top of page
PHG Blog


Aloha! Welcome to Hawai'i!
Greetings Pacific History Guide fans, today I'm happy to unveil our newest location, the beautiful state of Hawai'i . The Hawaiian Islands are comprised of 137 volcanic islands stretching across 1,520 miles of ocean in two separate groups, the Windward Islands in the southeast and the Leeward in the northwest. The state of Hawaii includes both island groups, but for the sake of simplicity, nearly all state maps (and this guide) capture the Windward Islands only; these include
Tony Boccia
6 days ago4 min read
Â
Â
Â


On this day: Battle of Leyte Gulf
Greetings Pacific History guide fans! This week we're marking the 81st anniversary of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which reached its climax on this day with the Battles of Surigao Strait, Samar, and Cape Engano. Taken as a whole, the battle is a complex, multi-faceted series of events that reaches from Brunei to the Philippine Sea, from the tip of Luzon right down to the Sulu Sea. Described as the largest sea battle in history, the Battle for Leyte Gulf featured the first U.S. a
Tony Boccia
Oct 252 min read
Â
Â
Â


Upcoming projects on Pacific History Guide!
Greetings Pacific History Guide fans! This week has been a whirlwind for me, with a lot of prep work going into upcoming projects, in addition to the regular battle rhythm with work and family. This week's blog post is a short one, but I'm hopeful that it will be worth it; later on this week I'll be launching a new location on the website. I'm very excited to announce on the next week's blog post; I'm sure some of you all may even have guessed what's coming! I'll also be pres
Tony Boccia
Oct 181 min read
Â
Â
Â


Aichi Prefecture and Tokugawa Ieyasu
Aichi Prefecture 愛知県 in the Chubu Region of Japan is home to a wide variety of things to see and do. From iconic Mt. Fuji to snowy Nagano and the rice fields of Niigata, there's incredible food, outdoor activities, and charming villages to see and visit. The cornerstone of this prefecture is Nagoya, the fourth-largest city in Japan by population and one of the more diverse of Japan's many urban sprawls. I've been to Nagoya a few times; it's one of my favorite large cities fo
Tony Boccia
Oct 112 min read
Â
Â
Â


Naval Heritage Sites of Australia
Greetings PHG fans! Two weeks ago, we revealed the Australia section of the guide. Since then, I've gotten some great feedback on places...
Tony Boccia
Oct 41 min read
Â
Â
Â


Pacific History Guide: Six Month Update
Friends, it's been six months since Pacific History Guide went live. From humble beginnings this website has really grown, helped in no...
Tony Boccia
Sep 272 min read
Â
Â
Â


Watch for emu crossings and don't fight the roos: PHG just added a new location!
G'day Pacific History Guide readers! Today on the blog I'm happy to announce that we've added a new location to the website: the wild...
Tony Boccia
Sep 202 min read
Â
Â
Â


Looking back: Second World War history tour on Guam
Seems crazy but nearly a year ago now we did a little Second World War history tour around Guam as a family and with the kids' friends. ...
Tony Boccia
Sep 134 min read
Â
Â
Â


First Seaborne Airstrikes in History
This week we mark the anniversary of the very first seaborne airstrikes in history, which took place near Tsingtao, China, during the...
Tony Boccia
Sep 64 min read
Â
Â
Â


Shoutout Saturday: UOG MARC
Greetings all, today is a short post because I got a little behind this week on writing; I found out Thursday that I was selected for...
Tony Boccia
Aug 301 min read
Â
Â
Â


A brief history of Lingga Roads
You often hear the word 'roads' in reference to coastal cities, seaports, or bodies of water. Some of the more famous examples include...
Tony Boccia
Aug 234 min read
Â
Â
Â


The end of the Second World War - Hirohito's Surrender Broadcast
On the 15th August 1945, the people of Japan dutifully turned to their radios. It had been announced the day before via all NHK stations...
Tony Boccia
Aug 155 min read
Â
Â
Â


On This Day: Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki
The second and last use of atomic weapons in combat took place on this day, August 9 1945. A B-29 named 'Bockscar' took off from Tinian...
Tony Boccia
Aug 92 min read
Â
Â
Â


ICYMI: Battle of Guam 1941 and 1944 talk on WW2TV!
Greetings everybody, I recently had the pleasure of returning to WW2TV for a talk on the Battle of Guam in 1941, when the Americans lost...
Tony Boccia
Aug 220 min read
Â
Â
Â


Prof. Sarah C.M. Paine historical lectures
Greetings everyone! I recently found that one of my favorite authors, Sarah C.M. Paine, gave a series of historical lectures on youtube...
Tony Boccia
Jul 261 min read
Â
Â
Â


Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa, Japan
Hiratsuka suffered greatly as a result of all this. On July 16, 1945, 138 B-29's dropped 1,173 tons of incendiary bombs (447,716 in total). Only 5% of the bombs targeted the naval arsenal or aircraft plant, the rest were dropped on the civilian populatio
Tony Boccia
Jul 193 min read
Â
Â
Â


On this day: Japanese Battleship Kawachi explodes, 1918
On this day July 12 1918, the Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Kawachi 河内 exploded and sank in Tokuyama Bay with the loss of more than...
Tony Boccia
Jul 122 min read
Â
Â
Â


A guide to the guide: PHG Reading List
Hey everyone, back again this week with another guide to the guide. This time, we'll be looking at the PHG reading list . I recently saw...
Tony Boccia
Jul 53 min read
Â
Â
Â


EDCA Sites in the Philippines
I've recently done some reading on the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites in the Philippines over at the Asia Maritime...
Tony Boccia
Jun 283 min read
Â
Â
Â


A guide to the guide: easy locations list
Did you know that Pacific History Guide has an easy locations list that designed to simplify your search for historical sites near you?...
Tony Boccia
Jun 211 min read
Â
Â
Â
bottom of page
