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Frank “Gus” Biggio interview about his Afghanistan War military history book “The Wolves of Helmand” (Forefront Books, 2020)

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Frank Biggio interview

Frank “Gus” Biggio interview about his Afghanistan War military history book “The Wolves of Helmand”

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/322IKAV

Interview Timeline

Frank “Gus” Biggio served in the US Marine Corps in the 1990s and got out to pursue a career in law. But during the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq he felt like he needed to support his country’s efforts and get back in the fight. He rejoined the Corps working in Civil Affairs. He deployed to Afghanistan with the Marines as part of a Civil Affairs Group. He published the story of his time there. We spoke about the book “The Wolves of Helmand”, about combat in Afghanistan, and about veterans affairs.

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Jane Gilmartin talks about her sci-fi novel The Mirror Man https://wp.me/p7CDU9-51v

James Miller talks about the NASA NEAR mission http://spacewalksmoneytalks.com/p/605

2:59 – Gus talks about why he wrote about his experiences in Helmand Afghanistan.

7:00 – Gus talks about civil affairs in the Marine Corps and what his unit and work was like.

11:07 – Gus talks about the difficulty of finding the enemy in Afghanistan.

12:44 – Gus talks about balancing the attitudes of locals pro and anti US Marine.

16:05 – Gus talks about the training that Marines got to do the mission in Afghanistan.

19:30 – Gus talks about balancing initiative and flexibility with orders that might not make sense in the field.

22:20 – Gus talks about the interpreters they had with them.

25:06 – Gus talks about working with British forces.

26:29 – Gus talks about working with the Afghan national Security Forces.

29:44 – Gus talks about the destruction of poppy fields.

33:59 – Gus talks about women and children in Afghanistan.

39:11 – Gus talks about the equipment they and they enemy used during patrols.

42:47 – Gus talks about the support the patrols could call on.

44:23 – Gus talks about the IEDs the Taliban used.

48:00 – Gus talks about patrol movement and alertness levels.

48:53 – Gus talks about the four Marines lost on the deployment.

50:44 – Gus addresses the results of the mission.

58:24 – Gus talks about veterans affairs and how the public deals with veterans.

1:01:53 – Gus addresses the subject of service.

1:04:11 – Gus talks about talking to young people who want to join the military.

1:05:42 – Gus can be found at wolvesofhelmand.com and a facebook page “The Wolves of Helmand”

Links of interest

https://amzn.to/322IKAV

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Wolves-of-Helmand/Frank-Gus-Biggio/9781948677646

https://wolvesofhelmand.com/

https://www.facebook.com/WolvesOfHelmand/

Jane Gilmartin talks about her sci-fi novel The Mirror Man https://wp.me/p7CDU9-51v

James Miller talks about the NASA NEAR mission http://spacewalksmoneytalks.com/p/605

Contact Information

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me at www.warscholar.org, on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar and on Instagram @crisalvarezwarscholar. Or subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.

Guests: Frank “Gus” Biggio

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, podcast, Forefront Books, Modern War, United States, Afghanistan,

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/322IKAV

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Lesley M.M. Blume interview about her WWII history book about John Hersey’s 1946 reporting on the effects of the Hiroshima bombing (Simon & Schuster, 2020)

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Lesley M.M. Blume interview Fallout

Lesley M.M. Blume interview about her WWII history book John Hersey and his 1946 reporting about Hiroshima

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/3jrcwFt

Interview Summary

Lesley M.M. Blume is an award-winning journalist, historian, and bestselling author. She’s written a huge amount of material and her latest publication, Fallout, is a study of John Hersey’s reporting on the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing. We spoke about the book, about John Hersey’s work, about Lesley’s research and about freedom of the press.

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Arkady Martine talks about her sci-fi novel “A Memory Called Empire” https://wp.me/p7CDU9-4Z1

James Miller talks about the early days of nuclear power in subs and about the NASA NEAR mission http://spacewalksmoneytalks.com/p/605

1:17 – Lesley talks about why she wrote a book on Hiroshima and John Hersey.

3:20 – Lesley talks about how reporters covered Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. She talks about how MacArthur’s staff was able to quickly control reporting on the bombings.

6:52 – Lesley talks about how the US government and military presented the atomic bombs to the public.

9:17 – Lesley talks about what people might have thought if the bomb had also been dropped on Germany.

13:26 – Lesley talks about how John Hersey got into Japan to write his story on Hiroshima.

16:02 – Lesley talks about how Hersey got around Japan.

19:09 – Lesley compares conditions for reporters in WWII versus wars now.

20:30 – Lesley talks about the Christian missionary that Hersey first interviewed.

22:20 – Lesley talks about how Hersey got his manuscript approved. She also talks about the protection of nuclear data during WWII.

27:06 – Lesley talks about the research she did for this book.

30:22 – Lesley talks about the SCAP papers that were left behind in Japan.

34:17 – Lesley talks about her FOIA requests to the CIA and FBI.

36:00 – Lesley talks about how enjoyable her archival research was.

38:57 – Lesley talks about the nostalgia and noir feel of the time period she studied.

40:40 – Lesley talked about some of the help Hersey got in Japan.

44:05 – Lesley talks about being surprised that the New Yorker carried Hersey’s story since it was a niche humor magazine.

45:09 – Lesley talks about wishing she could have seen the notes between the military and the New Yorker.

47:49 – Lesley talks about Japanese reaction to the story.

50:43 – Lesley talks about how the Soviet Union censored the story in the USSR.

51:52 – Lesley talks about some of the emotional impact of her research. She says the recountings of American POWs and the atrocities committed by the Japanese were torturous to read. She also discusses the importance of protecting the press.

57:34 – Lesley talks about how you can trust the press if it serves as a mouthpiece of the government or companies.

1:00:12 – Lesley talks about the reporters during WWII who simply reported what the government wanted them to. She also talks about the anxiety she had about publishing during Covid.

1:05:48 – Lesley can be found at lesleymmblume.com and on twitter @lesleymmblume.

Links of interest

https://amzn.to/3jrcwFt

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fallout/Lesley-M-M-Blume/9781982128517

https://www.lesleymmblume.com/

https://twitter.com/lesleymmblume

Arkady Martine talks about her sci-fi novel “A Memory Called Empire” https://wp.me/p7CDU9-4Z1

James Miller talks about the early days of nuclear power in subs and about the NASA NEAR mission http://spacewalksmoneytalks.com/p/605

Contact Information

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me at www.warscholar.org, on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar and on Instagram @crisalvarezwarscholar. Or subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.

Guests: Lesley M.M. Blume

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, podcast, Simon & Schuster, WWII, United States,

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/3jrcwFt

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Frank Sisson and Robert Wise talk about their WWII military history book “I Marched With Patton” (William Morrow, 2020)

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Frank Sisson Robert Wise WWII

Frank Sisson and Robert Wise talk about the WWII military history book “I Marched With Patton”

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/3lQUOwO

Interview Summary

Frank Sisson joined the US Army in 1943 at the age of 18. He went into the artillery and fought in Europe alongside Patton’s forces. He wrote his memoir with Robert Wise and I spoke to them about Frank’s wartime experiences from Texas, to France, and finally on to Berlin where he ended his Army days working as a military policeman.

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1:08 – Frank and Robert talk about how the book was written.

2:02 – Frank talks about why he eventually agreed to writing a book on his time in WWII.

2:45 – Frank talks about how he joined the military when he turned 18.

3:51 – Frank talks about joining the artillery.

5:03 – Frank talks about what he was doing when Pearl Harbor was bombed and how people felt about the war.

6:12 – Frank talks about training at Fort Sill and in Texas and then going to Europe.

7:24 – Frank talks not wanting to live on the ocean.

(NOTE: 8:06: The audio was temporarily static y.)

8:06 – Frank talks about his time in the artillery.

9:57 – (Audio issues end): Frank talks about how nervous it was going to war.

11:23 – Frank talks about landing in Saint Lo France.

14:09 – Frank talks about his feelings about the Nazis. He also talks about

speaking French and German.

16:13 – Frank talks about being in the Ardennes Forest. He saw Patton, Bradley, and Eisenhower there.

19:45 – Frank talks about doing their work in freezing temperatures.

23:00 – Frank talks about an experience on the Rhine river being attacked by black jet airplanes.

25:21 – Frank talks about crossing the Rhine.

25:26 – Frank talks about being a policeman in Berlin and dealing with the Russians. He mentions an event where he had to arrest a drunken Russian general and his drunken driver.

30:28 – Frank talks about hearing a profanity laced speech from Patton. He also discusses his own truck driver.

33:41 – Frank talks about being in Berlin after the German surrender.

34:40 – Frank talks about seeing Jewish prisoners of war being moved.

36:12 – Frank talks about how he became a police officer. He talks about a grisly discovery he made at the morgue.

40:32 – Frank talks about getting along with his officer supervisor in the military police.

41:24 – Frank talks about enjoying hearing the artillery guns going.

42:36 – Frank talks about being the boss in the military police and that he liked Berlin.

44:42 – Frank talks about war souvenirs.

Links of interest

https://amzn.to/3lQUOwO

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/i-marched-with-patton-frank-sissonrobert-l-wise?variant=32117507555362

Thilde Kold Holdt and her Viking fantasy novel on Full Contact Nerd https://wp.me/p7CDU9-4YM

Bill Ayrey and Apollo 11 spacesuits on Technology and Space http://spacewalksmoneytalks.com/p/599

Contact Information

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me at www.warscholar.org, on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar and on Instagram @crisalvarezwarscholar. Or subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.

Guests: Frank Sisson and Robert Wise

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, podcast, William Morrow, WWII, United States, Germany, Russia, France,

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/3lQUOwO

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.