Listen to the Stories

Ronnisha Johnson talked to Sean Moynihan (pictured), who was only eighteen when he enlisted in the Army.  After a few months of training in Korea, he was deployed to Iraq.  Hear Sean Talk to Ronnisha about his experiences of war and post-traumatic stress disorder. Alan Yu interviewed a veteran of an earlier U.S. war in Iraq.  In 1991, Tyronne Boyd was a communications specialist in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the Gulf War.  Although the war was brief, his wartime experience continued much longer.  Listen to Alan’s interview with Tyronne. Alex Morales talked to another Gulf War veteran, Joseph Sweeny.  Joseph was inspired to join the Air Force by his older brother, and believed that military service would give him a better foundation for his life.  Hear Joseph talk about how the violence he saw still shakes him, and his pride in having served. Rene Sandoval spoke to his father Rene Sandoval Sr. about his decision to join the Marines when he was not much older than his son is now. Hear them talk about the many influences that drew Rene Sr. to the Marines, and the continuing impact of his military training on his life today.   Brenda Garcia spoke with World War Two veteran Melvin Mogulof (pictured), a student at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.  Hear them talk about when Melvin first shipped off to war.   Maricela Perez heard a very different story of World War Two when she spoke to OLLI student Fusako de Angelis (pictured), who as a child lived through the bombing of Japan by the United States.  Listen to their conversation about Fusako’s experience of the terror of the bombing from a child’s perspective, and read Fusako’s essay “Memories of the War.” William Tatlonghari asked his grandmother, Juanita Tatlonghari, about her experience in the Philippines during World War Two.  Like many Filipinos, she was forced to flee her home to escape the Japanese invasion.  Hear the story of how she survived, and the lifelong scars the experience left her with.   May Hung spoke to her grandmother Sai Mui Tam about her experiences of the Japanese invasion of China during World War Two.  Hear Sai Mui Tung tell her granddaughter her story of life as a child in wartime. Margaret Weitkamp (pictured) is an OLLI student who lived through "the blitz" -- the German bombing of London in World War Two.  She was only 9 months old when war broke out in 1939, so her recollections are fragmentary.  Read Margaret's "War Story" of air raid sirens, undergound shelters, and singing victory songs on VE Day. Just months after the US victory over Japan, OLLI student Charles Francis (pictured) took a radical step:  He went AWOL.  Read his story "At War With the Navy," about the day when he walked away from the military, and hear his conversation with Sandra Sutherland about the transformation in his view of war and the military. ,  OLLI student Bob Yoder (pictured) also went through a radical change in his views about war.  Read about his experience of "A Child's War" in World War Two, and hear his conversation with Sandra Sutherland about his personal journey from Navy volunteer to conscientious objector. James Tong spoke to Robert Emerson, an English teacher at Burton High, about his opposition to the war in Vietnam, which he considered foolish and immoral.  Hear Robert talk about his antiwar activism and how he wasn’t the “typical antiwar protester” James expected.   Paul Yang heard a different side of the war in Vietnam from David Mitchell, who enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 18 and fought in Vietnam.  Hear David tell Paul about his decision to fight in that war, and the questions it left him with.   Ramy Salem talked to Gailand Ingraham, who was drafted into the US military and fought in Vietnam.  He didn’t want to go to war, but his parents told him that failing to serve his country would disgrace his family.  Hear Gailand tell Ramy why, in his experience, returning from war was as hard as going to it.