This week on History Happy Hour: Sir Richard Dannatt, former commander of the British Army & Allen Packwood, Director of the Churchill Archives Center, have teamed up to write a book capturing emotional turmoil and epic decision-making before, during, and after the world-defining action of D-Day.

Chris and Rick welcome them to discuss that book, Churchill’s D-Day. The invasion of Normandy - as the British Bulldog experienced it himself.

Allen Packwood is the Director of the Churchill Archives Centre, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He was awarded an OBE for services to archives and scholarship in the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honors. His book How Churchill Waged War was published in 2018, and he has since edited the Cambridge University Press Companion to Winston Churchill and coedited Letters for the Ages: The Private and Personal Letters of Sir Winston Churchill.

This week on History Happy Hour: She led a gang of horse thieves. She participated in stickups and robberies across Texas and Oklahoma. She was romantically involved with two of the west’s most feared outlaws. Many considered this extraordinary woman the most dangerous female in the west.

Chris and Rick explore her fascinating story with Dane Hucklebridge, author of a new bio on Belle Starr, Queen of All Mayhem: The Blood-Soaked Life and Mysterious Death of Belle Starr, the Most Dangerous Woman in the West.

This week on History Happy Hour: When people think of fighting in the Pacific, they often think of the epic battles involving the Navy and the Marines. But it was the Army that did most of the fighting and dying in the war against Japan.

Chris and Rick welcome acclaimed historian John McManus to dig into this three volume series on The U.S. Army the Pacific in World War II. Volume One, Fire and Fortitude, covers the first two years of the war, where the Army had to slowly learn how to come to grips with the Japanese.

This week on History Happy Hour: Chris and Rick are back live and celebrating five years as Hosts of HHH. And it’s a History Happy First - for the first time in five years they will be in the same place with their guest!

Podcasting from Lexington, Massachusetts, on the day after the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington, Chris and Rick will talk to Joel Bohy, author of Bullet Strikes from the First Day of the American Revolution. Joe’s book tells the story of investigators who used forensic techniques straight out of CSI to create a new picture of the battle. Plus – we’ll share images from the 250th Anniversary battle re-enactment.

This Week on History Happy Hour: No Guest – Just Us! Due to a scheduling issue, we will be sans guest on Sunday! What would you like us to talk about. FDR’s leadership? Our favorite WWI books? Who should have won the War for Independence?

Send an email to info@historyhappyhour.net with your questions / topics / suggestions. Get us going! And when you tune in, we’ll have some questions for you as well. A free-flow, interactive, fun time on HHH. Just make sure you have your cocktail in hand – we sure will!

This Week on History Happy Hour: The story of a National Guard unit at the forefront in the Pacific during World War II. The 32nd Division came out of the Midwest and played a crucial role in the Pacific, eventually logging more combat hours than any other U.S. Army division during the war.

Chris and Rick explore the history of this unit from mobilization in 1940 until the occupation of Japan, with Professor Mark D. Van Ells, author of Red Arrow Across the Pacific.

Mark D. Van Ells is a professor of history at Queensborough Community College of the City University of New York. He received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and is a native of the Badger State. Mark writes scholarly works as well as books and articles for general audiences on history and travel. His books include To Hear Only Thunder Again: America’s World War II Veterans Come Home, and America and World War I: A Traveler’s Guide. He also served as Archivist/Historian at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison.

This Week on History Happy Hour: In 1881, the first Buffalo Soldiers arrived in Arizona, serving in both the cavalry and infantry to pursue the elusive Apaches. For more than six decades, through border battles with Mexico to WWI and WWII, Black soldiers served with honor in Arizona, all the while facing an ever-present, persistent enemy: racism.

Fellow Ambrose Historian John P. Langellier returns to HHH to talk with Chris and Rick about his book Buffalo Soldiers in Arizona.

John Langellier, Ph.D., spent 12 years with the U.S. Army, and another four with the U.S. Navy in various assignments. He has written scores of articles and dozens of books, including Fighting for Uncle Sam: Buffalo Soldiers in the Frontier Army; The “Trapdoor” Springfield: From the Little Bighorn to San Juan Hill; and Scouting with the Buffalo Soldiers. He leads tours in the Southwest for Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours. He appeared on HHH in 2020.

This Week on History Happy Hour: In 1915 Winston Churchill resigned as Lord of the Admiralty in the wake of the Dardanelles disaster. Struggling to deal with the fallout, he accepted a commission and headed for the front lines – where he began the most extraordinary comeback in political history.

Chris and Rick will discuss this pivotal year in Churchill’s life with J. Furman Daniel, author of Blood, Mud, and Oil Paint: The Remarkable Year that Made Winston Churchill.

Dr. John Furman Daniel III is an associate professor of political science at Concordia University in Chicago. He is the author of 21st Century Patton: Strategic Insights for the Modern Era, The First Space War: How Patterns of History and Principles of STEM Will Shape Its Form, and Patton: Battling with History.