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CAN A SNIPPET FROM A 78 YEAR OLD NEWSPAPER ARTICLE HELP SOLVE THE CASE OF A MISSING MARINE THAT HAS BAFFLED INVESTIGATORS FOR DECADES? IS IT THE BREAK IN THE CASE THAT ALL INVESTIGATORS DREAM ABOUT?Today’s case on No Home for Heroes is holds a clue that has baffled us for years. The clue should have been a great lead in a tough case but has turned out to be a big giant dead end for almost 80 years for every investigator who has ever worked the case of Unknown X-37.HAVE WE FINALLY SOLVED THE SECRET? STAY TUNED TO FIND OUT...

Perhaps a case only Jack Webb from the old TV series "DRAGNET" could solve. An airplane designed to transport nuclear weapons crashes in Alaska in 1952 with 52 souls on board, according to the official flight manifest. The crash site is lost for 60 sixty years and when finally found, the airplane has moved 14 miles and an ID card is found for someone who is NOT supposed to be on the airplane! This is just one of several strange twists to this latest of "History's Military Mysteries" on NO HOME FOR HEROES.

TODAY’S EPISODE OF “NO HOME FOR HEROES” IS AN INCREDIBLE TALE OF PERSEVERANCE AND PERSISTENCE IN THE FACE OF A SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE TASK.WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN SOMEONE TELLS YOU THAT SOMETHING IS IMPOSSIBLE? THAT IT “CAN’T” BE DONE? OR BETTER YET, WHEN YOUR EMPLOYER INSISTS THAT YOU SHOULD NOT PUT MUCH EFFORT INTO YOUR JOB BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT LIKELY TO SUCCEED IN THE ASSIGNED TASK?ULTIMATELY SEVERAL GROUPS OF PEOPLE WORKED TOGETHER TO "SOLVE THE UNSOLVABLE CASE"...AND ANOTHER AMERICAN HERO WAS BROUGHT HOME!

FOR OVER SEVENTY YEARS THE REMAINS OF A MISSING AMERICAN SAILOR LAY IN A GRAVE MARKED ONLY WITH A HEADSTONE THAT READ “UNKNOWN."BUT FOR OVER SEVENTY YEARS, EVERYONE OVERLOOKED A SMALL, ONE INCH BRONZE MEDALLION THAT IS LIKELY THE CLUE TO IDENTIFYING THIS HERO AND RETURNING HIM HOME TO HIS FAMILY.STAY TUNED FOR AN INCREDIBLE TALE ABOUT SOLVING ONE OF PEARL HARBOR'S MOST ENDURING MYSTERIES.

IN TODAY'S EPISODE, WE WILL STUFF YOU INTO A TINY CRAMPED AND CLAUSTROPHOBIC COMPARTMENT ABOARD A NAVY TORPEDO BOMBER. YOU WILL BE ASSIGNED AS THE RADIO OPERATOR AND REAR GUNNER OF A TBM AVENGER IN THE SKIES ABOVE A HISTORIC WORLD WAR TWO BATTLE IN THE PACIFIC. THIS EPISODE WILL GIVE YOU SOME INSIGHT OVER WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO DEPEND ON TWO OTHER CREWMEN FOR YOUR VERY SURVIVAL IN THE MIDST OF FIRE AND CHAOS. HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO REMEMBER AND HONOR A HOMETOWN HERO YOU HAVE PROBABLY FORGOTTEN WAS LOST ..“SOMEWHERE OVER SAIPAN"

We start today's episode with some questions for you to ponder...DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST LOVE? WERE YOU 14, OR 15, OR MAYBE A LITTLE OLDER? DESPITE WHAT HAPPENED LATER IN LIFE, WILL YOU ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR FIRST LOVE? TODAY’S EPISODE IS ABOUT ONE SUCH LOVE BY TWO TEEAGERS WHO GREW UP ON TWO DIFFERENT CONTINENTS, INTERRUPTED BY A WORLD WAR AND A LOVE NEVER TO BE FULFILLED. Today's episode details the case of 19 year old Private First Class Harry Cronkhite of State Line, Illinois and even when he was declared missing and later dead, his first love refused to give up the search until the day she died 65 years later.

THE HERO IN TODAY’S EPISODE WAS AWARDED THE NAVY CROSS MEDAL FOR HIS ACTIONS IN THE SKIES OVER EUROPE BUT HE NEVER KNEW OF THE AWARD. HE SURVIVED INCREDIBLE ODDS IN EUROPE TO RETURN TO DUTY MONTH’S LATER IN THE PACIFIC AIR CAMPAIGN AGAINST JAPAN BUT STRANGELY DISAPPEARED ON A ROUTINE FLIGHT SURROUNDED BY THREE SQUADRON MATES IN A CLEAR AND CALM SEA SKY.  

THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING OUR PODCASTS FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS KNOW THAT WE OFTEN FEATURE STORIES ABOUT THE MISSING MARINES AND AIRMEN FROM THE BATTLE OF TARAWA. WE THOUGHT TODAY MIGHT BE A GOOD TIME TO UPDATE YOU ALL ON THE STATUS OF THOSE MIA INVESTIGATIONS IN ADDITION TO PRESENTING AN EPISODE ABOUT ONE OF THOSE MARINES WHO ARE STILL UNACCOUNTED FOR…SGT JOHN TERRY BRACKEEN FROM TIPTON, OKLAHOMA.  

TODAY’S EPISODE IS THE TRUE TALE OF A REAL PRIVATE RYAN, NOT A MOVIE ACTOR…PRIVATE KENNETH JOHN RYAN FROM ARIZONA WHO WAS A MEMBER OF M COMPANY, THIRD BATTALION, SECOND MARINES. SADLY, NOTHING WE CAN DO WILL “SAVE” THE REAL PRIVATE RYAN FROM HIS FATE ON A LONG FORGOTTEN PACIFIC BEACHHEAD, BUT OUR MISSION AT THE CHIEF RICK STONE AND FAMILY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION IS TO PROVIDE THE INFORMATION WE HAVE LEARNED TO PRIVATE RYAN’S FAMILY AND, IF POSSIBLE, HELP FIND HIS REMAINS FOR RECOVERY, IDENTIFICATION, AND RETURN HOME TO HIS FAMILY AFTER BEING MISSING FOR OVER 78 YEARS.

IN THE FINAL COUNT, THERE WOULD BE ONLY 316 SURVIVORS OF THE SINKING OF THE USS INDIANAPOLIS WHO ENDURED LONG HOURS IN THE CRUEL OCEAN WITHOUT FOOD OR WATER AND SWARMS OF HUNGRY SHARKS. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER 879 LOST SAILORS AND HOW THEY DIED BECAME ONE OF HISTORY’S GREATEST SERIES OF MILITARY MYSTERIES. TODAY’S EPISODE IS THE TALE OF JUST ONE OF THOSE MYSTERIES AND IT HAS MORE CLUES, FALSE LEADS, AND DEAD END ALLEYS TO KEEP THE MOST ARDENT SHERLOCK HOLMES FANS SCRATCHING THEIR HEADS

THE DICTIONARY DEFINES A SNAFU AS “a situation marked by errors or confusion.” SO WHAT HAPPENS WHEN NOT ONE, NOT TWO, NOT THREE, BUT MULTIPLE SNAFU’S CONSPIRE TOGETHER TO PREVENT A LOST MARINE FROM BEING IDENTIFIED FOR ALMOST 80 YEARS? MANY OF YOU MAY NOT BE FAMILIAR WITH THE MILITARY ACRONYM “SNAFU”. SNAFU is an acronym that is widely used to stand for the sarcastic expression:  Situation Normal: All FOULED Up.  SINCE THIS IS A FAMILY APPROVED PODCAST I HAVE UTILIZED “FOULED” FOR A MORE WIDELY USED WORD IN THE MILITARY THAT STARTS WITH the letter “F”. The acronym is believed to have originated in the United States Marine Corps during World War Two AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHERE TODAY’S EPISODE TAKES US. STAY TUNED TO FIND OUT HOW PERSISTENCE FINALLY CONQUERING THE SNAFU MONSTER.

TODAY WHEN WE SAY “FLIGHT 19” IN THE SAME SENTENCE WITH “THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE”, JUST ABOUT EVERYONE HAS SOME KNOWLEDGE OF THE STORY…IT USUALLY GOES LIKE THIS…”A BUNCH OF AIRPLANES VANISHED AFTER BEING ABDUCTED BY SPACE ALIENS…OR EATEN BY SEA MONSTERS…OR FLEW INTO A TIME WARP…OR, WELL, JUST RAN OUT OF GAS AND CRASHED INTO THE SEA.” WHAT MOST SEEM TO OVERLOOK IS THAT THERE WERE 14 AMERICAN SERVICEMEN ON THOSE “BUNCH OF PLANES” WHO ARE THE REAL STORY. IN TODAY'S EPISODE, WE PICKED ONE OF THOSE HEROES WHOSE FINAL FLIGHT INTO OBLIVION WAS NOT AT ALL A FATE THAT COULD HAVE BEEN PREDICTED.