Warriors In Their Own Words | First Person War Stories Evergreen Podcasts | The Honor Project

Specialist 5 Jon Wallenius served in Vietnam with the Army, and fought in the famous Battle of Ia Drang. As a member of the First Cavalry Division, it was his job to scout for enemies in advanced positions and clear LZs for the infantry. 
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Brigadier General Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager is an Air Force legend. He served in World War II as a fighter pilot, where he shot down a total of 13 aircraft, and escaped capture after being shot down over German-occupied France.

After WWII, Yeager became a test pilot for new, faster aircraft. On October 14th, 1947, he became the first person to break the sound barrier while piloting an X-1 aircraft. He also was the first person to fly more than twice the speed of sound in level flight with the X-IA in 1953. 

Yeager left aircraft testing in 1954, and went on to serve in Germany, Spain, the Philippines, Korea, and Vietnam. 

He also served as the commandant of the Aerospace Research Pilot School, where all military astronauts are trained, from 1962-1966.
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Master Chief Petty Officer Ken Falke served in the Navy as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Specialist during the 80s and 90s. He was tasked with disarming all sorts of explosives, and deployed all over the world, including to Iraq during the Gulf War, and Bosnia during the Bosnian War. 

Now, Falke and his wife run a non-profit called Boulder Crest which helps veterans and first responders with mental health struggles, and achieve “post-traumatic growth”. Learn more at bouldercrest.org. 

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Major Edward James Land Jr. served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. In the 1960s, Land and Richard O. Culver Jr. worked together to create the first permanent Marine Corps Scout Sniper School. 

In this special episode, Maj Land explains how the school came to be, and tells a few stories from his time in Vietnam. 

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"The aircraft started to spin. Not really thinking it was anything unusual, I remember calling the pilot saying, 'Hey sir, are we going to stop this?' When he responded with, 'I can't,' I knew this wasn't going to end well."

Click here to check out our web-exclusive interview with Staff Sergeant Mark Lalli. Lalli served in Iraq as a Blackhawk Helicopter crew chief and survived a helicopter crash that killed six of the eleven passengers on board, but he sustained life-changing injuries.
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Lieutenant Colonel Henry “Hank” Buttelmann served in Korea and Vietnam as a fighter pilot. In Korea, he flew the F-86, and became the youngest ace of the war at the age of 24. He left Korea with 6 confirmed kills. Buttelmann retired with four DIstinguished Flying Crosses and a Silver Star. 

In this interview, Buttelmann talks about his time in Korea, the F-86, crossing the 38th parallel, and fighting enemy MiGs. 

Thank you to Regal for sponsoring this episode. You can sign up for Regal Unlimited via this link, and make sure to use code WARRIORS24 to get 10% off!
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