The success of the submarine-borne Polaris missile was a critical nuclear deterrent that helped President Kennedy stare down Khruschev during the 1961 Berlin Crisis. Ever since, this weapon has been a key strategic tool of the U.S. Tom Ramos's book "From Berkeley to Berlin," chronicles the scientific journey leading to the development of this and o…

Former U.S. Air Force Combat Controller Dan Schilling relates the heroic story of John Chapman captured in his book "Alone at Dawn" – a fellow combat controller who fought and perished on an Afghan mountainside, and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Chapman was the first airman to be so awarded in nearly fifty years. Dan gives a behind-t…

A financial investigator for Federal law enforcement, David Asher is an expert in the financial side of organized criminal activities. He has been working for decades 'finding the money' to help build cases against some of the most notorious criminal organizations, (including the Gambino crime family) terrorists, and China. In this episode, David l…

Shetland, Scotland native and independent journalist Jen Stout was in Russia in late February 2022 when the war with Ukraine broke out and quickly left for a border post in southern Romania to cover the great flood of refugees who were fleeing the fighting. Weeks later she entered Ukraine to report first-hand from the front lines and cities across …

Former SAS medical officer and current war surgeon, Richard Villar, volunteered to provide medical support in Gaza during the 2024 invasion following the October 7 Hamas attack. He found himself working in a 200-bed hospital overrun with 700 patients, many of whom were women and children The hospital was under constant threat from drones, missiles …

Past guest and highly decorated former CIA operations officer Gary Berntsen is back and he's breaking down the facts about Tren De Aragua--the notorious gang of trained criminals at the heart of the illegal immigrant debate. Gary explains how he and his colleagues gathered intel about Tren De Aragua as part of their investigations into the Cartel D…

CIA contract pilot William "Tosh" Plumlee is back—this time with his eyewitness account from the South Knoll of Dealey Plaza, in Dallas on November 22rd, 1963. Present as part of a Pentagon abort team, Tosh counted five shots, coming from at least two directions, with the fatal headshot coming from the South Knoll parking lot. Tosh drew a map of th…

Doctor of behavioral science and pastor Michael Caparrelli spent 100 hours with convicted serial killer David Berkowitz in an effort to better understand the reasons he committed the notorious Son of Sam murders, which terrorized New York City during the late ‘70s. His highly compelling book on the subject is called The Monster Mirror. Michael Capa…

Historian Hampton Sides describes one of the most brutal ground battles ever fought – the 17-day Battle of Chosin Reservoir, which began on the 27th of November 1950. The conditions were relentlessly difficult – frigid temperatures, frozen, rocky ground, and an enemy that kept coming in waves. And they weren’t the North Koreans who General MacArthu…

When Alfred Brenner enlisted in the Marines, he was told that the K-9 unit got to travel with air conditioning so he volunteered, even though he didn’t really know anything about dogs. He was assigned a German shepherd named Grief and these two forged a bond during four months of training and in combat in Afghanistan. Alfred explains the role of a …

"Desert Storm" vet and Army Times reporter Kelly Kennedy leapt at the chance to embed with an infantry unit to work on a story about PTSD. What Kelly couldn't have known is that her unit, Battalion 1-26, Charlie Company, was one of the first to serve 15 months in combat conditions. (A decision later reversed by the U.S. Army.) Kelly's unit was plac…

Retired Commander Mark Divine served for over 15 years as a U.S. Navy Seal around the world in Asia Pacific, Africa, Bahrain, and Iraq. A native of upstate New York, and a lifelong student of karate and zen meditation, Mark entered the U.S. Navy in 1989 and entered the Seals’ BUDS training in 1990. As an outgrowth of his training and his service, h…

Our remarkable guest from Season One returns explaining how a small group of powerful men create celebrities out of abused children: Anneke Lucas was only a small child growing up in a little town in Belgium, when her mother began taking her to adult parties, and trafficking her to be abused as part of an organized system. When she was nine, she wa…

Re-airing a Season One fan favorite: The most secretive mission of World War II ended in the largest scale shark attack of all time. The U.S.S. Indianapolis’ mission was so secret, the entire crew was unaware of their cargo: the components of the atomic bomb ‘Little Boy’ which was dropped on Hiroshima. Thus, when the cruiser was sunk by a Japanese …

This is the first part of a series of interviews with 87-year-old CIA contract pilot William “Tosh” Plumlee in which he describes being recruited into a top-secret military intelligence unit with other juvenile delinquents at the age of 16. Among the colorful incidents he relates are supplying weapons to Fidel Castro in the mountains of Southern Cu…

Military historian Patrick O’Donnell puts a spotlight on America’s original Special Forces units: Founded in Missouri by Major General John C. Fremont, (and ‘named’ after his wife) the Jessie Scouts were a valuable intelligence cadre for President Lincoln during the Civil War. On the other side were Mosby’s Rangers and the Confederate Secret Servic…

A fantastic WWII adventure: On June 16, 1944, the storied 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions accidentally dropped U.S. paratroopers off-target behind enemy lines in France near the ancient town of Graignes, Normandy, as part of the D-Day offensive. At great risk to themselves, including penalty of death, the 900 townspeople of Graignes determined to…

Part two of our interview with Don Haase: Don joined the U.S. Army in 1966, and ultimately became crew chief with the 195th Assault Helicopter Company in the 2nd Platoon (“Ghostriders”) that —beginning in December 1967 — supported top-secret MACV-SOG Recon teams during the deadly secret war fought during the Vietnam War. Don received 12 Air Medals …

Don Haase joined the U.S. Army in 1966, and ultimately became crew chief with the 195th Assault Helicopter Company in the 2nd Platoon (“Ghostriders”) that —beginning in December 1967 — supported top-secret MACV-SOG Recon teams during the deadly secret war fought during the Vietnam War. Don received 12 Air Medals over 300 combat missions, and the Pr…

Prior guest Martha LaGuardia-Kotite is back with three U.S.C.G. Rescue Swimmer vets: John Whitten, Jason "Quitty" Quinn, and Ashley Ulbrich—who each share their adventures piloting helicopters over swimmers struggling to save people, leaping out of helicopters into the brink, or saving stranded folks in a hurricane. This lesser-known band of heroes…

As a toddler, Quan Huynh came to the U.S. as a Vietnamese refugee. A few years later he lost his father to cancer, and as an angry teenager joined up with the Vietnamese gangs of Los Angeles. He quickly got into trouble, shooting three people and killing a fourth. Quan was sentenced to 15 years to life, and sent to prison. Quan shares his story of …

A riveting account of a true crime, the criminal justice system, and unlocking a decades-old cold case: In 1964, David Miraldi's father Ray L. Miraldi was a prominent Ohio former city prosecutor and then a private attorney when he jumped at the chance to defend tavern keeper Caspar Bennett of the lurid bathtub murder of his wife, Florence Bennett, …

When he joined the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, Jerry Blaine thought that that his service in the underwater demolition teams (UDTs) would be his life's biggest adventure. Instead, he returned stateside to a career as a Secret Service Special Agent accompanying Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and LBJ. Jerry shares his memories, including his cl…

Frederick Rutland was nothing short of a navy hero in the UK following WWI, but his own charisma, quirks, and opportunism led him to Hollywood to spy for Japan in the years leading to Pearl Harbor, playing a key role in the Japanese attack. Though British officials knew what he was doing, they quietly sidelined him to avoid the public embarrassment…

A Fan-Favorite Reprise Episode From Season One: Prior to May 5, 1980, the world was largely unaware that the UK’s SAS (Special Air Service), or any elite special operations units, existed at all. Six days earlier, terrorists had stormed the Iranian Embassy in London and taken 21 hostages. As the situation was being covered on live TV around the wor…

Run by the Venezuelan regime and military, the Cartel del Sol is currently the largest transnational criminal organization in the world, earning trillions of dollars per year from drug and human trafficking, and other crimes. The name derives from the fact that the Venezuelan military wear suns on their uniforms in place of epaulets. In fact, this …

Shot down October 1965, Lt. Commander and naval aviator Porter Halyburton, who was part of Fighter Squadron 84, was helped by local villagers and then taken into custody by the North Vietnamese Army. He was then imprisoned in the infamous Hanoi Hilton and moved to other prisons throughout North Vietnam. Initially declared dead, Porter describes how…

Shot down October 1965, Lt. Commander and naval aviator Porter Halyburton, who was part of Fighter Squadron 84, was helped by local villagers and then taken into custody by the North Vietnamese Army. He was then imprisoned in the infamous Hanoi Hilton and moved to other prisons throughout North Vietnam. Initially declared dead, Porter describes how…

While patrolling the waterways in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta as Operations Officer, Bill Retz nearly lost his life. Doctors advised him that his navy career was over yet—defying the odds after a difficult recovery—he ultimately rose to the rank of Rear Admiral. Among his commands were the destroyer USS Stump and the Naval War base at Pearl Harbor. As D…

Heroes Behind Headlines Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson Music provided by ExtremeMusic.comOleh Heroes Behind Headlines

Special Forces legend "Tilt" Meyer is back in a special two-part episode, sharing stories from his new book “On The Ground!” If you joined MACV-SOG–-the Studies and Observations Group—in the 1960s for America's "Secret War" in Laos and Cambodia, the first thing you did was sign an oath to never speak about what happened for 20 years. Now able to sp…

Retired CIA Operative and government whistleblower Gary Berntsen continues to share insights and details from the results of a four-year investigation into election tampering. His team’s conclusion: Enemies of the United States including Venezuela, Cuba, China and Serbia have been determining the results of elections in the U.S. since 2006 through …

Retired CIA Operative and government whistleblower Gary Berntsen reveals the results of a four-year investigation into election tampering. His team’s conclusion: Enemies of the United States including Venezuela, Cuba, China and Serbia have been determining the results of elections in the U.S. since 2006 through the use of electronic systems that th…

An Inspiring Reprise Episode From Season One: Human trafficking is a $150 billion-a-year business that thrives in war zones and is arguably more lucrative than arms sales. Lurata Lyon joins HBH and bravely tells her unimaginable story of survival during the Balkan Wars across Eastern Europe in the 1990s. Lurata was kidnapped into human trafficking …

Mikael Cook served as a U.S. Army engineer in the reserves. He was sent to Afghanistan in 2019 helping to build out infrastructure for U.S. military camps, working with local translators and other workers. He befriended his Afghan co-workers, especially an interpreter, Muhammad, and his brother Abdul. Following the Trump administration’s decision i…

Former Florida police investigator James Byrd-Williams, Sr. recounts the story of his son's murder in 2020. 44-year-old Michael Williams was an African-American man living in the mostly White college town of Grinnell, Iowa, to be near his ex-wife and kids. Occurring just weeks after the George Floyd incident, Michael Williams’ body was found strang…

Becky Ellis was one of her father’s eight children by four wives, and the chaos of her childhood, dominated by a haunted and difficult father, marked her and all her siblings. As a child, she suffered through her father’s paranoia about Nazis attacking them; trips to the dentist without anesthesia; and other irrational behaviors. Only at age 89, wh…

Admiral Robert Stiles Harward, Jr. grew up in a Navy family, living overseas, and eventually joined up himself as a means to pay for college. Adm. Harward ultimately went on to an amazing career and leading the U.S. Navy Seals, and the Naval Special Warfare Group Task Force KBAR. He explains his amazingly positive view of the world and philosophy o…

Did you miss it? One of the most popular episodes we ever released from Season One is back for an encore listen: Russian and Chinese-backed rebels were making deadly headway in Oman during its Civil War of the early 1970s. In support of the Western-allied Sultan, the British Army secretly deployed nine operators from its most elite unit, the SAS. H…

Mark Paul’s outrageous adventure,“The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told," is the hilarious story of two buddies who won't give up on their stroke of luck. While the horse is the real hero of the story—a filly who broke the odds when she won the Kentucky Derby out of sheer heart. Mark and his friend Dino determine to try, along with a third gambling…

David Crow had a childhood like no other—with a mentally troubled mother and a criminally sociopathic father who raised his kids on a Navajo reservation, despite not actually being Native-American. David describes how his father tried to train him to be his criminal accomplice, until as an adult David broke away and ultimately built a successful li…

Bobbie Myers served for years as a Florida policeman, de-stressing from his first responder experiences by living at the beach and surfing. Suddenly, after dramatically saving a drowning boy, his PTSD was triggered. He sought help and found a unique way to heal himself—repairing the headstones and tending the gravesites of fallen heroes, soldiers, …

When he started playing video game “Red Dead Redemption 2”, (which has sold over 64 million copies) Professor Tore Olsson from the University of Tennessee was inspired to use the game's setting in the American West to inspire his students and provoke a conversation about the real history of this romanticized era. And his curriculum has been a wild …

Previous HBH guests, private security contractors Dean and Alana Stott are back—this time reporting on their work last October, after the terrorist attacks in Israel. Charged with helping Americans and others get their loved ones home, Dean describes arriving in Israel for the first time ever, and how they navigated operating on the ground in a cou…

Three lives collide and transform in wartime: The Japanese fighter pilot, Mitsuo Fuchida, who led the attack on Pearl Harbor; the U.S. pilot Jake DeShazer, who bombed Tokyo in retaliation and became a Japanese POW; and Peggy Covell, an American woman who felt compelled to help the Japanese-Americans interned in the U.S., despite her missionary fami…

Lynne Black Jr., as member of RT Alabama – a recon team of the legendary MACV-SOG (“Study and Observations Group”) – fought in one of the most amazing missions of the eight-year "secret war" during the Vietnam War. As their Kingbee helicopter spiraled downward toward the target west of the dangerous A Shau valley in Laos, Lynne and his team observe…

In 1911, experts believed that the psychology of different races was distinct, and so, like other states, the state of Maryland founded Crownsville, a mental asylum administered by an all-white doctor and nursing staff expressly and exclusively for African-Americans. From her book "Madness," author/Peabody Award-winning journalist/on-air NBC corres…

In 1968, SSgt. Richard Fitts Sr. was a member of the legendary MACV-SOG team based in Vietnam, fighting in the ‘secret war’ in Laos, when the helicopter he was flying in crashed in the jungle in a ball of flames. Richard was declared Missing in Action while his wife and 3-year-old son back home in Massachusetts were given no other information. For …

In late April 1968, John K. Cordsen was a U.S. Marine on his second tour of duty when he became engaged in one of the most fiercely fought yet little-known battles of the Vietnam War. Over three days, a single battalion of 860 U.S. Marines fought against nearly 10,000 North Vietnamese soldiers over control of a river that was a critical supply line…

Howard Snyder Jr. was a B-17 pilot bombing Nazi targets during WWII—when in February 1944 he and his ten-man crew were shot down over Nazi-held Belgium, close to the French border. His son Steve Snyder details how eight of the men, including his dad, survived the crash before scattering into the countryside. Howard survived through the bravery and …