Hello and welcome to the unauthorized history of the Pacific War podcast.

My name is Seth Perriden, historian and deputy director of the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum here at Camp Shelby.

And with me, as always, is my esteemed co-host, retired Navy Captain Bill Toadie.

Former Skipper of the Fast Attack Submarine UsS, Indianapolis, Commodore of Submarine Squadron 3 in Pearl Harbor, and many other assignments.

How are you this morning, Bill?

Doing great.

We had a great time recording live in benicia california at the

indianapolis legacy reunion last week set but i'm glad to get back here today in studio because

we've got a fantastic guest with us today that everybody will recognize indeed indeed

and if you haven't then shame on you so this week we have a new guest on the show with us. If you can see this, it's very obvious. This gentleman is, at least in the opinion of the majority of people who pay any attention to the Pacific War, the Asia, Pacific War historian. He has written numerous books, which are all universally treated as definitive accounts on the subjects, which include Wada Canal, the definitive account of the landmark battle, downfall, the end of the Imperial Japanese Empire, and his latest work, which is absolutely fantastic, Tower of Skulls, a history of the Asia Pacific War, Volume 1, July 1937 and May 1942.

He's a widely acclaimed speaker, former United States Army Combat Officer from Vietnam,

one of my former National World War II Museum collaborators, advisor, and just overall, great guy.

Please welcome the man I am proud to call a friend and colleague, Rich Frank.

Rich, how are you this morning?

I'm very good and looking forward to this very much.

Yep, it's going to be good. It's going to be good.

Before we do get started, however, we want to ask you to like and subscribe to our channels.

It helps others find our show. We want to get the history to the masses, so to speak.

And if you want to help us do that, then hit that subscribe button and like the episodes. Well, this week we're going to

step out of our normal chronological timeline of the war to cover a topic that will be relevant

when this episode airs, actually on the very day that this episode airs. A couple of weeks Rich reached out to me via email and said, quote, I'd like to participate in one aimed around the August anniversary of Hiroshima and the end of the Asia Pacific War. I've expanded on my work and downfall, unquote. And when Rich reaches out to me and says that, I say, sure, let's rock and roll. So here we are. When this episode airs, it will be

around the time of the atomic attacks, or just after the atomic attacks on Japan and nearing

...