War Stories

This is the story of an American military legend - the recipient of America's highest decorations for valor: The Medal Of Honor, The Distinguished Service Cross, seven Silver Stars - and more than a dozen awards from allied nations. From the time he graduated 1st in his class from West Point until he retired with 50 plus years of service, he was a complex combination of valor and vanity, a figure of legendary victory and terrible loss. To this day, he is one of the most controversial military leaders in U.S. history. I'm Oliver North - and in this War Stories podcast you will learn more about General Douglas MacArthur than you ever knew - from people who knew him best - those with whom he served - those who loved him - and the president who fired him. Stay with us for the remarkable life story of a man who honed his battle skills in the trenches of World War I and who still inspires future generations of soldiers and military planners. You'll hear how this legendary leader enjoyed great victories - and persevered through devastating defeats - on battlefields - and in bedrooms. In an exclusive War Stories interview, listen to my conversation with General Alexander Haig, who served with MacArthur during the Korean War as he recalls MacArthur's daring master-stroke... And after you hear from the man who delivered the message to General MacArthur that he had been fired by the President of the United States, let me know: Did President Harry Truman do the right thing when he fired this controversial American hero?

When we filed our first "sitrep" from Kuwait on Thursday, 6 March, 2003, neither my field producer nor I had the answer to the #1 question from FOX News HQ in New York City: "When will hostilities against Saddam Hussein commence?" Two weeks later we could answer the question - because we were embedded with the U.S. Marines who were the first to fight. I'm Oliver North, and in this FOX News War Stories podcast you can join cameraman & field producer Griff Jenkins and me as we cover the opening of Operation Iraqi Freedom - from pre-hour action - and the first American combat losses, through the liberation of Baghdad and to the capture of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. Come with us as we keep company with America's newest generation of heroes as they topple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and his bloody regime that terrorized the Iraqi people for more than 25 years. The voices and sounds you hear in this podcast are the real thing - captured on our microphones during vicious gunfights while we were embedded with units of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and later with the Army's 4th Inf. Div. On D-minus one we rode into battle with HMM 268 - the Red Dragons - commanded by Marine Lt. Col Jerry Driscoll. His squadron of marine CH-46 helicopters was the primary cas-evac unit for Regimental Combat Team 5 - led by then Colonel "Fighting Joe Dunford - destined to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff. RCT 5 was the lead combat element of the 1st Marine Division - commanded by Major Gen. Jim Mattis - now the Secretary Of Defense. In this podcast you will hear first-hand from the troops Mattis led and inspired to go further, faster & with fewer casualties than any armed force in history. While you listen, judge for yourself, whether I was right to describe the young American Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Guardsmen & Marines we accompanied in this bloody contest as "the brightest, best and bravest of their generation."

By the spring of 1972, the Vietnam War - in which my U.S. Army brother and I both served - was supposed to be "winding down." President Richard Nixon's commitment to "Vietnamization" - training, equipping & "supporting" the South Vietnamese government & military - was well underway. In February 1972, the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne - the last U.S. ground combat division in The Republic of Vietnam - headed home. By March 1972, U.S. combat troop levels "in country" had dropped from a high of 500,000 American Soldiers & Marines in 1969 to just two Army brigades guarding fixed installations and a few thousand U.S. "advisors" embedded with South Vietnamese forces. With President Nixon facing re-election - and making overtures to Beijing & Moscow - North Vietnam's General Vo Nguyen Giap convinced the Politburo in Hanoi that the spring of 1972 was the "perfect time" to strike a devastating blow against the U.S. supported government in Saigon. Giap chose noon, Thursday, 30 March - the eve of Good Friday and Easter weekend and the holiest of holidays for Christians in South Vietnam - as "H-Hour." His intent was to make this assault an even greater propaganda victory than "Tet 1968." He nearly succeeded. Tens of thousands of North Vietnamese troops and hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles poured across the Demilitarized Zone and raced toward a strategic bridge U.S. Navy "Seabees" had built over the Cua Viet River near the town of Dong Ha, less than 8 miles south of the DMZ. It was there that a battalion of Vietnamese Marines and a handful of American advisors were all that stood in the way of the enemy. Among them - U.S. Marine Captain John Ripley - was determined to keep the North Vietnamese Army from crossing the river. The raw courage and personal resolve he showed has become legend in the annals of American military history. To make this riveting documentary, our War Stories team returned to Vietnam with my dear departed Marine friend, Colonel John Ripley. We retraced the epic battle & walked ground we both defended when we served in 3rd Battalion 3rd Marine Regiment. You'll also meet the South Vietnamese Marine Battalion Commander - Major Nguyen Binh - whose men fought to the death beside Captain Ripley in Dong Ha during the Easter '72 offensive. If you're not moved by the accounts of the eyewitness participants in this bloody fight, seek immediate medical attention. Your heart may have already stopped. That's an order!

"Leave no one behind." It's a sacred promise our military makes to all who serve in uniform. To keep that pledge, in October 2003 The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command - JPAC - was created by President George W. Bush with the mission of finding and bringing home America's missing in action - no matter where or when they were lost. I'm Oliver North, and in this War Stories podcast you will meet members of a military unit unlike any other in the world. The Pentagon dubbed it - "JPAC" - The Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command. In 2010, in between deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan & other hot spots, our FOX News War Stories team was dispatched to document how JPAC accomplished their unique military mission. We began at JPAC headquarters at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, where 18 teams of specialized investigators, forensic scientists and active-duty military personnel were based when not deployed around the globe. These JPAC teams had a daunting task: traversing trackless deserts, snake infested jungles, remote mountain ranges and ocean depths to recover, identify & return to their loved ones the remains of missing U.S. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Guardsmen & Marines. Success for JPAC required cutting-edge forensic technology, age-old detective work and sometimes the skill of explosive ordnance technicians. In this riveting podcast of "War Stories," come with us as we accompany JPAC search and recovery teams on high-risk missions; meet scientists devoted to the task of identifying the remains of those who have fallen; and hear the powerful account of a "mission accomplished." Lt. Fredrick Joel Ransbottom, an Oklahoma native was declared "MIA" - missing in action - in Vietnam in 1968. Listen as his family recounts the 38 years they spent searching for answers and how a brother-in-arms provided clues to what happened to the young lieutenant. You'll also learn how the dedicated sleuths of JPAC tackled one of the most enduring mysteries of World War II - the whereabouts of 19 Marine raiders lost on Makin Island in 1942. In January 2015, JPAC was merged with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Today, the grueling task of analyzing, investigating, recovering & identifying the remains of American MIA personnel continues so that the families of the missing may have closure on what happened to their loved ones. The mission: "leave no one behind" continues...

He was the world's most wanted criminal, with a 25 million dollar bounty on his head. For almost ten years after the attacks of September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden was on the run, his whereabouts unknown. On May 1, 2011, under cover of darkness, a US special operations team lead by Navy SEALs descended over a compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad. Within forty minutes, Osama bin Laden was dead. It was a perfectly executed, covert mission of American Special Ops. In this 'boots on the ground' episode of "War Stories," you'll get a gripping, inside understanding of covert intelligence collection, high risk meets with clandestine informants, and rapid response capture-kill missions. From three month-long embeds with US soldiers and Marines, Special Operations units and the DEA, our "War Stories" team takes you on heart-thumping raids into Taliban strongholds, and you'll meet the unsung heroes who fight in the shadows to take down the Taliban. And from Kabul, General David Petraeus, the commander of all US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, gives Oliver North his assessment of the war. It's a front line view of how brave American men and women are fighting in Afghanistan and the unique mission of American special operations.