WWII

On October 23, 2024, the US Navy announced that after twenty-five years, a ship commissioned the USS Atlanta will once again sail the seas of the world. The last USS Atlanta, a nuclear-powered attack submarine, was retired in 1999, the fifth such ship to bear the name of the city.

A potential donor’s offer of a WWII logbook opens Sue VerHoef’s recounting of U-505’s capture, vital to Allied code-breaking efforts. Janice Benario, a former WAVE, details her secret wartime translation work, revealing the profound impact of the Enigma machine’s seizure on the war’s outcome.

With improvised food, wine, and a makeshift Haggadah printed on Nazi flags, U.S. soldiers were able to celebrate Passover during WWII. The Seder was held in a former German school building with about 1,500 soldiers in attendance, including Jewish soldiers from other units. This celebration, held over a month before the end of the war, marked the liberation of Jews from Egypt and foreshadowed the liberation of the Jews from the concentration camp of Dachau a few weeks later.

Alvin Cullum York was a US solder who was awarded the Medal of Honor, the Legion of Honor, and the Croix de Guerre for bravery during WWII.

E. E. McKennon pauses her welding work on a ship at the J.A. Jones Construction Company shipyard in May, 1943.

The Women with Silver Wings: The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II. In conversation with GPB’s Virginia Prescott.