World War II was a pivotal moment in world history, when not only the survival of the United States was at stake, but of democracy throughout the world. Had the Allies lost WW II, fascism would have engulfed the world even as genocide would have robbed humanity of its diversity. WW II veterans live again through these short podcasts, which like the accompanying book of the same name, tell their incredible stories of valor and sacrifice. Each riveting podcast tells the story of WW II through ...
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Dr John David Ulferts Podcasts
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Ep. 20 - When Johnny Comes Marching Home: Transitions and Remembrance
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Following the unconditional surrender of Germany on VE Day and the unconditional surrender of Japan three months later on VJ Day, spontaneous celebrations swept across the US with tinker tape parades, dancing and singing. In Times Square, an estimated two million people gathered to celebrate. But not every veteran participated or received the warm …
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When Germany unconditionally surrendered and Victory in Europe or VE Day was announced on May 8, 1945, American GIs were in a mood to celebrate. For Russell Darks in France and Charlie Toole in London, it was an unforgettable night of celebrations. But, in Germany, Murray Shapiro found that German civilians had nothing to celebrate, and all was qui…
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Having led his country through the most devastating and consequential war in world history, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died just as the war’s end seemed in sight. For GIs like Roland Schump, Murray Shapiro, and Samuel Erlick, the loss of the only President they had ever really known, was as unsettling as it was shocking. In the final weeks of …
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Ep 17 Liberators of the Holocaust Part 3 - Ohrdruf and the Forgotten Concentration Camps
33:06
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Adolph Hitler’s “Final Solution” was carried out in an estimated 44,000 concentration camps, ghettos, and forced labor camps spread out throughout Europe. An estimated 15 to 20 million people were murdered in these camps including six million Jews. For the young American GIs who liberated them, the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps far outwei…
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Ep 16 Liberators of the Holocaust Part 2 - Dachau Concentration Camp
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Adolph Hitler’s “Final Solution” was carried out in 42,400 concentration camps, ghettos, and forced labor camps spread out throughout Europe. An estimated 15 to 20 million people were murdered in these camps including six million Jews. For the young American GIs who liberated them, the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps far outweighed anything…
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Ep 15 Liberators of the Holocaust Part 1 - Buchenwald Concentration Camp
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Adolph Hitler’s “Final Solution” was carried out in 42,400 concentration camps, ghettos, and forced labor camps spread out throughout Europe. An estimated 15 to 20 million people were murdered in these camps including six million Jews. For the young American GIs who liberated them, the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps far outweighed anything…
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The Siegfried Line which spread from the Netherlands to Switzerland was Nazi Germany’s 400 mile westernwall, a heavily fortified defensive line that took the Allies six months to pierce. David Saltman remembered the Siegfried Line as a formidable opponent in itself. Robert Maxwell regained consciousness after throwing himself on a grenade to save h…
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Episode 13 - Typhoon of Steel: The Battle of Okinawa
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The final battle before the anticipated invasion of mainland Japan, Okinawa became the deadliest battle for US forces in the Pacific with savage fighting on land, air, and especially sea. Nicknamed the Typhoon of Steel because of its intense artillery fire and bombardments on land, air and sea, the battle for Okinawa cost 49,000 US casualties inclu…
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Millions of Allied and Axis soldiers became POWs in WW II. His weight down to 90 pounds, sick with malaria, Edgar Kuhlow overheard two German guards talking about his condition – “He is going to stay laying here in Germany.” Forced to work in railyards 2 – 3 times a week in Munich, William Ledeker knew he was better off than the concentration camp …
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With the Germans seemingly on the run everywhere in Europe, the Allies had hoped WW 2 would be done by year’s end 1944. Those hopes were shattered when the Germans launched their largest counter offensive on the western front, the Battle of the Bulge. A frustrated Tom Carr, who served as a scout, had warned his officers for weeks that the ermans ap…
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Ep.9 - Sand in Our Shoes: Island Hopping in the Pacific Theater
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As the Allies embarked on their island hopping campaign growing ever closer to the Japanese mainland, they soon discovered that their enemy in the Pacific was adept at presenting new challenges on every island. Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, Peleliu, Leyte would all forever be ingrained in WW 2 veterans memories - and in their nightmares. Richard V. Morga…
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The African Americans who served on the USS Mason destroyer had already endured 90 mph winds and 60 foot waves that split the Mason's deck as they shepherded convoys to safety in the Atlantic when their beloved Captain Blackford was replaced with a racist captain who claimed the African Americans sailors he led smelled, couldn’t swim, and were hard…
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Ep. 8 - Bloody Red - Blood-soaked Omaha Beach Remembered
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Bloody Omaha Beach bore the brunt of D-Day’s savage fighting with more casualties than all of the other D-Day beaches combined. Aware that the men he led in one of the first waves to land on Bloody Omaha Beach had no prior combat experience, Staff Sergeant Walter Ehlers single handedly took out several German machine gun nests even while he was in …
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Ep7 Robert Bowen D-Day to Operation Market-Garden to Battle of the Bulge
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From landing on Utah beach amidst floating bodies in life preservers to a combat glider landing aboard one of the "flying coffins" at Operation Market Garden. Robert Bowen saw a lot of action in World War II before he was badly injured and taken prisoner of war at the Battle of the Bulge. As a POW a badly injured Bowen was nearly strangled by an en…
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Episode 6 One Tough Gut: Monte Cassino, Anzio, Gunsmoke's James Arness, and a German Troop Train Escape
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While Winston Churchill believed an Allied invasion of Italy would find it the soft underbelly of the Axis, most GIs agreed with General Mark Clark's description of it as "One Tough Gut" as they faced ferocious fighting at Salerno and along the Gustav Line at Mt. Sammucro, Monte Cassino and Anzio. Episode 6 begins with Helen Callentine, a US Army N…
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Episode 5 - Combat Jumps of All American Panther Arnold "Dutch" Nagel
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Arnold "Dutch" Nagel volunteered to be a paratrooper in WW 2 because of the extra $50 per month jump pay paratroopers received and the distinctive uniforms they wore. By war's end, he had participated in 4 combat jumps - Sicily, Maiori, Italy, Operation Market Garden in Holland, and on D-Day at Sainte Mere Eglise, France - and had fought in the inv…
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Episode 4 - Aerial Dogfights and Headhunters - The Amazing Story of Jefferson DeBlanc and the Battle for the Solomon Islands
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In August 1942 the US launched its first major amphibious landing of WW 2 in the Solomon Islands. The battle became a bitter war of attrition as both sides fought feverishly for months on land, sea and air for the strategically important islands. Jefferson DeBlanc became a fighter ace in just one day as he shot down six Japanese fighters before DeB…
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Episode 3 We're In the Army Now - America Goes to War in WW 2
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In the aftermath of the Japanese surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, and the declaration of war against Germany and Japan, millions of Americans didn't wait till their draft numbers were called upon. They immediately enlisted, including nearly 200,000 underage Americans. In the rigorous basic training that followed, young Americans learned that war wa…
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Episode 2 World Set Afire - John McGoran's Day of Infamy aboard the USS California
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As he looked into the USS California's CL compartment located on the ship's lower level, John McGoran "...saw pure horror, my first realization that the game was now for keeps. I saw bodies, many bodies, some of which I knew, just by their eyes, were lifeless." Like the rest of the US Pacific fleet battleships moored at Ford Island's "Battleship Ro…
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Ep1 Iwo Jima Meatgrinder: John Snyder remembers Sgt. George Barlow
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"You're not going to leave me here to die?" Sgt. George Barlow asked his buddy, John Snyder. Barlow had just saved the lives of everyone in his squad by throwing himself on a live grenade the Japanese had hurled into their machine gun emplacement at Iwo Jima. Barlow's lower torso had been blown away, and Snyder knew his friend wouldn't survive unti…
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