World War II / Korea

“Atomic Echoes; Untold Stories from World War II” is an insightful documentary co-produced by Victoria Kelly and Karin Tanabe. The film exposes the stories of two communities; the “Hibakusha”, the name given to the estimated 650,000 Japanese survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and the “Atomic Veterans”, the soldiers who landed in the immediate aftermath of the bombings. Victoria and Kelly have been friends since 2017. They are both authors and share an editor. During a random conversation about the [...]

“The Houdini Club” by Mir Bahmanyar describes the formation and exploits of “Darby’s Rangers” during World War II. Mir’s father served in the Iranian military until the 1960’s. His family immigrated to the US when Mir was fifteen years old. He served with the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. After being medically discharged from the Army, Mir decided to pursue a career in Hollywood. While there he was introduced to Phil Stern, one of Hollywood’s most famous photographers. During World [...]

The original Jeep was not manufactured by Willys or even Ford. The small, bankrupt American Bantam Car Company won the original bid and built the first prototype in an amazing forty-nine days. The progression from concept to mass manufacture is the subject of Paul Bruno’s book “The Original Jeeps.” Paul is recognized as one of the foremost experts on the creation and evolution of the Jeep. He has conducted 25 years of research and written three books on the subject. [...]

“Jeep Show; A Trouper at the Battle of the Bulge” is a fictional work by author Robert B. O’Connor that sheds light on a unique and little know effort during World War II. Military Occupational Specialist Code 442 was assigned to some names you may recognize; Mickey Rooney, Sammy Davis Jr, Mel Brooks and Red Buttons. They were part of a special morale initiative to provide entertainment to troops on the front lines in areas deemed too dangerous for USO [...]

Mike Croissant, a retired CIA officer, set out on a mission to learn more about his uncle. His uncle was an a bomber crewman that survived World War II without of scratch but was then killed in a plane crash shortly after returning home. Drawing from his uncle’s letters home, along with dozens of interviews with surviving Veterans, Mike produced “Bombing Hitler’s Hometown; The Untold Story of the Last Mass Bombing Raid of World War II in Europe." It describes [...]

Starvation Island is the name the Japanese gave the pacific Island of Guadalcanal. Second only to the Battle of Midway, the capture and retention of Guadalcanal was one of the most significant achievements leading to eventual victory in the Pacific. The price would be high, with brutal combat on the ground, at sea and in the air. A group of mostly green Marine aviators were dispatched to Guadalcanal to assist in the defense. They were lacking in supplies, equipment, fuel [...]

The “Mighty Moo” was the nickname given by the crew to the light aircraft carrier USS Cowpens. At the time carriers were named after battles. While the Battle of Cowpens is a rather obscure revolutionary war battle, a postcard from a local pharmacist convinced President Roosevelt to do so. The story of this scrappy little aircraft carrier is told in the book “The Mighty Moo; The USS Cowpens and Her Epic Journey from Jinx Ship to the Navy’s First Carrier [...]

The 299th Combat Engineer Battalion was the only combat engineer unit to land on both Omaha and Utah beaches during the D-Day invasion. Some of the engineers landed before any other allied soldiers set foot on the beaches earning them the nickname “First on Omaha”. Chief Warrant Officer James W. Tucker was among them. His daughter Jean joins us to share more about the “Famous 299th”. James commanded a group of eight armored tractors whose mission was to clear obstacles [...]