Two months before Pearl Harbor, a sailor became Louisiana's first fatality in World War II.  

No newsflash in modern history has ever been greeted with such overwhelming celebration as the announcement that Japan had surrendered, effectively ending World War II, a war that Americans thought would go on indefinitely. Of all the iconic images from that day, the one that still continues to embody the spirit of the nation was of one very famous kiss between a nurse and a sailor.

The idea of using American Indians who were fluent in both their traditional tribal language and in English to send secret messages in battle was first put to the test in World War I with the Choctaw Telephone Squad and other Native communications experts and messengers. However, it wasn’t until World War II that the US military developed a specific policy to recruit and train American Indian speakers to become code talkers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appeals to memories of the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany to justify his invasion of Ukraine.

Welcome to a special season of World War II on Topic: Veteran Voices, where we listen to firsthand accounts from those who lived through the war.