This Week on History Happy Hour: It wasn’t just the Marines that fought in the Pacific – the Army actually did most of the fighting and dying in the war against Japan.

Historian John McManus returns to History Happy Hour to discuss volume two of his WWII Pacific War trilogy. In Island Infernos, he explores the U.S. Army’s dogged pursuit of Japanese forces, island by island, throughout 1944, a year that would bring America ever closer to victory or defeat.

John McManus is Curators’ Distinguished Professor of U.S. military history at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. As one of the nation’s leading military historians, and the author of fifteen well received books on the topic, he is in frequent demand as a speaker and expert commentator. In addition to dozens of local and national radio programs, he has appeared on CNN.com, Fox News, C-Span, the Military Channel, the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic Channel, Netflix, the Smithsonian Network, the History Channel and PBS, among others.

This Week on History Happy Hour: In September 1943, the people of Denmark banded together to rescue nearly all of their Jewish citizens from a NAZI roundup by ferrying them to sanctuary in Sweden. Why were the Danes able to do what no other country could?

Rick and Chris discuss this little-known, true story with guest Tim Brady, author of A Light in the Northern Sea: Denmark’s Incredible Rescue of Their Jewish Citizens During WWII. The riveting accounts of ordinary Danes, who used their modest resources, wiles, remarkable courage, and camaraderie to quietly orchestrate their escape.

Tim Brady is an award-winning author. His previous books, Three Ordinary Girls, His Father's Son, Twelve Desperate Miles and A Death in San Pietro, have received wide critical acclaim. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he frequently writes for the History Channel Magazine. He has also written a number of PBS documentaries, and helped develop the series Liberty! The American Revolution, winner of the Peabody Award. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

This Week on History Happy Hour: In 1940, French painter Henri Matisse was ill, recently divorced, and full of doubt about his own career. But when the Germans invaded, he and his family defiantly refused to evacuate Nazi-occupied France.

Chris and Rick discuss what happened next with HHH alum Christopher Gorham, author of Matisse at War: Art and Resistance in Nazi Occupied France.

Christopher C. Gorham is a lawyer and teacher of modern American history at Westford Academy, outside Boston. He appeared on HHH in October 2023 to talk about his book The Confidante. He has degrees in history from Tufts University and the University of Michigan, and a law degree from Syracuse University. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post and in online journals. He and his wife Elizabeth live in Massachusetts.