Historian and author Brian Bruce vividly describes an often neglected but important aspect of the Pacific Theater in WWII: The campaign to liberate New Guinea from the Japanese and thwart their planned invasion of Australia.

In his book MacArthur’s Bloody Butchers: Company G, 163rd Regiment, Bruce follows the path of four men from the 41st Infantry Division – including Bruce’s great uncle Doyle – as they fought their way from New Guinea, to the Philippines and prepared to invade Japan.

Along the way they experienced brutal jungle warfare, hand-to-hand combat with Japanese commandos dug into caves, romance with Australian women, and even the devastation of Hiroshima. Assisting the US war effort in New Guinea were the indigenous peoples, known to the Americans as angels, who helped carry supplies and wounded soldiers from the field.

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

When the United States retreated from the chaos of Kabul in August of 2021, General Sami Sadat was still fighting until the end. He recounts how his troops were starved for ammunition for two years before the final pullout, while the U.S. was negotiating with the Taliban. He also talks about how earlier in his career he fought alongside the CIA to track down al-Qaeda in the mountains on Hindu Kush. General Sadat provides a uniquely different view of the war in Afghanistan, how it was fought and how changing U.S. military goals and tactics made it increasingly difficult to succeed. He currently leads opposition efforts against the Taliban from outside of Afghanistan.

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Commissioned a Marine second lieutenant on November 8, 1967, G.M. Davis arrived in Vietnam less than a year later to lead a rifle platoon against the North Vietnamese Army in the northernmost province of what was then the Republic of Vietnam. In his deeply personal book, My War in the Jungle: The Long-Delayed Memoire of A Marine Lieutenant in Vietnam, 1968-69, Davis brings to life the relentless heat, the worry, the responsibility he carried and the daily grind of firefights, battles, victory, and death. Contact with the enemy was frequent, and the chaos of even a small fight was daunting. Davis also examines the political reality of the time, arguing that the war was lost before it began, but that the nation kept fighting and losing soldiers so politicians could look strong and keep their jobs.

With his tour of duty completed following two serious injuries, Davis went on to earn a law degree at the University of Florida and was appointed to the federal bench as a US Magistrate Judge.

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com