Episode No. 71 WWII Radio Heroes: Letters
of Compassion Date: August 20, 2009 Notes: Lisa Spahr the author of WWII Radio Heroes: Letters of Compassion
Lisa Spahr, a former volunteer firefighter, “is an investigative psychologist
who owns a life coaching and consulting business in Pittsburgh PA. Ms. Spahr has an extensive history in the field of research
for universities and private organizations, focusing on law and psychiatry research, military applications, and policing operations
and tactics. Examples of her work include: examining the construct of psychopathy in prisoner and juvenile populations, and
creating guidelines for suicide bomb response for police officers in the United States.
Lisa Spahr said of WWII Radio Heroes:
Letters of Compassion, “More than 60 years had gone by before I found them. Dozens and dozens of letters written to
my family during WWII- from total strangers- to tell my great-grandmother that her son had been captured and was being held
as a POW. How did they know this? Well, it seems that the short-wave radio had held all of the answers. POWs were allowed
to state their names and hometowns on the radio, and sometimes relay a short message to their families. Scores of Americans,
listening to the German propaganda from so far away, heard my grandfather's information, and took it upon themselves to write
to my great-grandmother. All of these dear people wanted to give my great-grandmother a measure of comfort to know her son
was alive.”
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