This Week on History Happy Hour: An encore episode with author and historian Joe Balkoski, our first ever five-time guest. He returns to pick up the story of the 29th Division. And of course we honored him with a special ceremony honoring Joe’s five-time guest status.

Chris and Rick talk with him about the 4th volume of his five-volume series on the 29th: Our Tortured Souls: The 29th Infantry Division in the Rhineland, November - December 1944. A riveting story of heroism and tragedy, during which thousands of 29ers became casualties in a campaign that ultimately failed to end the war.

Joe Balkoski is a renowned American military historian who has authored eight books on American involvement in the ETO during World War II. This includes a five-volume series on the history of the 29th Infantry Division in World War II and a two-volume set on American participation in the D-Day invasion. He has appeared as a D-Day expert on MSNBC, and his work has been praised by Joe Scarborough, the New York Post, World War II magazine, and others.