Voices of Our People: WWII

Episode 10: After the surrender of Germany and Japan, people around the world struggled to make sense of the chaos and devastation they had just lived through. Man's inhumanity to Man was on full display as shocked allied forces liberated concentration camps and viewed the unparalleled destruction visited on the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.   As U. S. Troops struggled to come to grips with th...

Episode 9: With Allied Forces pushing from the west, and the Red Army making huge gains in the east, the Germans grew increasingly desperate to reach a negotiated settlement and keep the front lines out of Germany. As Hitler's hold on power became increasingly tenuous, he looked for new weapons and new tactics to change the trajectory of the war and avoid the total destruction of his country.   In...

Episode 8:   As Allied Forces began planning for an invasion of Europe in 1943, it faced entrenched and highly-fortified German defenses along the French coastline. There would be only one opportunity to gain the element of surprise and somehow skirt the massive army that awaited them onshore. Operation Overload would be a logistical undertaking of a scale never before contemplated, and success wo...

Episode 7: As Allied Forces worked to retake strategically important islands from the Empire of Japan, Japanese military leaders grew increasingly desperate. With the U. S. Navy steadily inching closer to the Japanese mainland, the Imperial Japanese Navy would begin recruiting pilots for suicide missions to crash their planes into U. S. ships, in a nightmarish program known as Kamikaze, or Divine...

Episode 6:   As the war progressed, manpower shortages forced Americans to reexamine the role of women in the workplace. But even as increased demand for workers created new opportunities women, in both the civilian job market and the military, many viewed such changes as an affront to the American way of life.   Dr. Heather Stur of the Dale Center joins host, Bill Ellison , for a discussion of th...

Episode 5: Perhaps no event changes a society more completely than war. Long-established cultural norms and accepted public policies can buckle under the stress of extended conflict. Indeed, WWII would change several long-held beliefs of the American public.   In the next two episodes, we will examine how the war changed our perceptions of what minorities and women were capable of: both on the bat...

Episode 4:   By the time America entered the conflict in Europe, it was clear that this war would be waged in radically different ways from the previous war, which had been fought primarily from trenches.   The development of heavy, high-altitude bombers meant that devastating destruction could be delivered far behind the front lines to homes and factories alike.   Meanwhile, Allied leaders strate...

On Episode 3, we examine the early days of the Pacific war. Following their successful attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces began a campaign to subjugate nearby countries in order to obtain more resources, expand their sphere of influence along the Pacific rim, and construct a defensive perimeter of protection to shield the island nation from an expected counter-attack.   Dr. Andrew Wiest of th...

Welcome to the second episode of Voices of Our People: WWII. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, young people flood recruitment offices across the nation, ready to join the fight. As the United States begins shifting its massive economy to a wartime footing, our military experiences growing pains from the sudden influx.   Host Bill Ellison will be your guide as   Dr. Andrew Wiest of the Dale Cen...

Welcome to Voices of Our People: WWII . As Hitler's army marches across Europe, Americans are determined to sit out a second world war. However, half a world away, the Empire of Japan plans a preemptive strike on an obscure U. S. Naval base known as Pearl Harbor.   Our speakers for Episode One:   Bill Ellison , a voice very familiar to fans of Mississippi Moments , will be your guide through this...

Episode One drops on Monday morning, September 30. Here is a two minute preview of what you can expect to hear. Subscribe so you don't miss a single episode of Voices of Our People: WWII!

From the Center for Oral History & Cultural Heritage at USM , comes a new history podcast combining the best of our extensive Oral History collection and in-depth analysis of the major events that have fundamentally shaped modern society.  In Season 1 of Voices of Our People , The COH&CH , in partnership with the Dale Center for the Study of War & Society at USM and the Mississippi Humanities Coun...