{"id":104179,"date":"2019-04-22T12:23:43","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T17:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=104179"},"modified":"2026-09-24T20:54:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T01:54:33","slug":"podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast #501: Zero to Hero: From Bullied Kid to Medal of Honor Recipient"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As a boy, Allen J. Lynch was a severely bullied and aimless kid growing up in the industrial neighborhoods of Chicago&#8217;s South Side. He went on to serve in the Army, receive the Medal of Honor for the valor he displayed when he rushed to save three fallen comrades during&nbsp;a deadly firefight in Vietnam, and dedicate his life to helping his fellow veterans.<\/p>\n<p>Today I talk to Allen about his story, which he shares in his recently published memoir:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0998968927\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0998968927&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=stucosuccess&amp;linkId=FSXA3GZUT5SFDAZ4\"><em>Zero&nbsp;to Hero: From Bullied Kid to Warrior<\/em><\/a>. We begin our conversation discussing his childhood, when the bullying started, and how it affected his youth. Allen then shares the aimlessness he had as a high school graduate and how he carried it with him after he signed up for the Army, and at first struggled to adapt to military life. We then discuss how Allen ended up in Vietnam, the best friend he lost there, and the harrowing scenario that earned him a Medal of Honor citation. Allen then shares how receiving the Medal of Honor put him on a path of service in helping fellow veterans heal from the wounds of war. We end our conversation with a poignant discussion of Allen\u2019s own battle with PTSD and how his motto of \u201cothers not self\u201d has helped him deal with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a boy, Allen J. Lynch was a severely bullied and aimless kid growing up in the industrial neighborhoods of Chicago&#8217;s South Side. He went on to serve in the Army, receive the Medal of Honor for the valor he displayed when he rushed to save three fallen comrades during&nbsp;a deadly firefight in Vietnam, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":195339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[502,156,42388],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-character","category-podcast","category-self-improvement"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/501-538x280.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/501-768x432.png","aom":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/501-372x230.png","reactor-320":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/501-320x180.png","reactor-640":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/501-640x360.png"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Medal of Honor Recipient Allen J. Lynch Interview | Art of Manliness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As a boy, Allen J. Lynch was a severely bullied. He went on to serve in the Army and receive the Medal of Honor for the valor he displayed in Vietnam.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Podcast #501: Zero to Hero: From Bullied Kid to Medal of Honor Recipient | The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a boy, Allen J. Lynch was a severely bullied. He went on to serve in the Army and receive the Medal of Honor for the valor he displayed in Vietnam.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-22T17:23:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-25T01:54:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/501.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brett\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832\"},\"headline\":\"Podcast #501: Zero to Hero: From Bullied Kid to Medal of Honor Recipient\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-22T17:23:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-25T01:54:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":238,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/501.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Character\",\"Podcast\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2019\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\\\/\",\"name\":\"Medal of Honor Recipient Allen J. Lynch Interview | Art of Manliness\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/501.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-22T17:23:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-25T01:54:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832\"},\"description\":\"As a boy, Allen J. Lynch was a severely bullied. He went on to serve in the Army and receive the Medal of Honor for the valor he displayed in Vietnam.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/501.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/501.png\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Podcast #501: Zero to Hero: From Bullied Kid to Medal of Honor Recipient\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Art of Manliness\",\"description\":\"Men&#039;s Interest and Lifestyle\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832\",\"name\":\"Brett\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/artofmanliness.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/author\\\/brett\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Medal of Honor Recipient Allen J. Lynch Interview | Art of Manliness","description":"As a boy, Allen J. Lynch was a severely bullied. He went on to serve in the Army and receive the Medal of Honor for the valor he displayed in Vietnam.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Podcast #501: Zero to Hero: From Bullied Kid to Medal of Honor Recipient | The Art of Manliness","og_description":"As a boy, Allen J. Lynch was a severely bullied. He went on to serve in the Army and receive the Medal of Honor for the valor he displayed in Vietnam.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/","og_site_name":"The Art of Manliness","article_publisher":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/artofmanliness","article_published_time":"2019-04-22T17:23:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-25T01:54:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/501.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Brett","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@artofmanliness","twitter_site":"@artofmanliness","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brett","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/"},"author":{"name":"Brett","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#\/schema\/person\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832"},"headline":"Podcast #501: Zero to Hero: From Bullied Kid to Medal of Honor Recipient","datePublished":"2019-04-22T17:23:43+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-25T01:54:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/"},"wordCount":238,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/501.png","articleSection":["Character","Podcast","Self-Improvement"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2019","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/","url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/","name":"Medal of Honor Recipient Allen J. Lynch Interview | Art of Manliness","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/501.png","datePublished":"2019-04-22T17:23:43+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-25T01:54:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#\/schema\/person\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832"},"description":"As a boy, Allen J. Lynch was a severely bullied. He went on to serve in the Army and receive the Medal of Honor for the valor he displayed in Vietnam.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/501.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/501.png","width":1280,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-501-zero-to-hero-from-bullied-kid-to-medal-of-honor-recipient\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Podcast #501: Zero to Hero: From Bullied Kid to Medal of Honor Recipient"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/","name":"The Art of Manliness","description":"Men&#039;s Interest and Lifestyle","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#\/schema\/person\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832","name":"Brett","sameAs":["http:\/\/artofmanliness.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/author\/brett\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}