
Valor, memory, and the cost of courage.
The gist
Medal of Honor Podcast presents tightly narrated accounts of service members whose actions led to the nation’s highest military award. Its episodes move from battlefield context to decisive moments of courage, often lingering on the cost paid by the recipient and those around them.
PRESS PLAY
Find your next episode
About Medal of Honor Podcast
Medal of Honor Podcast is a compact military-history series about valor in conditions where survival is uncertain and time is collapsing. Its episodes are built like case files with a pulse. A service member is introduced through background, unit, war, and terrain, then the story tightens around the action that made the medal possible. The tone is measured. It does not need ornament because the situations are already severe. Owen F.P. Hammerberg’s episode turns a salvage dive into a claustrophobic rescue story, with mud, steel cables, zero visibility, and two trapped men underwater. The A Shau episodes place Bennie G. Adkins and Bernard Francis Fisher inside a wider battle shaped by failed resupply, weather, retreat, and confused fire. Emil J. Kapaun’s story shifts from battlefield chaplaincy to captivity, where survival depends on heat, water, morale, and the refusal to abandon wounded men. The show also makes room for disputed memory. Its Alvin York episode examines how a heroic account can harden into public myth while other soldiers’ roles fade from view. That gives the series more range than a simple gallery of bravery. It honors sacrifice, but it also asks how recognition is created, delayed, challenged, or upgraded decades later. Some installments are standard narrated profiles. Others arrive as feed drops from related history shows, bringing in interviews and adjacent stories such as Earl Plumlee, Louis Zamperini, and Jack H. Jacobs. The recurring structure makes the show easy to enter at almost any episode. The details are often grim. Men are trapped, wounded, captured, shot at, or left with impossible choices. Still, the focus stays on conduct under pressure rather than spectacle. For listeners drawn to military history, moral courage, and the complicated afterlife of official honor, Medal of Honor Podcast offers clean, concentrated storytelling with real historical weight.
Made for: For military-history listeners who want concise, serious accounts of combat, rescue, captivity, and recognition. It also suits audiences interested in how heroic reputations are documented, disputed, and remembered.
What sets it apart: The series pairs battlefield narration with the administrative and historical afterlife of the Medal of Honor, including delayed upgrades and contested accounts. It is reverent without flattening every story into legend.
In their own words
Ken Harbaugh tells the stories of service members who have distinguished themselves through an act of valor. These stories from the Civil War to present day include recipients who were originally overlooked for the medal as well as those who were celebrated at the time.This podcast is made in partnership with The National Medal of Honor Museum.
Talks about
Podcasts like Medal of Honor Podcast
Against the OddsOutnumbered units, remembered under fire.

Key Battles of American HistoryKey Battles of American HistoryBattle maps, war films, and patient context.
VeldherenPeter van Uhm, Mart de Kruif, Jos de Groot / Corti MediaWar news, tested against military reality.

World’s Story Volume V- Italy, France, Spain and PortugalEva March TappanAntique European history, read aloud.
Episodes
- 1
Diving in Darkness: PO2 Owen F.P. Hammerberg
Dec 23, 2024·5m - 2
Landing in a Minefield: MG Patrick Henry Brady
Dec 9, 2024·7m - 3
The Rescue of Bat 21: Lieutenant Thomas Norris
Nov 25, 2024·8m - 4
Hunted in North Vietnam: Lieutenant Michael Thornton
Nov 11, 2024·8m - 5
The Capture of U-505: LTJG Albert L. David
Oct 28, 2024·5m - 6
The Battle of Shok Valley: SSG Ronald J. Shurer II
Oct 14, 2024·7m - 7
The Ultimate Sacrifice: Pvt. Christian and Pvt. Johnson
Sep 30, 2024·7m - 8
The Fighting Field Music: Sgt. Darrell S. Cole
Sep 16, 2024·6m - 9
The Battle of A Shau Part II: CSM Bennie G. Adkins
Sep 2, 2024·15m - 10
The Battle of A Shau Part I: Col. Bernard Francis Fisher
Hidden gemMedal of Honor Podcast's "The Battle of A Shau Part I: Col.
Aug 19, 2024·22m·1 clip - 11
Feed Drop: History Daily - A B-24 Crash Survivor Begins a Fight for Survival
Hidden gemLouis Zamperini survives the Green Hornet crash, 33 days on a raft, and capture in the Marshall Islands.
Aug 12, 2024·19m·1 clip - 12
Surrounded in Ia Drang: LTC Ronald E. Ray
Aug 5, 2024·7m - 13
A Sky Full of Bullets: SSG Salvatore Agustine Giunta
Jul 22, 2024·5m - 14
Rerun: Daniel Inouye
Jul 8, 2024·4m - 15
Anything for His Crew: 2d Lt. Robert Edward Femoyer
Jul 1, 2024·5m - 16
A Century Old Myth: Sergeant Alvin York
Hidden gemThe familiar Alvin York legend was “fabricated,” and the Medal of Honor recommendation helped lock it in.
Jun 24, 2024·18m·1 clip - 17
Rerun: Jacob Parrott
Jun 17, 2024·5m - 18
Clearing the Trench: SSG Edward N. Kaneshiro
Jun 10, 2024·6m - 19
A Beacon of Light: CH (CPT) Emil J. Kapaun
This episode tells the story of Father Emil Capon, a Catholic priest who served as a chaplain in WWII and was awarded the Medal of Honor.
Jun 3, 2024·10m - 20
Feed Drop: An Insurgent’s Nightmare - MSG Earl Plumlee
Host Ken Harbaugh introduces an interview with Medal of Honor recipient Earl Plumlee, who recounts his heroic actions in Afghanistan.
May 27, 2024·55m·2 clips - 21
Rerun: The Unbelievable Story - MSG Earl Plumlee
May 20, 2024·8m - 22
A One-Man Advance: Pvt. Dale Merlin Hansen
May 13, 2024·4m - 23
Feed Drop: History Shorts - Conversations: Col. Jack H. Jacobs
May 10, 2024·17m - 24
1,000 Man Ambush: SP5 Dwight W. Birdwell
May 6, 2024·7m - 25
A Ticking Time Bomb: AC1 John Lee Levitow
Apr 29, 2024·7m - 26
Hostage Rescue in Iraq: SGM Thomas P. Payne
Apr 22, 2024·7m - 27
The Invasion of Iraq: SFC Paul Ray Smith
Apr 15, 2024·5m - 28
Running Over the Enemy: S/Sgt. Herbert H. Burr
Apr 8, 2024·5m - 29
A Pilot’s Final Moments: Capt. Steven Logan Bennett
Apr 1, 2024·6m - 30
Rerun: SFC Webster Anderson
Mar 29, 2024·4m - 31
The Only Female Recipient: Dr. Mary E. Walker
Mar 25, 2024·6m - 32
Ambushed in Afghanistan: SSG Robert J. Miller
Mar 18, 2024·8m - 33
Defending Till the End: PFC Anthony T. Kaho’ohanohano
Mar 11, 2024·4m - 34
A Selfless Hero: SGT John Phillip Baca
Mar 4, 2024·5m - 35
The Battle of Ia Drang Valley: Col. Walter Marm Jr.
Feb 26, 2024·5m - 36
The Myth of the Arizona Balloon Buster: 1st Lt. Frank Luke
This episode tells the story of Frank Luke Jr., a World War I aviator who earned the Medal of Honor.
Feb 19, 2024·11m - 37
The Kamikaze Attacks: Lt. Richard Miles McCool Jr.
Feb 12, 2024·7m - 38
The Black Panther Tank Battalion: S/Sgt. Ruben Rivers
Feb 5, 2024·5m - 39
The Lost Battalion: Four Medal of Honor Stories - Part 2
Jan 22, 2024·7m - 40
The Lost Battalion: Four Medal of Honor Stories - Part 1
Jan 15, 2024·8m - 41
Thirteen vs. Two: Col William A. Shomo
Jan 8, 2024·4m - 42
Rerun: MSgt Leroy Petry
Jan 1, 2024·5m - 43
The Unbelievable Story: MSG Earl Plumlee
Dec 18, 2023·8m - 44
The Toughest Thing He’s Ever Done: SP5 Clarence Eugene Sasser
Dec 11, 2023·6m - 45
Brothers in Arms: SM1 Douglas Albert Munro
Dec 4, 2023·6m - 46
Surviving a Rocket: Lt. Comdr. Thomas Gunning Kelly
Nov 27, 2023·5m - 47
Service and Sacrifice: Cpl William Kyle Carpenter
Nov 20, 2023·6m - 48
BG Theodore Roosevelt Jr.: A D-Day Hero
Nov 13, 2023·5m - 49
CinC Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt: The Rough Riders
Nov 6, 2023·7m