AZ: The History of Arizona podcast

Episode 253: I Was a Radical

Following the end of the war, Black, Mexican and Amerindian veterans returned home to find that, despite being treated as fully American during their service, the nation tried to treat them as second-class citizens. It didn’t take too long for these veterans to decide they were not going to tolerate that.

Episode 252: The Father of the GI Bill

Arizona celebrated V-E and V-J Day along with the rest of the country. But as the veterans started coming home, it was an Arizona senator who helped lead the charge to make sure there was a place for them.

Episode 251: The Code Talkers, Part V: I Was a Radioman

Today the Navajo Code Talkers are one of the most famous stories to come out of the Pacific Theater of the Second World War. However, following the victory they helped come to fruition, they were all sworn to silence and languished in obscurity for more than two decades before that story was finally told.

Episode 250: The Code Talkers, Part IV: Navajo, Not Japanese

For the Marine Corps, the nightmare scenario was a Navajo code talker falling into the hands of the enemy. However, for the code talkers themselves, an equally grim prospect was being mistaken for the enemy by their fellow Marines.

Episode 249: The Code Talkers, Part III: Do You Have a Navajo?

The Navajo code premiered at Guadalcanal in 1942, and soon proved its worth as it went from island to island, wherever there was combat. And with it went the code talkers themselves, who had to survive everything the Japanese could throw at them.