IS A WORLD WAR BUILDING? 3/4: The Unknowns: The Untold Story of America’s Unknown Soldier and WWI’s Most Decorated Heroes Who Brought Him Home, by Patrick K. O'Donnell
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2024
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Summary
When the first Unknown Soldier was laid to rest in Arlington, General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force in WWI, selected eight of America’s most decorated, battle-hardened veterans to serve as Body Bearers. For the first time, O’Donnell portrays their heroics on the battlefield one hundred years ago, thereby animatingÅÇ the Tomb by giving voice to all who have served. The Body Bearers appropriately spanned America’s service branches and specialties. Their ranks include a cowboy who relived the charge of the light brigade, an American Indian who heroically breached mountains of German barbed wire, a salty New Englander who dueled a U-boat for hours in a fierce gunfight, a tough New Yorker who sacrificed his body to save his ship, and an indomitable gunner who, though blinded by gas, nonetheless overcame five machine-gun nests. Their stories slip easily into the larger narrative of America’s involvement in the conflict, transporting readers into the midst of dramatic battles during 1917–1918 that ultimately decided the Great War
https://www.amazon.com/Unknowns-Americas-Soldier-Decorated-Brought/dp/0802128335
1900 DIRIGIBLE US ARMY
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the |
| 0:05.0 | cb's i in the world i'm john bachelor with patric o'Donnell |
| 0:09.1 | the book is the unknowns the untold story of america's Unknown Soldier and World War I's most decorated heroes |
| 0:15.1 | who brought him home 100 years ago. |
| 0:18.0 | 1921, 2021. |
| 0:21.5 | The final ceremony takes place November 11th, which is the armist |
| 0:25.9 | day of 1918, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. We're very |
| 0:32.1 | carefully going through the eight bearers of the coffin, greeting the |
| 0:36.1 | unknown soldiers remains at the case side in the Potomac as it was brought home by the U.S.S. Olympia. We go now to another body-bearer, First |
| 0:46.9 | Sergeant Harry Taylor of the Wild West Division raised in San Francisco, the 91st. |
| 0:54.7 | This is the Muse Argonne. |
| 0:55.9 | What is the mission that day, Patrick? |
| 0:58.7 | The Muse Argonne is offensive is America's largest, |
| 1:02.3 | in arguably one of its bloodiest battles in history. |
| 1:05.9 | It was a position, we're basically throwing over a million men at the German, the heart of the German lines that are that were largely |
| 1:16.5 | impregnable for the entire war and this is extremely tough business and the 91st finds itself in the very heart of |
| 1:26.0 | combat in the heart of the German defenses and they have to breach these |
| 1:31.3 | defenses and the Wild West division and they have to breach these defenses. |
| 1:32.7 | And the Wild West division is exactly that. |
| 1:35.9 | They're drawn from men of the Western Territories, Alaska, |
| 1:41.1 | but also the state of Arizona, Wyoming, Nevada, and even some men from California as well. |
| 1:49.6 | And they're put together. |
... |
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