USAHEC Perspectives Lectures Series (Audio)

April 15, 2020 - Dr. Cristian Keller

On April 15, 2020, at 6:30PM, the USAHEC welcomed Dr. Christian Keller of the U.S. Army War College to give a lecture based on his latest book, The Great Partnership: Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and the Fate of the Confederacy. The unique relationship between Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson is one mired in legend, controversy, and misconception.  These great chieftains’ command styles, friendship, and even their faith, formed the Army of Northern Virginia into a fighting machine that almost won the Civil War in the Eastern Theater.   Dr. Keller’s talk cut through the folklore surrounding the two leaders and examine why and how their collaboration was contextually one of immense strategic importance for the seceded South. His presentation challenges how we think about Confederate strategic decision-making and the value of personal relationships among senior leaders responsible for organizational survival.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

March 4, 2020 - Mr. Martin King

“They’ve got us surrounded – the poor b********!” was the defiant refrain among the cold and miserable 101st Airborne Division Soldiers valiantly defending the city of Bastogne in December 1945.  Both the German and American Soldiers lost terrible casualties, but the Americans held out against Hitler’s final push west until reinforcements arrived, a crucial part of the victory in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge. On March 4, 2020, at 7:15 PM, the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, hosted Emmy Award winning British military historian, author, and lecturer Martin King.  Referred to as the “greatest living expert” on the Battle of the Bulge, King presented his newest book, The Battle of the Bulge:  The Allies’ Greatest Conflict on the Western Front, and will provide a comprehensive historical and distinctly personal account of the largest, deadliest, and arguably the greatest battle in U.S. military history.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

August 23, 2019 - Dr. Elizabeth Cobbs

The Hello Girls is the untold story of how America’s first female Soldiers helped win World War I, earned the vote, and fought the U.S. Army for recognition. In 1918, the U.S. Army Signal Corps sent 223 women to France. They were masters of the latest technology: the telephone switchboard. General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, demanded female “wire experts,” when he discovered that inexperienced doughboys were unable to keep him connected with troops under fire. Without communications for even an hour, the Army would collapse. While suffragettes picketed the White House and President Woodrow Wilson struggled to persuade a segregationist Congress to give women of all races the vote, these competent and courageous young women swore the Army’s oath.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

November 7, 2019 - Mr. Peter Stark

In the waning and bleak months of 1753, a young and naive George Washington trekked through the Ohio frontier on behalf of the British Crown to forge a diplomatic relationship with the French and Native Americans. Washington knew this mission was a considerable honor and an opportunity for advancement to a full commission in the British Army. On Thursday, November 7, 2019 at 7:15 p.m., New York Times Best Selling author Mr. Peter Stark presented a lecture based on his newest work, Young Washington: How Wilderness and War Forged America’s Founding Father. Stark discussed how Washington’s experiences in the Ohio Territory dealing with ill-supplied militia troops, adverse weather, and intense combat forged this young officer into the future father of a great nation.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

October 16, 2019 - Superintendent Brandon Bies, Manassas National Battlefield Park

Amid the stink of blood, the moans of wounded, and the detritus of battle, a Civil War battlefield surgeon sawed through the shattered remnant of a Soldier’s leg.  As he tossed the removed appendage into the nearby pit of other discarded limbs, another victim of the Battle of Second Manassas was placed on his grizzly operating table.  On Wednesday, October 16, 2019, at 7:15 PM, the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, hosted Superintendent Brandon Bies of the Manassas National Battlefield Park to present a talk entitled “Broken Lives and Shattered Bones: Discovering a Field Hospital at Manassas Battlefield.” Brandon Bies discusses the 2015 excavation of a Civil War “Limb Pit” discovered on the grounds of the Second Battle of Bull Run.  The archaeological find sheds new light on how battlefield surgery took place during the American Civil War.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

September 18, 2019 - Mr. Rick Atkinson

In mid-January 1777, Lord Cornwallis of the invincible British Army retreated from the New Jersey countryside after two years of epic struggle against up-start American rebels. From the bloodshed on Lexington Common to the defeats at Trenton and Princeton, the American Revolution raged throughout the new United States. On Wednesday, September 18, 2019 at 7:15PM, the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center welcomed Historian and Pulitzer Prize Winner Mr. Rick Atkinson to present the General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley Memorial Lecture. He discussed the first book in his Revolution Trilogy, entitled The British Are Coming. Atkinson combines personal stories with the savage narrative of the first twenty-one brutal months of the Revolutionary War to give a new perspective on the fight for independence.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

August 21, 2019 - Dr. Edwin E. Moïse

On the night of August 4, 1964, two American warships clashed with torpedo boats in the dark waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. The “attack” rapidly pushed President Lyndon Johnson to escalate the tensions between the United States and the communist government of North Vietnam. On Wednesday, August 21, 2019, at 7:15 PM, the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, hosted Dr. Edwin Moïse of Clemson University to present a talk based on the new edition of his book, Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War. Looking at the most current evidence and personal interviews, Dr. Edwin Moïse asks, was there really an attack in the first place? Was the escalation based on mistaken intelligence, or was it an excuse for increased American participation in the war?

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

August 1, 2019 - Mr. James A. Hessler

On July 2, 1863, the once serene orchard of local Gettysburg farmer Joseph Sherfy was bathed in the blood that forever changed its name to the “Peach Orchard.” Under the blazing sun and screaming shells that afternoon, the Confederate veterans of Lieutenant General James Longstreet charged Major General Daniel Sickles’ III Corps troops to occupy the critical high ground of the Peach Orchard. In this lecture, the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, PA hosts award-winning author James A. Hessler to speak about his latest book, co-written with Britt C. Isenberg, Gettysburg’s Peach Orchard: Longstreet, Sickles, and the Bloody Fight for the “Commanding Ground” Along the Emmitsburg Road. Mr. Hessler discusses the critical importance of occupying the high ground at the Peach Orchard and the influence of that action on the tactical decisions of commanders throughout the famed Battle of Gettysburg.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

July 17, 2019 - Mr. Jared Frederick

Along the steep cliffs and thick, mazelike hedgerows of Normandy, American Soldiers broke Hitler’s “Fortress Europe” and flooded France with a new sense of freedom. The American public was glued to their newspapers and radios, awaiting updates from intrepid war correspondents covering the invasion from the front lines. In this lecture, the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center welcomes acclaimed local historian and Penn State Altoona Professor Jared Frederick, author of Dispatches of D-Day: A People’s History of the Normandy Invasion to discuss, in vivid detail, the reality of Operation Overlord. Frederick will tell the story of D-Day, not from the perspective of historians or politicians, but rather through the voices of those who were there.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

May 15, 2019 - Dr. Robert F. Jefferson, Jr.

From the blood soaked earth of the American Civil War to the booby-trapped jungle pathways of Vietnam and beyond, 89 African American Soldiers have earned the highest military accolade in the land – the Congressional Medal of Honor. In the sweltering jungles of Vietnam, 18-year-old Private Milton Olive III of the 503rd Infantry Regiment selflessly threw his body over a grenade tossed into the middle of his platoon. His actions earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor and echo the heroism of the first African American recipient almost 100 years earlier. During the American Civil War, Sgt. William Carney sustained severe wounds, picked up his fallen regimental colors and rallied the men to the top of Fort Wagner, proclaiming "Boys, the old flag never touched the ground!" In this lecture, Dr. Robert F. Jefferson Jr, author of Brothers in Valor: Battlefield Stories of the 89 African Americans Awarded the Medal of Honor, talks about the role of African Americans in the history of the U.S. Armed Forces. From the teeth of World War II tank battles to the sands of Iraq and Afghanistan, African American service members have challenged the ideals of service, sacrifice, and patriotism.

For video of the USHAEC's podcasts, or to learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.