Ret. Marine Col. Eddie Ray joined host and oral historian Matt Fratus on Episode 36 of the Late Night History podcast to share his life story. In this short, but powerful video, Eddie shares exactly how he became a battlefield tactician using a football-inspired playbook to call "plays" to defeat a numerically superior enemy force. Ultimately, Eddie's seven Light Armored Vehicles (and two Cobra helicopter gunships) defeated more than 50 Iraqi Armored Vehicles.

As a result, Eddie was awarded the Navy Cross, the nation’s second highest medal for heroism on the battlefield. Eddie is one of only two Americans awarded the Navy Cross in the Gulf War.

The full interview is separated into two parts.

Part 1 covers Eddie's upbringing in Los Angeles, his college football career at the University of Washington where he protected future Hall of Fame QB Warren Moon as a member of the offensive line, and his early career as a Marine (enlisted/officer) leading up to the Gulf War.

Part 2 contains the entire breakdown of Eddie's service in the Gulf War, as well as serving as a Battalion Commander in the Iraq Invasion in '03, lessons learned in combat, proudest accomplishments, and so much more.

Listen to the full episode on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

Listen to the full episode on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7qWvBOy...

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