World War II

HPR talked to USS Battleship Missouri Memorial curatorial assistant Molly Hagan about the practice called Yosegaki Hinomaru, which was meant to bring good luck to the soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army.

Two Hawaiʻi soldiers lost their lives 80 years ago in the Battle of Bruyere. They will be remembered at the American Cemetery at Epinal in France this weekend. The Conversation talked to Charles Djou who has served as Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission for the last two years.

The collections, hosted by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the American Library Association, focus on war and genocide during the 1930s and 1940s. UH Mānoa is one of 50 U.S. libraries selected for the traveling exhibit.

We transport you to an island whose World War II history is unknown to many: Guam — "Where America's Day Begins." In December 1941, Japan seized Guam from the United States and controlled it for nearly three years. The U.S. recaptured the island on July 21, 1944 — now known as Liberation Day.

On June 6, 1944, the Allied nations stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, to push out the Germans. The Conversation talked to Russell Hart, a war historian and Hawaiʻi Pacific University professor, to give us context on this 80th anniversary.

The Conversation recently talked with Charles Djou, who has headed up the American Battle Monuments Commission for the last two years.

Generations of American families have grown up not knowing exactly what happened to their loved ones who died while serving their country in World War II and other conflicts. But a federal lab tucked away above the bowling alley at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha and a sister lab in Hawaiʻi are steadily answering those lingering questions.

The families of five Hawaiʻi men who served in a unit of Japanese-language linguists during World War II have received posthumous Purple Heart medals on behalf of their loved ones nearly eight decades after the soldiers died in a plane crash in the final days of the conflict.

This year marks 80 years since the 442nd, the brave unit of Japanese American soldiers from Hawaiʻi, liberated a small French town called Bruyères. Young citizens from that town recently visited Hawaiʻi to learn about the war ties. They caught up with The Conversation while in Waimānalo.

Across the Hawaiian Islands, over a hundred women took part in a top-secret program called the Women’s Air Raid Defense. King’s College London lecturer and World War II historian Sarah-Louise Miller spoke to The Conversation about why few today remember their heroic contributions.