Medal of Honor: Stories of Courage

During World War I, Navy Lieutenant Edouard Izac was plucked from a lifeboat by a German submarine, where, for weeks, he lived among his captors. After secretly gathering intelligence on the movements of the German fleet, Izac knew this information could change the course of the war and had to be given to the Allies. But first, he had to get out of Germany. He would hurl himself out of a moving train, trek 120 miles through the mountains, and swim across the Rhine, but he would never, ever give up.
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Episode resources:
Escape by Dwight R Messimer (Naval Institute Press, 1994)
Prisoner of the U-90 by Edouard Victor Isaacs (Houghton Mifflin, 1919)
“Oral History: the Recollections of Lieutenant Edouard Victor Isaacs, U.S.N.” by the Department of the Navy, 1918
Medal of Honor by Allen Mikaelian (Hyperion, 2002)
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In 1968, in the dense jungles of Vietnam, a team of Green Berets was pinned down by an overwhelming North Vietnamese Army force. Their last hope was a young Air Force pilot named James Fleming. Despite being low on fuel and facing a wall of enemy fire, Fleming refused to turn back. The rescue mission seemed destined to fail, but a split-second decision would earn Fleming the nation’s highest military honor.
Binge the full season of Medal of Honor, ad-free, with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up and save on the Medal of Honor show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus. Use the code MOH25 for 25% off an annual subscription.
Connect with the team!
Follow Pushkin on social @pushkinpods
Follow JR Martinez @iamjrmartinez
Email the team: [email protected]
Episode resources:
“SOG Combat in Cambodia: Under the Gun at Tango Five-One” by Randy Harrison, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, August 1982
Green Hornets: The History of the U.S. Air Force 20th Special Operations Squadron by Wayne Mutza (Schiffer Military History, 2007)
Secret Green Beret Commandos In Cambodia: A Memorial History of MACVSOG's Command and Control Detachment South (CCS) And Its Air Partners, Republic of Vietnam, 1967-1972 by Fred S. Lindsey (AuthorHouse, 2012)
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What turns an ordinary person into a legend? Host and Army veteran J.R. Martinez returns with stories of split-second decisions that changed the course of history.
Hear about harrowing escapes from prisoner-of-war-camps, daring flights to the farthest reaches of the globe, miraculous rescues, and acts of self sacrifice that will never be forgotten. These stories are about what it takes to become a hero and what happens after.
Binge the full season of Medal of Honor, ad-free, with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up on the Medal of Honor show page in Apple or at Pushkin.fm/plus and use the code MOH25 for 25% off an annual subscription.
This season, you’ll hear the stories of:
James Fleming: the Vietnam pilot who flew a helicopter into a death trap to save his men.
Edouard Izac: the WWI sailor who escaped a U-boat and a moving train to deliver enemy secrets.
George Sakato: the Japanese-American soldier who turned grief into a one-man army for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
Richard Byrd: The world’s most famous explorer who might’ve faked his flight to the North Pole.
Florent Groberg: The man who tackled a suicide bomber to save his team in Afghanistan.
Richard Pittman: The one-eyed Marine who tricked his way into Vietnam to hold a jungle trail alone.
Joseph Rodriguez: the Korean War soldier whose bravery was fueled by his love for a girl back home
Clarence Sasser: The combat medic who crawled through a flooded rice paddy trying to help as many soldiers as he could.
Joshua Chamberlain: The college professor whose bayonet charge saved the Union at Gettysburg.
The Four Chaplains: Four men of different faiths who sacrificed themselves to save their fellow soldiers
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We're sharing episodes this month from another Pushkin podcast we think you'll enjoy.

In Deep Cover: The Truth About Sarah, Jake Halpern and acclaimed investigative journalist Jess McHugh unravel an epic six-year deception that upended lives of countless people. Sarah Cavanaugh was many things: A decorated veteran. A Marine who saved her comrades. A young woman fighting cancer. She was stoic, humble, tough. In short: a hero. Sarah was everything people wanted her to be—until she wasn’t. Turns out, no one knew the real Sarah. Not her comrades. Not her wife. No one. Jake and Jess interview all of the key sources—including Sarah, herself—to tell this sprawling tale.

Episode 6: As the walls close in, Sarah finds herself alone—abandoned by friends, facing federal charges, and scrambling for a defense. She hires a lawyer, a fellow veteran, to make her case; but the evidence is overwhelming. In our series finale, Jake and Jess return to Sarah for a long, final conversation—seeking answers to the question that still haunts everyone: Why did she do it?

We’re committed to making Medal of Honor even better, and you can help! Leave your feedback for the show by filling out our listener survey at bit.ly/mohsurvey.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're sharing episodes this month from another Pushkin podcast we think you'll enjoy.
In Deep Cover: The Truth About Sarah, Jake Halpern and acclaimed investigative journalist Jess McHugh unravel an epic six-year deception that upended lives of countless people. Sarah Cavanaugh was many things: A decorated veteran. A Marine who saved her comrades. A young woman fighting cancer. She was stoic, humble, tough. In short: a hero. Sarah was everything people wanted her to be—until she wasn’t. Turns out, no one knew the real Sarah. Not her comrades. Not her wife. No one. Jake and Jess interview all of the key sources—including Sarah, herself—to tell this sprawling tale.
Episode 5: One overlooked detail in Sarah’s story: she was married. Her wife, Nicole, never spoke to the press or the feds. She remained a mystery—until now.
We’re committed to making Medal of Honor even better, and you can help! Leave your feedback for the show by filling out our listener survey at bit.ly/mohsurvey.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.