Veterans Chronicles

Matt Smith grew up on Long Island and joined Army ROTC at the University of Delaware in 1989. Four years later, he was commissioned as an officer. Smith was working in the private sector and serving in the Army National...

Ed Miklavic was one of 12 children and he ended up joining the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1940 because he tagged along with his brother and a friend to the Army recruiter. But Ed was better qualified than both of them. This...

William Keim joined the U.S. Merchant Marine in 1943 at the age of 17. He was called to active duty when he turned 18 years old that same year. For the next two years, he served as an oilerman on Liberty Ships in both...

Sydney Levit was 17 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Like most kids his age, he was eager to serve. In 1943, Levit was drafted into the U.S. Army and he soon had the opportunity to join the airborne...

Ralph Gastelum grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and never experienced much of a winter before joining the U.S. Marine Corps. His first real winter would be spent in Korea in some of the most bitterly cold temperatures that...

Handlon Tim "Bear" Handlon wanted to serve in the military after seeing the 9/11 terrorist attacks unfold on television. There was just one problem. He was only in eighth grade. After a football scholarship to Yale and...

Edward Byers became fascinated with the military - and Navy SEALs in particular - through books and movies in his younger years. He joined the U.S. Navy and, just a few months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, began...

Vaughn Collicott spent the first year of his life traveling in a covered wagon. Before he was 21 years old, he was helping to fire the guns of a Navy destroyer at German positions on the coast of Normandy. The very same...

Joe "Peppy" Sciarra was drafted into the U.S. Army the day after he graduated from high school. All four boys in his family served during World War II. After basic training, Sciarra was assigned to the Army's 25th...

Joseph Picard was a teenager when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Unlike some of his peers, Picard was neither excited to join the service nor dreading it. He just accepted that he would need to...

Don Graves tried to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps the day after President Franklin Roosevelt declared the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor a day of infamy. Since he was only 16 years old, Graves had to wait another six...

Ed Hiner had no intention of joining the military until a friend's father forced him to help a military family in need. During that experience, Hiner met a Navy SEAL, learned about what the SEALs do, and immediately...

Patrick Zilliacus was born in Finland and came to the U.S. when his father became the Finnish military attache in Washington, primarily to procure weapons for Finland's war with Russia. Left on his own in the U.S. at...

Ltt Gen. Marc Sasseville was born into an Air Force family and that played a significant role in his decision to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy and become an Air Force officer. After 14 years on active duty...

Andrew Card served more than five years as White House Chief of Staff for President George W. Bush. Less than eight months into Bush's first term, Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four U.S. airliners. Two were flown into...

Timothy Brown was serving as supervisor of field operations in New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's office of emergency management on September 11, 2001. He was already at work near the World Trade Center when terrorists...

Christopher Brewer grew up as an Army brat and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1973 because he wanted to be a Ranger. Even though he had never jumped out of a plane prior to joining the Army, Brewer learned quickly and...

Tom Young grew up on his family's farm in North Carolina. From a young age he was fascinated by his grandfather's stories of being part of a bomber crew during World War II. That helped to spark his interest in both...

Hilbert Margol was the first of twin boys born to his parents in February 1924. He was nearly finished with high school when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Soon, Margol and his brother, Howard...

Walter Stitt, Jr. was a senior in high school when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He and his friends all assumed they'd be drafted. When that did not happen right away, Stitt enlisted in the...

Alan Kinder was waiting to be drafted into the military during World War II, but when he arrived at the Army recruiter, he was told his eyesight was too poor. The next time he tried to join, his eyesight wasn't any...

Hal Urban grew up in a poor family hit hard by the Great Depression. Joining the military meant he would finally get three meals per day. He enlisted in the Army hoping to become a pilot, but less than perfect eyesight...

Join Emily Jones and Holly Worthington as they dive into this heart wrenching story of a child abduction. Five-year-old Bella was taken by someone her family trusted — a man they never expected, their father's roommate...

Kelly Elmlinger was a three-sport athlete in high school. She excelled in cross country, basketball, and track. After considering military service, she decided to keep playing sports at the next level, but she quickly...

Louis Bourgault was 16 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor - too young to formally join the military. After his father rejected a teenage plot to go join the Canadian forces, Bourgault enlisted in the U.S...