Let Them Fight Podcast

If you were a fan of ol' Irma Grese, then you're going to love today's subject, Ilse Koch. She went from normal girl with no red flags, to true believer in the Nazi cause. And nothing good happens after somebody becomes a true believer. Now I don't want to give away any of the details of her heinous actions, but I will say that her nickname was "The Bitch of Buchenwald" and it was more than well deserved.

Well dear listeners, we made it all the way to 200. So here's a special treat, Chesty Puller. A hardass Marine who Marine'd harder than anybody else. If you needed a battle won and some fantastic one liners dropped along the way, this was the man you called. He fought all over the place and earned a ton of awards for badassery along the way. Enjoy!

This week we're bringing you a couple special episodes to celebrate hitting the 200 episodes milestone, and we're kicking it off with the life of a bonkers ass dude who lived like 8 different lives. Jon Roberts seems like the name of a pretty boring dude, but his life was truly a rollercoaster of insanity. I don't want to spoil anything but I'll say if you like mafia stuff, Vietnam War stuff, and cocaine then you're going to really enjoy this guy.

It's time for another trip to Europe, dear listeners. We're going to be talking about the second worst Austrian today, Jack Unterweger. It's a pretty classic story. Man meets hooker, hooker has baby, man flees, hooker goes to jail, and baby is raised by a shitty grandfather. Then goes on to beat and eventually kill hookers himself. You know, that timeless story. Listen in and try to guess why it took those cops so long to figure out who was behind the killings, then laugh at their incompetence. Enjoy!

We're going back to the early days of America to talk about a member of the Comanche who stood up to America's pretty shitty policy in regards to dealing with Native "troublemakers" for as long as he could. He kicked a lot of ass and then when it became time to turn in, he did what he had to do. And made damn sure that his people made some money and were taken care of after the fighting ended. While most stories about Natives don't exactly have happy endings, his was pretty much the best they got. Enjoy!

Today we're covering pretty much the most opposite a person possible from our Tuesday episode. Joseph Paul Franklin, like all Americans with three names, dedicated his life to killing people. And because he was super racist the media gave him the wonderfully creative nickname, The Racist Killer. Really. These people get paid to write for a living. I hate them. Anyways, some truly surprising name drops in this episode, and some that are pretty on the nose. But it's all fun, enjoy!

Today we have badass soldier from the Revolutionary War, Titus Cornelius. It's just a shame he fought for the British instead of the US. But well, we kinda fucked that up by not being the ones to offer him freedom from slavery so that's kinda on us. And it doesn't take away from any of his hard charging, dick punching ways. He ran around New Jersey (gross) and neighboring areas slapping down slave owners wherever he found them. And you know what they say, "Live fast, die young, leave a gangrenous corpse."

Today we're talking about Charles Starkweather, who answers the question, "What if we took a James Dean wannabe and gave him all the worst parts of Mickey Knox from Natural Born Killers, removed all the charisma, and gave him the brain power of James Dean after the car crash?" This spree killer really set the bar in regards to what you can get away with in a few days when the cops are terrible at their jobs. But congratulations to Nebraska for finally giving us something interesting. Enjoy!

Today we'll be talking about the life of Benedict Arnold, one of the most hated men in America due to kinda, sorta betraying us during the Revolutionary War. Of course we wouldn't have won the war without him either. And he kinda got fucked over and over again. So it's all a bit of give and take here. But there are plenty of shenanigans, wonkyness, and violence to discuss. And he has one of the best monuments in America. Enjoy!

Dave Apkarian joins us again to talk about a great marine, and sprayer of nightmare fuel (a flamethrower), Hershel Williams, and the part he played in the battle of Iwo Jima. That battle was horrible no matter what side you were on or what you were doing, but Hershel made it just a tad bit worse for the Japanese as he was walking around with a weapon that turned regular soldiers into well done soldiers. He proceeds to kick ass up and down that small ass island, and still lives a long, full life afterwards.

Today we're joined by friend of the show and shining gem of Fresno, Dave Apkarian, to talk about badass Armenian, Andranik Ozanian. For those that don't know about Armenian history, which is probably most of us since I didn't even know who they were until I was legally old enough to rent a car, they've gotten fucked with by the Turks since pretty much day one. Things got pretty bad for them and Andranik decided to fuck back and did a pretty solid job all things considered. Enjoy the tales of this war hero!

Today we'll be continuing the week of incompetence by talking about John Ausonius. Also known as "The Laser Man," this dude wanted to be the savior of Sweden from the foreign menace, only to go down in history as the most failed, self-hating immigrant, assassin that it's possible to be. Come for the violence, and stay to laugh at how upset Tim gets at the dumb shit this guy did while in prison. Enjoy!

Today we're talking about one of the most batshit crazy people I've ever heard of. What Richard Lawrence lacks in an interesting name, he more than makes up for with pure, unadulterated insanity. It all started pretty normal, then ramps up and up until it becomes one of my favorite stories involving a president. He doesn't commit a lot of violent acts, other than beating on his sisters for assumed slights anyways, but enjoy the story of this incompetent assassin anyways!

Today we're talking about our first (I think) person from Dutchland, or Holland, or the Netherlands, whatever those windmill making bastards call their country. Jeronimus Cornelisz not only has the most frustratingly spelled name I've ever seen, but he was a bonkers ass crazy person. He wound up in Australia and did things that would put that nightmarish hellscape to shame. Or at least ordered those things be done. He didn't get his hands dirty often, but he certainly went horrific when he did. Enjoy!

Today we're talking about a badass Norwegian who for sure has that strong viking blood, Jan Baalsrud. He fought the Nazis when they first showed up in his country, and admittedly lost. But he made his way to Britain to learn how to fight back, at which point he admittedly lost again. So he's not great at winning. But damn if he isn't great at surviving. Dude went through hell and back, and still lived to be an old man. And he got to enjoy a mode of transportation I need to experience some day. Enjoy!

Time for round 2 (or I guess round 4 technically) with Tom Goss, and boy do we have a doozy of a subject for him. Robert Pickton was a murderous dick, ran a pig farm, and, fittingly, he basically wallowed in his own filth. We've covered a few Canadians at this point and Robert is definitely by far the grossest. When the guy running a rendering plant says you're creepy and gross, you should probably just give up at that point and let nature reclaim you. Anyways, enjoy this crazy Canadian murderer!

Today we are joined by comedian, friend of the show, and beloved nutball, Tom Goss, to talk about John C Woods. A man so inept at his job that he actually cycled back around to kinda successful. He stumbled through life bungling one thing after another before winding up in the Army and being asked, "You know how to hang people?" He of course lied his ass off and became the Army's personal executioner. Also you'll get to learn about Tom's weird thing about sea creatures. Enjoy!

Today we'll be visiting the land of leprechauns to discuss a pretty divisive figure from The Troubles, Lenny Murphy. If you're an Irish Protestant or English, you're probably pretty supportive of his cause. But if you're an Irish Catholic or one of the many people in the world that thinks England should keep its dick to itself, you're probably not a fan. Also dude was in charge of a group called The Shankill Butchers so he wasn't really a good person. But anyways, pour yourself an Irish car bomb and enjoy!

Today we're covering a requested vigilante, Nathaniel Kinney, and his terribly named vigilance committee from the 1800s. This committee stirred up a whole heap of shit in Missouri and despite starting for semi-admirable reasons, quickly devolved into some blatant fuckery. Beatings, shootings, and lynchings, they pretty much covered all the necessary bases and earned the attention of a hilariously named governor. Enjoy the tales of their night rides and comically tragic executions!

We're closing out anniversary week with a dude that's popped up over and over again in other stories, so we figured it's finally time to cover his life. Dutch Schultz went from German Jew immigrant to fake Dutchman criminal. He made a lot of money, killed a lot of people, and even blinded a guy in the grossest way possible once. We had a lot of fun talking about his life, and going over the stream of consciousness and insanity that was his last words. Enjoy!