Smokey Bear visits the press briefing room of the White House. He is accompanied by Darci Drinkwater, of the U.S. Forest Service, on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. (Credit: Manuel Balce […]Read More
Several low-activity waste containers sit at Hanford, while one high-level waste canister lays in the foreground. [Photo courtesy of Washington Department of Ecology.] Read A massive melter intended to help […]Read More
Nancy Pyburn, right, and daughter Cynthia Bounds at their StoryCorps Northwest recording. Listen (Runtime 4:36) Read Sometimes, when everything feels right, something can make your world crumble. Something like a […]Read More
Department of Defense investigators have identified the remains of U.S. Army chaplain and Catholic priest Emil Kapaun among the unknown Korean War soldiers buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.Read More
Friedrich Karl Berger was sent to Germany because he participated in Nazi-sponsored acts of persecution while serving as an armed guard at the Neuengamme concentration camp system near Meppen, Germany, in 1945, according to the announcement.Read More
In this installment of the "Past as Prologue" series comes the story of a U.S. soldier, Sgt. George Yamauchi , from Pasco. He asked in 1943: 'What is an American?' Yamauchi penned the question in the local newspaper after his family was persecuted. The question defining who is an American is as relevant today as it was then. Read More
When Spokane resident Evelyn Woods was a little girl in World War II Germany, she hid in an attic with her Jewish parents. In today’s StoryCorps Northwest, Evelyn’s step-daughter, Robin, asks her how that confinement compares to today’s COVID-19 restrictions. Evelyn, 82, discusses that and the Black Lives Matter movement in this segment of StoryCorps Northwest recorded Read More
What does the contemplative art of bonsai have to do with World War II? Plenty, said Aarin Packard. He's the curator at the Pacific Bonsai Museum, which displays all kinds of the dwarfed trees pruned and trained into artistic shapes.Read More
The story of Captain Tom in Britain reached Bud Lewis of Portland through a chain of friends and family. The two men are virtually the same age. Lewis also served in World War II in the tropics. The U.S. Army veteran was convinced by his circle to copy his British counterpart.Read More
Aging veterans and their descendants are attempting to return memorabilia to the families of their former enemies ahead of a milestone anniversary. Next Wednesday, September 2, marks 75 years to the day since the Japanese surrender ceremony that ended World War II.Read More
It's been 75 years since the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks to Koko Kondo, who was an infant when one of those bombs was dropped on Hiroshima.Read More
Denin Koch's trip to the Hanford B Reactor when he was 19 stirred his musical passion. It eventually inspired a full jazz album exploring the complicated history of Hanford, 75 years after the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan ended WWII.Read More
Researchers are still digging into the question and sharing their findings decades after the Nazis sacked the homes of Jews during World War II.Read More
Thousands of people who were planning to visit war memorials in Washington, D.C., on Memorial Day had to cancel this year. That includes veterans traveling with the nonprofit network Honor Flight.Read More
The bill's sponsor says he was "disturbed by the striking parallels" between the treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and current U.S. immigration policy.Read More
Beachcombing was a blast for soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord earlier this week. An ordnance disposal unit was called out after unexploded military munitions washed up on the beach north of Ocean Shores, Washington.Read More
Miller was a mess attendant on the West Virginia when he jumped in to man a machine gun during the Pearl Harbor attack. He is the first African American to have an aircraft carrier named after him. Read More
‘I’ve Been A Pretty Lucky Guy’: At 102, A WWII Veteran And Indiana’s Oldest State Worker Is Retiring
Bob Vollmer, a land surveyor for nearly six decades, tells NPR he's got new projects in mind — like building a pool. And he's got some advice: "If anybody does anything for you ... say thank you."Read More
The nuclear arms race wastes resources that could instead improve people's lives and protect the environment, the pontiff said. His tour marks the first papal visit to Japan in nearly 40 years.Read More
Howard Weistling wanted to be a comic strip artist. But when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Weistling felt compelled to enlist in the Army. After flight engineer training, Howard was shipped off to Europe. On his maiden flight, his plane was shot down over Austria, and the U.S. soldiers were captured. Hungry and homesick, Howard coped the only way he knew how. He drew a Read More
The creators of a new musical work called “Nuclear Dreams” highlight the dreams and nightmares of people who work and live near Hanford in Washington’s Tri-Cities. Read More
Critic Ian Sansom's deeply informed and unapologetically digressive new book dives into Auden's life — as well as the life of his singular poem.Read More
Triple Nickles thought they were destined for Japan when they stopped at Pendleton Army Airfield in the spring of 1945. But no, they were about to be converted into smokejumpers for Operation Firefly. Professional smokejumping started in 1939 in Washington's Methow Valley.Read More
"The wartime generation — my generation — is resilient, and I am delighted to be with you in Portsmouth today," Britain's Queen Elizabeth II said Wednesday, as she kicked off a two-day commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France that reshaped World War II.Read More
To make his latest album, Omoiyari, the Japanese-American artist decided to turn to the past. He visited Japanese internment camps and made music inspired by the stories he found there.Read More
The film by Erik Nelson honors World War II fighter pilots and is called The Cold Blue. It's being released this Friday, along with Thompson's score, in time for the Memorial Day Weekend.Read More
Fleming Begaye Sr., one of the last remaining Navajo Code Talkers from World War II, has died at the age of 97. Begaye died Friday in Chinle, Ariz., according to a statement from the Navajo Nation. The group's president, Jonathan Nez, called him a "brave and selfless" warrior.Read More
Recently, 18 Filipino veterans received Congressional Gold Medal replicas at the Filipino Community Hall in Wapato, Wash. All but two were awarded posthumously. Read More
Every September more than a million people go to the Washington State Fair -- oblivious that the Puyallup fairgrounds site was where people of Japanese ancestry were rounded up and incarcerated during WWII.Read More
Michael Madison and his mother, La Dona Madison. La Dona Madison worked at the “Big Pasco” military base in Washington during World War II. It was a busy place […]Read More
