Meuse Argonne - Army of One

Battles of the First World War Podcast

Mike Cunha

History

4.8 • 812 Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2022

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Finally, the retired United States Army motto finds a proper use.

On October 7th, 1918, PVT John Lewis Barkley, a scout in the 3rd Division AEF, decided “to make things interesting for the Germans for a while.” With a captured machine gun and some four thousand rounds of ammunition, he engaged an enemy battalion-sized unit.

Single-handedly.

From inside an abandoned tank.

Here is his story.

Lost Battalion Tours 2022 in the Meuse-Argonne! Come join us.

Email [email protected] for pricing and availability.

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast.

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Follow us on Twitter at @WW1podcast, the Battles of the First World War Podcast page on FaceBook, and on Instagram at @WW1battlecast. Not into social media? Email me directly at [email protected]. Please consider reviewing the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	When I'd made all the preparations I could think of, I settled down in the tank to wait for the Germans to start moving out of the shelter of their woods. The air was clear again, and I could see quite well through the port. I tried not to think about anything. My legs felt wobbly.
0:22.3	I hoped if there was any God, he'd give me the brakes.
0:27.9	Private John Lewis Barkley.
0:30.4	K Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Division AEF, Hill 253, Merzargan, October 7th, 1918. I'm ... ...
0:55.0	... You know, Hey folks, welcome to the battles of the First World War podcast, episode 79, Army of 1.
1:45.8	Got some admin notes. Shout out to listener Toby from Scotland
1:49.3	Who tells me he has listened to every episode
1:53.1	Of the BFWP
1:55.2	Three times
1:56.5	That is just the highest compliment sir
1:59.5	And I thank you for listening to the show.
2:01.9	Really, wow, man, I really appreciate it.
2:06.8	Big shout out as well to listener Scott, who recently donated through PayPal to the podcast.
2:13.4	Thank you so much, Scott.
2:16.2	So, folks, PayPal is another great way to make one-time or recurring donations to the podcast.
2:24.4	Patreon, not your thing, but you'd still like to contribute.
2:28.6	Who knows?
2:29.3	Maybe you're a certain director named Peter Jackson of We Shall Not Grow Old Fame and are looking to float a certain
2:35.8	plucky little podcast with like, I don't know, six figures. Parentheses. I mean, if you're not
2:42.1	willing to embarrass yourself by asking, do you really want it? End parentheses. PayPal is an easy
2:48.3	way to donate to the podcast. We have a PayPal button on the website,
2:53.0	First World Warpodcast.com,
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -1064 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Mike Cunha, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Mike Cunha and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.