Latest / History Archives - The Children's Hour / World War II Podcast For Kids
Transcript
- 0:01Coming up on The Children's Hour, we're going to take a step back in time to over 80 years
- 0:07ago, to World War II, one of the biggest conflicts in human history which changed modern humanity
- 0:15forever. Learn from Ms. Theresa Rand Bridges' bilingual fifth grade class at Alvarado Elementary,
- 0:22a public school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There's a lot to learn today on The Children's
- 0:28Hour. We're mixing with music that either came from the era or teaches us something about
- 0:34World War II. Stick with us. This is The Children's Hour. The Children's Hour is produced by The
- 0:41Children's Hour, Inc. We're a New Mexico-based nonprofit organization dedicated to giving
- 0:47kids opportunities to create radio. You can learn a lot more about us at Children'sHour.org.
- 0:54It's time for The Children's Hour. Kids call the radio. What does the statue of liberty
- 1:05stand for? I don't know what. It can't sit down! This time we're just children's power.
- 1:16Kids Public Radio.
- 2:44I don't speak right
- 3:34Find a learning guide with activities, lesson plans, and more for this episode at ChildrensHour.org.
- 3:40Look for World War II. That was Why Can't We Be Friends by War. You're listening to the
- 3:47Children's Hour. I'm Katie Stone and today on the show we're taking a step back in time.
- 3:54Over 80 years, in fact. We're learning about World War II today. one of the biggest conflicts
- 4:01in human history, which changed modern humanity forever. World War II started September 1st,
- 4:091939, when Germany, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland. It lasted six
- 4:16years, until September 2nd, 1945. You'll learn more about World War II today from the research
- 4:23of Ms. Theresa Rand Bridges' bilingual fifth grade class at Alvarado Elementary. a public
- 4:30school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The music we play is either from that era or is about
- 4:38World War II. If you ask experts or historians when or how did World War II start, well,
- 4:45people are still debating that almost a hundred years later. But what we all know for sure
- 4:52is that World War II was one of just two periods in history where every continent on the planet
- 4:58was involved in the same conflict, forming two major teams, the Allied power and the
- 5:05Axis powers. Around 56 million people died in World War II. I don't know about you, but
- 5:12that number can be hard for me to wrap my mind around. It's more deaths than any other war
- 5:19in history, and there's a lot to learn about how that tragedy unfolded. Here's Anakin Madrid
- 5:26from Alvarado Elementary. There were two sides in World War II, the Allied and the Axis powers.
- 5:33The Allied powers were the United States of America, led by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Great
- 5:40Britain led by Winston Churchill, and Soviet Union led by Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin.
- 5:48The Axis powers were Germany, Italy, and Japan. After World War I, Germany had lost and they
- 5:56did not accept it. In the 1930s in Germany, a new political party came to power. They
- 6:03called themselves the Nazis and their vision for the world was harsh and cruel, where society
- 6:10was divided by people's identities. They thought that some people were better than others just
- 6:16because of their religion or hair color or who they loved. A lot of innocent people were
- 6:21persecuted just for who they were. Many families were taken from their homes and placed in concentration
- 6:28camps, including the young Anne Frank. Anne Frank was born to a Jewish family in Frankfurt,
- 6:39Germany on June 12, 1929. Judaism is a religion that believes in one God. Jewish people follow
- 6:47that religion. Anne's family tried to live a normal life in Frankfurt, but the conditions
- 6:53were getting worse for Jews because Hitler had his distinction between Aryan people and Jewish
- 6:59people, which is false. The Franks later moved to Amsterdam, Netherlands. Anne was only four
- 7:06when they moved. In Amsterdam, she lived a normal life with her family. For Anne's 13th
- 7:13birthday, she got a blank diary.
- 7:19The Nazis, a group Hitler led, later invaded Amsterdam. Lots of Jews left from Amsterdam,
- 7:25but the Franks went into hiding. hid with two other families, and of course, her family.
- 7:33Their secret house was hidden behind a bookshelf. Anne was only 13 when she went into hiding.
- 7:43Anne wrote in her diary, My greatest wish is to be a journalist and later on a famous writer.
- 7:50loved to write about the way she felt especially during the hard months of hiding. One unusual
- 7:57morning, the Franks were discovered. Most of the family got sent to concentration camps.
- 8:04Anne and Margo, Anne's sister, got sent to Bergen-Belsum, a concentration camp in Germany.
- 8:11Sadly, and Margot got very ill with typhus. Margot died and shortly after Anne died at
- 8:19the age of 15. Otto Frank, Anne's dad, was only survivor from the families who lived in the
- 8:28secret annex. Otto returned to the secret annex in hopes that his family would be there. Instead,
- 8:35he found Anne's diary and had it published in 1947. Now it's in bookstores and has been
- 8:43read around the world. Anne did fulfill her dream of being a writer. It's a great book.
- 8:49You should read it.
- 9:05You come when I call you, I'll come when you call me I'll call you at half past one Once
- 9:13for the pretty little baby that's born, born, born and gone away Oh will you come when I
- 9:22call you I'll come when you call me I'll call you at half past two Two's for the love of
- 9:29me and you One's for the pretty little baby that's born Born, born and gone away Oh will
- 9:38you come when I call you I'll come when you call me I'll call you at half past three Three's
- 9:46for these warships at sea Two's for the love of me and you for the pretty little baby that's
- 9:53born, born, born and gone away. Will you come when I call you? I'll come when you call me.
- 10:02I'll call you at half past four. Fours for the guns of this war. Threes for these warships
- 10:09at sea. Twos for the love of me and you. Ones for the pretty little baby that's born, born,
- 10:16born and gone away.
- 10:20When I call you I'll come When you call me Five's for the warplanes that fly Four's for the guns
- 10:31of this war Three's for these warships at sea Two's for the love of me and you One's for
- 10:37the pretty little baby that's born, born, born and gone away Oh will you come when I call
- 10:46you I'll come when you call me Call you at half past six Six for the city's all wrecked Five
- 10:54for the warplanes that fly Fours for the guns of this war Threes for these warships at sea
- 11:00Twos for the love of me and you Ones for the pretty little baby That's born, born, born
- 11:07and gone
- 11:17Seven for the continents, blowed up Six for the cities all rent Five for the warplanes
- 11:23that fly Fours for the guns of this war Threes for these warships at sea Twos for the love
- 11:30of
- 11:49Seven for the continents, blowed up Six for the cities all wrecked Five for the warplanes
- 11:55that fly Fours for the guns of this war Threes for these warships at sea Twos for
- 12:22Seven for the continents, blowed up Six for the cities all wrecked Five for the warplanes
- 12:27that fly Fours for the guns of this war Threes for these warships at sea Twos for the love
- 12:34of me and you Ones for the pretty little babies that's born, born, born
- 12:51the atom bomb loose again. Nine for the crippled and blind, eight for my eight billion grave.
- 12:57Seven for the continents, blowed up. Six for the cities all wrecked. Five for the war planes
- 13:02that fly. Four's for the guns of this war. Three's for these warships at sea. Two's for the love
- 13:09of me and you. One's for the pretty little baby that's born, born, born anew.
- 13:19That was the Woody Guthrie tune, Come When I Call You, done by The Clasmatics off of Wonder
- 13:24Wheel. We just heard a little bit about Anne Frank's life. She's one of six million Jewish
- 13:30people who were murdered by the Nazis. That effort to rid the world of Jewish people is
- 13:35called the Holocaust. And in addition to Jewish people, other groups were targeted too, like
- 13:41people of color, disabled people, and the LGBT communities. That forced a lot of people to
- 13:48try to escape to other countries, like Anne Frank's family, who were helped by strangers.
- 13:54But sometimes finding refuge was more challenging. From the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington,
- 14:01D.C., we have the story of one friendship across the Atlantic Ocean that saved a family's life.
- 14:08My dear Jane, you cannot imagine how happy I was when I got your letter. It showed me
- 14:15that I really have some real friends who think on me also in bad times. Mary Ann Winter,
- 14:21a teenager in Vienna, was writing to her pen pal, Jane Bomberger, who lived in the United
- 14:28States. I am sure you follow the papers. Facts are that we have to emigrate under every circumstances.
- 14:35Jews like Mary Ann and her family were suddenly encountering daily harassment and persecution.
- 14:42Nazi Germany had annexed Mary Anne's home country earlier that year. The move was overwhelmingly
- 14:48popular with the majority of the Austrian people. Thousands gathered in the streets to welcome
- 14:55the unopposed arrival of Hitler in the German army. While many cheered, Jews were subjected
- 15:02to numerous restrictions on daily life and to public humiliation. In one such incident,
- 15:09Mary Anne and her mother were stopped in the street. and forced to scrub the floor of a
- 15:15barracks. Faced with increasing persecution, the Winter family was desperate to escape.
- 15:21Jane Bomberger lived in Pennsylvania, where her father worked as a builder. Jane had never
- 15:28met Marianne in person. She picked Marianne's name randomly from a list at a campfire girls
- 15:34meeting. By the time Marianne asked for help getting out of Europe, the pen pals had exchanged
- 15:41letters for three years. sharing details about their lives and families. Now I ask you, my
- 15:47dear, if it would be possible for you to get a connection with any rich man who would be
- 15:52able to give us an affidavit. Of course, I know that you and your family have not the
- 15:58money to claim for us, but it is sad to say that we have no one in USA. Fleeing the Nazis
- 16:04and getting into the United States was far from easy. Most immigrants had to get an affidavit
- 16:11of financial support. from an American sponsor, plus many different documents. One missing
- 16:18or expired document could mean starting the process all over again. Nearly 140,000 people
- 16:26in Germany and Austria were on the waiting list to receive U.S. visas. Despite these challenges,
- 16:33and although the two families had never met, the Bombergers agreed to sponsor the winters.
- 16:39Dearest Jane, you cannot imagine how we felt after having received your letter an hour ago.
- 16:47We could not believe that there are such people who really are so kind and to help us. In
- 16:54August 1938, their situation became unbearable, and the Winters fled Vienna to live with relatives
- 17:01in Prague, Czechoslovakia. There, the U.S. Consulate initially denied their visa application
- 17:08because Joseph Bomberger's affidavit of support listed the Winter family as friends instead
- 17:14of relatives. Fearing the Nazis would invade Czechoslovakia, Marianne's father Max wrote
- 17:22to Josef Bomberger for additional help. Without hesitation, Josef sent more income statements
- 17:29to prove he could support the Winters financially. I thank you again and again for everything
- 17:36you are doing just now for us and what you did the whole time. After reviewing the new documents,
- 17:42the U.S. consulate in Prague finally issued their immigration visas. The Winters set sail
- 17:49from Italy on January 6, 1939 on the SS Conte di Savoia. After a long voyage, they were
- 17:57greeted by Jane and her father upon their arrival in New York City. The family stayed at the
- 18:03Bombergers' home for a brief time before moving to a nearby apartment. Mary Ann's family sought
- 18:10to help other refugees. But leaving Nazi-occupied territory became increasingly difficult, especially
- 18:18after the war began later that year. Somewhere over the rainbow way up high There's a land
- 18:43that I've heard of once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are
- 19:03And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true. Someday I'll wish upon a star
- 19:16and wake up where the clouds are far behind me Troubles melt like lemon drops away above
- 19:29the chimney tops That's where you'll find me
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- 21:40Welcome back to The Children's Hour. Today on the show, we're learning about World War II,
- 21:45before the break somewhere over the rainbow was sung by Ingrid Michaelson, which originally
- 21:50appeared in the hit movie, The Wizard of Oz, released in 1939, just before the start of
- 21:57World War II. And in any war, countries put a lot of work into getting and transmitting
- 22:05information that could help their side win. From using spies to secret codes, there's so
- 22:13much to know about how the US and its allies used information to fight the war.
- 22:24Why were spies so important? Because they got important information from the Axis and Allied
- 22:30powers. They found out where they were going to put bombs and how to break their codes.
- 22:36Spies also helped the US avoiding major attacks. The US cracked the German code, but the Axis
- 22:45powers never cracked the US code. The Germans used a cryptography machine called the Enigma.
- 22:54In contrast, the US developed a code from the Navajo language. The US was able to capture
- 23:03an enigma machine and figure it out, but Germany and Japan never figured out the Navajo code.
- 23:10Navajo code talkers were US Marines that made and used codes to keep secrets. In 1942,
- 23:19Philip Johnstone had an idea. His idea was that he could base codes on indigenous languages,
- 23:26so he picked the Navajo language. When the Navajo men were trained at boot camp, they
- 23:32called them Code Talkers, or Wind Talkers. Code Talkers went to different islands for
- 23:37battle. Code Talkers also helped U.S. coordinate during battle. They called airplanes hummingbirds
- 23:45and submarines big wells. President George Bush gave an award to the Navajo Code Talkers for
- 23:52their help.
- 24:06He was born and grew up on Navajo land, a child of the masons and canyons so grand.
- 24:36The holy ones looked upon him with care. Nature provided him warmth, water, and air. Kotaker,
- 24:47you were chosen as a warrior. Kotaker, for you there was no barrier. Kotaker, you are
- 25:01like Manuelito. Ko-Takur. Victory was your only motto. He was at school one day when
- 25:13he heard they needed him. He devoured every word. He answered the call without hesitation.
- 25:23He left school to help the whole nation. Ko-Takur. You were chosen as a warrior. Kotaker. For
- 25:40you, there was no barrier. Kotaker. You are like Chief Manuelito. Kotaker. Victory was
- 25:56your only motto. He sailed west. The route changing women took to rouse the enemy out
- 26:10of every cranny and nook. His sacred language, short and deadly strife. The baffled enemy
- 26:22had to run for his life. Kotaker. Your country knows of your Kotaker, your objective was
- 26:39not of Everest. Kotaker, though you are called a nation's hero, you chose to be humble, but
- 26:52you're still a hero. Next is sir.
- 27:26That's read Mila Cody with Code Talkers. You're listening to the Children's Hour and we're
- 27:32learning about World War II with Miss Rand Bridge's bilingual fifth graders at Alvarado Elementary
- 27:39School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The attack on Pearl Harbor happened December 7, 1941.
- 27:49It was a well-planned surprise attack by Japan. The person who led it was the Vice Admiral
- 27:56of the Japanese Navy. The US military didn't respond to Pearl Harbor's call for help until
- 28:02the next day. This attack was a total surprise for the US. The Japanese sent spies to Pearl
- 28:10Harbor to know when was the right time to attack. The day of the attack, a soldier named Joseph
- 28:17detected a swarm of aircraft in the air, 130 miles away. This could have prevented the
- 28:24attack on Pearl Harbor, but they thought they were American planes flying in from the mainland.
- 28:30Little did they know it was the Japanese. Days after the attack, Germany and Italy declared
- 28:38war on the US. This led to the US joining World War II.
- 28:52German and Italian citizens living in the United States were held as political prisoners during
- 28:58World War II, but after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, the U.S.
- 29:06rounded up 120,000 people of Japanese descent and put them into internment camps, including
- 29:15two here in New Mexico. Nearly two-thirds of them were American citizens. Years later, the
- 29:23U.S. government would apologize and pay reparations to the people who had been held in the camps.
- 29:29But it took decades for that to happen. Robin Amor and Jesse C. from Vocalo Media have more.
- 29:37Chie Tomohiro and Sam Ozaki were both interned during World War II. They were teenagers in
- 29:43the early 40s. Both lived on the West Coast. Chie was from Portland. Sam was from California.
- 29:48Both of their fathers were fairly successful businessmen. active in the Japanese community.
- 29:53Both Chie and Sam described their fathers as community leaders. They were leading successful,
- 29:59stable lives, the kind of lives their families had come to America hoping to achieve, until
- 30:05Pearl Harbor. Suddenly, they weren't model citizens anymore. They were the enemy. Here's
- 30:12Chie describing what happened. The FBI had selected certain people that they considered
- 30:18leaders in the community. Right on the day of Pearl Harbor, December 7th, 1941, my father
- 30:24was picked up by the FBI. The FBI came in, ransacked her house, went through all the
- 30:30drawers and everything. And you know, I had a US savings bond, a $25 US savings bond. They
- 30:36even took that. There was something going on at the church and my mother and I were out.
- 30:44We were so naive. Can you believe this? We thought that since my father was very fluent in English
- 30:50that he was taken to help interpret, you know, be a translator. We were so naive. That's
- 30:58what we thought. Well, when we found him in the Multnomah County Jail, you know, locked
- 31:05up like an ordinary prisoner, then we knew he was, you know, not there to help.
- 31:17They were treated like prisoners of war. He didn't return until was April of 1944. So
- 31:24he was separated from you and your mother for three years? Yeah.
- 31:34My father had lived in this country since 1903 and because of the law saying that no Asians
- 31:43can become naturalized citizens, he did not have citizenship. And so when the war came,
- 31:49he automatically became an enemy alien. The FBI thought that by taking the leaders of the
- 31:56community out and away, that we would be helpless. We wouldn't be committing sabotage or whatever.
- 32:03I don't know what they thought we were going to do. They thought they were taking the dangerous
- 32:08people out of the community. was a similar story for Sam's father. He was sent to a camp in
- 32:14Santa Fe, New Mexico. We would not see him for possibly a good year, maybe year and a half.
- 32:21We never dreamed under the circumstances that we would have to be evacuated and interned.
- 32:30And especially since we were born and raised in this country and we had citizenship, we
- 32:36thought that the Constitution was going to protect us. And it's very interesting, the notices
- 32:43that were pinned up on the telephone poles and on the walls of buildings ordering us to report,
- 32:50you know, to the assembly center, it said, To all people of Japanese ancestry, aliens
- 32:57and non-aliens. They didn't want to say citizen. They knew they were doing something that was
- 33:05unconstitutional. They did not have the facilities to house 120,000 persons right away. So what
- 33:14they did, they took over racetracks. fairgrounds, places where they had some kind of facility
- 33:22where they could house temporarily 120,000 persons. I was one month away from graduating high
- 33:29school when we were ordered to the assembly center, which was the Pacific International
- 33:35Livestock Exposition Grounds. That was a very horrible place. It was one huge barn, and we
- 33:41were all forced to live in. the areas where the animals were displayed. treated the horses
- 33:48better than they treated us because these race horses are very valuable pieces of property.
- 33:55It's nice to visit a horse stable on occasion for a few minutes, but when you have to live
- 34:00in a stable and you smell the horses all the time, that's not so pleasant. I think that
- 34:05the lack of privacy... The total lack of privacy... ...was a worse thing for everyone. The only
- 34:11way anybody could get any privacy was hanging the Army blankets that we were given. There
- 34:17was only a wall, not a wall, but a barrier, I would call it, between the families. And
- 34:22so the whole barn can hear you if you had a quarrel or anything like that. We were in the
- 34:29Santa Anita racetrack for approximately six months. and that gave the government time to
- 34:34build a more permanent type concentration camp. called it relocation center. I call it a euphemism
- 34:40when they call it a relocation center, but we were given numbers on the tags. From there
- 34:47on in, we were numbers. We were first told to stuff these ticks with straw, which were
- 34:55our mattresses for our army cots, and we were assigned a 2020 by 24 room, they called it
- 35:05apartments, but they were rooms for each family. I happened to be lucky because I was an only
- 35:12child. Our next door neighbor, there were four kids and mother and father in one 20 by
- 35:2024 room. In our case, my two sisters, my mother had a very small unit. maybe 20 by 15 or something
- 35:29like that. There was no furniture in the room. The only thing that we had was a potbelly stove.
- 35:33And I worked as a lumberjack cutting down trees and cutting the branches into smaller pieces
- 35:40so they could be used to burn in the potbelly stoves. That was the only warmth we had during
- 35:47the winter. Actually, there were no chairs, no benches, nothing. No closet, of course.
- 35:52No place to hang your clothes. After a while... You know, we found lumber and empty boxes and
- 36:00brought them in to sit on. And there were some people who were very handy and they created
- 36:05cupboards and desks and things like that, but I had no skills and there was no real lumber
- 36:12to build these things.
- 36:17That piece originally aired on Vocalo 89.9 FM Chicago Public Media. He said my name is Nakashima
- 36:30I am a proud American I came here in 27 from my
- 36:47And I picked your grapes and oranges, saved some money, bought a store until 1942. Pearl
- 37:08Harbor
- 37:13game They took our house, the store, the car And they drove us through the desert To a place
- 37:32called Manzanar A Spanish word for apple orchards We kiss on apple trees Just the rows of prison
- 37:53barracks With barbed wire boundaries And we dream of apple blossoms Waving free beneath
- 38:10the stars Till we'd wake up in the desert The prisoners of Mons and Arms
- 39:16of apple blossoms waving free beneath the stars till we'd wade still prisoners of Monsignor,
- 39:39Monsignor. 50 years of all but vanished. Now I am...
- 40:01came here from Japan
- 40:09winter nights I often wish upon a star that I'd forget the same sorrow that I felt at Montenar
- 40:29where we dream of apple blossoms Waving free beneath the star
- 40:44You're listening to the Children's Hour Kids Public Radio. We'll be right back. The Children's
- 40:50Hour is now producing weekly educational modules to go with every episode, thanks to a grant
- 40:56from the Albuquerque Community Foundation. You can support this effort too. Go to childrenshour.org
- 41:03and click donate. The Children's Hour is grateful to the Outpost Performance Space in Albuquerque,
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- 41:40Welcome back to the Children's Hour. Before the break, was Manzanar by Tom Paxton and Ann
- 41:44Hills off of Under American Skies. And that word Manzanar refers to the Manzanar War Relocation
- 41:51Center in California. It was one of 10 American internment camps set up between March 1942
- 41:59and November 1945. Today on the show, we're learning about World War II with Ms. Rand Bridges'
- 42:06fifth grade bilingual students at Alvarado Elementary and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Japan went to
- 42:14war because they needed resources. Their military traditions were very different and included
- 42:22surprise attacks and self-sacrifice. In World War I, Japan was on the winning side, but felt
- 42:30cheated because they had so few resources. Japan attacked China because China had so much
- 42:37raw materials. 2,500 Japanese kamikaze soldiers sacrificed themselves by diving their planes
- 42:46into battleships. They thought they were honoring themselves to their ancestors. As an island
- 42:54nation, Japan had a very strong navy. They thought they could intimidate their enemies
- 43:01with big ships, surprise and kamikaze attacks, and strategic advantages, but the Allies
- 43:09were eventually able to defeat them.
- 43:17Battleships and aircraft carriers served an important role in the Asian theater in World
- 43:21War II. The Japanese had the advantage at first because they had well-built battleships. They
- 43:27were made so big because Captain Kikuo Fujimoto believed that if you had a big ship and big
- 43:32guns, you would intimidate the other ships. On the other hand, the U.S. battleships were
- 43:38small because of the Panama Canal restrictions they had. It also meant that the U.S. battleships
- 43:44didn't have very thick armor. Once the war was underway, the US decided to focus on making
- 43:51aircraft carriers to hold planes. The US made so many aircraft carriers like the Yorktown
- 43:57that because of them they ended up winning the war. The US's superior Navy, especially battleships
- 44:04and aircraft carriers, was what helped us win the
- 44:10The Battle of Midway was an important event because it ended the threat of Japan invading
- 44:16the Pacific Ocean. The Midway Islands were in the very center of the Pacific Ocean, and
- 44:22the U.S. owned this territory. In May 1942, the Japanese were getting ready for a naval
- 44:29showdown with the smaller U.S. Pacific Fleet. On June 3rd, Japan invaded Midway Island,
- 44:35then the U.S. sent out their plane carriers and destroyed Japan's bomb carriers. and Mario
- 44:40Magucci responded to his burning ships by sending more planes to attack US ships. They seriously
- 44:46damaged one of the US best aircraft carriers, the US's Yorktown. On June 5, 1942, some
- 44:54of the US sailors on the Yorktown began an unsuccessful salvage operation. More of the Japanese destroyers
- 45:01sank and eventually the Japanese did not have enough planes to protect their ships. Both
- 45:07sides had many casualties, including the Yorktown aircraft carrier. But the Battle Midway was
- 45:13a victory for the U.S. and was a turning point for the Allied forces in the Asian threat.
- 45:21The Air Force is one of the most unique parts of the military. Plans were used in World
- 45:27War II to carry troops and materials. Since planes were new, they were very difficult to
- 45:32fly. The Air Force was founded after the war on February 18, 1947, and it shares the same
- 45:41birthday as the CIA. That shows how important the Air Force is.
- 45:59They'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover. Tomorrow just you wait and see. They'll
- 46:16be love and laughter and peace ever after. Tomorrow when the world is free.
- 46:35The shepherd will tend his sheep, the valley will bloom again. Jimmy will go to sleep in
- 46:49his own little room again. They'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover. Tomorrow just
- 47:09you wait and see.
- 47:16that was Rosemary Clooney with The White Cliffs of Dover. We're learning about World War II
- 47:22today from a bilingual classroom at Alvarado Elementary School in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
- 47:29These are fifth graders and they studied World War II to create this program for the Children's
- 47:35Hour.
- 47:40Women helped a lot during World War II. The women in World War II worked in factories to
- 48:01replace the men and created victory gardens to save money. This is the main way women
- 48:14served their country. The women also worked in the armed forces of nurses and administrators
- 48:33and they fixed planes. Not everyone believed that women played a very important role in
- 48:51the war. Afterwards, General Eisenhower claimed that we could not have won the war without
- 48:57women.
- 49:03All day long where the rain is shined She's the part of the assembly line She's making
- 49:18history working for victory, Rosie The Riveter keeps a sharp lookout for sabotage Sitting
- 49:25up there on the fuselage That little frail can do more than a male can do Rosie The Riveter,
- 49:32Rosie's got a boyfriend Charlie Charlie, he's the Marine Rosie is protecting Charlie Working
- 49:39overtime on the riveting machine When they gave her a production knee She was as proud as a
- 49:45girl could be There's something true about red, white and blue about Rosie Rrrrr you Rosie!
- 50:28Rosie! Working on assembly line! Rosie, Rosie, Rivet. That was Rosie the Riveter by Four
- 51:24Vagabonds. That song was inspired by Rosalind P. Walter, a young volunteer during the war.
- 51:31She was 19 when she started helping to put fighter planes together at the Vought Aircraft Company
- 51:37in Stratford, Connecticut. After reading newspaper articles about her, songwriters Red Evans
- 51:44and John Jacob Loeb wrote the song Rosie the Riveter. The Rosie character quickly became
- 51:51a pop culture sensation. Perhaps you've seen her poster bearing her slogan, we can do it.
- 51:56We've posted it at childrenshour.org. Look for this episode, World War II. You've been listening
- 52:02to The Children's Hour and today we've been learning about World War II with Therese Rand
- 52:06Bridges fifth grade class at Alvarado Elementary School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We want
- 52:11to thank these bilingual fifth graders for presenting a show for us today. You can find a complete
- 52:17list of participants and links at childrenshour.org along with a lot of photos. We've got one more
- 52:24segment for you today on the end of World War II. Stick with us. You're listening to The
- 52:29Children's Hour. In World War II, scientists developed the atomic bomb. How did they make
- 52:39it? They made it with uranium-235. Uranium-235 is a deadly material that was put in the atomic
- 52:51bomb in order to make it powerful and deadly. They didn't drop one atomic bomb. They dropped
- 52:59two atomic bombs. The one they dropped on Hiroshima was called Little Boy. And the other atomic
- 53:07bomb they dropped was called Fat Man. The Fat Man was made with Plutonium-239, which is
- 53:17even more dangerous material than uranium.
- 53:30The city of Hiroshima was bombed on August 6, 1945 at about 8.15 a.m.
- 53:40Hiroshima was bombed by a 9,700 pound atomic bomb called Little Boy. Hiroshima was bombed
- 53:50to bring World War II to a quick end. Roughly 70,000 to 138,000 people died. Some survivors
- 54:00say the flash of the bomb came with a rush of heat and was followed by a huge pressure wave
- 54:06and the loud sound of the explosion. After another city called Nagasaki was bombed, Japan surrendered
- 54:14to America. The Nagasaki bombing occurred on August 9th, 1945, three days after the bombing
- 54:26of Hiroshima. The bomb was called Fat Man and it weighed 10,000 pounds. 50,000 buildings
- 54:33when hit by Fat Man were fully or partially destroyed and it killed 40,000 people on impact.
- 54:41Many innocent people died, including children and women. So, Two days later, the Japanese
- 54:49Emperor Hirohito declared that they were surrendering to the Allies. That was the end of the war.
- 55:10That's Therese Rand-Bridge's fifth grade class at Alvarado Elementary teaching us about World
- 55:15War II. Learning about war is difficult. It's painful to think about the level of death and
- 55:22destruction that war leads to. Those who lost their lives in World War II were just like
- 55:29you and me. They were people with friends and families. Like Anne Frank, they had their own
- 55:35passions and dreams. But we study and remember history to learn from those moments and work
- 55:43together to make sure that they never happen again. We just have time for one more song
- 55:49for you today. Here's We'll Meet Again by Vera Lynn. Thanks so much for tuning into The Children's
- 55:55Hour. I'm Katie Stone and we'll catch you next time. But I know we'll meet again some sunny
- 56:14day.
- 56:20smiling through just like you always do till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away
- 56:37so will you please say hello to the folks that I know tell them I won't belong They'll be
- 56:51happy to know that as you saw me go I was singing this song meet again don't know where don't
- 57:09know when but I know we'll meet again some sunny day we'll meet again
- 57:36Some sunny day Keep smiling through just like you always Till the blue skies, high in the
- 57:57dark clouds, far away. So will you please say hello to the folks that I know, tell them
- 58:10I won't be long.
- 58:23Ta-da!
- 58:39Children's Hour is produced by The Children's Hour, Inc., a New Mexico non-profit. You can
- 58:45find photos, playlists, learning guides, and activities for every episode at Children'sHour.org.
- 58:51This episode of The Children's Hour was produced by me, Katie Stone, with help from Christina
- 58:56Stella, Rodrigo Cuenca, Mackenzie Gronke, Thaniel Lentz, and the students at Alvarado Elementary
- 59:02School. Our learning guides are written by Amber Scheele, and you can find this one at
- 59:06Children'sHour.org. Look for World War II. Our theme music was written by C.K. Barlow. The
- 59:24Children's Hour is distributed by Native Voice One, the Native American radio network. Thanks
- 59:31for listening to the Children's Hour, kids' public radio. you