#338 - Black Dragon: Fox Company’s Untold WWII Story

Black Rifle Coffee Podcast

Black Rifle Coffee Podcast Network

Society & Culture, Comedy

4.8 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2025

⏱️ 143 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week's guest on the Black Rifle Coffee Podcast is Steve McCloud, author of “Black Dragon”, an in-depth account of the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines during the Pacific Campaign in WWII. Steve joins Logan Stark to talk about the incredible journey of these Marines, including the pivotal role they played at Iwo Jima, the incredible story of leadership and sacrifice, and the decade-long research journey Steve undertook to piece together this powerful narrative. Don’t miss this fascinating look into history, leadership, and the enduring spirit of the Marine Corps. Host: Find more about Logan Stark on socials @loganstark Guests: Steve McCloud: Founder of Trident Leadership, Author of Black Dragon For information on PMEs, battlefield leadership experiences, or the 80th Anniversary Pacific Tour, visit TridentLeadership.com Visit their website: www.tridentleadership.com And check out their book: “Black Dragon: The Experience of a Marine Rifle Company in the Central Pacific” https://www.amazon.com/Black-Dragon-Experience-Williams-Ford-University/dp/1648430171

Transcript

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0:00.0	Black Dragon copy, baby.
0:01.5	Freedom kill him.
0:02.6	Welcome back to the show.
0:09.5	I am joined today by Steve McLeod, author of The Black Dragon.
0:15.4	One of the most detailed and historic accounts of the 2nd battalion, 23rd Marines of the 4th Division
0:24.9	throughout the Pacific Campaign in World War II. And I wanted to have you come and do this
0:31.3	podcast for a couple reasons. One is that we're in the middle of the 80th anniversary of the
0:36.2	Pacific Campaign, specifically on Iwo Jima.
0:39.7	And then also, and we'll kind of get into this a little bit later, but Black Rifle is working with beyond the call to do something really incredible as far as getting back to Iwo Jima.
0:53.4	And that is the last wishes of one of the Marines
0:57.3	from 223, Charlie Kohler, one of his last requests as he passed last year was that his
1:06.2	ashes get taken back to the coordinates in which his brother was buried at sea.
1:12.1	Eddie Kohler suffered wounds on Iwo Jima, and then later passed while he was on a hospital
1:21.0	ship and then was buried at sea just off of the coast of Iwo Jima.
1:24.3	So we're working with them to get back.
1:27.0	And so it's interesting to be able to have a
1:30.2	direct personal connection to some of the characters in this story. Um, and Steve has, you've done
1:37.4	such a good job documenting all this. This is like, um, it's funny to me, the, the Marine Corps, um,
1:43.6	does certain things over time um and as you were
1:46.6	telling me last night um you really had to like piecemeal this thing together and it was
1:51.7	um over a decade that you were working on this thing to be able to put it together and
1:56.4	and present this this account of this one company throughout their Pacific campaign.
	...

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