Life in a concentration camp, even an American one, was never going to be pleasant. But the tens of thousands of imprisoned Japanese Americans found ways to get through the day, embracing the philosophy that the situation just couldn’t be helped.

Starting in March 1942, 120,000 Japanese Americans were removed from the West Coast and sent to 10 camps where they would ride out the majority of the war. Two of those camps were located in Arizona, introducing tens of thousands of people to the rigors of living in the desert … without the option for leaving.

Even in the decades before the 1942 executive order to remove them all from the West Coast of America, life for Japanese Americans in Arizona wasn’t easy. And it only got worse when literal bombs started flying.

After their daring breakout on the evening of December 23, 1944, the 25 escaping German POWs tried various methods to get to freedom. They would be hampered by things like rain, cold, patrols, wary citizens, cactus and a dry river bed, ultimately resulting in all 25 being back in custody just over a month after breaking out.

Starting in 1943, 3,000 German prisoners of war, mostly naval men, would be held in a POW camp at Papago Park. In 1944, 28 of those deemed to be troublemakers discovered a blindspot in their compound and set upon an audacious plan to break out and make a run for Mexico.

Starting in 1943, thousands of German and Italian POWs were shipped to Arizona. They would leave a mostly honorable legacy while the Sonoran Desert and the mountains of Flagstaff would leave a lasting impression on them.

World War II had the effect of making Fort Huachuca into a a central gathering place for Black men and women serving in the U.S. Army. Their experience ran parallel with their white counterparts, except for a notable undercurrent of segregation, prejudice, and racism. And those same undercurrents would result in a minor war breaking out on the streets of Phoenix on Thanksgiving Day 1942.

After Pearl Harbor, the military turned Arizona into one giant training ground. And many of the soldiers who funnel through the state chose to stay in the desert, chaining the course of Arizona history for decades to come.

Most people connect Pearl Harbor to the USS Arizona that sunk beneath the waves on December 7, 1941. But in the months following the surprise attack, Arizona would have a surprising connection to those who had help plan that most infamous of dates.

Though it was probably not on his mind at all, Adolph Hitler changed the course of Arizona’s history when he invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. One ramification that would unfold a year and a half later was one of the last great instances of Amerindian resistance to the U.S. government.

In 1934, Arizona’s hostility toward California and its water demands reached it zenith, culminating in the governor sending troops and a “navy,” to stop that most heinous of things - a dam across the Colorado River.

The Hoover Dam would be finished two years early, but that feat took a lot of planning, coordination, and sacrifice - and a heavy toll on the men building the project.

It’s time to talk about water once again. In this case, we discuss all the preparation that went into one of the biggest public works projects of the 1930s that just so happens to sit between Arizona and Nevada.

The U.S. Army started to reorganize and consolidate in the 1920s. At Fort Huachuca this meant an end to its time hosting not only the 10th Cavalry and 25th Infantry Buffalo Soldiers, but the last remaining Apache scouts as well.

When they weren’t patrolling the border or invading Mexico, the Buffalo Soldiers had lives filled with Army drills, band concerts, baseball games, dances with eligible women and, oh yeah, all kinds of discrimination.

We continue our deep look into the service of the Buffalo Soldiers with one of the main highlights of their time in Arizona - protesting the border and invading Mexico.

The Buffalo Soldiers left quite a legacy, both in general and in Arizona. Along the border town of Naco, part of that legacy is still standing - and some folks want to keep it that way.

This is the story of how one Chinese man became a legend at Fort Huachuca.

Before it became the very model of a modern Army installation, Fort Huachuca started out as the temporary Camp Huachuca, a remote, frontier outpost that was simply struggling to hold on.

In 1930, a young man from Kansas working in Flagstaff noted an object move 3.5 millimeters between two photographic plates. And our understanding of the Solar System has never been the same.