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Nathaniel L. Moir

Episode 2385 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a three-way conversation with your pod-caster, Andy Pham and special guest Nathaniel L.Moir who will discuss his new book about Bernard B. Fall titled: Number One Realist.

Nathaniel L. Moir has a very distinguished resume. He is a research associate in the Applied History Project at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, a former senior research fellow at the Naval Postgraduate School, and a former Ernest May Postdoctoral Fellow in History and Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. His is the author of Number One Realist. On top of all that, his father is a Vietnam Veteran and he served with the 101^st Airborne Division in Afghanistan.

As a result of his studies of history, he recently published a book about Bernard B. Fall. The book is described as An elegant biography of Bernard B. Fall, a highly influential twentieth-century military thinker, a man haunted by both the Holocaust and the futility of modern warfare.

In a 1965 letter to Newsweek, French writer and academic Bernard Fall (1926–67) staked a claim as the ‘Number One Realist’ on the Vietnam War. This is the first book to study the thought of this overlooked figure, one of the most important experts on counterinsurgency warfare in Indochina. Nathaniel L. Moir’s intellectual history analyses Fall’s formative experiences: his service in the French underground and army during the Second World War; his father’s execution by the Germans and his mother’s murder in Auschwitz; and his work as a research analyst at the Nuremberg Trials.

Moir demonstrates how these critical events shaped Fall’s trenchant analysis of Viet Minh-led revolutionary warfare during the French-Indochina War and the early Vietnam War.

Listen to episode 2385 and discover more about Nathaniel L. Moir and his new book about Bernard B. Fall titled: Number One Realist.

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Chico the Gunfighter, the unique Gun-Podded, Stormy Fast FAC F-4E Phantom II of the Vietnam War.

Episode 2391 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about the baddest F-4 in the Vietnam War. The featured story appeared in the Aviation Geek Club Blog and is titled: Meet Chico the Gunfighter, the unique Gun-Podded, Stormy Fast FAC F-4E Phantom II of the Vietnam War.

The story was submitted By Dario Leone. He is an aviation, defense and military writer. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviation Geek Club” one of the world’s most read military aviation blogs. His writing has appeared in The National Interest and other news media. He has reported from Europe and flown Super Puma and Cougar helicopters with the Swiss Air Force.

The Aviation Geek club was launched in 2016 by Dario Leone, an Italian lifelong – aviation geek, this blog is the right place where you can share your passion and meet other aviation enthusiasts from all over the world.

In the episode Dario describes the baddest F-4 used in the Vietnam War. He begins with a description of the events that were occurring in the spring of 1972. The North Vietnamese were invading South Vietnam and something was needed to help stem the flow of the invasion.

As a result, a somewhat unique mission for one F-4E Phantom,  was born of opportunity and circumstance, and not a little initiative on one officer’s part. At the time of this bold enemy offensive, the Da Nang based 366th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) Gunfighters was the last F-4 Wing in South Vietnam, and very close to the DMZ. These factors inspired Gunfighters Director of Operations Colonel J. D. Pewitt to conceive the idea of operating one of the Wings F-4Es as a free-roaming and heavily armed strike-recce aircraft to help stem the fast-moving enemy tide and collect up to the minute feedback on rapidly changing NVA positions and operations.

Listen to episode 2391 and discover more about the baddest F-4 in the Vietnam War.

The above print is available in multiple sizes from AircraftProfilePrints.com

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Toilet Bomb in Vietnam

Episode 2400 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about the momentous event that occurred in the Vietnam War when the first toilet bomb was employed. The featured story comes from the Hot Cars website and is titled: The Reason Why A U.S. Skyraider Dropped A Toilet Bomb During Vietnam. It was submitted by Georgios Mavridis.

In his story, Mavridis tells about how it came about that the historic U.S. Navy Strike Fighter Squadron 25, the “Fist of the Fleet” originated the first toilet bomb used in the 1965 during the American Vietnam War. That bomb was delivered by an A-1 Skyraider from the VA-25 squadron. The plane was piloted on that mission by CDR Clarence ‘Bill’ Stoddard.

Mavridis then goes on to describe how two pilots in the same unit today have carried out a déjà vu event. They mounted another toilet bomb on one of their unit’s brand new F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters with block III upgrade package.

The use of a toilet bomb on a modern day F/-18 Super Hornet fighter was to commemorate the first use of such a weapon way back in the Vietnam War days.

The original use of the toilet bomb came about when pilots in VA-25 wanted to mark the occasion of the unit’s use of 6 million pounds of ordnance in the ongoing war.

The VA-25 operated from an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea. Being rather isolated on the carrier, the pilots had little access to stores where memorial items could be purchased. Fortunately, a damaged toilet that the crew of the ship planned to throw away presented an excellent solution for their program. The rest is history.

Listen to episode 2400 and discover more about the momentous event that occurred in the Vietnam War when the first toilet bomb was employed.

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Commemorative Wooden Dog Tags

Episode 2394 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about how the good people of Woodford County, Kentucky honored their POW and MIA’s and their families.

According to the Gov Info website, POW/MIA Recognition Day is commemorated on the third Friday of every September, a date that’s not associated with any particular war. Resolutions making it official were passed in 1979 by Congress and the president after the families of the more than 2,500 Vietnam War POW/MIAs pushed for full accountability.

The point of POW/MIA Recognition Day is to ensure that America remembers and shows that it stands behind those who serve, and to make sure the Nation does everything it can to account for those who have never returned.

On September 16, 2022, the good people of Woodford County took the purpose of POW/MIA Recognition Day to heart.

The Woodford County Veteran’s Commission and Woodford County Library are came together to host a special ceremony honoring prisoners of war and missing in action veterans.

The event was made even more special by local residents Mr. and Mrs. Gullery. The couple made four dog tags in their home shop. She wants families to have these tags and remember that their loved ones were more than POW’s and MIA’s but special people to them and their community.

Listen to episode 2394 and discover more about how the good people of Woodford County, Kentucky honored their POW and MIA’s and their families.

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Episode 2425 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about how patriotism and respect for Vietnam Veterans was demonstrated at the University of North Dakota on Veterans Day. The featured story appeared in The UND Today – The University of north Dakota’s Official News Source and is titled UND’s commitment to veterans shines through. The story was submitted by Patrick C. Miller. He is the Strategic Communications Editor, UND Communications Energy and environmental technologies, biomedical research, unmanned aircraft systems. He holds a B.S. in News/Editorial Journalism, South Dakota State.

For all those who subscribe to the idea that patriotism in America is on the decline, let them go to the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks. On Veterans Day, 2022 the University conducted a Veterans Day ceremony at the Gorecki Alumni Center last Friday.

In his keynote address UND President Andrew Armacost’s voice choked with emotion when describing the defiance, resilience and perseverance displayed by American prisoners of war who spent years of their lives in torturous captivity during the Vietnam War.

Another element of the Veterans Day activities was a reference to the recent Honor Flight from Grand Forks. According to Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski, who is a UND graduate, said one of the best moments of his past two years as mayor was helping to welcome Vietnam-era veterans back from their Honor Flight visit to Washington, D.C.

“To see those men in their 70s and 80s – strong, tough, warfighting men – come back grinning ear to ear with tears rolling down their faces as they walked off that plane, they got the reception they deserved 50 years ago, but didn’t get until that day,” Bochenski recalled.

Listen to episode 2425  and discover more about how patriotism and respect for Vietnam Veterans was demonstrated at the University of North Dakota on Veterans Day.