Minnesota in World War II
Stories from Minnesota’s World War II Veterans
Episodes
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Minnesota in World War II:
Medal of Honor
Rufus and Daniel Ross were Yankton Sioux who grew up on a farm in Minnesota Falls—and never talked about what they did in World War II. In 2014, the brothers were posthumously awarded the Congressional Silver Medal of Honor for their service as code talkers. Here’s Britt Aamodt.
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Minnesota in World War II:
The Occupation of Japan
1946: In the months after Japan’s surrender and the official end of World War II on September 2, 1945, Lieutenant George Tani toured the rubble-strewn land with a public health team, a camera and his Japanese language skills. Was this what he’d trained for at Fort Snelling in St. Paul? Here’s Britt Aamodt.
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Minnesota in World War II:
The Disappearance of Flight 19
December 5, 1945: Herman Thelander would soon be home on leave in Kinbrae, Minnesota. But today, he and the other crewmembers of Flight 19, which consisted of five torpedo bombers, took off from a naval air station in Fort Lauderdale—and disappeared. Here’s Britt Aamodt.
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Minnesota in World War II:
Witness at Nuremberg
November 1945: Larry Tillemans never could have guessed his typing class at his high school in Minneota would land him here. Here was the Palace of Justice for the Nuremberg Trials, where over 20 Nazi officials were being tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Here’s Britt Aamodt.
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Minnesota in World War II:
Report on Dachau
May 1945 – In Minneapolis, Major Reuben Berman was a doctor. Now he was at the gates of the newly liberated Dachau, on orders from the Army, to report what Nazi doctors did to the concentration camp inmates. Here’s Britt Aamodt.
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Minnesota in World War II:
The Tuskegee Airman and the Messerschmitt
March 14, 1945: Lieutenant Harold Brown of Minneapolis was a Tuskegee airman with the 332 Fighter Group on his 30th mission. This time he flew over Nazi-occupied Austria. This was also the time he found himself in a dogfight with a Messerschmitt, a superfast German jet plane, that could fly 150 mph faster than his Mustang. Here’s Britt Aamodt.