The Women of the Philippine Resistance | Desiree Benipayo

Plan, calculate, and fly a B-17 across the U.S., navigating weather and mechanical challenges while experiencing the real work of WASP pilots.

Ever wondered how and when women began serving in the military? This This Nimitz Minitz episode is the first of two installments that focuses on the roles that women played as part of the U.S. military. Prior to World War II, women had only served on the battlefront as nurses. All of that changed in 1942 when the Congress created auxiliary units to be attached to the existing military branches. This episode explains the important contributions of the WACs, WAVES and the Army and Navy Nurse Corps.

During World War II, more than 75,000 men and women converged on a government-built town, Oak Ridge, in rural Tennessee to work on a mysterious project–the Manhattan Project. The site employed a vast number of young women recruited from high schools, hospitals, colleges, diners and more. They were forbidden from ever speaking about their work. Denise Kiernan shares what she learned in her seven-year quest to uncover their stories, interviewing more than 100 surviving Oak Ridgers.