Q&A Session Round 3 with Special Guest John McManus – Episode 536

The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War

Captain William Toti, USN

Naval History And Heritage Command, History, Imperial Japanese Navy, Sam Cox, Admiral King, Cruisers, Spruance, Fargo, Seth Paridon, Fighters, Pacific War, Stavridis, Cactus Air Force, December 7, Station Hypo, William Toti, Bombers, Bill Toti, Navy, Halsey, Submarines, Society & Culture, Education, Us Navy, Mush Morton, Cincpoa, Documentary, Guadalcanal, Imperial Japan, World War Ii, Midway, Aircraft Carriers, Cryptology, Wake Island, Nimitz, Cincpac, Macarthur, Pearl Harbor, Wahoo, Courses, Battleships, New Guinea

4.9 • 872 Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2026

⏱️ 144 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week Seth Paridon and Jon Parshall welcome their mutual pal, historian and author John McManus back to the show for another Q&A round with emcee US Army retired Major Shawn Bergstrom. This session gets DEEP in the weeds on several topics such as the American Homefront, PTSD, war dogs, Tarawa, New Guinea, bypassed Japanese bastions and much, much more. This episode is a lot of fun, and the questions are, and continue to be, absolutely amazing. Thank you so much to our beloved Nerderati, who have really brought their A-game to these Q&A episodes. You guys rock. #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #essex #halsey #taskforce38 #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #hollywood #movie #movies #books #mastersoftheair #8thairforce #mightyeighth #100thbombgroup #bloodyhundredth #b17 #boeing #airforce wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #hollywood #movie #movies #books #oldbreed #1stMarineDivision #thepacific #Peleliu #army #marines #marinecorps #worldwar2 #worldwar #worldwarii #leytegulf #battleofleytegulf #rodserling #twilightzone #liberation #blacksheep #power #prisoner #prisonerofwar #typhoon #hurricane #weather #iwojima#bullhalsey #ace #p47 #p38 #fighter #fighterpilot #b29 #strategicstudying #tokyo #boeing #incendiary #usa #franklin #okinawa #yamato #kamikaze #Q&A #questions #questionsandanswers #history #jaws #atomicbomb #nuclear #nationalarchives #nara #johnford #hollywood #fdr #president #roosevelt #doolittle #doolittleraid #pearlharborattack #salvaged #medalofhonor #tarawa #malayalam #singapore #guadalcanal

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The The
0:23.6	The Hello and welcome to episode 536 of the unauthorized history of the Pacific War podcast.
0:46.7	My name is Seth Perrin, the historian and deputy director of the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum.
0:50.0	And with me as always is my esteemed co-host.
0:53.4	Esteemed co-host. That's you. Author, historian and good buddy,
0:56.9	John Farshal. How are you this Friday evening? Yeah, evening, afternoon, whatever it is. I'm fine.
1:04.0	My sink pack says that I'm fine. So yeah, Q&A, let's do it, baby. Awesome. Awesome. And joining us, not for the first time, but for the first time for our Q&As is our mutual good buddy. We just had them on, I don't know, three, four weeks ago to talk about the Army of Pearl Harbor. It's our good pal, absolutely amazing historian and professor, John McManus. How are you, John McManus? Good. Great Thanks for having me on, guys. Always good to hang out with you, and especially
1:30.8	the esteemed John Parshal. I mean, that is an appropriate word for this gentleman in his
1:38.2	purple shirt. Yeah, there you go. We were just hanging out together a couple of weekends ago
1:44.0	at that conference in Richmond.
1:46.2	So that was fun to see you there too.
1:48.4	Yeah, that was a good time.
1:49.7	Yeah.
1:50.1	It was the America's History LLC World War II conference.
1:55.4	Yeah, although unfortunately, I just found out today that that was the last one.
2:00.9	Oh, really? That's for sure. Yes, sir. How out today that that was the last one. Oh, really?
2:02.0	That's for sure. Yes, sir. How did you find that out? What happened? Talk to Ed Langell, actually. So anyway, there you go. It's a bummer. Maybe some time in the future. Yeah. But anyway, it was good to see. All right. Our MC is with us as always, my oldest friend in the world, United States Army retired major cav officer, tore in the sandbox.
2:24.7	Sean Berksdram. How are you, Sean?
2:26.1	I'm doing good. Ready to rock. You just let me know when I've got the con, Seth.
2:31.3	You have it. Go.
2:32.4	Now that this is Dr. McManus's first Q&A with us,
	...

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