



Meet John Clem, the Youngest Soldier to Fight in the Civil War
On this episode of Our American Stories, at an age when most kids were still in school, John Clem was marching into battle. He joined the Union Army as a drummer boy at just 12 and quickly became a symbol of bravery. Wounded at Chickamauga and promoted on the field, he was known across the country …

The Customer Service Lesson Mike Leven Never Forgot
On this episode of Our American Stories, Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Stephen Ambrose on the Young Men Who Flew WWII Bombers
On this episode of Our American Stories, during World War II, thousands of young Americans volunteered to fly dangerous bombing missions over Europe in the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, one of the most heavily produced aircraft of the war. Many of the men climbing into those freezing aluminum bomber…

The Mom Who Refused to Give Up on Her Mono Mono Twins
On this episode of Our American Stories, for years, Lex Ginger was told pregnancy might never happen because of PCOS and a blood-clotting disorder that made miscarriage far more likely. Then, after becoming pregnant, doctors discovered she was carrying mono-mono twins, a rare and dangerous conditio…

The Opera Singer Who Left Her Husband One Last Song
On this episode of Our American Stories, Tom Lyons and Lillian Lyons married in 1946 and spent a lifetime together on the South Side of Chicago. Lillian’s opera career began before their marriage, and it was her voice that first captured Tom’s heart. Through decades of family life, music remained a…

Why Bob Munden Is Still the Fastest Gun on Record
On this episode of Our American Stories, Wild Bill Hickok. Doc Holliday. Billy the Kid. None of them ever matched Bob Munden’s speed. Known around the world as the fastest gun who ever lived, Munden could draw, fire, and hit a target before anyone else had even cleared leather. Our own Greg Hengler…

She Spent 46 Years Searching for the Sisters She Never Met
On this episode of Our American Stories, Traci Huguley was still a child when she learned she had been adopted. Years later, she discovered that two younger sisters had also been placed with other families. For decades, she carried their birthdays in her mind and quietly searched for them everywher…

Johnny Cash Entered a Cave to Die. He Found God Instead.
On this episode of Our American Stories, by 1967, Johnny Cash had become one of the biggest names in country music, though his addiction to amphetamines had pushed him into a vicious cycle of hospital visits and arrests. After days without sleep and hundreds of pills, Cash wandered into Nickajack C…

The Story of a Real-Life “Rosie the Riveter”
On this episode of Our American Stories, before World War II, factory work remained largely closed off to American women. That changed after the attack on Attack on Pearl Harbor, when millions of men shipped overseas to fight and wartime production created an urgent need for workers in America’s fa…

Louis Armstrong Changed American Music Forever
On this episode of Our American Stories, by the time the Jazz Age arrived in the 1920s, Louis Armstrong had already begun transforming American music. Raised in New Orleans and shaped by the streets, dance halls, and neighborhoods surrounding Storyville, Armstrong developed a revolutionary jazz sou…