Meet the featured tour historians who will guide you through this special commemoration.
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Richard Frank
Richard Frank is an international expert on the Pacific war. After graduating from the University of Missouri, he was commissioned in the United States Army, where he served for nearly four years, including a tour of duty in Vietnam as an aerorifle platoon leader with the 101st Airborne Division. He completed studies at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC. Soon afterward, he began research on his first book, Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Campaign, which was published in 1990 and won the United States Marine Corps’ General Wallace M. Greene Award. Frank’s other publications include Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire, which won the 2000 Harry S. Truman Book Award, and MacArthur. He has appeared numerous times on or consulted for television and radio programs, and was also a historical consultant and appeared as a key interviewee in the HBO miniseries The Pacific. He is currently working on a narrative history trilogy about the Asian-Pacific War. Frank also currently sits on the Museum’s Presidential Counselors advisory board.
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Donald L. Miller, PhD
Dr. Miller is a seasoned veteran of The National WWII Museum’s travel program, having led sold-out tours on Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge, and the Mediterranean. Miller's book Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany was selected to serve as the primary source for HBO's newest World War II miniseries. He has appeared in numerous PBS and the History Channel programs, including A Biography of America on PBS. He is the author of eight books, including the prize-winning City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and The Making of America, The Story of World War II, and D-Days in the Pacific. He currently sits on the Museum's Presidential Counselors advisory board.
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Allan Millett, PhD
Dr. Millett is a retired colonel of the Marine Corps Reserve and a specialist in the history of American military policy. He has written many books, including A War to Be Won, which he co-authored with Williamson Murray; For the Common Defense: A Military History of United States from 1607–2012; Semper Fidelis: The History of the United States Marine Corps; and WWII in 100 Objects. Millett was the 2008 recipient of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. He taught military history at The Ohio State University for 37 years, where he served as a mentor to generations of scholars in the field. He currently serves as the director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies and Ambrose Professor of History at the University of New Orleans. He is the senior military advisor to the President of The National WWII Museum and also sits on the Museum’s Presidential Counselors advisory board. He is the featured professor of the Pacific Academy summer college program with The National WWII Museum and Hawai’i Pacific University.
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Jonathan Parshall
Jonathan Parshall saw his interest in the Imperial Japanese Navy develop early in his childhood. As an adult, that passion has led him to write for the Naval War College Review, the US Naval Institute’s Proceedings magazine, and World War II Magazine. Parshall’s book Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway, which he co-authored with Anthony Tully, is seen as the definitive account of that pivotal battle in the Pacific. A graduate of Carleton College and the Carlson School of Management, Parshall is currently working on a history of the year 1942 and how the Allies transformed themselves to meet their respective challenges during that year. Parshall is also the Museum’s cartographer, and specially made maps for this tour.