On this episode of Our American Stories, Laura Treppendahl was only beginning her adult life when it ended in a drunk driving crash. Her family’s grief was immediate and overwhelming, but so was their conviction about how to respond. When the young man responsible for the accident faced sentencing, the Treppendahls stood before the judge and said something that left the courtroom stunned: they forgave him. Laura’s parents share their remarkable story of faith.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, from 1945 to 1992, the United States conducted more than a thousand nuclear weapons tests. Many took place in Nevada, where young Marines were ordered into trenches to observe what would happen when the bomb went off. Among them was Toby Madrid. For decades, he stayed silent, sharing his memories only once with his son and a trusted co-worker, Richard Muniz. That rare conversation captured the surreal experience of facing a nuclear explosion in the desert and the shadow it left on the men who served.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, when Lt. Howard Snyder’s B-17 Susan Ruth was shot down over Belgium in February 1944, he could have ended up a prisoner or worse. Instead, he vanished into the resistance. Hidden by members of the Belgian Underground, he spent four months evading capture and another three fighting alongside Maquis guerrillas in France. He rejoined Allied forces only after the liberation in September. Steve Snyder shares his father’s incredible journey of survival, resistance, and redemption in the face of Nazi tyranny.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Esther de Berdt Reed wasn’t content to sit on the sidelines during the Revolutionary War. While the fighting dragged on and morale among Patriot soldiers dropped, Reed launched an ambitious campaign with other women to raise funds and provide relief for the troops. When she presented her plan to George Washington, he had his own ideas for how their efforts should be used. But Esther wasn't willing to go down without a fight.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, in 2013, Tyson Timbs had his $42,000 Land Rover seized by the state of Indiana after a low-level drug offense. That seizure set off a seven-year legal fight that reached the United States Supreme Court. The question was simple but historic: Could a state impose a punishment so extreme that it violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on excessive fines? The Court’s unanimous decision in Timbs v. Indiana reshaped how civil forfeiture works across the country. Ilya Somin takes us inside the twists and turns of the case and explains why this protection matters for every American.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, John and Ashley Marsh once stood on the edge of collapse. Addiction, infidelity, and financial ruin had left their marriage shattered and their lives without direction. John was preparing to end it all when an unexpected moment of faith interrupted his plans. That turning point marked the beginning of a long journey of recovery and forgiveness. Together, the couple rebuilt what was broken and discovered a calling bigger than themselves. Today, they live out that calling by restoring abandoned buildings and bringing life back to forgotten neighborhoods.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, long before mass production and freeways, the automobile was an invention still finding its way. The Duryea brothers were among its pioneers, and in 1901, they built something unique: a car made to glorify God. More than a century later, that car still exists. Barry Meguiar shares the story of how he came to own it.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, when a young Iowa farmer named Cecil Wax was drafted into World War II, he never imagined his survival would hinge on a frozen mountain road in the middle of the Battle of the Bulge. Driving a supply truck loaded with gasoline and ammunition, Cecil fought ice, darkness, and the fear of ambush at every turn. What happened next left him convinced for the rest of his life that God had reached down and saved him. His daughter, Marilyn, shares the unforgettable story of faith, courage, and a moment that changed everything.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, she was called the most beautiful woman in the world, yet Hedy Lamarr’s greatest gift had little to do with her looks. During World War II, she and George Antheil sketched out a way to keep military communications secure by sending signals across multiple frequencies. Their work was shelved and forgotten at the time, but the principles behind it power nearly every wireless connection today.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Aron Marquez’s American Dream began with dirt under his fingernails and sweat in the fields. The work was grueling, but it taught him lessons he never forgot: discipline, endurance, and responsibility. Those same lessons paved the way for him to enter the oil industry, where he founded a company (Wildcat Oil Tools) that today generates over $100 million in annual revenue.

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