Join host Glenn Flickinger for a special conversation with France-based author Gwenn Strauss about her new best-selling book, The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany.
The Nine follows the true story of the author’s great aunt Hélène Podliasky, who led a band of nine female resistance fighters as they escaped a German forced labor camp and made a ten-day journey across the front lines of WWII from Germany back to Paris.
The nine women were all under thirty when they joined the resistance. They smuggled arms through Europe, harbored parachuting agents, coordinated communications between regional sectors, trekked escape routes to Spain and hid Jewish children in scattered apartments. They were arrested by French police, interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo.
They were subjected to a series of French prisons and deported to Germany. The group formed along the way, meeting at different points, in prison, in transit, and at Ravensbrück. By the time they were enslaved at the labor camp in Leipzig, they were a close-knit group of friends. During the final days of the war, forced onto a death march, the nine chose their moment and made a daring escape.
Drawing on incredible research, this powerful, heart-stopping narrative from Gwen Strauss is a moving tribute to the power of humanity and friendship in the darkest of times.
Bob Miller served on 11 Ships in 6 Years during World War II
99-year-old Bob Miller joined the Jr. Naval Reserve in 1936 age 13, went to Boot Camp at Newport, Rhode Island, in early 1941, and served on 11 ships in World War II, rising to Petty Officer, Aviation Machinist Mate 3/c. Join host Glenn Flickinger in a wide-ranging conversation with Bob as he takes us from his first ship, the 1854 sailing vessel USS Constellation, through the Battle of the North Atlantic, Operation Torch (the invasion of North Africa), Guadalcanal, the Invasion of Southern France, and a series of Pacific invasions, including Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, Iwo Jima, Ryukus, and Okinawa. Along the way, Bob spent time in the Brig, sunk a German u-Boat, was attacked by Kamikazes, and flew into the eye of a hurricane own a B-17.
Bob Miller’s 11 Navy ships:
- USS CONSTELLATION (1854 Sloop-of-War)
- USS WYOMING (BB-32)
- USS RAVEN (AM-55)
- USS RANGER (CV-4)
- USS CHARGER (AVG-30/ACV-30/CVE-30)
- USS SUWANNEE (CVE-27)
- USS CHENANGO (ACV-28)
- USS KALININ BAY (CVE-68)
- USS CASABLANCA (CVE-55)
- USS TULAGI (CVE-72)
- USS CHLORIS (ARVE-4)
Sponsored by Tobacco Free Adagio Health. Simulcast to Facebook and YouTube.
David and Margaret White’s new book, Wings of War: The World War II Fighter Plane that Saved the Allies and the Believers Who Made It Fly tells the incredible story behind the rise of the P-51 Mustang, the World War II fighter plane that destroyed the Luftwaffe and made D-Day possible.
Glenn Flickinger and guest co-host Joe Chivers welcome David and Margaret to VBC Greatest Generation Live to talk about their detective work uncovering the air war crisis in 1943-1944 that made a new US fighter plane a high priority for the United States Army Air Force.
When the P-51 Mustang began tearing across European skies in early 1944, the Allies had been losing the air war for years. Staggering numbers of bomber crews, both British and American, had been shot down and killed thanks to the Luftwaffe’s superior fighter force. Not only did the air war appear grim, but any landing of troops in France was impossible while German fighters hunted overhead. But behind the scenes, a team of visionaries had begun to design a bold new type of airplane, one that could outrun and outmaneuver Germany’s best.
Wings of War is the incredible true story of the P-51 Mustang fighter and the unlikely crew of designers, engineers, test pilots, and army officers who brought it from the drafting table to the skies over World War II. This is hardly a straightforward tale of building an airplane—for years, the team was stymied by corruption within the defense industry and stonewalled by the Army Air Forces, who failed to understand the Mustang’s potential. But when squadrons of Mustangs were finally unleashed over Hitler’s empire, the Luftwaffe was decimated within months, clearing the skies for D-Day.
A compelling, character-focused narrative replete with innovation, determination, and bravery, Wings of War is the never-before-told story of the airplane that truly changed the course of World War II.
Sponsored by Tobacco Free Adagio Health. Simulcast to Facebook and YouTube.
