Museum's Hidden D-Day Truth: The Untold Story of 101st Airborne
The D-Day exhibit inside Fort Campbell’s new Tennessee Wings of Liberty Museum does not begin on the beach. It begins behind it. Inside the museum that officially opened this month is the story of June 6, 1944, told by the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division who jumped into Normandy before dawn, landing behind Utah […]
Before and After Vietnam: Soldier Shares Story of Valor, Surviving PTSD
It’s been almost six decades since Jim Seibert served in Vietnam, but he can still recall his harrowing experience with vivid detail and emotion. It’s not exactly an easy thing to forget. Spending a year in the rigorous Central Highlands, surviving booby traps, gunshot wounds, and the threat of attack on an almost daily basis, […]
Life as a Vietnam War Medic: Ohio Veteran Shares His Story
In his youth, Randy Ark enjoyed an idyllic childhood growing up in the rural parts of Clark County, Ohio. That feeling of innocence was shattered when Ark became a medic in Vietnam, getting an up close and personal look at the atrocities of war. Ark, 77, recently wrote two memoirs about his experiences, “Everyone […]
Veteran Whose Resume Went Viral Shares Story with Jimmy Fallon, Jonas Brothers
In his wildest dreams, Army veteran Scott Kelly never thought something as simple as his resume would go viral or that he would be sitting on “The Tonight Show” couch next to the Jonas Brothers, talking to Jimmy Fallon. But there he was on Nov. 13 sharing his unlikely story. At a Concert Kelly’s tale […]
Black Vietnam Veteran’s Story Reveals War’s Harsh Realities 50 Years Later
It was May 1970, deep in the jungles of Vietnam, and 19-year-old infantryman John Smith stepped to the edge of a hill to admire the view. Then came the snap of a wire. “They must’ve thought, ‘This is a beautiful view. Someone’s going to come over here to look at it,’” said Smith, 76, of […]
A Museum Proudly Displayed an American Flag Rescued from the Fall of Saigon. But the Soldier's Story Wasn't True.
ANTIOCH — A U.S. flag neatly folded and encased in the military room of this city’s museum ended up there because, as the story went, it was draped around an Army soldier as he climbed on a helicopter from atop the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. He was among the last American troops to leave Vietnam, […]
Former POW Jessica Lynch Shares Story of Perseverance Ahead of Veteran’s Day
VALPARAISO — At just 19 years old, Jessica Lynch was nervous before her deployment to Iraq war but said she felt ready. Nothing could have readied her for what happened once she got there. Lynch was captured by Iraqi forces just three days after she was deployed in March 2003. Lynch, 40, was the first prisoner of war successfully rescued […]