Military History Commons^™

Geoffrey Robert King - Biography, Jenifer A. Harding

Documents: Geoffrey Robert King

Biography of RAF cadet Richard Baden Thorp who was killed in a plane crash on December 3, 1942, while training to be a pilot at 5BFTS. He is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission British Plot. at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Arcadia.

Forbes Mckenzie Robertson - Biography 2, Jenifer A. Harding

Documents: Forbes McKenzie Robertson

Biography of RAF cadet Forbes McKenzie Robertson who was killed in a plane crash on April 24, 1943, while training to be a pilot at 5BFTS. He is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission British Plot. at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Arcadia. This was written by Mike Willoughby for the ‘Henley-on-Thames Lest We Forget Project’, a Memorial Book for the men of Henley-on-Thames who died in WW2. Mike, a local historian, has researched and, with his wife, Lesley, has written two books on Henley servicemen who lost their lives in WW1 and WW2.

The Cost Of Defense: Labor And Construction Of 10th Century Danish Fortifications, Noah James Eckert

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Theological Tradition Of The Orthodox Church In The Aspect Of The Formation Of Military Leadership In Ukraine, Olga Dobrodum, Andrii S. Zborchyi, Tetyana Kondratyuk-Antonova, Oleksandr L. Kolomiiets

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Analysis of the Orthodox theological tradition as a moral foundation for military leadership in the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the full-scale war. The study moves beyond pragmatic managerial models, exploring Orthodox categories such as service (diakonia), sacrifice, and spiritual warfare. Drawing on patristic heritage and modern theologians, the authors examine leadership motivation, the role of faith in professional resilience, and the integration of Orthodox anthropology into military training. Special emphasis is placed on the Orthodox Church of Ukraine's chaplaincy as a key mechanism for actualizing these values while addressing challenges like secularism and multiconfessionalism.

“The Irishmen – Immigrants, Soldiers, And The Spark Of Revolutions”, Joshua Hanscheck

History Theses

The Irish, as a people and a revolutionary inspiration, have been the subject of research and discussion for much of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. A trope has emerged that the Irish could take over the world, if they were not so busy chasing the bottom of their pub glasses, but the trope – stereotypes about Irish drinking aside – is grounded in some truth. The diaspora encouraged many things: a revival in Gaelic culture, a general disdain among outsiders for the Irish as a people group, and, most importantly, a revolutionary fervor that seemed almost infectious. This fervor …

Biographies For The Cadets Who Rest At Oak Ridge Cemetery, Jenifer A. Harding

5BFTS Announcements - What’s New

Remembering the 21 RAF cadets from 5BFTS (British Flying Training School) and the 2 RAF cadets on the Arnold Scheme who died in Florida during WW2 and are buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Arcadia, Florida.

Read their biographies written by Chandler Mock and Renny Lloyd Prhys. Now on the 5BFTS Digital Archive.

https://commons.erau.edu/bfts-british-cadets-oak-ridge-cemetery/

2026 April - What's New, Jenifer A. Harding

5BFTS Announcements - What’s New

Details of new items published in the 5BFTS Digital Archive between January and April 2026 including Newsletters, Audio files, Biographies of cadets who lie in the British Plot, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Arcadia, Florida and Images of Jim Watters and WW2 postcards of Florida.

5bfts Grove At The Nma 08 Service Of Dedication And Tree Planting 22 September 2002, Jenifer A. Harding

Documents

The UK National Memorial Arboretum (NMA) is at Alrewas, Staffordshire. The 5BFTS Association gave donations to the NMA which provided a Grove of five trees (five for number 5) comprising two English Birch trees and three American Birch trees and a Plaque. The Grove was dedicated in October 2002. Document 08 ‘Service of Dedication and Tree Planting September 22, 2002’, part of the 5BFTS Annual Reunion 2002 in September 2002. The Dedication of the 5BFTS Grove was held at the NMA.

5bfts Grove At The Nma 14 Dedication Of The Falcon Field Association 4bfts Plaque At The 5bfts Grove In October 2024, Jenifer A. Harding

Documents

The UK National Memorial Arboretum (NMA) is at Alrewas, Staffordshire. The 5BFTS Association gave donations to the NMA which provided a Grove of five trees (five for number 5) comprising two English Birch trees and three American Birch trees and a Plaque. The Grove was dedicated in September 2002. Document 14 ‘Dedication of the 4BFTS Plaque in the 5BFTS Grove’ is an account of events leading up to the Dedication of a plaque to remember cadets from 4BFTS Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona, in the 5BFTS Grove and details of the Dedication service at the NMA on October 19, 2024.

“I Am A Refugee Direct From Mississippi:” Drafting And Substitution As Muster Methods In Shaping Black Participation In The Union Army, 1863–1865, Carson R. Maschmeier

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Historians have frequently emphasized voluntary enlistment as the primary means through which Black men entered military service, portraying military participation as an expression of autonomy and a pathway toward freedom and citizenship. Within this scholarship, few historians have examined how Black participation in the Union army as draftees and substitutes impacted Black men and their families. This thesis examines the role of drafting and substitution in shaping Black military participation in the Union Army during the American Civil War. By focusing on Pennsylvania's 8th United States Colored Troops (USCT), this study argues that drafting and substitution complicate the commonly accepted …

Ft Lt George William Nickerson Mm - Cwgc Certificate, Jenifer A. Harding

Documents: George William Nickerson

Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Certificate for RAF Flight Lieutenant George William Nickerson MM, Administration Officer at 5BFTS, who died in Lawson Hospital, Atlanta on July 31, 1943. He is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Plot at Oakwood Cemetery Annex, Mongomery, Alabama.

Ft Lt George William Nickerson Mm - Biography, Jenifer A. Harding

Documents: George William Nickerson

Biography of RAF Flight Lieutenant George William Nickerson MM, Administration Officer at 5BFTS, who died in Lawson Hospital, Atlanta on July 31, 1943. He is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Plot at Oakwood Cemetery Annex, Mongomery, Alabama.

Forbes M Robertson - Cwgc Certificate, Jenifer A. Harding

Documents: Forbes McKenzie Robertson

Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Certificate for RAF cadet Forbes Mckenzie Robertson who died on April 24, 1943, while training to be a pilot at 5BFTS. He is buried in the CWGC British Plot. at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Arcadia.

The Long Shadow Of The Boys In Blue: Civil War Memory & The Evolution Of Veteran Identity In Twentieth Century Pennsylvania, Alexander L. Barbolish

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a case study of the transformation of veteran identity and civic culture in Northeastern Pennsylvania, tracing the profound shifts in the way Americans remembered war, commemorated sacrifice, and defined what it meant to be a veteran, from the turn of the twentieth century to the dawn of World War II. By examining the complex interactions and relationships between three distinct and overlapping generations of veterans—those of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I—this study argues that veteran identity was neither static nor monolithic, but was continually renegotiated through commemorative practice, organizational culture, and public …

Anthony John Oakley - Cwgc Certificate, Jenifer A. Harding

Documents: Anthony John Oakley

Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Certificate for RAF cadet Anthony John Oakley who died on January 14, 1944, while training to be a pilot at 5BFTS. He is buried in the CWGC British Plot. at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Arcadia.

The Ones Who Watched: Technology, Proxy Warfare, And The Testing Ground Hypothesis, Sean J. Oliver

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Great powers need laboratories for war. This thesis argues that great powers find these laboratories in proxy forces. Proxy warfare is not just a tool for strategic influence. It is a machine for experimentation. This study posits a central testing-ground hypothesis. It contends that great powers deliberately use surrogates to vet emerging technologies, doctrines, and mobilization schemes under the pressure of real combat. The analytical methodology is historical. It traces patterns from the ancient world's proxy forces and the innovations of the Crusades to the Cold War and the digital age. The thesis examines enduring patterns, including the tension between …

Confucian Thought As A Strategic Veil: How Western Strategy Should Correctly Compete With China, Owen Miller

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The rise of the People's Republic of China as a peer competitor to the United States constitutes the defining geopolitical challenge of the twenty-first century, but even so, Western strategic analysis has consistently failed to engage China on its own terms. The recurrent pattern of Western misinterpretation results from projecting Western assumptions onto a state whose institutional and cultural drivers operate under fundamentally different premises, where key elements of Chinese strategic culture and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) instrumentalization of Confucianism as a moral veil are instruments of domestic legitimacy and external strategic narrative. The United States must recognize that …

Divided Loyalties: Military Recruitment And Emancipation In Kentucky, Jacob Joseph Klinger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation explores how Unionist Kentuckians leveraged their military recruitment to negotiate the scope of federal emancipation during the American Civil War. By 1863, the War Department’s need for troops superseded the racial sensitivities of inhabitants in loyal slave states like Kentucky by promising to free and enlist Black men if white recruits failed to fill the quota. Kentucky’s proslavery Unionists responded and white volunteerism surged by 23 percent, 10 percent more than the national average, to fill the quota and negate military emancipation. Kentucky leaders heralded the recruiting effort but struggled to sustain it alongside an uncredited militia which …

G Willis Tyson - Interview About His Aviation Career Reported In Fly Paper 17.09.1942, Jenifer A. Harding

Documents: George Willis Tyson

Interview with G Willis Tyson, General Manager, 5BFTS, Riddle Field about his aviation career reported in Fly Paper September 17, 1942. Mr Tyson died on August 19, 1943, after a plane crash in Tallahassee.  He is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.

G Willis Tyson, Report Of Death In Clewiston News August 20, 1943, Jenifer A. Harding

Documents: George Willis Tyson

Death of G Willis Tyson, General Manager, 5BFTS, Riddle Field, who died after a plane crash in Tallahassee on August 19, 1943. He is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California. Reported in The Clewiston News, August 20, 1943.