During World War II, the United States built 2,710 Liberty ships to move the cargo needed to fight a global war. They were plain, inexpensive, and often called “ugly ducklings,” but without them the Allied victory would have been impossible.

Join the Veterans Breakfast Club as Glenn Flickinger welcomes award-winning journalist and author Doug Most to discuss his acclaimed new book, Launching Liberty: The Epic Race to Build the Ships That Took America to War.

Doug tells the remarkable story of how Franklin Roosevelt, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, naval architects, welders, engineers, and hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans created one of the greatest industrial achievements in history. In just a few short years, American shipyards transformed shipbuilding from a process measured in months into one measured in weeks—and sometimes even days. Along the way, women, African Americans, migrants from across the country, and first-time shipbuilders became part of an extraordinary workforce that helped supply Allied armies around the globe.

We’ll talk about why Liberty ships mattered so much, how Henry Kaiser’s innovative shipyards changed manufacturing forever, and how America’s race to outproduce German U-boats became one of the great untold stories of World War II. Just as importantly, we’ll remember the hundreds of thousands of workers—many of them building ships for the first time—whose efforts transformed the United States into the Arsenal of Democracy and helped win the war.

The Veterans Breakfast Club creates communities of listening around veterans and their stories to connect, educate, heal, and inspire.

#LibertyShips #WorldWarII #WWII #MerchantMarine #HenryKaiser #DougMost #MilitaryHistory #NavalHistory #GreatestGeneration #VeteransBreakfastClub #ArsenalOfDemocracy #HomeFront #History #WW2History

We welcome helicopter pilots in Vietnam to VBC LIVE to discuss their service with these iconic machines. Nothing, in fact, is more closely associated with the Vietnam War than the helicopter.

More than 12,000 helicopters served in Southeast Asia, carrying troops into battle, evacuating the wounded, escorting convoys, directing artillery, scouting enemy positions, and providing close air support. For the men who flew them, every mission demanded skill and courage, plus some luck.

Joining us are Army helicopter pilots whose combined experiences span some of the most important aircraft and missions of the war.

Barry Lloyd flew UH-1 Huey gunships and OH-23 Raven scout helicopters during two combat tours in Vietnam. Twice wounded in action, he survived being shot down before going on to a distinguished civilian career as Chief Pilot for CAL FIRE.

Barry Desfor flew UH-1 Hueys and AH-1 Cobra gunships in Vietnam before returning as an instructor pilot. After the war, he founded HeliValue$ and created The Official Helicopter Blue Book®, the worldwide standard for helicopter valuation.

Gil Ferrey flew OH-23 Ravens and UH-1 Hueys, first in Korea and then with the legendary 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment during its deployment to Vietnam. As a command-and-control pilot, he witnessed firsthand how helicopters transformed modern warfare.

Together they’ll discuss what it was like to fly low over jungle canopies, insert troops into landing zones, escort convoys, search for enemy forces, and survive one of the most dangerous jobs of the Vietnam War.

If you flew helicopters in Vietnam or served in Army aviation we especially invite you to join us and share your own memories and questions.

Among the helicopters we’ll discuss are some of these icons of the war:

• UH-1 Iroquois (“Huey”) – the workhorse utility helicopter used for troop transport, medevac, command and control, and gunship missions.
• AH-1 Cobra – the Army’s first purpose-built attack helicopter, developed to escort Hueys and provide devastating fire support.
• OH-23 Raven – a light observation helicopter used for scouting, artillery spotting, and command-and-control missions during the early years of the war.
• OH-6 Cayuse (“Loach”) – a tiny, agile scout helicopter famous for flying dangerously low in search of enemy forces.
• CH-47 Chinook – the Army’s heavy-lift helicopter, capable of carrying troops, artillery, vehicles, and supplies.
• CH-54 Skycrane – the giant flying crane used to recover downed aircraft and move heavy equipment.

In August 1969, nearly half a million Americans gathered at a farm in Upstate New York for what would become a defining moment of a generation: the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. But Woodstock wasn’t really about music. In large part, it was about war. And the soundtrack it produced revealed the nation’s fault lines of protest, patriotism, grief, and defiance.

Join the Veterans Breakfast Club as we return to one of our most popular conversations: the music of the Vietnam War era. This time, we mark the 57th anniversary of Woodstock and add some new voices.

We’ll be joined by longtime VBC favorites Doug Bradley, Donn Nemchick, and Shaun Hall, along with two special guests who bring fresh perspective:

• Ron Farina, a U.S. Marine who lived the war these songs were trying to make sense of
• Mary Ellen Junda, a nationally recognized music historian, conductor, and educator whose work explores how song expresses social consciousness and binds communities together

Dr. Junda’s scholarship focuses on how music helps us process social change and conflict. She studies folk traditions and how music shapes as much as it represents the age.

We’ll talk about what troops in Vietnam actually listened to and what they knew about the changing music scene back home. We’ll also talk about Woodstock and what it meant.

Is China already a great power—or still becoming one? And if it is, what does that mean for the United States, the Navy, and the balance of power at sea?

Dr. Bernard “Bud” Cole is a 30-year U.S. Navy veteran, former warship commander, and one of America’s leading experts on China’s military and maritime strategy.

Bud Cole has spent a lifetime in the Pacific—at sea, in uniform, and in the classroom—studying the very questions now dominating headlines:

• Captain, U.S. Navy (Ret.) – Surface Warfare Officer with 30 years of service
• Commanded USS Rathburne (FF-1057) and a destroyer squadron
• Served in Vietnam as a naval gunfire liaison officer with Marines
• Former Professor of International History, National War College
• Author of landmark works on China and naval power, including The Great Wall at Sea

He has watched China’s rise not from afar, but up close—over decades—as its navy evolved into a global force challenging U.S. influence across the Indo-Pacific.

• What “great power” actually means—and whether China meets the test
• The rapid expansion of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)
• Why the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait matter so much
• How maritime power shapes global trade, energy, and security
• Where U.S.–China competition is heading—and what could go wrong
• Lessons from history about rising powers and established ones

This is not a cable news argument or a policy lecture. It’s a conversation with someone who has served, commanded, studied, and taught the realities of naval power and great-power competition.

About VBC LIVE:
The Veterans Breakfast Club brings veterans, families, and the public together in communities of listening—where stories, experience, and history help us better understand today’s world.

#China #USNavy #IndoPacific #Taiwan #SouthChinaSea #Geopolitics #MilitaryHistory #NavalStrategy #Veterans #GreatPower #VBC