Interview with an American Hero

Interview with an American Hero is a special episode of the bNation podcast, wherein David Burkean interviews Roland Martin, Greatest Generation hero extraordinaire.

1942: First Lieutenant Roland Martin, U.S. Army Air Corps (Ret.) went from Air Cadet to pilot of a B-17 Flying Fortress. He’d yet to turn twenty. This teen named his B-17 the Iron Maiden. Lt. Martin and his nine crewmen completed nine missions over Nazi held Europe. On their tenth, the Iron Maiden went down in a hail of flak. Amazingly, Lt. Martin’s entire crew survived what came to be known as Black Thursday. (That’s ten American families who owe a big debt.)

Roland was a POW in Stalag Luft 1 for nearly two years, after going on the lam behind enemy lines for two weeks with his top-gunner. (We’ve all seen countless reenactments of WW2 exploits like these. This is the real deal.)

His hero’s journey from ground-bound boy to steely bomber commander and POW survivor is only part of Roland’s exceptional American story. Fast forward to 1979. Roland was a top man for Akio Morita at SONY America when they launched the Walkman! SONY’s revolutionary music player took the country by storm and transformed the electronics industry. The Walkman was the iPod before the iPod. No Walkman, no iPod. No iPod, no iPhone.

Roland Martin is also a sharp centenarian and perfect gentleman.

Join us as we go to 11 with Roland Martin!

CHAPTERS

1. Boyhood

2. Cadet

3. Bomber Pilot

4. The Iron Maiden

5. Combat

6. Black Thursday

7. On the Lam

8. POW

9. Coming Home

10. Walkman

11. Carmel Valley

CREDITS

• Jedidiah Burkean - Motion Graphics

• Jimmy Collins - Wingman, son of Tom Collins

• David Burkean, Jack of all trades

• Steve Stiles - Stills, including of the Iron Maiden belly down in a 1942 German farm field, aka Roland’s perfect crash-landing.

• Ralph Love - Counsel

• Larry Wallace - Introduction

• The Wiseguys - Reinforcement

&

Our Greatest Living American

All Glory To

First Lt. Roland Martin (Retired)

His service to America marches on!