Cold War Conversations

Latest Episodes:

A 17 year old in the Cold War US Army (57) Apr 05, 2019

Show notes

Today we speak to Manuel Alzaga who as a 17 year old joined the US Army in 1981.

Manuel signed up to the artillery and tells his story from life of poverty in Los Angeles through to deployment in West Germany for a Reforger exercise.

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Now back to today’s episode. We start by talking about Manuel’s early life.

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The Cold War Candy Bomber (56) Mar 30, 2019

Show notes

We speak to 98 year old Gail Halvorsen aka "The Candy Bomber" who flew in the Berlin Airlift in 1948.

The Soviets had started a 11-month land blockade against West Berlin. The blockade was broken by a massive U.S.-British airlift of vital supplies to West Berlin. Gail tells an incredible story of an iconic humanitarian mission at the dawn of the Cold War.

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Now back to today’s episode. The line wasn’t great, but I felt so honoured to be able to speak with Gail.

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Why Preserve Cold War Communist Architecture? (55) Mar 23, 2019

Show notes

We welcome back Mark Baker from episode 9 where we spoke about his time in 1980s Czechoslovakia.

Mark is a freelance journalist & travel writer living in his adopted hometown of Prague. I really recommend his blog which can be found here.

Mark has lived in Central Europe for more than two decades and seeks out communist architecture in his home town and further afield. He is the ideal candidate to discuss the question “Why preserve Communist architecture?”

Now back to today’s episode. Welcome back Mark Baker!

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Cold War Canadians Hunt For Red October (54) Mar 16, 2019

Show notes

Colonel Terry Chester spent a good portion of his RCAF career hunting for Soviet Submarines in both the Pacific and Atlantic area's of operation.

He was instrumental in the design criteria for sub hunting capability's when Canada procured the, then new Aurora, for anti-submarine hunting in the early 1980's.

Terry has great stories to tell regarding sub hunting tactics as well as Canadian participation in NATO exercises

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Do take a look at Vintage Wings a collection of historically significant aircraft that Terry has worked on as well as the Royal Canadian Airforce Association of which Terry was a National President.

Now back to today’s episode where we start with Terry telling us about his early career.

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Cold War East German Army Officer at the Fall of the Berlin Wall (53) Mar 09, 2019

Show notes

In this episode we hear the third and final part of Torsten Belger’s story as he tells us about his first visit to West Berlin, leaving the East German Army and life after the GDR.

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Now back to today’s episode. We start with Torsten life in the immediate aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

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Radio GDR

If you are interested in East Germany we can highly recommend our friends over at Radio GDR.

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László Nagy - A Cold War Hungarian Life (52) Mar 02, 2019

Show notes

László Nagy was one of the early members of the Hungarian Democratic Forum in 1987. The HDF became Hungary’s largest political party following first free elections in 1990.

In this episode we hear the story of his parent’s life in 1950’s Hungary and László’s early life including how he ended up at school with the son of West Germany’s President.

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Now back to today’s episode. We start with László describing his father’s experiences at the end of World War 2.

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The Cold War Blood Tattoo (51) Feb 27, 2019

Show notes

In 1951, a small pilot program was launched in Indiana and Utah as a civilian defense measure to aid in the aftermath of a nuclear attack.

The idea was simple: If a bomb dropped, people would need medical attention.

They would need a fast and accurate system to help administer blood transfusions. Blood type and Rh factor (a newly discovered slightly important detail in the world of blood transfusions) needed to be readily available to emergency personnel.

You can lose a paper ID card. Dog tags can come off your neck. Limbs can easily get blown off. Blood typing needed a universal and permanent placement. They had just the ticket.

A tattoo under the arm, on the rib cage, and children were the guinea pigs for this test program...

Now regular listeners will know the drill, as this is the point ask you to help support us. As the podcast gets more popular our costs of hosting and running the podcast increase, so if you are enjoying what you hear a few dollars, pounds or roubles a month help keep us on the air. Click here to learn more. Thank you so much to all our fans that are supporting us – it is really appreciated!

Now back to today’s episode where I introduce our two guests…

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The Cold War Struggle for the Soul of Science - Freedom's Laboratory (50) Feb 23, 2019

Show notes

Audra J Wolfe is writer, editor, and historian based in Philadelphia. With a background in both science and history her work specifically focuses on the role of science during the Cold War, a period when science held a special place in maintaining and projecting state power.

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Now back to today’s episode where Audra and I met at Manchester University where she is currently on lecture tour.

You can but Audra's book here.

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An RAF pilot remembers the end of the Cold War (49) Feb 16, 2019

Show notes

In this episode we welcome back Nick Anderson who told us about his RAF service intercepting TU-95 Soviet Bear bombers over the North Sea.

The story continues with his accounts of how the Soviet aircrew tried to distract RAF planes and how he was almost downed by their tactics.

The episode ends with Nick telling us about the final days of the Cold War.

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Gillian - A US Student visits Cold War Poland in 1989 (48) Feb 09, 2019

Show notes

In this episode we welcome back Gillian Cox who told us about her student trip to East Germany in 1989. In this episode the story continues with her trip further East into Poland.

At this point Poland’s communist Polish United Workers Party had abandoned its monopoly of power in April. Elections in June 1989 resulted in the Free Trade Union Solidarity securing 35% of seats available to it with the remaining 65% was divided between the PZPR and its satellite parties

The first round of voting took place on the same day that the Chinese communist government unleashed the Tiananmen Square massacre.

We join my Cold War Conversation with Gillian Cox as she crosses the East German border into Poland.

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