Ghosts of Arlington Podcast
Episodes
177 episodes
#37: The Less-Than-Dashing Abner Doubleday, Part II
After taking the time to eat a big breakfast while under bombardment by Confederate shells, Doubleday and his artillerists get the Union into the fight taking the first shift of the Union defense of Fort Sumpter. But the outnumbered force had t...
#60: Introducing the Crew of Apollo 11 (The Apollo Program, Part V)
This week we will take a look at the crew of Apollo 11 and how each came to be selected as a member of the most ambitious mission undertaken in human history - the first attempt to land people on the moon.The Space Race series introduct...
#99: A POW MIA's Five Years to Freedom, Part V
As Lieutenant Nick Rowe's time in captivity moves into its thrid year, it becomes more difficult for him and his American colleagues to stave off the illness and disease that comes with extreme malnutrician, which will claim its first victims i...
#110: Space Age Sunsets
Over the last few weeks we have lost two US astronauts from the golden age of space exploration - Ken Mattingly and Frank Borman - and since I spent 42 weeks on the space race, I felt it was appropriate to take the time to eulogize those two ex...
#129: Tales from Punchbowl, Part III
Young Oak Park was likely the first (maybe the second) Korean American officer in the US Army and was assigned to the 100th Infantry Battalion in World War II, mainly because the army didn't know where else to put a non-Japanese Asian officer. ...
Podcast Announcement
Surgery on Christmas Eve is never fun - unexpected emergency surgery on Christmas Eve is even worse. Listen for more. Happy New Year, everyone!The introduction and transition music heard on the podcast is composed and recorded by the el...
Podcast Update
Just a quick update on where I'm at with the move that has forced the podcast into its current hiatus. The introduction and transition music heard on the podcast is composed and recorded by the eldest Ghosts of Arlington, Jr. While ...
#150: A Tale of Two Soldiers, Part II
Today we continue this tale of two sldiers and learn more about Marine Corps officer Littleton "Tony" Waller who rose through the ranks fighting in Africa, Cuba, and China before leading troops in The Philippines. It was Waller who tried to cou...
#152: The Legend of Johnny Shiloh
During the Civil War, there were many legends surrounding young drummer boys on the battlefield. Arguably, the most famous of these was about Johnny Shiloh who gave the ultimate sacrifice on that Tennessee battlefield. The problem with this leg...
[REPLAY] #13: I Could Stay Here Forever - AKA JFK, Part IX
This is a replay of Episode 13, originally posted on August 30, 2021. While it was originally used as a story of establishing Arlington National Cemetery, it also fits well as the conclusion of the JFK story arc.This week’s Ghost of Arli...
#0: Ghosts of Arlington Podcast Introduction
I was surprised when I looked for an Arlington National Cemetery-themed podcast a few years ago and could not find one. Now, after procrastinating long enough, I have decided to make one myself. Do I know anything about podcasting? No. But I ce...
The Black Sheep of the Mayflower - Supplemental Episode #2
When one finds out that one is a direct descendent of the first person executed for murder in Colonial America, one has to share the story (it's me, I am one). My 11th Great Grandpa John Billington journey on the Mayflower and signed the Mayflo...
#1: The Need for a National Cemetery
This week we talk a little about what Arlington National Cemetery looks like today, what the property started out as, and why a national cemetery was needed next to Washington, DC in the first place.This Week's Ghosts of Arlington are:<...
#2: The First Burials at Arlington - An Act of Necessity and Vengeance
This week we discuss some of the firsts in Arlington's history - including the first burial, the first burial with family present, the first burial of a combat casualty, the first burial of a draftee, and the first officer burial. Included is a...
#3: Arlington Returns to the Lees
First off, there is a partial retraction (or at least a semi-correction) of last week's story of the origin of Taps... that didn't take long! Then, after years of unsuccessful attempts to recover the property and buildings of the former Arlingt...
#4: Custis Lee Gives Up Arlington
After the Supreme Court ruled that Custis Lee was the legal owner of Arlington and the US Government was forced to give the property back, how did it end up back in government hands? This week's ghost of Arlington is:
#5: Montgomery C. Meigs, Part 1 - Father of Arlington National Cemetery
This week's episode is the first of a two-part story about the life of Brevet Major General Montgomery C. Meigs,, covering his birth to just before the outbreak of the Civil War, with a major focus on his two most enduring pre-war engineering p...
#6: Montgomery C. Meigs, Part 2 - Master Builder of the Union Army
This is the second of our two-part story about the life of Montgomery Meigs. Many people with high-profile positions in the US Civil have praised Meigs as an unsung hero of the Civil War, saying without his expert management of Union logi...
#7: Arlington Enters the 20th Century AKA Fighting Joe Wheeler - Confederate General, American General
First off, an apology. For some reason, the audio got wonky in the final third of the show. I cleaned it up the best I could but as I have said before, I really don't have any idea what I'm doing when it comes to this. This week we talk about t...
#8: The Great City and the Great War
Eeek! The podcast was plugged by Doctrine Man, himself. How cool is that?!?! A screen shot is absolutely on the website. Also, we didn't quite make it to the story of the Unknown Soldier like I thought we would - but next week for sure. We do t...
#9: Known but to God (The Story of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier)
This week we cover the selection of an unidentified American World War I soldier who was returned from Europe to be buried in The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Armistice Day 1921.This week’s Ghost of Arli...
#10: Keeping Promises and Breaking Faith
We've got 1930s newsreel sound clips this week (Fancy!) which talk about the time the US Army attack US WWI veterans in Washington, DC on the order of the US president... true story. If you don't know about the Bonus Army in 1932, you need to h...
#11: The Last Great War?
Recovery efforts for WWII remains were well underway when the Korean War broke out in 1950 and put a halt to them. When that war ended, in 1953, the US Army was working to recover fallen Americans from two wars. As a result, the Unknown Soldier...
#12: The Century's Nastiest Little War & Two New Unknowns
I reflect just a little on the fall of Kabul to the Taliban then get back to business with how the Korean War put the recovery efforts of WWII fallen on hold and after the Korean War, recovery teams were cleaning up after two wars. Because the ...