Hello everyone

Welcome back to iTalkEnglish Pdocast.

I’m Sahar and here with me today is Ali.

Hey everyone, Ali is here; I hope you are all doing fine.

In this episode, we are going to talk to you about an event in history that you, yes YOU probably think is illogical; but in fact is totally true.

Before we get started, let’s get through some new words from the upcoming text you may need to know for a better understanding. Shall we Ali?

Of course Sahar, actually there are some words in the context that might be a bit hard, I’m gonna talk about them.

So let’s go.

Perish

When anything is destroyed or ruined, like people, like animals, like things, we say these things are perished.

Break out

Break out is when prisoners are freed from the prison, and that’s not a good thing.

Isn’t that? I think it is good!

Well prisoners are sometimes not good people. They are bad guys.

They supposed to be bad guys, yes.

Platoon or troop

Well Sahar, Platoon and Troop are exactly synonyms and it means groups or squads of soldiers in a war.

Camouflage

Camouflage. Disguise or cloth or set of clothes that are similar to animals, or Sahar sometimes to the environment, You see, in war people go to jungles and the camouflage is green.

There’s a fashion by this Ali, isn’t that?

Well you can’t say it is fashion. You use camouflage to hide from your enemies.

Wow! That sounds terrible.

Shove

Shove means push. You push or shove a gun or pistol toward someone.

Wow! It gets dangerous.

Gut

Well gut is part of the stomach or belly.

Infuriate

Infuriate. When you make someone angry or mad, you infuriate him.

Like what you’re doing right now with me!

Well I’m not that type of person but yeah, you might say that Sahar.

I’ve thought you doing

Magazine.

In weapons, you actually keep ammunition or explosive in the magazine. Or in fact, the weapons shoot bullets through the magazine.

Wow! Another word.

Gain composure.

Well Composure is when you’re calm. Nothing, no stress. You gain your composure. You’re calm.

I hope one day I gain it.

Equivalent

When two things are equivalent, they’re exactly like each other and the same.

And the last one, which is buried.

Well when someone dies, you put the body under the ground.

Well that was the words. Ali , what’s next?

Well let’s get into the context Sahar. Shall we?

Sure. We shall. Let’s go.

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During WWII, when Sergeant Leonard A. Funk was confronted by 90 German soldiers, he began to laugh hysterically at the situation. Many of the enemy soldiers joined him in laughter, until Funk wiped them out with his machine gun, gunning down 21 and capturing the rest.

Sergeant Leonard A. Funk was a recipient of the United States Army Medal of Honor and was one of the most decorated soldiers of the World War II. It was January of 1945. Funk’s company was sent to Belgium to contain a German breakout. The company had to march in heavy snow for about 15 miles. The executive perished on the road and Funk took over the command. There were not many infantrymen to hold against the Germans, so Funk decided to hire people from the company office. Most of the new hires were desk clerks!

With a platoon of 30 clerks, Funk was able to capture 30 Germans. Another team had captured 50 Germans, and prisoners from both the teams were put in the yard of a house. Four US soldiers were left to guard them, and Funk returned to fight. In the meantime, a German patrol came by and fooled the four guards by wearing camouflage capes similar to the American troops. They freed the prisoners. Funk had no idea about this and came back to check on the prisoners. As soon as he walked into the yard, a German officer shoved a pistol into Funk’s gut. Funk took everyone by surprise by starting to laugh out loud. The story goes that the more he laughed the angrier the German officer got. The officer started shouting at Funk in German and Funk continued to infuriate him by laughing hard. Soon the other enemy soldiers joined in on the laughter.

After some time when Funk finally gained his composure, he went ahead to unsling his gun in an act of surrender. But in a swift motion, he emptied an entire magazine into the German officer! By the time the Germans realized what happened, Funk had ordered his men to pick up any weapon they could find and open fire. His troop was able to kill 21 Germans, wounded 24, and captured the rest. Funk was later heard saying. “That was the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.” Sounds like a comedy movie plot, doesn’t it? But it’s so true!

By war’s end Funk had received, among other awards, the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart with two oak leaf clusters, the Dutch Militaire WillemsOrde—said to be the equivalent of the British Victoria Cross—and the Medal of Honor, presented to Funk at the White House by President Harry Truman.

Leonard Funk left the Army after the war and ultimately became Pittsburgh regional chief of the Veterans Administration. He died in 1992 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

This was today’s event. For more interesting but lesser known event from history, subscribe to our channel on Castbox and follow our Instagram page. See you.

Tellers: Sahar ArabYazdi, Ali Fathi

Editor: Mohammad Hadi Ghane

Sponsor: italkenglish,ir (www.italkenglish.ir)