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 SEAL training. His service would then bring him face to face with our enemies on multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Byers takes us through the mentally and physically grueling experience of BUD/s training to become a SEAL and his deployments to Iraq. And Byers walks us through the harrowing and costly mission to rescue an American doctor that resulted in Byers receiving the military's highest honor.

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 day, his ship was hit and sunk in the English Channel.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Collicott takes us from the frigid confines of training at Great Lakes, Illinois, to D-Day, to serving in the Pacific during the final months of the war.

Collicott tells us about going though fire control training and then being assigned to the brand new USS Meredith. He explains what the Meredith's role was on D-Day and how it targeted and destroyed a troublesome German pillbox the next day.

But just hour later, the Meredith was struck and it slowly sunk. Collicott walks us through that harrowing experience in detail, including why he survived the blast, what he did immediately afterwards, the injuries he saw that day, and the moments that still haunt him.

Collicott then shares his experiences in Pacific aboard the USS Lanier, including the new jobs that he had and how he almost got left behind in Guam as the Lanier was pulling out of port.

Finally, he details his efforts later in life to correct the official history of the USS Meredith.

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 Infantry Division, known as "Tropic Lightning." He was then ordered to be part of a heavy weapons platoon operating 81 millimeter mortars. The weapon would be critical to the U.S. driving the Japanese off of 47 separate ridges on the island of Luzon in the Philippines over five months in 1945.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Sciarra explains how the 81 millimeter guns were operated and why he sees them as the decisive weapon at Luzon. He also tells us about a suprisingly easy landing at Luzon, but there would nothing easy after that. He details the Japanese weapons that took a significant toll on American forces, what it was like fighting uphill all the time, how the Japanese ambushed our soldiers, and how he ended up with with a promotion he didn't want.

Sciarra also takes us into the personal side of war, losing friends, and honoring the remains of the fallen. He also tells us about his harrowing journey to Japan for occupational duty and the serious illness he faced at the end of the war. But more than anything, Sciarra wants all Americans to appreciate the courage and sacrifice of the U.S. Army infantry in World War II and beyond.

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 serve.

After completing basic training, Picard was assigned to the 552nd Field Artillery Battalion, working with the massive 240mm guns. The battalion was held out of D-Day operations and landed at Utah Beach in late June 1944.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Picard takes us through all the work involved in assembling and operating the 240mm guns. He also walks us from Utah Beach through the Battle for St. Lo and the Allied drive to Paris.

Picard also describes the devastating combat at the Battle of Aachen, losing his best friend in combat, and the chaos and bitter cold at the Battle of the Bulge.

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 months to enlist. When he did, he went through basic training in California and was soon assigned as a flamethrower operator in the 2nd Battalion, 28th Regiment, 5th Marine Division.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Graves recounts the harrowing landing during the third wave at Iwo Jima, getting pinned down in the water, what they had to do to reach the volcanic ash beach, and how he begged God to spare his life as the bullets flew above him.

Graves also tells us about the fight up Mount Suribachi against Japanese forces with the higher ground. He explains what made the difference in the fight, a shocking encounter with a Japanese soldier during the battle, and what he remembers about the iconic flag raising atop Mount Suribachi.

Then Graves details an even more intense fight at Hill 362 A, where his unit lost all its remaining officers. He also takes us into the fighting in the caves, both with guns and with his flamethrower. And he shares one of the most devastating moments of the battle that took place in his own foxhole.

Finally, Graves describes leaving the island alive when so many other Marines didn't. And he remembers hearing the news of the Japanese surrender just as he was training for the invasion of Japan.

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 knew that's what he wanted to do with his life. Hiner joined the Navy, qualified for BUD/s training, and was one of just 10 SEAL candidates in his class to graduate.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Hiner takes us through BUD/s training - from how his life abruptly changed the moment he arrived at Coronado to the mental toughness required to survive to his absolute refusal to quit. 

Hiner shares stories from his deployments to Iraq, including a high-profile mission thrust upon him as soon as he arrived and capturing the notorious "Butcher of Ramadi."

He also talks about the value of restraint in combat and why not using lethal force often saved a lot of lives and trouble.

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 age 16, Zilliacus worked in a steel mill before joining the U.S. Navy in 1943. He was assigned as a torpedo man on a brand new submarine, the USS Spot.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Zilliacus explains how he was almost killed when the USS Spot went out for "shakedown" after commissioning. He also details what it was like stalking and attacking Japanese vessels off the coast of China, and how his sub sunk the Nanking Maru.

Zilliacus also tells us what it was like to be pursued by Japanese ships, how the Spot was very close to a major event at the end of the war, and what his future wife told him about Japanese atrocies committed against her family in the Philippines.

He also shares the story of how his father crossed paths with a major Axis leader long before World War II and why he does not want World War II veterans to be called the Greatest Generation.

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, Sasseville shifted to the Air National Guard in 1999 and also became a commercial airline pilot.

On September 11, 2001, Sasseville was serving with the 113th Wing of the District of Columbia Air National Guard at Andrews Air Force base when Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four airliners. Once the second plane struck the World Trade Center, Sasseville and everyone else on base knew it was a terrorist attack. But would there be more planes? And would they be headed for Washington, D.C.?

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Gen. Sasseville tells how that day unfolded. He explains what development required pilots in the D.C. Air National Guard to scramble their F-16's and be ready to confront any other other planes being flown by terrorists. But they had a big problem. None of their F-16's were armed with missiles and there was no time to wait for that. The reality soon hit home: if they needed to stop an airliner, they'd have to hit it with their own planes. If that was required, they would not be coming home.

Sasseville takes us through his thinking on the most effective way to strike an airliner with an F-16. Ultimately, that would not be necessary due to the heroism of the passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93. Sasseville honors them and he tells us what it was like flying near the Pentagon not long after it was attacked.

He also reveals the unexpected assignment he received later in that day on 9/11 and details his time as commander of the 410th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron in the early days of the Iraq War. Finally, he reflects upon what was really asked of him on 9/11 and his instinctive willingness to put his life on the line to protect our nation.

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 each of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Another was used to crash into the Pentagon. The fourth plane was headed to Washington, but was forced down in a Pennsylvania field by the heroic passengers of United Flight 93.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Mr. Card takes us moment by moment as he learned the disasters in New York City were actually deliberate acts of terrorism by Islamic extremists, told the president the news in a Florida elementary school classroom, gave orders to get Air Force One ready to depart early, and figured out where they were going next.

He also takes us inside the intense debate he had with the president about whether to return to Washington and the first decisions Bush had to make, including whether to shoot down airliners refusing to obey air traffic commands.

Card also discusses President Bush's speech after returning to the White House, his impromptu message to Ground Zero recovery workers  on a bullhorn, his emotional meeting with first responders and families of those lost on 9/11 and much more.

We'll also hear why Bush asked Card to take one high-ranking national security official "to the woodshed" and the shocking thing British Prime Minister Tony Blair told Card after Bush's speech to a joint session of Congress. And we'll learn how both Bush and Card were scolded after Bush said he wanted Osama bin Laden captured "dead or alive."

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 flew the first plane into the North Tower. He was in the lobby of that building when he got word that a second plane controlled by terrorists struck the South Tower. He immediately rushed over there. Less than an hour later, the South Tower collapsed while Timothy Brown was still inside.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Brown walks us from when he heard of the first attack through the horror of the South Tower coming down all around him. He explains what it felt like and sounded like as 110 stories crashed down around him. He also describes emerging from the rubble and getting out of the area just as the North Tower came down.

Brown believes his life was spared in order to share the heroic actions of firefighters and other first responders on 9/11. And he tells multiple stories of those heroes, many of whom were friends he lost that day. 

Finally, Brown offers his thanks to the veterans who took the fight to the terrorists in the wars following 9/11.

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 passed the rest of his training to become a Ranger. He later took on and successfully completed intense training while serving overseas that served him very well in Special Forces.

In 1989, he was deployed to Colombia to assist government forces fighting against the drug cartels. The next year, he was in Panama, dealing with the volatile aftermath of Operation Just Cause.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Major Brewer walks us through his intense training as a Ranger and in Platoon Confidence Training. He also takes us moment by moment on the training mission where his primary parachute failed and it took every bit of his expertise to survive.

Then Brewer takes us to Colombia, where he could not officially serve as a member of Special Forces. He explains what the overall mission was and his critical efforts to thwart drug kingpin Pablo Escobar from attacking and destroying an American radar station.

Finally, he tells us about his deployment to Panama, confronting unrest from many different directions, sniffing out intelligence about a possible coup attempt, and dealing with turf wars within the military.

Brewer is the author, most recently, of In the Shadows Between the Wars: Becoming a Special Forces Operator.

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 flying and in service. Young served in the Maryland and West Virginia Air National Guard, serving as flight engineer for C-130 Hercules and C-5 Galaxy transport planes. Missions took him to the war zones in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He is also a military novelist and his latest work is The Mapmaker, which focuses on the French Resistance during World War II.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Senior Master Sergeant Young tells us all about the C-130 and C-5, his role of flight engineer during flight, and coming under enemy fire in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Young also takes us into the world of the French Resistance, how it was so creatively organized, and the critical role it played in helping the Allies before and after D-Day. He also talks about how dangerous it was to be part of the resistance, especially in the face of the speakable cruelty of the Nazi Gestapo and SS forces towards the people of France

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, were in the Army, training on 105 mm howitzers with the 42nd Infantry Division. They saw their first combat in southern France in January 1945. After that, they fought into Germany, crossed the Rhine River, and helped liberate the Dachau concentration camp near Munich.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Margol explains how his Jewish family was very concerned about the advancement of Nazi forces and ideas long before the U.S. was at war with Germany. He shares the concerns his family had for loved ones in Lithuania and how he learned decades later about the horrible fate they suffered.

He also tells us how his mother's letter to President Roosevelt kept him and his brother in the same unit. He also describes his training on the howitzers and what his first combat experience was like.

Finally, Margol goes into great detail about how he and others discovered the Dachau concentration camp in April 1945, what he saw there, his tireless efforts to share the truth about the Holocaust, and how it deeply impacts him 80 years later.

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 Army. He was eventually assigned as a gunner for a tank crew in E company, 33rd armored regiment, 3rd armored division and joined the war just a month after D-Day.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Stitt will tell us how he was injured on his first day in combat but pushed back into action the very next day. He describes combat against Germans while moving across France and fighting against a tank company commanded by a notorious SS officer at the Battle of the Bulge. 

Stitt also tells us what life was like in the tank both in and out of combat and how he was wounded a second time in early 1945, ending his time at the front.

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 better. This time, the Army took him anyway.

Kinder was trained in sound ranging as part of the 14th Field Artillery Observation Battalion. His job was to determine how far away the enemies were and what vehicles they might have with them. The battalion landed at Utah Beach just a few weeks after D-Day. Months later it would be part of the Battle of Nancy, in eastern France, and the Battle of the Bulge.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Kinder explains how sound ranging worked and how his unit helped to chase the Nazis from Normandy to the eastern edge of France. He will take us inside their work at the Battle of Nancy, almost being killed near the Battle of the Bulge, and his memory of the cost of war from the Bulge that he's only been able to talk about in recent years.

Kinder will also share his memories of crossing the Rhine and the final weeks of the war before the German surrender.

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 scuttled those dreams. He was trained on .50 caliber guns mounted on haltracks to protect American tanks and other convoys. Assigned to the 11th Armored Division, Urban arrived in Europe in late 1944 and was quickly sent to fight in the Battle of the Bulge.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Sgt. Urban explains what combat was like with his guns - the sounds, the smells and more. He also describes the bitter cold at the Battle of the Bulge and how that impacted him. Urban tells us how he was injured and missed the final days of the Bulge but returned to his unit after the battle.

Urban details what he saw during the liberation of Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria near the end of the war and how that experience remains very vivid by meeting people who were liberated and returning to the camp years later.

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: Bill Mix. In a matter of moments, a normal day turned into every parent’s worst nightmare. As the Amber Alert spread across California and panic set in, one woman hundreds of miles away — Leisa Hilton in Utah — felt something was deeply wrong.

LISTEN HERE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-miracle-files/id1714203488

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 decided college was not for her. That's when she joined the Army and became a combat medic, eventually with the 82nd Airborne Division, serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Later, she became a nurse and then a cancer patient herself. Yet even after losing a leg, Elmlinger persevered and represented the U.S. at the Paralympic Games just a few years later.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles Elmlinger shares how the 9/11 attacks changed the trajectory of her military service and how her combat medic training suddenly became much more real. She also describes her service in Afghanistan, meeting and connecting with the Afghan women, and what the Afghan men thought about her.

Then she explains how different and how much harder the same job was in Iraq, why there was often little combat medics could do to help, and the painstaking efforts she and her teammates took to to find some personal effect to present to the families of every fallen service member.

Elmlinger then recounts her decision to become a nurse and work with wounded veterans in San Antonio and how that work helped to prepare her to be a patient there as she battled cancer in her leg. And finally, she updates us on how she became an elite adaptive sports athlete - representing the U.S. at the 2021 Summer Paralympic Games in Tokyo. And she'll do it again this summer in Paris!

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. Marine Corps when he turned 17. After grueling basic training at Parris Island, Bourgault was tapped as a message runner. He was soon off to San Diego and then shipped to New Zealand. After spending time loading and unloading ships at Guadalcanal, it was soon time to enter the fighting.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Bourgault gives an unvarnished look at basic training and how it prepared new Marines for war. He also describes a Japanese torpedo attack at Guadalcanal. From there, he takes into the combat on Bougainville, where Bourgault and many others fought both the Japanese and tropical ailments.

Bourgault then shares his vivid memories of the difficulties in getting onto the beach at Iwo Jima, what he saw there, and being medicially evacuated a short time later. He also remembers seeing the U.S. flag atop Mt. Suribachi and what it was like to hear the war had ended several months later.

Lastly, Mr. Bourgault shares how much it means to him that so many Americans make a point of thanking him for his service.

Doug Bahrns knew he wanted to be a U.S. Marine Corps officer when he finished high school a couple of years before 9/11. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute and was commissioned as a Marine Corps officer. After going to officer's training at Quantico, Bahrns was assigned command of 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines in 2003. By 2004 they were in Iraq, and a few months later they would be involved in some of the fiercest fighting of the war - the Second Battle of Fallujah.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Bahrns discusses the ramping up to the battle, how he got orders to get his men ready for the fight in the middle of the night, and what he went over in his mind just before the battle began.

Bahrns describes the successful push to the mayor's complex, the vicious fighting to move out from there, and the brutal house-to-house fighting that followed. He explains the very effective method of clearing houses, how those gains stayed secured, and how his Marines escaped from a very precarious situation at a place they called "The Alamo."

Finally, Bahrns details the devastating loss of Cpl. Bradley Faircloth in late November 2004 and how Faircloth's death still weighs on him today.