Ghosts of Arlington Podcast

02/01/2025

Today's return trip to the ER almost certainly means no new episode next Monday either. Happy New Year all the same!

25/12/2024

Well, next week's episode will probably be delayed. An emergency appendectomy will do that. Not how I envisioned my Christmas eve but at least they're saying I should go home today. Merry Christmas!

16/12/2024

Bad intelligence plus bad timing equals a bad plan. Last week we saw the bad intelligence when no photos of the objective were available so the Marine making the plan flew over the site at 4500 feet with his personal 35mm camera. This week we see the bad timing I've been eluding to. The bad intelligence and bad timing come together for a disastrous first fifteen minutes of the battle for the and her crew. https://www.ghostsofarlingtonpodcast.com/2024/12/episode-144-mayaguez-incident-last.html

09/12/2024

US reconnaissance planes lost track of the Mayaguez crew when the trawler they were on arrived at the port of Kompong Som on mainland Cambodia. Because of that, US planners continued to plan for a rescue under the assumption that the crew was split between the Mayaguez itself and Koh Tang island and their estimate of how many Khmer soldier were on Koh Tang was off by 90%. Both of which led to a rescue plan that would not be well suited for the reality on the ground.

Oh, and the reconnaissance photos the Marines used to plan the operation was taken with one of their officer's personal 35-mm camera from 4500 feet above the island because apparently no other photos of Koh Tang existed in Thailand where the planning was taking place. https://www.ghostsofarlingtonpodcast.com/2024/12/episode-143-mayaguez-incident-last.html

02/12/2024

As the first day of the Mayaguez Incident was coming to a close, US officials were gathering Marines from The Philippines and Okinawa for a potential rescue attempt. The Seventh Air Force commander, on the ground in Thailand, tried to include his airmen but that... well, that did not go well; a helicopter crashed and resulted in the first 23 casualties of the incident. https://www.ghostsofarlingtonpodcast.com/2024/12/episode-142-mayaguez-incident-last.html

25/11/2024

Sorry for the delay - today's episode is back up. Hopefully its the correct file this time. Full disclosure, I won't have a chance to listen to it utill tomorrow morning to verify so if not, I guess enjoy the behind-the-scenes look at how often I can mess up the same word over and over during a single recording session! 😄

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25/11/2024

Ugh... apologies, but today's podcast has been delayed. Somehow the raw audio file was posted rather than the edited one so I will fix that when I get off work. If you're someone who has the podcast set to auto-download, you'll want to erase the copy you have and download the file that will be posted this evening.

25/11/2024

The last US combat units left South Vietnam on March 29, 1973. The last US embassy personnel were dramatically evacuated on April 30, 1975, the same day that the People's Army of Vietnam entered Saigon, signally the defeat of South Vietnam and the reunification of the country by the Northern communists.

But those considered the final American casualties of the died the following month in neighboring Cambodia fighting soldiers loyal to the , not the government in Hanoi. This final unlikely battle was fought over a commercial container ship during the early chaotic days of significant political change in Southeast Asia.

https://www.ghostsofarlingtonpodcast.com/2024/11/episode-141-mayaguez-incident-last.html

23/11/2024

I recently got back from England and while there I visited the Cambridge American Cemetery.

21/10/2024

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency ( ) is the federal agency responsible for recovering the remains of previously missing in action service members and identifying them, and each year, DPAA strikes hundreds of names from the rolls of the missing.

To emphasize the importance of what DPAA does, this episode highlights four families who have received closure regarding their formerly MIA loved ones, and one family who received help from DPAA to get a cenotaph at Arlington for their Korea War MIA.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is the federal agency responsible for recovering the remains of previously missing in action ...

14/10/2024

Glenn Miller was only in charge of the Army Air Forces band for a little over a year and a half, but in that time he changed the way people thought about military bands, challenged the way traditional marches were performed, and above all else, went out of his way to bring a little bit of home to US military personnel that were so far away from their loved ones and fighting in the European Theater of Operation. His tragic and unexpected death cut his life short, but his unit carried on, and in so doing, cemented his legacy as the father of all modern American military bands.

Because of his age (he was 38) and needing glasses, Glenn Miller was unlikely to be drafted for military service, but like so many Ameri...

07/10/2024

This week's podcast features a lot of Big Band music from featured Ghost of Arlington Glenn Miller. Born in a small Iowa town, Miller Glenn decided early on that he wanted to be a professional musician. It took time and a lot of frustration for him to make his dream a reality but by 1938, thousands of dancers and millions of radio listeners knew and loved Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. In four and a half years they would feature in two Hollywood films, produce 121 singles, 69 Billboard charters, and 13 #1 hits before their band leader left to join the US Army Air Corps in World War II.

Glenn Miller was born in a small town in Iowa and decided early on that he wanted to be a professional musician. It took time and a lot of...

30/09/2024

Last week I was unable to get a post out about part I of Daniel Inouye's story. A World War II veteran, Hawaii state politician, and the second-longest serving senator in US history, Inouye lead quite the life. While it was a different life from that which he imagined as a high schooler, it was an American Dream none the less.

Senator Daniel K. Inouye served through the administrations of ten US presidents, including Ghost of Arlington, John F. Kennedy (above) a...

16/09/2024

Spark Matsunaga, a native of Kauai, put his live on the line to serve his country as a member of the 100th Infantry Battalion. After the war, he dedicated the remainder of his life serving Hawaii, first as a state legislator, then a US representative, and finally a US Senator. Sparky earned his epitaph, "Beloved Son of Hawaii." https://www.ghostsofarlingtonpodcast.com/2024/09/episode-135-sons-of-hawaii-part-i.html

Already an Army officer before Pearl Harbor, Spark Matsunaga was one of the 100th Infantry Battalion's junior officers when that unit was ...

09/09/2024

This week we get the first Nisei General Officer in both the Army National Guard and the Army Reserves and a humble Medal of Honor recipient who didn't tell his family about the medal (or his battlefield commission and two subsequent promotions). https://www.ghostsofarlingtonpodcast.com/2024/09/episode-134-tales-from-punchbowl-part.html

05/08/2024

After a LONG break with no new episodes due to work, I am finally back... with one new episode before I leave for another extended work trip. Regardless, I wanted to get one new story in before I had to leave again. This week is all about eight guys named Nakada - seven of whom are brothers and the last of whom gets a separate story because he is neither related to, nor connected to any of the others.

Captain Pershing Nakada (center position in the picture) was the highest ranking Nisei officer in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He commanded the 323nd Combat Engineer Company. All of his lieutenants were also Nisei making it the only all-Nisei outfit in the 442nd. If you want to lear more about him or the other Nakadas, you'll have to listen to the episode! https://www.ghostsofarlingtonpodcast.com/2024/08/episode-133-tales-from-punchbowl-part.html

10/07/2024

It might be a little late, but the podcast wrapping up Ken Otagaki's story is now live. After losing a leg, two fingers, and the site in one eye, Ken Otagaki tries to return to his life before the war, hopes that his girlfriend will still be there for him, and tries to figure out how to support himself despite his severe injuries. https://www.ghostsofarlingtonpodcast.com/2024/07/episode-132-tales-from-punchbowl-part-vi.html

08/07/2024

Today's podcast has been a bit delayed but I hope to get it out before tomorrow morning.