It's almost quarter past six on the morning of 7th August,

1942, just off the coast of the Solomon Islands.

We're on board the USS Fuller. The only sound is the lapping of the sea against the ship and the

murmuring and shuffling of troops on deck preparing to go ashore.

16,000 U.S. soldiers are preparing to storm Guadal Canal Island,

currently occupied by Japanese troops.

Suddenly, bright yellow-green flashes fill the air as the shelling of the coast begins.

U.S. Plains bomb and machine gun the beaches, clearing the way for the troops to land.

Troops are loaded onto landing craft and make their way to shore.

Everyone is tense, not knowing when the Japanese army will appear.

They reach the beach unopposed,

make their way to the edge of the jungle, and wait.

They will soon become the first U.S. soldiers to engage in battle in World War II,

and they will be involved in some of the most vicious fighting of the whole war. Hello and welcome to our podcast. I'm Don Wildman and today we have the

great fortune to meet an acclaimed acclaimed

acclaimed scholar and broadcaster,

whose list of written works encompasses a wide breadth of content

from the Zulu War of 1879

to British colonialism and ample histories of World War II. Lord it leaves one breathless and

you're not even an old man. Welcome Saul David to American history.

Thanks Don, very good to be here.

I'm so honored. It is the 80th anniversary of, well, so much about World War II. I mean, we'll be spending the next four years marking various milestones all around the world, but here in America and in this particular year, it's the 80th anniversary of the

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