MISSING DOWN UNDER: THE TOM PHILLIPS STORY
1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast
Release Date: 06/29/2025
1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast
Tom Phillips and his three young children disappeared from the isolated rural Waikato town of Marokopa on 9 December 2021. New Zealand Police believe that the children were taken by their father to a location somewhere in the western Waikato, after a dispute with their mother. Phillips is alleged to have committed a bank robbery in September 2023, but the first sighting of all three children with their father was on 3 October 2024, when they were spotted walking through Marokopa farmland. However, despite a three-day search of the area, including the use of a military helicopter, they have not...
info_outline1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast
Gregory "Pappy" Boyington (December 4, 1912 – January 11, 1988) was an American combat pilot who was a United States Marine Corps fighter ace during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. A Marine aviator with the Pacific fleet in 1941, Boyington joined the "Flying Tigers" (1st American Volunteer Group) of the Republic of China Air Force and saw combat in Burma in late 1941 and 1942 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In September 1942, Boyington rejoined the Marine Corps. In early 1943, he deployed to the South Pacific and began flying combat missions in the F4U...
info_outline1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast
By 1880 the ATS&F Railroad had laid tracks from Kansas City to California- and people and products were starting to move through the still untamed west. Food along the way, however, was a spotty proposition, and the railroad was faced with a dilemma. Cooks were hard to keep employed, and waiters were hard to find. Thats when Fred Harvey, who had emigrated from England to the US at age 15 and got into the restaurant, and then the train business- saw an opportunity. He went to the offices of the Atcheson, Yopeka, & Santa Fe Railroad and offered them a plan. If the railroads would...
info_outline1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast
On October 25, 1944, through a series of naval movements, a small 13 ship destroyer task force found itself the only thing between a huge 23 ship Japanese battle fleet and the American landing force attempting to free the Japanese held Philippine Islands. When the choice came to run south, one destroyer commander named Ernest Evans,a Cherokee Indian who had joined to fight, charged the entire Japanese fleet alone, guns blazing and torpedoes firing, while the crew of largest battleship in the world, the Yama
info_outline1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast
On the 26th of March, 1863, the first six Medals of Honor were awarded to 6 surviving members of the Andrew's Raiders, who, one year earlier , had participating in a daring union raid into the south to commandeer a railroad engine and hobble Confederate supply lines around Chattanooga. The first of the six went to private Jacob Parrott. This is the story. Resources: • https://www.thoughtco.com/great-locomotive-chase-2360250 • Andrews Raiders - Warfare History Network https://warfarehistorynetwork.com • Bravery remembered: Civil War raiders...
info_outline1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast
Our 12 stories: 1) Frank Finkel, survived Custer's Last Stand; 2) Vesna Voluvik, sole survivor of terrorist-caused airplane crash over Czech republic 1972; 3) Julieanne Koepcke, when her plane broke up, she fell two miles, strapped in her seat, and landed in the Amazon Rain Forest, where she survived 11 days with multiple injuries until finding help;, 4) Salvador Alvarenga, out for a day of fishing with his friend, was blown further out ton sea in a storm, and survived 438 days at sea with no supplies; 5) A
info_outline1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast
Here is our interview with filmmaker/producer Steve Edmiston ("The Maury Island Incident", Youtube) regarding the Maury Island UFO incident which occurred in June 1947 in the Seattle/Tacoma area. For all of you who live within a day's drive of Seattle WA you really need to consider attending the 4th annual,MIBB- the Men in Black Birthday Bash-to honor the event which all began with the alleged sighting of three UFO's by Harold Dahl, son, and boat crew in 1947, just a few days before. Come dressed in black. Aliens welcome. This is one of the craziest UFO stories out there, and it doesn't get...
info_outline1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast
JON'S TOP TEN WWII FAVORITES: #1 OF 10 BEST "The Commando Raid on St. Nazaire: the Most Daring Raid of WWII": The St. Nazaire Raid, also known as Operation Chariot, was a British Amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie drydock at St. Nazaire on March 26th, 1942. The objective of the raid was to destroy the drydock in German-held St. Nazaire, thus denying an Atlantic repair port to the new and powerful German battleship Tirpitz, which by itself was capable of winning the battle for the North Atlantic and cutting off England from much needed supplies. A joint operation...
info_outline1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast
The Tuskeegee Airmen of WWII were the first black pilots to break the color barrier in our Army/Airforce- a job in itself- and this is their heroes story as they paved the way for big changes in our military as well as our industries in the 40's and beyond. Included you will find our 2022 interview with Lt.Col. Harry Stewart as he shares his stories and gives advice to our younger generation about being the best you can be if you want to succeed in life. Lt, Col. Stewart passed this past Feb 2025 at age 100. He turned 100 on July 4th, 2024. RIP. It was a huge honor for me to interview...
info_outline1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast
The incredible true story of Moe Berg- a major league baseball player who became a WWII spy and infiltrated the Nazi top scientist group to find out if the Nazis were close to making the atom bomb.
info_outlineTom Phillips and his three young children disappeared from the isolated rural Waikato town of Marokopa on 9 December 2021. New Zealand Police believe that the children were taken by their father to a location somewhere in the western Waikato, after a dispute with their mother. Phillips is alleged to have committed a bank robbery in September 2023, but the first sighting of all three children with their father was on 3 October 2024, when they were spotted walking through Marokopa farmland. However, despite a three-day search of the area, including the use of a military helicopter, they have not yet been located.
Background
Marokopa seen from above
Before their disappearance, Tom Phillips lived in Ōtorohanga in New Zealand's Waikato district with his three children.[ They also spent much of their time at the family farm in Marokopa. Phillips had been separated from his wife Catherine for several years and was homeschooling the children.[citation needed] He is an experienced hunter and camper. The Phillips family has farmed in the area for generations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_family_disappearances
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/11/world/new-zealand-tom-phillips-missing-children-intl-hnk-dst
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/532022/missing-marokopa-family-detective-spearheading-the-search-for-tom-phillips-and-his-three-children-reveals-what-he-believes-phillips-motive-is
https://nypost.com/2024/10/11/world-news/new-zealand-mothers-chilling-theory-as-missing-kids-re-emerge-in-bushland-with-father-tom-phillips/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9DnIfQ_EuM
(use this one for finding–middle of the story)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0lvbGxGfuY
(supportive of the father)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pVjMwhYr7M
(too long)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O0xExooPio
(use for starting of story)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH4E9dM69PI
(good mom info)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/17/three-years-in-the-wild-how-a-fugitive-father-has-hidden-his-children-for-so-long-ntwnfb
https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/10/08/timeline-disappearance-of-tom-phillips-and-marokopa-children/
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/missing-marokopa-family-waikato-ute-owners-plea-for-sightings-after-theft/GBX5NWPJRBAKBIJVA4RKOUDFN4/