Kenneth and Gaye Honeycutt

On March 18, 1937, a gas leak at The Consolidated School of New London, Texas, led to an explosion that claimed the lives of nearly 300 students and teachers.

It remains one of the worst school disasters in US history.

Kenneth Honeycutt was playing near the school when the explosion happened. At StoryCorps, he shared memories of the tragedy with his wife, Gaye.

Frank Curre

On December 7, 1941, 2,403 Americans died when hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii.

After convincing his mother to sign his enlistment papers, Frank Curre joined the Navy at 17 years old. In August 1941, he went aboard the battleship USS Tennessee and was in the mess cooking on the day of the attack.

At StoryCorps, he shared his harrowing recollections.

Frank died on December 7, 2011, the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was 88 years old.

Originally aired November 11, 2011, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Gloria and Lou Del Bianco

Mount Rushmore, an iconic monument to American history, began in 1927 and was completed in 1941. A chief stone carver on the project, Luigi Del Bianco was an Italian immigrant and 35 years old when the project started. He worked on the site for most of 14 years of blasting and chiseling granite that it took to finish the work. Del Bianco was responsible for many of the finer details in Lincoln’s face.

Del Bianco’s daughter Gloria and her nephew, Lou, sat down at StoryCorps to share their memories of him and the work he did.

In 1966, Luigi gave an interview in which he discussed how difficult it was to work on the monument.

Originally aired October 27, 2011 on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Mary Morris

Mary Morris remembers her husband, Thomas, one of two Washington D.C. postal workers who died from exposure to anthrax in October, 2001.

Joel Healy and Kelli Healy Salazar

Joel Healy joined the Army when he was 17 years old to help pay for college. He never imagined that he would witness the detonation of more than 20 atomic bombs.

Joel was a private first class when he was assigned to Camp Desert Rock, north of Las Vegas in 1957.

That’s where he took part in Operation Plumbbob, one of the largest nuclear tests series ever conducted on U.S. soil.

At StoryCorps, Joel told his daughter, Kelli Healy Salazar, about his time at the Nevada test site.

It’s hard to determine just how many became ill because they were present at these tests, but Joel and thousands of others have received compensation from the federal government as part of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990.

Originally aired October 12, 2012, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Harvey Sherman

During the summer of 1951, the Brooklyn Dodgers had a comfortable lead over their crosstown rivals, the New York Giants. But as the season drew to a close, the Dodgers lost their hold on first place and had to face the Giants in a playoff. The winner would get to play in the World Series.

On October 3, 1951, the Dodgers lost in spectacular fashion, with pitcher Ralph Branca giving up a ninth-inning home run to the Giants’ Bobby Thomson. Known as the “shot heard ’round the world,” Thomson’s hit is one of the most famous home runs in baseball history.

Harvey Sherman was a teenager living in Brooklyn at the time. And like many other Dodgers fans, he remembers every moment of that day.

Click here to hear Harvey Sherman remembering the Brooklyn Dodgers’ last game at Ebbets Field.

Originally aired September 29, 2011, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

John Yates

John Yates was working at the Pentagon as a civilian security manager on September 11, 2001.

That morning, he and five colleagues gathered around a television to watch the news of the attack on the World Trade Center. Afterwards, he returned to his desk to call his wife and assure her he was fine. Soon after rejoining his colleagues, American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon.

The impact blew John through the air. He crawled through the wreckage and eventually found his way to the Pentagon’s center courtyard, where his clothing was cut off and a doctor began treatment.

Two days later John awoke in the hospital suffering burns on almost 40 percent of his body. The five colleagues he’d been with that morning were all killed in the explosion.

John came to StoryCorps to talk about his memories of that morning.

Originally aired September 11, 2011, on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday.

Max Voelz

Max Voelz met his future wife, Kimberly, on Valentine’s Day, while they were training to work in Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit — the Army’s elite bomb squad.

Both Max and Kim were sent to Iraq in 2003. One night, Max called in the location of an explosive and Kim was sent to disarm it. She did not survive the mission.

Max sat down for StoryCorps to remember her.

Originally aired May 27, 2011, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Top photo: Kimberly Voelz at work. Courtesy of Max Voelz.

James Thompson, Dwight Thompson and Brenda Graham

In 1958, a kiss made civil rights history. It happened in Monroe, North Carolina. Two African American children, James Hanover Thompson and David Simpson, were said to have kissed a girl who was white. They were arrested and accused of rape.

The incident became known around the world as “The Kissing Case.” But over time, it was largely forgotten.

Even the Thompson family rarely talked about it–until they came to StoryCorps, where James (L) sat down with his younger brother, Dwight (R), and told him what happened.

Under political pressure, the governor of North Carolina released the two friends. James then spent most of his adult life in and out of prison for robbery.

His sister, Brenda Lee Graham (pictured left), also came to StoryCorps. She remembered what life was like for the family after James had been arrested.

Originally aired April 29, 2011, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Carl McNair

On the morning of January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after lifting off. All seven crew members were killed.

Ronald McNair was one of the astronauts aboard Challenger that day (Challenger crew is pictured at left; Carl is in the front row, far right). A graduate of MIT who grew up in the small farming community of Lake City, South Carolina, McNair was only the second African American to visit space.

His older brother, Carl (pictured above), talked about how Ronald’s journey from the rural South to outer space began with an act of courage at the local public library.

Click here to watch “Eyes on the Stars,” a StoryCorps animation of Carl’s remembrance.

 Originally aired January 28, 2011, on NPR’s Morning Edition.