Introducing - Voices of Our People: WWII - Premiering Sept. 30
Mississippi Moments Podcast
From the producers of Mississippi Moments comes a new 10 episode long form podcast, Voices of Our People: WWII. Follow this link to subscribe or search your favorite podcast directory: From the Center for Oral History & Cultural Heritage at USM, comes a new history podcast combining the best of our extensive Oral History collection and in-depth analysis of the major events that have fundamentally shaped modern society. In Season 1 of Voices of Our People, The COH&CH, in partnership with the Dale Center for the Study of War & Society at USM and the Mississippi Humanities...
info_outline
MSMO Classic - Fatal Friendly Fire, A Double Tragedy
Mississippi Moments Podcast
On this Memorial Day, we look back at episode #615 from May 2019. Jim Swager of Brookhaven joined the US Army shortly after his 18th birthday, three months before D-day. In this episode, he shares his memories of the journey from Mississippi to the battlefields of France as part of the 103rd Infantry, Cactus Division. Although he weighed a mere 130 lbs. his captain made him a machine gunner and assigned him a BAR. The Browning Automatic Rifle was a 30-caliber light machine gun used extensively by Allied forces during WWII. Swager recalls the challenge of lugging the twenty-pound weapon across...
info_outline
MSMO Classic - Jackson's Sports Journalist Pioneer
Mississippi Moments Podcast
Today we look back at a classic MSMO from April of 2016. Carl Walters of Laurel landed his first newspaper job in the 1920s working as a printer’s assistant. In this episode, he recalls how his love of sports led him to become a sports writer. Later, Walters began working for the Meridian Star. He discusses how the Meridian paper broke new ground by being the first to segregate the sports news into its own section. Walters became the first sports editor for the Jackson Daily News in 1946. Walters reflects on his career as a sports editor and columnist with pride and the innovations we...
info_outline
MSMO Classic - Southern Miss Legend Coach P.W. Underwood
Mississippi Moments Podcast
This week we look back at the storied career of USM football coach, P. W. Underwood in this MSMO classic from March of 2016. After playing football for Southern Miss, P.W. Underwood returned to Hattiesburg as an assistant coach in 1963. In this episode, he remembers the team ranked number 1 in defense, three years out of four. When Underwood was named head football coach for Southern Miss six years later, he knew some changes needed to be made. At that time USM was known as The Generals and the mascot was a character named General Nathan after Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. That...
info_outline
MSMO Classic - V2 Rocket Scientists Design Stennis Space Center
Mississippi Moments Podcast
Bernard Tessman and Karl Heimburg worked for Dr. Werhner von Braun in Nazi Germany on the V-2 rocket program. After WWII, 118 rocket scientists were brought over from Germany to work for the US Army. In this episode, Tessman and Heimburg remember those early days launching V-2 rockets in White Sands, New Mexico and the decision to locate the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. After President Kennedy announced the goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade, the decision was made to build a rocket test facility in Hancock County, Bernard Tessman led the design team. He...
info_outline
MSMO Classic: Coach David Dunaway - Overcoming Adversity
Mississippi Moments Podcast
In this MSMO Classic episode from January 2016, we look back at the inspiring life and career of Coach David Dunaway. Coach Dunaway grew up in Tylertown during the Great Depression. In this episode, he recalls how the town became his substitute family after his parents split up. Dunaway worked all through school to support himself and still found time to participate in sports. He credits the guidance he received from his coach and teachers for his decision to pursue a career in coaching/teaching at the junior high level. Dunaway graduated high school in 1944 at the age of 17. He remembers...
info_outline
MSMO Classic: Martha Blackwell - Toxic Dump Wars of Noxubee County
Mississippi Moments Podcast
Today's MSMO classic discusses efforts by outside business interests to turn Noxubee County into a toxic dumping ground. In 1983, a hazardous-waste disposal company attempted to build a toxic waste dump in the town of Shuqualak in Noxubee County, Mississippi. In this episode, Martha Blackwell describes how local citizens organized to fight back and were able to have a five year moratorium placed on chemical disposal sites in Mississippi. In 1991, after the moratorium expired, plans were announced to construct three toxic waste facilities in Noxubee County. Blackwell recalls how she...
info_outline
MSMO Classic - Women Railroad Workers During WWII
Mississippi Moments Podcast
After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and American entered the war, young men joined the military in droves leaving big holes in the work force. Women stepped up to fill those jobs traditionally held by men, helping out on the home front and showing what they were capable of in the process. For Women's History Month, We look back at this classic MSMO episode from February 1, 2016, featuring the story of Bonnie Stedman of McComb who went to work for Illinois Central right out of high school. Stedman recalls typing orders for the trains, changing light bulbs, and even working as a switch...
info_outline
MSMO Redux - 761st Tank Battalion w/ Dr. Douglas Bristol
Mississippi Moments Podcast
Today, we are look back at Episode #485, which features James Jones of Laurel discussing his time with the 761st Tank Battalion during WWII. The 761st Tank Battalion was the first armored combat group made up of African American soldiers. Prior to this time, black men rarely served in combat roles in the U.S. Military and were generally relegated to menial labor jobs like stevedores. After being given the opportunity to serve under General George S. Patton in the European Theater, the 761st distinguished themselves as a brave and effective combat force in face of enemy fire. Joining me for...
info_outline
MSMO Redux - Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman w/ Olivia Moore
Mississippi Moments Podcast
Today, we look back at Episode #475, featuring an interview with Roscoe Jones Vol. 740, conducted on May 9, 1997 and first aired in February 2016. Jones's memories of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner are riveting because according to Jones, he had planned on going to Neshoba County that fateful day. For anyone not familiar with the story: Civil Rights Activists James Chaney from Meridian, MS, along with Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner from New York City were abducted and murdered on June 21, 1964 while investigating a church burning in the city of Philadelphia, MS. Joining me for...
info_outlineOn June 6, 1944, Allied Forces launched the largest amphibious assault in history against Nazi-occupied Europe. In this episode, Rip Bounds of Hattiesburg describes piloting a Utility Landing Ship to the beaches of Normandy.
As Allied Forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, they faced devastating fire-power from the Germans. Bounds recalls how the eighty-eight millimeter artillery shells decimated both men and equipment.
Thousands of American soldiers were wounded or killed as they stormed the beaches on D-Day 1944. Bounds remembers how they bravely worked to save wounded troops from the rising tide. In the weeks that followed D-Day, Bounds and his crew ferried wounded soldiers to awaiting hospital ships for treatment. He recounts how Red Cross workers attempted to give aid and comfort to these men as they lay on the deck of his ship.
WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF WAR AND CARNAGE.
PHOTO: USA Today