Buried by shellfire three times at Belleau Wood, a Marine still wrote his mom. Hear soldiers' own words from 11 battles.

For Veterans Day, Navy SEAL David Rutherford reads letters and first-person accounts from Bunker Hill (1775) to Marjah (2010): Peter Brown at Bunker Hill, Lt. Joseph Hodgkins on the Christmas night crossing, Pvt. Ellis Strouss after Gettysburg, Pvt. Will Lamson and Lt. Col. Stephen Weld in the Wilderness, Pvt. Hiram Pottinger at Belleau Wood, a Marine on Iwo Jima, SSgt. David Baldwin on Christmas Eve at the Bulge, a Marine at the Chosin Reservoir, Cpl. Charles McMahon in Hue, a Marine major in Fallujah, and the 1/6 mortarmen at Marjah. Then David explains what the letters prove: war isn't sexy, veterans aren't superheroes, and they fight for the man on their right.

Chapters
0:00 Cold Open
0:59 Bunker Hill and Trenton: The First Letters Home
5:48 Gettysburg: Two Letters to Mom
9:59 The Wilderness: The Woods Caught Fire
13:34 Belleau Wood: Liquid Fire, Gas and Buried Three Times
23:11 Iwo Jima: Thirteen Days on the Rock
25:41 Black Rifle Coffee
26:47 Battle of the Bulge: The Christmas Eve Sentry
33:34 Chosin, Hue, Fallujah and Marjah
43:47 What These Letters Prove About Veterans

Sponsor: Black Rifle Coffee, https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/
Substack: https://davidrutherfordletter.substack.com/
Froglogic Institute: froglogicinstitute.com
Veterans Crisis Line: dial 988, then press 1.