Shooting Ghosts, John Wompas

Shooting Ghosts Guests: Thomas James Brennan, Retired Marine Corps Sergeant, Founder, The War Horse, Co-author, “Shooting Ghosts” with Finbarr O’Reilly, Photojournalist The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now America’s longest running conflict. More than two-and-a-half million veterans have served in those wars. Retired Marine Corps sergeant Thomas James Brennan is one of them. He’s a Purple Heart recipient and now an investigative journalist. He’s co-written an unusual memoir in partnership with combat photographer Finbarr O’Reilly. They met in a remote outpost of Afghanistan’s Helmand Province in 2010. What they experienced there formed the basis of a friendship that has brought both of them a measure a comfort as they’ve struggled with the psychological effects of war. John Wompas: American Indian, Real Estate Mogul, Swindler Guest: Jenny Hale Pulsipher, PhD, Associate Professor, History, Brigham Young University, Author, “Swindler Sachem: The American Indian Who Sold His Birthright, Dropped Out of Harvard, and Conned the King of England” The story of a fascinating American Indian starts about a decade after English settlers and the Wampanoag Indians gathered for a harvest festival we now consider the first Thanksgiving. John Wompas was born around 1637 near what today is Grafton, Massachusetts. He was a Nipmuc Indian, but he didn’t come from any royal lineage in the tribe. His father was not a chief – or “sachem,” as the tribe’s leaders were called. And yet, John Wompas would become prominent in both Nipmuc and English communities. He would study at Harvard. Become the first Indian involved in the transatlantic sea trade. Get rich off of real estate deals. End up in debtor’s prison in London and convince the King to lend him a hand.