Usahec Military History Podcast

July 17, 2019 - Mr. Jared Frederick Along the steep cliffs and thick, mazelike hedgerows of Normandy, American Soldiers broke Hitler’s “Fortress Europe” and flooded France with a new sense of freedom. The American public was glued to their newspapers and radios, awaiting updates from intrepid war correspondents covering the invasion from the front lines. In this lecture, the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center welcomes acclaimed local historian and Penn State Altoona Professor Jared Frederick, author of Dispatches of D-Day: A People’s History of the Normandy Invasion to discuss, in vivid detail, the reality of Operation Overlord. Frederick will tell the story of D-Day, not from the perspective of historians or politicians, but rather through the voices of those who were there. For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

May 18, 2019 - Mr. Jack Kennard In this lecture based on his book, D-Day Journal: The Untold Story of a U.S. Ranger on Omaha Beach, Mr. Kennard uses his father’s journal to present D-Day from the view of 22-year-old Lieutenant Frank L. Kennard. The lecture follows the first person perspective from the 2nd Ranger Battalion and also features data from oral histories of four other men. Despite losing most of his equipment and half his men, Lt. Kennard and the remaining Soldiers made their objective at Pointe du Hoc and achieved their mission to take out the big German guns overlooking the Normandy beaches on that famous day. Author John Kennard was a commissioned Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Armor Corps and served in Germany until he was promoted to Captain and deployed to Vietnam in 1970. His own military experience enhances his ability to re-tell his father’s story using Lt. Kennard’s personal letters and journal which recounts his experience not just on the day of the battle, but the training before and the th

May 2, 2019 - Mr. J.D. Dickey In late 1864, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman brought his brand of “hard war” to the Georgia countryside between Atlanta and Savannah. The campaign decimated the agricultural and economic heart of the Confederacy and relied on Sherman’s leadership. Known as “Uncle Billy” to his Soldiers, Sherman was a man of contradictions facing the contest of internal Army politics, fighting on the enemy’s soil, and coming to terms with the total war he brought to the people of the South. In this lecture, author J.D. Dickey speaks about his latest book, Rising in Flames: Sherman’s March and the Fight for a New Nation. Dickey will talk about the pressures and challenges Sherman faced, his experiences in the Western Theater, and ultimately how the Atlanta and Savannah Campaigns helped to secure his infamous reputation well into the current century. For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to fi

April 17, 2019 - Mr. James M. Scott “I shall return!” General Douglas MacArthur spoke those words into the dreary darkness in 1942 when he fled the Japanese invasion of the Philippine islands. Almost three years later, as U.S. forces worked to secure a route to invade the Japanese home islands, MacArthur made good on his promise. Standing in his way was a Japanese force bent on fighting to the death to prevent the Americans from retaking the Philippines. In this lecture, renowned author and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Mr. James M. Scott, presents a talk based on his newest book, Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila. Mr. Scott discusses the 29-day battle and the U.S. military’s brutal struggle against the “Tiger of Malaya,” General Tomoyuki Yamashita. For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

March 27, 2019 - Mr. Steven Zaloga Late in January 1945, through the snowy forests and farms of the Ardennes, the cream of Hitler’s remaining army struggled through a muddy retreat, defeated in the final offensive the Wehrmacht attempted during World War II. The stubborn American victory over Hitler’s “Autumn Mist” attack was by no means a foregone conclusion when the German command launched the attack a month earlier. Actions by the U. S. Army’s 1st, 2nd, and 99th divisions from the very start of the offensive stymied the push of the 12th SS Panzer Division on the roads to the essential port of Antwerp. In this lecture, Mr. Steven Zaloga presents a talk based on his newest book, Smashing Hitler’s Panzers: The Defeat of the Hitler Youth Panzer Division during the Battle of The Bulge. Mr. Zaloga argues that the defeat of the 12th SS Hitlerjugend Division in the opening hours and days of the offensive were essential to the over-all failure of the German Ardennes Campaign. For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or

November 28, 2018 - Dr. Mark Bowden On the morning of January 31, 1968, the North Vietnamese launched an ambitious series of attacks across South Vietnam in what would become known as the infamous Tet Offensive. One crucial goal of the attack was to capture the ancient city of Hue, resulting in one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam war. As the battle approached conclusion, the American goal shifted from victory to an evacuation policy. In this lecture, the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center hosts best-selling author Dr. Mark Bowden as he speaks about his latest book, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam. Dr. Bowden discusses what he so vividly describes as the all-encompassing "storm of war" and the brutal reality that doing everything right was no guarantee of survival. For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website

October 17, 2018 - Sir Max Hastings The Vietnam War remains one of the world’s most contentious conflicts, with the reverberations of its blood-soaked defiance against American interventionism echoing to the present day. On Wednesday, October 17, 2018, the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC) hosted Sir Max Hastings, author of The Secret War, to present the General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley Memorial Lecture. In this lecture, based on his new book, Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, Sir Max Hastings critiques the methods, mistakes, and devastation caused by both sides during the war. For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.  

September 19, 2018 - Dr. Erik Villard On January 30, 1968, North Vietnamese attacks across fronts spanning from the North/South Vietnam Boarder to Saigon started a country-wide campaign that became known as the Tet Offensive. Less well known is the "Mini Tet" offensive in May of 1968 in which American and Allied counterattacks knocked the North Vietnamese off balance. In this lecture, Dr. Erik Villard of the Center of Military History will focus on additional research he completed based off his work for the book, Combat Operations: Staying the Course, October 1967-September 1968. Dr. Villard will explore the May Offensive through the experience of three units and how their actions led to the success of allied counteroffensives following Tet, forcing the Communists to change and scale back their plans for the May Offensive. Dr. Villard incorporated numerous interviews he conducted with Veterans from all three units, as well as the leadership of their higher headquarters, into his books and presentation. For vi

August 2, 2018 - Dr. Douglas Mastriano In the early hours of September 26, 1918, determined American Soldiers rushed into ‘No Man’s Land’ to play their part in the last great offensive of World War I. Experienced German Soldiers manned the formidable Hindenburg Defenses and battled the American Doughboys in the Argonne Forest. On Thursday, August 2, 2018, at 7:15 PM, the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, PA hosted Dr. Douglas Mastriano as he spoke about the Argonne Offensive of World War I, the topic his recent book Thunder in the Argonne: A New History of America’s Greatest Battle. Mastriano’s book offers an extensive walkthrough of a pivotal moment in American military history. The battle, waged from September 26, 1918 to the November 11 armistice, saw American forces suffer around 20,000 casualties per week. Despite the losses, the U.S. Army used the lessons learned in the muddy, bloody combat to reshape itself into a modern fighting force. For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn

March 17, 2018 - Colonel Gregory Fontenot, U.S. Army Retired When the dust settled after Desert Storm in 1991, the First Infantry Division had engaged and defeated at least twelve Iraqi divisions, taken over 14,000 prisoners of war, and destroyed over 1,000 enemy tanks and armored vehicles. As they rolled into Safwan, Iraq to secure the air strip as a base for later surrender talks, the unit's leaders looked back at a rocky, but ultimately successful, evolution stretching back to Vietnam. Desert Storm proved that the 1st ID was indeed prepared for modern war. On Saturday, March 17, 2018, at 2:00 PM, Colonel (Retired) Gregory Fontenot was joined by scholars to lead a roundtable lecture at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania to discuss how the First Infantry Division underwent rapid and dramatic change between Vietnam and Desert Storm. For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to fin