Category: World War II
The USS Missouri
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2010/09/Hawaii-USS-Missouri-4.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:00 — 938.2KB)On September 2nd, 1945 Japan officially surrendered, ending WW II. Douglas MacCarthur addressed the world that day at the event…
Preparing for a Japanese Surrender
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2010/09/Hawaii-USS-Missouri-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:00 — 938.2KB)If you saw a sailor with a broomstick strapped to his leg ascending and descending stairs aboard a ship, you’d…
Moving the Official End of World War II
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2010/09/Hawaii-USS-Missouri-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:00 — 936.7KB)September 2nd, 1945. The Japanese were ready to sign documents officially ending World War II. That event took place aboard…
An Iowa Class Battleship
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2010/09/Hawaii-USS-Missouri-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:00 — 938.2KB)For the next few days we’ll take a look at an event that took place 65 years ago this week–the…
Jackie Cochran, Pilot
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2010/03/Palm-Springs-Jackie-Cochran.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:02 — 953.1KB)Most people have heard of Chuck Yeager, but most have not heard of his good friend Jackie, a pilot who…
France’s Gift of the 40 and 8 Boxcars
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2010/03/40-and-8-Boxcars-21.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:02 — 952.0KB)Thousands of boxcars crisscross the country each day with a variety of cargo. But these boxcars were truly special, because…
The 40 and 8 Boxcar
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2010/03/40-and-8-Boxcars-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:02 — 954.1KB)The term 40 & 8 doesn’t mean much to most Americans–unless you happened to serve in France during one of…
Near Libertation from a POW Camp
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2010/02/POW-Tom-Crosby-4.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:02 — 954.7KB)American troops had finally made it to Manila and were attempting to free POWs like Tom Crosby. Just when things…
Suffering in a POW Camp
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2010/02/POW-Tom-Crosby-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:03 — 957.3KB)It is difficult to imagine the conditions for POWs like Tom Crosby in the weeks leading up to their camps…
Living As A Prisoner of War
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2010/02/POW-Tom-Crosby-21.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:02 — 952.7KB)In January of 1942, eight year old Tom Crosby, along with his brother, mother and grandmother, Americans living in Manilla,…
An 8-Year Old POW
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2010/02/POW-Tom-Crosby-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:03 — 957.1KB)Life was good for eight year old Tom Crosby, an American living in Manila in 1941. Then December 7th came,…
Tunnelling to Pass the Time
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2010/01/Ed-Davidson-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:02 — 1.9MB)Most prison camps wouldn’t want their detainees digging tunnels to freedom, but at Ed’s camp, it was a way to…
A World War 2 Pilot and POW
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2010/01/Ed-Davidson-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:01 — 1.9MB)Ed believed he was a well informed pilot flying for the United States. Then the German captured him and told…
A Young WW2 Pilot
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2010/01/Ed-Davison-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:02 — 1.9MB)Ed Davidson got to cross the Atlantic on the Queen Mary, but his trip wasn’t for pleasure…
A Midwestern POW Camp
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2009/10/POW-Camp-Clarinda.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:02 — 955.9KB)They were prisoners of war, yet they were paid for their work; many of them forged friendships with the locals…
Swimming in a Sea of Burning Oil
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2009/10/Pearl-Harbor-Survivor-Stu-Hedley-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:01 — 1.9MB)Stu Hedley may have believed that once he left his ship, the West Virginia, in Pearl Harbor on the morning…
Surviving Pearl Harbor: A First Hand Account
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2009/10/Pearl-Harbor-Survivor-Stu-Hedley.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:01 — 1.8MB)We’ve heard of the events of December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor. Today, we meet one of the men who…
Back to Baseball
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2009/09/Jerry-Coleman-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:01 — 1.9MB)Jerry Coleman served his country as a pilot during World War II, then returned home to play professional baseball. 1949…
A Yankee Pilot
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2009/09/Jerry-Coleman-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:02 — 952.9KB)It is difficult to fathom the changes that took place in everyday life in the United State, yet alone Hawaii,…
Waiting to Join…
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2009/09/Jerry-Coleman-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:02 — 951.8KB)Jerry Coleman was a high school senior when the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor. He was drafted the very next year,…
