Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities

17 Unique Stations from Border to Border

Veterans' Voices | Minnesota in World War II

Untold Stories | Memories and Stories of Minnesota Veterans from many era’s of service

Veterans' Voices: Leech Lake | Memories and stories of military veterans from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe

The Secret War | Featuring the some of the stories of Minnesota Hmong Veterans in the Secret War of Laos

Minnesota in the Vietnam War | Stories of Minnesotans in the Vietnam War

Minnesota in World War I | Stories of Minnesotans in World War I

Minnesota in World War II | Stories of Minnesotans in World War II

Veterans' Voices: Rochester | Veterans’ Voices is a radio series exploring the knowledge, experience and leadership of Rochester service members. Veterans’ Voices is a radio series exploring the knowledge, experience and leadership of Rochester service members. Hosted by Britt Aamodt Veteran’ Voices is produced by KRPR and Ampers.

Korea | Memories and stories from Minnesota’s Korean War Veterans

Veterans' Voices Korea Podcast | Extended podcast versions of interviews with some of the Minnesota Veterans of the Korean War featured in our radio series Veteran’s Voices Korea. Made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund.

World War II | first-hand accounts of what it was like to serve in WWII

Native Warriors | Native American veterans explain why protecting our land and resources is an important part of Native culture and traditions

Vietnam | Stories and memories of Minnesota’s Vietnam veterans

Veterans' Voices Vietnam Podcast | Extended podcast versions of Kevyn Burger’s interviews with some of the Minnesota Vietnam Veterans featured in our radio series

Roger Sayles

Lex Porter, Code Talker

Lex Porter, a member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, served in World War II. When family asked, he said he’d been a radio operator. They only found out after his death he’d been a code talker. Here’s Britt Aamodt.


Jack Rainey and the Buffalo Soldiers in Italy

Summer 1944: Jack Rainey of Minneapolis and the 92nd, an all-black infantry division, also known as the Buffalo Division, landed in Italy. They were told the Germans were on the run. All they had to do was mop them up. But the 92nd would encounter a far-from-defeated Germany. Here’s Britt Aamodt.


D-Day on Omaha Beach

June 6, 1944: Lieutenant Robert Huch, St. Paul, was leading a company from the Army’s First Infantry Division onto a beach in Normandy, France, for D-Day. There were five beachheads, but they’d got the worst: Omaha, with its unprotected beach and German-occupied cliffs. Here’s Britt Aamodt.


Betty Bemir and the WAVES at Sugar Camp

1943: Every day, Betty Bemir (Nashwauk, MN) and her sister WAVES—Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service—marched from cottages at Sugar Camp in Ohio to a cash register factory. They weren’t making cash registers but rotors for top-secret decryption devices. Here’s Britt Aamodt.


The Sinking of HMT Rohna

November 26, 1943: Staff Sergeant Arthur Ferschweiler, a 34-year-old from Foley, Minnesota, was aboard the HMT Rohna, headed across the Mediterranean to his next duty station with the construction battalion. Suddenly, German bombers carrying state-of-the-art radio-operated torpedoes appeared. Here’s Britt Aamodt.


Betty Pack and the Vichy Naval Codes

1942: Betty Pack, a Minneapolis-born socialite, had convinced the guard at the Nazi-friendly Vichy Embassy to allow her and her boyfriend to use a room for their “lovemaking.” In reality, the Allied spy was there to steal codebooks that would be used in the invasion of North Africa. Here’s Britt Aamodt.


A Torpedo Bomber Gunner at Midway

June 4, 1942: It was a mad mission. Arnold Theodore Meuers from Osseo, Minnesota, was a rear gunner on one of the six Avenger torpedo bombers hurtling toward what looked like the entire Japanese fleet at the beginning of the Battle of Midway. Here’s Britt Aamodt.


The USS Ward at Pearl Harbor

December 7, 1941: The USS Ward on a routine patrol outside the mouth of Pearl Harbor shot and sank a Japanese sub. The crew, among them over 80 reservists from St. Paul, would be credited with firing the first shots during the Attack on Pearl Harbor. Here’s Britt Aamodt.


The 194th Tank Battalion at Bataan

August 9, 1942: The American forces in the Philippines surrendered to Japan. Suddenly, Lt Col Ernest B. Miller and the 194th Tank Battalion, a National Guard unit out of Minnesota, found themselves on a long march without food or water to a POW camp. This would be known at the Bataan Death March. Here’s Britt Aamodt.


Two Brothers Aboard the USS Oklahoma

December 7, 1941: The Todd brothers of Akeley, Minnesota—Wesley, 25, and Neal, 22—were stationed on the battleship USS Oklahoma in Pearl Harbor, when at 0755 the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the Navy’s pacific fleet. Here’s Britt Aamodt.


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McKnight FoundationMN Legacy