Other History Commons^™

General Doolittle's Elephant, Hal Cope

ERAU Prescott Aviation History Program

Gen Jimmy Doolittle is known for many things, but hunting elephants is probably not among them! Hear the life story of this remarkable aviator from another pilot and former big game hunter, Hal Cope.

On Lewis Sorley's Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Articles and Research

A review of Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, by Lewis Sorley.

No Sure Victory: Measuring U.S. Army Effectiveness And Progress In The Vietnam War, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Books and Book Chapters

Conventional wisdom holds that the US Army in Vietnam, thrust into an unconventional war where occupying terrain was a meaningless measure of success, depended on body counts as its sole measure of military progress. In No Sure Victory, Army officer and historian Gregory Daddis looks far deeper into the Army's techniques for measuring military success and presents a much more complicated-and disturbing-account of the American misadventure in Indochina.

Review Of A Question Of Command: Counterinsurgency From The Civil War To Iraq, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Articles and Research

A review of A Question of Command: Counterinsurgency from the Civil War to Iraq, by Mark Moyar.

Flying Uav’S In Iraq, Stephen Rayleigh

ERAU Prescott Aviation History Program

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or UAV’s, are a growing reality and an important new weapon for today’s military. Hear what it was like to fly the RQ-7B “Shadow” UAV during Operation Iraqi Freedom from Stephen Rayleigh who spent a year in Iraq and has more than 1,000 hours experience flying them.

The U2 Spy Plane Crisis: Turning Point In The Cold War, William Weiss

ERAU Prescott Aviation History Program

When the Soviets shot down Francis Gary Powers’ U2 spy plane in 1960, it caused an international crisis. Thanks to recently declassified US and former Soviet archives, we can now hear the inside story of what really happened as told by an American History writer & lecturer.

Jubal Early’S Trains: The Battle Of Lynchburg In Historical Memory, John G. Marks

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

On June 18, 1901, Charles Minor Blackford, brother of Battle of Lynchburg veteran Eugene Blackford, made a speech commemorating the thirty-five year anniversary of the Lynchburg Campaign. In the Battle of Lynchburg, as a part of the wider Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1864, General Jubal Early and the Confederate force defended the city from General David Hunter and the Union in a two-day engagement, marked mostly by skirmishing. Blackford stated in this speech that, “During the night of the 17th, a yard engine, with box cars attached, was run up and down the Southside Railroad, making as much noise as …

History Firsthand: An American Gi And World War Ii, Benjamin Skomsky

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Pvt. George Skomsky (1925-), U.S. Army, 133^rd AAA Gun Battalion, the son of Ukrainian immigrants, grew up and came of age during the defining moments of the 20^th century: the Great Depression and World War II, respectively. The following examines his experiences in the context of these events, through his letters written home during World War II, recollections and reflections.

Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar Systems (Joint Stars) --- The Early Days, George Cusimano

ERAU Prescott Aviation History Program

J-STARS is the airborne, battle management radar platform that was such a resounding success during Desert Storm I . Hear the exciting story of the challenges associated with its early development, from the Flight Test Engineer and Mission Commander who was involved from the very start.

The Role And Effect Of Advertising On Women During World War Ii, Laura Elizabeth Francis

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Advertising had an overwhelming effect on women during World War II; many women were influenced by advertising in the media to behave a certain way, buy certain products, and also support the war effort in a variety of ways. In the 1940s while many American women’s husbands, fiances, boyfriends, brothers, and sons were going off to fight in the War abroad, many women were fighting a war of their own on the home front. While men could prove they were active patriotic citizens by fighting in the military and taking government positions, female’s roles were re-written to show what they …

Review Of The Battle Of An Loc, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Articles and Research

A review of The Battle of An Loc, by James H. Willbanks.

Interview With Robert O'Brien, January 9, 2006, Robert O'Brien, Michael J. Birkner

Oral Histories

Robert O'Brien was interviewed on January 9, 2006 by Michael J. Birkner about his military service during World War II and his years as a student at Gettysburg College. He discusses his childhood and time at Muhlenberg College, before he enlisted in the US Navy Air Corps and served at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida. After the war he came to Gettysburg on a basketball scholarship. He discusses his experience as a physics major, fraternity brother, and college athlete.

Length of Interview: 94 minutes

Collection Note: This oral history was selected from the Oral History Collection maintained by …

Armageddon’S Lost Lessons: Combined Arms Operations In Allenby’S Palestine Campaign, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Articles and Research

In September 1918, the EEF concluded its campaign in Palestine by routing the Turkish forces at the battle of Megiddo. Under command of British general Allenby, the EEF successfully executed one of the most decisive engagements in any theater of World War I. Ably employing and synchronizing infantry, cavalry, and air forces, Allenby provided future military professionals and historians with a shining illustration of the efficacy of combined arms operations. In terms of surprise, concentration, and operational balance of forces, the culmination of the Palestine campaign was a foreshadowing of the German blitzkrieg used in World War II.

Unfortunately, the …

Ordeal On The Ice, Geoffrey D. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

Ordeal on the Ice is an article concerning the February 8, 1936 rescue of Clayton Brown by United States Coastguardsman Boatswain's Mate Earl Cunningham (1895-1936) that resulted in his own death and that of Claude Beardsley and the awarding of the Gold Lifesaving Medal to Cunningham posthumously.

1998-09, Photograph, Warren Duncan, Dorothy Page, Joseph Dehaan, Warren Duncan

Joseph DeHaan Korean War correspondence

This collection contains correspondence between PFC Joseph DeHaan, USA and Dorothy Page during the Korean War. A majority of the collection was written by PFC Joseph DeHaan.

Alvernon Family Record, Unknown

Joslin Family First World War correspondence

The Joslin Family First World War Correspondence contains letters from brothers Lincoln and Grant Joslin to their mother. The Joslin brothers wrote the letters while stationed in France. Also included are photographs of Grant and their mother, Marcia Ruth Joslin.

In 1945 Flight 19 Flew To Its Doom Through A Large Cloud Of Mystery, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

Popular Media

If John F. Kennedy had not been assassinated in 1963 while driving through the streets of Dallas, and were still living, he would be 70 years old this year. This fact is fairly well known. What is less known is that another man who died a tragic early death, many years earlier, also would have turned 70 this year -- last Sunday, Oct. 25, in fact. But unlike JFK, who was 46 when gunned down, this man was only 28 at death. And unlike JFK, this man took 13 -- some would say 26 -- others with him to death. …

The Horns Of The North: Historical Sources Of J. R. R. Tolkien's Trilogy, George W. Geib

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Few books have enjoyed the publishing success seen in the last decade by J. R. R. Tolkien's epic fantasy trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. Since the time of its paperback appearance in 1965 the work has not only attracted wide popular readership but has also stimulated a considerable body of scholarly criticism.1 As a work of fantasy, Tolkien's tale of struggle surrounding a ring of power has attracted most of its commentators to the areas of myth and linguistics, two of the sources upon which the author relied most heavily. Yet for all its epic dimensions, the trilogy has …

0134: Clendenning Family Papers, 1850-1955, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

The collection consists primarily of two groups of letters. The first group were written by Arminda Holiday Clendenning of Freeport, Harrison County, Ohio, to her sister Ann Holliday Winder of Iowa, from 1850 until 1867. She writes of local and family news, life in the country, and later, as a young married woman, of her family and her husband’s business. Several letters mention travels and migrations of family and friends to the West.

The second group of letters were written by Robert Joseph Clendenning, grandson of Arminda Clendenning, to his family during the FirstWorld War. He describes his life in …

0102: Lorene Enochs Dunlap Papers, 1917-1971, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Scrapbooks and photographs of Cabell County, West Virginia, family from near Milton; bulk of correspondence dates from the First World War and 1935-1945.

0080: Hancock-Wilson-Baise Papers, 1887-1950, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Correspondence of Proctorville, Ohio, and Huntington, West Virginia, families, including letters written during the first and second world wars. Also receipts, newspaper clippings, grade reports, and other personal papers.

French-Indian Relations (1672-1701): An Economic, Political And Military Study, James Duncan Biggs

Dissertations and Theses

This paper concentrates on the political, economic, and military policies of New France (French Canada) towards the Indian tribes inhabiting and bordering New France during the period 1672-1701. It was a period of intensive exploration coupled with the fur trade, principally beaver, both of which activities spurred France to compel its "province" of New France to make alliances with the Indians and to block penetration of the French-claimed area by the English colonists to the south (New York and New England) and to the north (Hudson's Bay area).

Any research must be concerned with many interacting and conflicting factors: the …

0053: John Gibson Papers, 1842-1887, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Description of a tour of Karlee Cave in India in 1842; letters from a British soldier stationed in India in 1843 and from Grover Cleveland thanking Mr. Gibson for the gift of a paperweight (1887).

0054: Aleshire Family Papers, 1862-1889, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

The Aleshire Family Papers consist mainly of correspondence dating from 1863 to 1888. Many of the letters are written by various members of the family to Joseph Aleshire as he traveled the Midwest, buying wheat for the family flour mill. Most of these letters concern fluctuations of the wheat market and other business matters.

There are a number of letters from Mary Aleshire to her parents and brothers, dating from 1863 to 1878. These describe her life at college in Cincinnati, and later, upon her return to Gallipolis, her involvement with social and family matters.

The letters from Charles Aleshire …

Ua37/44 Diary To Kelly, Gordon Wilson

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Excerpt from Gordon Wilson's Diary to Kelly regarding Armistice Day, World War I and World War II.

1963-01, Photograph 003, Raphael H. Barto

Bette J. Barto correspondence

This collection contains 139 correspondence from Maj. Bette J. Barto, USAFE to her parents while serving as a nurse during the late 1950s and 1960s. Also included are three photographs, one special orders document, and one marriage license. In several cases, Bette refers to her parents as "Lizzie" and "Hugh Elmer," or simply "Elmer." Three letters from 1961 or 1962 are undated and placed in a separate folder.

1960-10-27, Photograph 001, Bette J. Barto

Bette J. Barto correspondence

This collection contains 139 correspondence from Maj. Bette J. Barto, USAFE to her parents while serving as a nurse during the late 1950s and 1960s. Also included are three photographs, one special orders document, and one marriage license. In several cases, Bette refers to her parents as "Lizzie" and "Hugh Elmer," or simply "Elmer." Three letters from 1961 or 1962 are undated and placed in a separate folder.

1960-04-13, Bette To Parents, Bette J. Barto

Bette J. Barto correspondence

This collection contains 139 correspondence from Maj. Bette J. Barto, USAFE to her parents while serving as a nurse during the late 1950s and 1960s. Also included are three photographs, one special orders document, and one marriage license. In several cases, Bette refers to her parents as "Lizzie" and "Hugh Elmer," or simply "Elmer." Three letters from 1961 or 1962 are undated and placed in a separate folder.

Undated, Photograph 002, Bette J. Barto

Bette J. Barto correspondence

This collection contains 139 correspondence from Maj. Bette J. Barto, USAFE to her parents while serving as a nurse during the late 1950s and 1960s. Also included are three photographs, one special orders document, and one marriage license. In several cases, Bette refers to her parents as "Lizzie" and "Hugh Elmer," or simply "Elmer." Three letters from 1961 or 1962 are undated and placed in a separate folder.

1953-11-28, Albert To Joan, Albert J. Sedlacek

Albert J. Sedlacek Korean War correspondence

No abstract provided.