This week on History Happy Hour: In 1993 two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down, and in the ensuing Battle of Mogadishu eighteen Americans and hundreds of Somalis were killed. But very few appreciate that this was just one day in a two-and-a-half-year operation—the most ambitious attempt in history to rebuild a nation. Why and how did it go so wrong?

In this encore episode we explore this with fellow Stephen Ambrose Tours historian Jonathan Carroll, author of Beyond Black Hawk Down: Intervention, Nation-Building, and Insurgency in Somalia, 1992-1995.

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Jonathan Carroll is an associate professor of military history at the British Army’s Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Dr. Carroll has taught courses on U.S. and European military history; leadership, combat, and command; air power in contemporary warfare; and U.S. social and political history from 1865 to the present. A major focus of his teaching is on the First and Second World Wars. A native of the Republic of Ireland, Dr. Carroll served in the Irish Army for 12 years. In 2023, he published his first book on contemporary Irish defense. He received his doctorate in military history from Texas A&M University in College Station.

This week on History Happy Hour: It was a marvel of 1930s engineering, a line of underground forts containing hospitals, modern kitchens, telephone exchanges, and even electric trains. The fortifications were invulnerable to the heaviest artillery and to chemical warfare. Yet they fell to the Germans in just a few weeks.

Kevin Passmore has written The Maginot Line – A New History. We’ll talk with him about the controversies of how it was built, the men who manned it, and what happened when the Germans showed up.

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Kevin Passmore is professor of modern European history at Cardiff University. He is the author of Fascism: A Very Short Introduction, The Right in France from the Third Republic to Vichy, and From Liberalism to Fascism: The Right in a French Province, 1928–1939.

This week on History Happy Hour: Author Dan King interviewed more than 100 Japanese veterans while living in Japan, and has written a series of books telling the story of the war from their POV.

We’ll talk to him about his latest book, The Iron Graves of Saipan, about the men of the 9th Japanese Tank Division. Their story begins with training, chow halls, talent shows, pranks, and USO shows on the Manchurian border. But their journey ends in the brutal battles of the Mariana Islands, where only 4% survived.

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Dan King earned a degree in Japanese language from Cal State University, then worked at a tech company in Japan for 10 years. During that time, he interviewed 103 Japanese veterans about their wartime experiences, and often had the opportunity to review scrapbooks, letters and diaries as well. He is the author of Blossoms From the Sky, The Last Zero Fighter, A Tomb Called Iwo Jima, and The Yalu River Boys, all based on those interviews. He has also worked as a technical / historical / language advisor on films and documentaries including: The Last Samurai, Windtalkers, Flags of Our Fathers and others.

This week on History Happy Hour:  In 1864, General Sherman commenced his march across Georgia. By the time he reached Savannah, some 20 thousand enslaved people attached themselves to his army.  

Chris and Rick explore this seminal moment that laid the foundation for Reconstruction with Bennett Parten, author of Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman's March and the Story of America's Largest Emancipation.

Bennett Parten is an assistant professor of history at Georgia Southern University. His area of expertise is the Civil War period. He was named a Distinguished Lecturer by the Organization of American Historians. He completed his PhD in history at Yale University. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, Zocalo Public Square, and The Civil War Monitor, among others. He currently lives in Savannah, Georgia.  

This week on History Happy Hour: In 1945, the US Congress recommended awarding the Medal of Honor to 432 recipients. Not a single Black soldier made the list.

Not Vernon Baker, who single-handedly eliminated three enemy machineguns and an observation post. Not even Lieutenant Charles Thomas, who led his platoon to capture a strategically vital village in 1944 in spite staggering losses.

It took more than 50 years for the Army to honor these and other black soldiers with the Medal of Honor.  In this encore episode, Chris and Rick talk with Robert Child to bout his book: Immortal Valor: The Black Medal of Honor Winners of World War II. Learn about their extraordinary heroism and explore why recognition was denied them so long.  

Robert Child has spent 20+ years in Television and Film and is an Emmy nominated producer/director. He is a published author of fiction and nonfiction, and has appeared on 75+ Film and TV credits on IMDB. Among his films is The Wereth Eleven, the story of Black GIS massacred by the SS. He has garnered more than 25 writing and directing awards.

This week on History Happy Hour: During WWII, 27 Tuskegee Airmen were reported missing in combat. The remains of most were never found.

Chris and Rick explore their lives, their fates and the impact of their loss with NPR Investigative Reporter Cheryl Thompson. She is the daughter of a Tuskegee Airman, and author of the book Forgotten Souls: The Search for the Lost Tuskegee Airmen.

Cheryl Thompson is an award-winning investigative reporter for National Public Radio, and an associate professor of journalism at George Washington University. She is the recipient of more than 40 journalism awards. During more than 20 years as a reporter for The Washington Post, she was part of teams that won two Pulitzer Prizes for national reporting. The daughter of a Tuskegee Airman, she is a Chicago native who lives outside Washington, DC.

This week on History Happy Hour: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson were two African-American giants whose lives would forever be altered by the Cold War, and would explosively intersect before its most notorious weapon, the House Un-American Activities Committee. It is a complex story that tallies the sometime fearsome cost of standing against racism.

Our guest is Howard Bryant, author of the dual biography Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America.

Howard Bryant is the author of 11 books, including Rickey, and The Last Hero, a biography of Hank Aaron. He has been the sports correspondent for NPR’s Weekend Edition since 2006. He is a four-time finalist for the National Magazine Award, an Emmy Award winner, and is twice the winner of the Casey Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year. He lives in Western Massachusetts.

This week on History Happy Hour: It sits on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago: The U-505.  The June day in 1944 that this German submarine was captured was the first time the U.S. Navy boarded and captured an enemy vessel since the War of 1812. It was carried out in swashbuckling style by a top-secret Navy task force.

In this encore episode, Chris and Rick discuss its dramatic high sea heist with Alexander Rose, author of Phantom Fleet.

Alexander Rose is a journalist and author of numerous history books including Empires of the Sky, The Lion and the Fox, and Washington Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring.  The latter was adapted into the AMC drama series, Turn: Washington Spies, for which he served as writer/producer.  He has a doctorate from Cambridge, was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Born in the United States, raised in Australia and educated in Britain, Alexander currently resides in New York.

This week on History Happy Hour: During WWI, The White Lady network helped Britain by acting as couriers, radio operators and spies to facilitate the end of German control. And, when war broke out again two decades later, the leaders of the network regrouped and established a successor: The Clarence Service.

We will talk with HHH Alum Helen Fry to chart the history of these pivotal intelligence networks from her latest book, The White Lady.

Dr Helen Fry has written over 20 books on the Second World War with particular reference to British intelligence and espionage.  She has also written about the 10,000 Germans who fought for Britain in WWII. Her acclaimed book The Walls Have Ears became a bestseller and was the Daily Mail’s Top Books of the Year on War. She has appeared in numerous TV documentaries. She is a passionate advocate and official ambassador for the National Centre for Military Intelligence (NCMI). This is her fourth appearance on History Happy Hour.

This week on History Happy Hour:  Forty years after the publication of Eugene Sledge’s memoir With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, his son Henry has written The Old Breed: The Complete Story Revealed.

We’ll talk with Henry Sledge about his conversations with his father that form the basis of this book, as well as his reflections on his father’s war.  

Henry Sledge is the son of renowned author Eugene Sledge, who wrote With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa and China Marine. While growing up, he witnessed his father’s memoir take form and come to life.   Henry has worked as a consultant for Valor Studios and has been published in Valor and Naval History Magazine. His most recent article was the cover story for the Autumn 2022 issue of World War II magazine. He has co-hosted numerous WWII podcasts and has appeared as a guest on numerous other talk shows and documentaries. He holds a BA from Auburn University and has over twenty years of experience in the heavy equipment industry.