fired his rocket launcher, destroying an important Japanese pillbox before his weapon was broken by enemy fire. Finding a nearby rifle, he continued his advance, killing four enemies before it jammed. He then fought two more off with the butt of his weapon and took cover. From there, he was able to arm himself with several grenades and a new weapon. He advanced again, killing eight enemies and destroying a strong enemy mortar position all on his own.
Sadly, three days later, Hansen was mortally wounded by a sniper round while fighting at Dakeshi Ridge.
On May 30th, 1946, Private Dale Merline Hansen was posthumously awarded for his bravery and indomitable determination during the Battle of Okinawa.