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Battles of the First World War Podcast

Talking 28th Division AEF with Aaron Heft

Battles of the First World War Podcast

Mike Cunha

History

4.8812 Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2021

⏱️ 44 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Join us for a great discussion with Aaron Heft, currently serving as a SFC in the Army National Guard. Aaron works as a unit historian with the Army National Guard’s Leader Development program, where he uses lessons from the past to train and prepare today’s soldiers for the battlefield. 

 

He joins us to discuss the American 28th “Keystone” Division in World War I, a unit of primarily Pennsylvania National Guardsmen of which Aaron is currently a member. This talk will not be exclusively about the 28th’s time in the Meuse-Argonne, so you will hear about some other battles and engagements elsewhere along the Western Front. 

 

Link for the video version is here: 

https://youtu.be/ANOM4MYAUBA

 

Book links here:

  1.     Wendy Yessler, Private Compton, https://www.amazon.com/Private-Compton-Experiences-Battalion-Infantry/dp/0578503131
  2.     William Graham, Hells Observer, https://www.amazon.com/Hells-Observer-Wartime-American-Expeditionary/dp/0615620914/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=hells+observer&qid=1634085281&s=books&sr=1-1
  3.     H.W. Hilton, War Over Half a Century Ago, https://www.amazon.com/War-Over-Half-Century-Ago/dp/B0006XLAUA/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=war+over+half+a+century+ago&qid=1634085329&s=books&sr=1-1
  4.     James Murrin, With the 112th In France, https://www.amazon.com/112th-France-Doughboyss-Story-War/dp/1356238629/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=with+the+112th+in+france&qid=1634085382&s=books&sr=1-1
  5.     Chester Baker, Doughboys Diary, https://www.amazon.com/Doughboys-Diary-Millie-Ragosta-ebook/dp/B00UQOMIVO/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=doughboy+diary&qid=1634085497&s=books&sr=1-3
  6.     George Cooper, Our Second Battalion, https://www.amazon.com/Our-Second-Battalion-Accurate-Authentic/dp/1358194335/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Our+second+battalion&qid=1634085528&s=books&sr=1-1
  7.     James Wharton, Squad, https://www.amazon.com/Squad-James-B-Wharton/dp/B000872FNA/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=squad+james+hwarton&qid=1634085565&s=books&sr=1-1-spell
  8.     Hervey Allen, It Was Like This, https://www.amazon.com/Was-Like-This-Hervey-ALLEN/dp/B000MXD50M/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=it+was+like+this+hervey+allen&qid=1634085597&s=books&sr=1-1
  9.     Hervey Allen, Towards the Flame, https://www.amazon.com/Toward-Flame-Memoir-World-War/dp/0803259476/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=towards+the+flame+hervey+allen&qid=1634085618&s=books&sr=1-1

10.Bob Hoffman, I Remember the Last War, https://www.amazon.com/Remember-Last-War-Original-Restored/dp/1467930237/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=bob+hoffman+I+remember+the+last+war&qid=1634085666&s=books&sr=1-1

 

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]. Rate, review, and subscribe to the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.

 

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

All right. Okay. So, hey folks, welcome to the Battles of the First World War podcast.

0:09.8

With me today is Aaron Heft, currently serving as a sergeant first class in the Army National Guard.

0:17.7

Aaron works as the NCOIC, that's NCO in charge, of the Army National Guard's

0:23.4

Leader Development Program, where he uses lessons from the past to train and prepare

0:29.7

today's soldiers for the battlefield. Today, he joins us to discuss the American 28th Keystone

0:37.2

Division in World War I, a unit of primarily

0:40.6

Pennsylvania National Guardsmen with whom Aaron served for 15 years.

0:46.5

This talk will not be exclusively about the 28th time in the Mursargan, so you will hear

0:53.7

about some other battles and engagements elsewhere along the Western Front.

0:59.1

And folks, there is a video version of this episode as well that will be uploaded to the Battles of the First World War podcast, little known and generally neglected YouTube channel.

1:10.9

It will be shared in social media so you can check out anything.

1:15.1

Well, you can check out Aaron's awesome office here, which has tons of 28th Division

1:20.3

memorabilia hanging up.

1:23.3

So with that, I'd like to go ahead and get started.

1:27.1

Aaron, welcome to the podcast.

1:28.8

Thank you so much for coming on.

1:31.4

It's absolutely my pleasure.

1:32.9

As I said, I've been a listener for several years now,

1:36.1

so it's pretty cool to get the chance to be on the show as well.

1:39.1

This is so cool.

1:39.7

And so folks, right before we started recording, Aaron told me that when he conducted a staff ride in, was it 2018, 2019?

1:51.0

Just the end of 2019, yeah.

...

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