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Contact: Jacob Dinkelaker, 717-338-4412
On September 21 and 22, the National Park Service will sponsor its annual World War II living history weekend at Eisenhower National Historic Site. The public is invited to tour World War II encampments of over 500 living historians portraying Allied and Axis troops. The weekend also features a speaker’s tent where historians will discuss a wide variety of World War II topics. The full schedule of talks and speakers’ biographies are listed below.
Saturday, September 21
10:30 am – John Heckman: “Caring for the Fallen: US QM Graves Registration During WWII”
On-line audiences know John Heckman as the Tattooed Historian. Through the use of social media platforms, he has introduced various historical topics to a younger demographic of Americans. John holds a master’s degree in history from Shippensburg University and is currently pursuing his PhD. His talk will focus on the Graves Registration Service and how it was instrumental in identifying and caring for those killed in combat in all theaters of the war. The cemeteries that we can walk through today are a testament to the laborious and necessary duties that the men of the Quartermaster Department undertook.
12 noon – John Heiser: “The GI Experience on D-Day”
John Heiser is the park historian at Gettysburg National Military Park, a position he has held since 1997. Heiser manages the park’s archives, assists researchers with inquiries, hosts park seminars, and provides battlefield related programming. In addition to his park service career, he is an accomplished battlefield cartographer, as well as a passionate World War II historian, having served as the unit historian for the Polar Bear Association, an organization of veterans from the 339th Infantry, 85th Infantry Division. His talk will focus on the common soldiers, sailors, and airmen who lived through the “Longest Day.” The massive undertaking of the invasion of occupied France depended not only upon the military might of the Allied nations, but also upon the training and determination of the common soldier assigned the task of breaching the infamous Atlantic Wall.
1:30 pm – Dr. David W. Hogan: “In Search of Omar Bradley”
Dr. David W. Hogan, Jr., is the Director of Histories for the United States Army Center of Military History, where he supervises the research, writing, and production of the official history of the U.S. Army. Dr. Hogan previously has served as Chief of the General Histories Division and as a senior historian and staff historian at the Center of Military History. He has taught in the honors program of the University of Maryland at College Park, the masters in military history on-line program at Norwich University, and the history department at Elon College. Dr. Hogan received his PhD from Duke University, and has published numerous books on the U.S. Army. He is currently writing a biography of Omar Bradley, titled, Omar Nelson Bradley: The GI’s General. His talk will center on Omar Bradley, one of the most important American generals of World War II, yet someone who remains something of a mystery to us today. Who really was this man, commonly idealized as the “GI General”?
3:00 pm – Jared Frederick: “Dispatches of D-Day”
Jared Frederick currently serves as an Instructor of History at Penn State Altoona. He is the author of many books, including Images of Modern America: Gettysburg National Military Park and various historical books for young adults. Prior to his career in academia, Frederick served as a park ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park and Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Jared has long been involved in the world of public history, including historical interpretation and development at numerous sites. Frederick’s most recent book, Dispatches of D-Day, uses a treasure trove of newspaper accounts and primary source research to present a new picture of the meaning and cost of June 6, 1944. It gives voice to hundreds of Americans as they experienced the Normandy invasion at home and overseas.
Sunday, September 22
12 noon – Ken Weiler: “The Russian Front: WWII in the East, 1941-1945”
Author, publisher, and lecturer, Ken Weiler has written several books on World War II. He strives to bring the importance of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union, and other pertinent military issues, to the attention of the American public and of the vital contribution of the Red Army made in defeating Nazi Germany in 1945. He is a member of the Hanover Area Historical Society, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Society and is a volunteer at the Eisenhower National Historic Site with the National Park Service. He holds degrees from George Mason University and the University of Virginia. Join Ken as he recounts the four-year war in Russia and its vital impact in securing the Allied success at Normandy.
1:30 Dr. Beverley Driver Eddy — “Training the ‘Psycho Boys’ at Gettysburg’s Camp Sharpe”
Dr. Beverley Driver Eddy is a professor emerita of German at Dickinson College. She received her B.A. from the College of Wooster (Ohio), and her M.A. and PhD degrees from the University of Indiana in Bloomington. She has taught at Middlebury College in Vermont and at Dickinson College in Carlisle. Her book, Camp Sharpe’s ‘Psycho Boys’: From Gettysburg to Germany, reflects her interest in how individual lives intersect with major historical upheavals. From November 1943 through July 1944, Camp Sharpe, in Gettysburg PA, served as a secret sub-camp of the World War II Military Intelligence Training Center at Fort Ritchie, Maryland. At the Gettysburg camp a select group of soldiers received specialized training in the techniques of psychological warfare. Many of the men assigned to Camp Sharpe were immigrants from Europe. Dr. Eddy will speak on the soldiers of Camp Sharpe, drawing on her extensive knowledge and research on the camp.
Last updated: September 9, 2019