CGSC professor selected for national committee

CGSC’s George C. Marshall Chair of Military History, Dr. James H. Willbanks (Lt. Col. U.S. Army, Ret.) was recently selected by the National Archives Foundation to serve on its honorary committee to support the National Archives’ new exhibition, “Remembering Vietnam: Twelve Critical Episodes in the Vietnam War,” which opens November 10, 2017. The National Archives Foundation is a proud Commemorative Partner of the U.S. Vietnam War Commemoration.

Dr. Willbanks is among the many leaders and historians who make up the advisory committee.

“While the committee is honorary in nature, I have been working for the last year with the archivist at the National Archives responsible for putting together the exhibit,” said Willbanks. “She [archivist] asked to interview me for the ‘Voices of Vietnam’ part of the exhibit. Also, I am working with the Kansas City National Archives facility on a local exhibit on Vietnam that will open in the fall.” he added.

Willbanks joined the CGSC faculty in 1992 after retiring from military service. He has also served as the college’s Director of the Department of Military History.

According to the National Archives Foundation press release, in the first major exhibition on the war in the Archives’ history, “Remembering Vietnam” uses original National Archives documents, artifacts, and film footage to explore the policies and decisions that initiated and then escalated American economic and military aid to South Vietnam. Interviews with veterans, journalists, members of the peace movement, Vietnamese civilians, and leading Vietnam War historians provide first-person testimony and analysis of the events.

“Remembering Vietnam” follows the trajectory of American involvement in Vietnam through six Presidential administrations, and from its World War II origins to the fall of Saigon in 1975. Interviews and historic film footage will be screened in three mini-theaters within the exhibition. The Remembering Vietnam initiative developed by the National Archives is composed of not only the exhibition presented at its iconic home in Washington, D.C., but also a two-year traveling exhibition of Vietnam War photography, a virtual reality exhibition tour, public programs and document exhibits at Presidential Libraries around the country, honor flights for Vietnam Veterans to visit the Washington, D.C. exhibition, an online web presence for the initiative, education materials for teachers and students, and special events for veterans, military families and the public.

The exhibit will be free and open to the public, and will be on display in the Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery of the National Archives Museum in Washington, through January 6, 2019. Presented in part by the Lawrence F. O’Brien Family, Pritzker Military Museum & Library, AARP, FedEx Corporation, and the National Archives Foundation. Additional support provided by the Maris S. Cuneo Foundation, The Eliasberg Family Foundation, Inc., and HISTORYⓇ.

The National Archives story on the exhibit is at:
https://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2017/nr-17-36
Members of the Honorary Committee can be found at:
https://www.archivesfoundation.org/news/national-archives-foundation-announces-honorary-committee-support-remembering-vietnam-exhibit/