The Story

Konrad Jarausch's father served in a reserve battalion of Hitler’s Army. As a young man, Konrad struggled with his father’s role in the war. Recently, as an historian, Konrad began to re-read the war-time letters that his mother had saved.

Sixty-nine years ago this week, children's book author and artist Ashley Bryan was in a segregated Army unit, waiting off-shore for D-Day to begin. He and other African-American soldiers in his unit were responsible for bringing supplies onto the beaches. He kept a sketchbook in his gas mask and drew when he could. "It kept me connected to my humanity," he says.

When Navy Lieutenant Jacob Joubert got orders to move to Raleigh, N.C.as an ROTC instructor, he was at a low point in his life. A tough, tattooed kid from a tough Illinois town, he'd been saved by enlisting and then getting married and becoming an officer. Now, years later, he'd gone though a divorce and moved to a place where he knew no one. Then Jake remembered a long-ago passion for painting. He came up with the idea of reminding people of every single soldier who had died in America's wars - over a million people, each represented with a hash mark. Also,
the lead singer of the band Cracker is personally against the war in Iraq. But one of his songs, Yalla Yalla, became a hit with soldiers.

This summer marks the 20th anniversary of the 1988 Iran Massacre, when thousands of dissidents and activists were imprisoned and executed by the theocratic state. Iranian activist Shahla Talebi survived the massacre. Also in this episode, Nancy Poole started working in a piano shop mostly to keep herself afloat during a rough time. Then she fell in love with a piano - a rosewood grand concert piano she nicknamed "Big Red."