Godly men who changed the course of history | Episode 019

Show notes

Recently, Crosspoint hit the road to interview COL Doug Mastriano, USA (Ret.), for a two-part episode. In part 1, COL Mastriano and his son, Josiah, talk about “Men God Used to change the Course of History” during World War I.

And next episode, in part 2, COL Mastriano and his wife, Rebbie, share their story of “Prayers God Answered that Changed The Course of History,” which takes place during his deployment to the Middle East during the first Gulf War.

As part of this special two-part series, we also have a FREE book giveaway that we hope you’ll take part in.

COL Mastriano recently wrote a book titled, Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne. SGT York is also the subject of Crosspoint episode number 6—Developing Your Character Muscle.

We have one copy of the book, signed with a personalized note from COL Mastriano, that we want to give away to you. All you need to do is send an email to [email protected]. Share a story of how God has moved in your life or during your military career, but even if you don’t have a story to share, just be sure to include in the body of the email that you’d like to be entered into the book giveaway. We’ll keep the contest open over the next two episodes, so you have until 19 October to send that email.

In today’s episode, Doug and Josiah talk about the 100-year anniversary of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of World War I. This was the 47-day battle culminating on the Armistice of 11 November, 1918, and it remains the largest U.S. military campaign to this day, involving at least 1.2 million American soldiers.

Not only will Doug and Josiah recount some of the history of this battle, along with some of their research findings, but they’ll also share stories of godly men serving in uniform and how their actions helped change the course of the war.

Conversation Outline

• [4:32] An overview of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which started 26 September, 1918, and ended 11 November, 1918.
• [6:05] Dr. John Lennox, a professor at Oxford University, astutely states, “New things are old things happening to new people.”
• [7:29] “When we make His story our story, we can change history.”
• [8:48] A discussion of the men God used to change history in WWI.
• [9:39] Setting the scene with the arrival of the American Expeditionary Forces.
• [11:20] Introducing MAJ James Rieger.
• [12:40] MAJ Rieger’s heroic actions.
• [13:40] Developing your moral character muscle.
• [15:00] A slight detour to the Civil War and a closer look at another Christian hero in the military, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.
• [17:17] The story of SGT Forrest.
• [18:58] The Lost Battalion.
• [20:15] How Cher Ami, a carrier pigeon, saved the Lost Battalion.
• [21:44] SGT Alvin York’s heroic actions.
• [23:52] PVT Nels Wold sacrifices his life.
• [25:18] Christian roots of the core values in each branch of service.
• [27:24] A joint Army/Marine operation, led by COL Robert Van Horn, breaks through the line.
• [31:33] A closer look at the research of the Mastrianos.
• [34:10] Setting memorial stones; details of the SGT York trail.
• [35:42] A century later, the legacy of these Christian soldiers is being honored.

Resources mentioned in this episode

SGT York Discovery website

Thunder in the Argonne

Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne

Stop-motion promo video of SGT Forrest