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World War II Episodes

20TH Century Military History Women's History World War II

The Women who Programmed the ENIAC

Aug. 8, 2022

During World War II, the United States Army contracted with a group of engineers at the University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Electrical Engineering to build the ENIAC, the world’s first programmable general-purpose ele…

Guest: Kathy Kleiman
20TH Century Biographical History Women's History World War II

Cordelia Dodson Hood

March 28, 2022

When German troops invaded Austria in 1938, Cordelia Dodson was visiting Vienna, living with her siblings as they studied German, attended the opera, and marched with Austrian students protesting against Hitler. Even with th…

20TH Century Black History Military History Women's History World War II

The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion

Feb. 14, 2022

On February 14, 1945, after crossing the Atlantic Ocean and surviving a run-in with a Nazi U-Boat, the women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion disembarked the Île-de-France in Glasgow, Scotland. The task await…

Guest: Kaia Alderson
20TH Century Military History Women's History World War II

The Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II

Dec. 20, 2021

From September 1942 to December 1944, over 1000 American women served in the war effort as Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), flying 80% of all ferrying missions and delivering 12,652 aircraft of 78 types. They also trans…

20TH Century Military History Native American History World War II

Alaska Territorial Guard in World War II

Nov. 8, 2021

Prior to World War II, most of the US military deemed the territory of Alaska as militarily unimportant, to the point where the Alaska National Guard units were stationed instead in Washington state in August of 1941. That c…

Guest: Holly Guise