VA Presents: My Life, My Story

VA Presents: My Life, My Story

If someone asked you to tell your life story, what would you say? Since 2013, writers from the “My Life, My Story” project have asked more than 5,000 Veterans at VA hospitals around the United States to tell their life stories. With the Veteran’s permission, those stories go into the Veteran’s medical record so that VA health care providers can read them and get to know their patients better. On this podcast, we’ll share some of our favorite stories from over the years.

Episodes

August 2, 2023 10 mins
A smart, funny sailor talks about her journey from being a cook on a destroyer to a counselor on an aircraft carrier.
Mark as Played
This amazing story details the day-to-day existence of a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II, and also what followed his liberation.
Mark as Played
A veteran discovers at 20 years old something that upends everything he thought he knew about himself. But life goes on.
Mark as Played
May 26, 2023 8 mins
“You never know what other people are going through." That's a cornerstone idea for the "My Life, My Story" project, and it really rings true in this story about Greg.
Mark as Played
May 19, 2023 9 mins
Where you start in life can go a long way toward determining where you end up as an adult. But it doesn’t have to.
Mark as Played
The story that Florian tells in this episode is literally the stuff movies are (and have been) made of. Whether or not you know the history of the USS Indianapolis, this is a story worth hearing.
Mark as Played
August 19, 2021 9 mins
A taxidermist who trekked alone through China and made it into a book called "Weird Wisconsin" -- those are some of the highlights of this wonderful veteran's story.
Mark as Played
August 12, 2021 9 mins
A lot of people have screwed up, royally, at least once in their lives. They've crashed cars, yelled at the wrong guy in a bar, fallen asleep on guard duty, cheated on their spouse . . . or worse. Sometimes, people dwell a lot on the screw-ups. But in Jeb's case, we hear more about what it means to deal with regret while moving on.
Mark as Played
August 5, 2021 13 mins
Many of the veterans we interview are very sick. Sometimes they're even in hospice care. Those patients are often very aware that the end is near. When that's the case, it can really shape what a veteran has to say about his or her life as a whole.
Mark as Played
July 29, 2021 9 mins
From sibling rivalries to birthday traditions, Alexis's story highlights the highs and lows of family life. Her story was written by a medical student, part of a growing educational trend of having future doctors and nurses interview patients and write up their life histories.
Mark as Played
July 22, 2021 7 mins
Life stories can move at a lot of different speeds. Sometimes, we'll get a "slow burner" - the gradual accumulation of years and relationships and jobs all add up to One Big Tale. Other times, life changes in a flash. Boone's life is one of those "flash" stories.
Mark as Played
July 15, 2021 11 mins
Rick's story takes several major turns, but one struggle he faced more than once was the struggle of being alone. There's the loneliness that comes from pain, and from being ostracized. And then there's the solitude some people might go looking for to heal up from the things that hurt them.
Mark as Played
July 8, 2021 10 mins
Everyone we interview has served in the military. But why did they sign up? It's a question we ask often. The answer featured in this episode of our podcast is priceless.
Mark as Played
Some people search their whole life for work they love. How many of us know what we want to do before we're old enough to walk?
Mark as Played
June 24, 2021 9 mins
Do you remember the first time you saw your spouse? How did your upbringing shape how you raised your kids? Have you ever been seconds away from dying? In this episode, Mary revisits some of her life's biggest moments.
Mark as Played
June 14, 2021 9 mins
This story is a good reminder of how "going off to war" isn't just a perilous situation for the combatant, but also for the family members back home.
Mark as Played
In his very long life, Joseph was many things. World War II veteran. Son. Father. Worker. Traveler. And he was also a pioneer who faced all kinds of resistance and discrimination during his nearly 10 decades on this earth.
Mark as Played
We've heard a lot of war stories over the years from the veterans we interview for the "My Life, My Story" project. But because our project focuses on Veterans' entire lives -- and not just their time in service -- we also hear about first loves, broken hearts, and the secrets to long marriages. In this episode, we're bringing you a love story that has a little bit of all three.
Mark as Played
The Korean War is often called "the forgotten war," but in this episode of the "My Life, My Story" podcast, we bring you the unforgettable story of Daniel, who was a prisoner of war in Korea for an astonishing 38 months.

Daniel was one of hundreds of captured U.S. soldiers who endured what has come to be known as the Tiger Death March. He shared his story with us more than 60 years after his release in 1953.
We're releasing this epis...
Mark as Played
August 31, 2020 8 mins
For our last episode of the first season of the "My Life, My Story" podcast, we decided to record the story of the oldest Veteran we've ever interviewed. "Charlie" was nearly 108 when his story was written in the spring of 2020. That means he was old even for World War II veterans. By the time he fought in the Battle of the Bulge, he was already 32.

There's something about Charlie's story that captures what our project is all about....
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    The Burden

    The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.

    SmartLess

    "SmartLess" with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett is a podcast that connects and unites people from all walks of life to learn about shared experiences through thoughtful dialogue and organic hilarity. A nice surprise: in each episode of SmartLess, one of the hosts reveals his mystery guest to the other two. What ensues is a genuinely improvised and authentic conversation filled with laughter and newfound knowledge to feed the SmartLess mind. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of SmartLess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

    The Breakfast Club

    The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.