Medal of Honor: Stories of Courage

Joshua 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.
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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, 1909
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In 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.
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Episode resource:
AMEDD Center of HIstory & Heritage interview with Clarence Sasser, 3/23/1987
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In 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
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In 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)
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Richard 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 website
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