Recognition

James D. Hornfischer to Receive NHF Distinguished Service Award and Rear Adm “Bud” Langston Earns DeMars Honors

During the new business portion of the annual meeting, NHF Chairman Admiral Fallon announced that the prize-winning chronicler of the naval war in the Pacific, James D. Hornfischer, would be the recipient of the NHF’s 2020 Distinguished Service Award and that Rear Adm. Arthur N. “Bud” Langston would receive the Adm. Bruce DeMars Award.

Established nearly a decade ago, the NHF Distinguished Service Award recognizes an individual who has worked tirelessly to promote naval history and heritage within the Navy and beyond to the American public. Past recipients have included CNO Adm. Jonathan Greenert, former Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Sandy Winnefeld, Mr. Andrew Taylor of Enterprise Holdings, and Dr. J. Phillip London of CACI.

Hornfischer’s books have led reviewers to rate him as one of the most commanding naval historians writing James D. Hornfischer today. His awards include the 2018 Samuel Eliot Morison Award, given by the board of trustees of the USS Constitution Museum for work that “reflects the best of Admiral Morison: artful scholarship, patriotic pride, an eclectic interest in the sea and things maritime, and a desire to preserve the best of our past for future generations.” His most recent book, The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945, received the Navy League’s 2017 Commodore John Barry Book Award. Hornfischer’s Neptune’s Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal (2011), a New York Times bestseller, was chosen as a best book of the year by numerous book reviews. Ship of Ghosts (2006) told the story of the cruiser USS Houston (CA 30) and the odyssey of its crew in Japanese captivity. The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors (2004), a combat narrative about the battle off Samar, received the Samuel Eliot Morison Award from the Naval Order of the United States and was chosen by the Wall Street Journal as one of the five best books on “war as soldiers know it.” All of Hornfischer’s books have been selections of the Chief of Naval Operations professional reading program, managed by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and the U.S. Naval War College. He is a regular contributor for the Wall Street Journal and has written for Smithsonian, Naval History, Naval Institute Proceedings, and other periodicals. He has lectured at the U.S. Naval Academy, Marine Corps University at Quantico, the National World War II Museum, the National Museum of the Pacific War, and other venues. Hornfischer continues to serve on the board of the Naval Historical Foundation.

In contrast to the NHF Distinguished Service Award, the Admiral DeMars Award recognizes outstanding and dedicated service to the foundation itself. A more recent tribute, the first DeMars award was presented in 2016 to Admiral DeMars himself. Additional DeMars awards were bestowed on Capt. Charles T. “Todd” Creekman for his two decades of work as the executive director and to Senator John W. Warner, who served as a champion for the foundation during his time in the U.S. Senate and afterward in retirement. Rear Admiral Langston served twice on the NHF’s board of directors following Rear Adm “Bud” Langston his retirement as director of the Navy staff one of his duties was to oversee the bicentennial sail of the USS Constitution. During his second tour he served as the NHF’s president, bringing with him a determination to utilize resources from the information technology sector to bring the nonprofit NHF into the 21 st century. He obtained SalesForce licenses and recruited “New Vector” volunteers to help the staff to utilize technologies to better serve the NHF membership. He also oversaw the transition of staff following the retirement of Captain Creekman as executive director and worked to implement more responsive financial reporting protocols. Though focused on the business side of the NHF operation, he ably helped produce historical content by writing for Pull Together, flying to the West Coast to conduct oral histories, and organizing symposia.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, presentation of these awards will await a future date.

Crawford, Swartz Earn Knox Honors

During the annual meeting, Dr. David Alan Rosenberg had the pleasurable duty to announce the selection of Dr. Michael J. Crawford and retired Capt. Peter Swartz to receive the foundation’s prestigious Commo. Dudley W. Knox Medal for lifetime achievement in the naval history profession.

Dr. Crawford, who earned his Ph.D. from Boston University in 1978 and Dr. Michael Crawford briefly taught at Texas Tech, joined the staff of the then Naval Historical Center in 1982 as the assistant branch head of the Research (Early History) Branch. He made significant contributions to the Documents of the American Revolution volume series that was recently digitized by the NHF and subsequently assisted and then succeeded Dr. William S. Dudley as the lead editor of the four-part The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History. His efforts have made thousands of documents accessible to researchers who collectively have broadened our understanding of our navy during the early years of the republic. He authored or edited 17 books and contributed 30 articles or chapters in books, encyclopedias, and peer-reviewed journals. He wrote 27 book reviews and presented three dozen papers at professional conferences, always finding time to work with interns and fellow scholars working on a myriad of projects. From 2008 until his retirement from the NHHC in 2017, he held the distinguished title of Senior Historian of the Navy. Whereas Dr. Crawford earned his recognition for his 18 th - and 19 th -century Capt. Peter Swartz work, Capt. Peter Swartz is an expert on 20 th - and 21 st -century Navy strategy, policy, and operations and on military history, organization, and culture. His recent work at the Center for Naval Analyses examines Navy strategy, the organizational history of the Navy and OPNAV, U.S. Navy international relationships, and U.S. interservice relationships, policies, and doctrine. He has analyzed alternative Navy global fleet deployment models, lessons learned from past Navy operations in homeland defense, counterpiracy, and irregular warfare; the Navy’s role in the Unified Command Plan; and the relationships between Navy strategy, programming, and budgeting. Prior to joining the Center for Naval Analyses, Swartz served for 26 years as a Navy officer, primarily in the areas of strategy, plans, and policy. He served two tours in South Vietnam during the war, as an advisor to the Republic of Vietnam Navy, and on the staff of Vice Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. He played a leading role in conceptualizing and drafting the Navy’s maritime strategy of the 1980s, serving on the staff of successive chiefs of naval operations and of Secretary of the Navy John Lehman. He was director of defense operations for the U.S. mission to NATO as the Berlin Wall was coming down and served as special assistant to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell during the First Gulf War. Captain Swartz was a member of the Secretary of the Navy’s Advisory Committee on Naval History in the 1980s and has served as an advisor to the Naval Historical Center/Naval History and Heritage Command for more than three and a half decades. He has mentored scores of junior and senior naval officers on the facts and use of naval history in strategic planning and national policy, including dozens of senior flags and civilian senior executives.

Given the current COVID-19 pandemic situation, presentation ceremonies will occur at a place and date to be determined. Again, congratulations to Dr. Crawford and Captain Swartz.

Essay Contest Overcomes Pandemic Midshipman Bunyard Claims Prestigious London-sponsored Prize

The Naval Historical Foundation congratulates United States Naval Academy Midshipmen Joseph Bunyard, Anthony Iannacone, and Kelly Alksninis, who have been selected as our respective first-, second-, and third-place recipients of the 2020 Naval Academy Superintendent’s Leadership and Vision Award. This award, chartered by our chairman, Admiral William J. Fallon, USN (Ret.), and sponsored by NHF board member and CACI Executive Chairman Dr. J.P. “Jack” London, and his wife, Jennifer, recognizes outstanding scholarship by Naval Academy midshipmen in the field of naval history. With the award operating in its third year, the NHF received many excellent essays as the reputation of the contest has become well-known in Bancroft Hall. Our top three contest winners received $5,000, $3,500, and $1,500, respectively, in recognition of their achievement.

In contrast to the two inaugural competitions that featured in-person presentations before a panel of judges at the U.S. Naval Academy, followed by a celebratory dinner at the Navy Continued on page 20

Recognition Continued from page 19

Museum in Washington a week later, this year’s contest was conducted online as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic. Thus, on Tuesday, May 5, the finalists virtually presented their papers to the judges from their individual homes.

The three finalists displayed excellent knowledge of their chosen topics and defended their perspectives in front of the judging panel. All offered valuable insight into current Navy issues through the lens of history. The winning paper, by Midshipman Bunyard, was a review of contemporary challenges on network survivability in an era of great-power competition. As one of the judges commented: “It is intriguing how the author is able to relate experiences of great-power competition—in this case between the Allies and Axis forces in World War II—to shed clarity on the types of issues the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps will confront in the decades ahead.”

Once again, NHF board member Mr. Martin Bollinger organized this year’s contest and led the panel of nine judges, which also included RADM (Ret.) Samuel Cox, director of the Naval History and Heritage Command; Professors Katherine Epstein (Rutgers) and Scott Mobley (University of Wisconsin); industry leaders Roger Krone (Leidos) and Kathleen Purtill (Deloitte); NHF board members VADM (Ret.) Frank Pandolfe and Dr. David Rosenberg; and author and U.S. Naval Institute board member CDR (Ret.) Guy “Bus” Snodgrass.

Thank you, Mr. Bollinger, for your dedication to serving NHF and our Naval Academy midshipmen. We also thank Superintendent Vice Adm. Sean Buck, who warmly welcomed Rear Admiral Masso and Mr. Bollinger last September to the Naval Academy and subsequently threw in his wholehearted support and intent to attend the award dinner, and Lt. Cdr. Andrew Cox, USN, his designated action officer, who is currently serving at the United States Naval Academy as an instructor in the history department.

Midshipman Koch Earns Beach Prize

For some three decades the Naval Historical Foundation Prize at the U.S. Naval Academy has been presented to the graduating midshipman who made a significant contribution to furthering naval history. For many years the award was presented during Commissioning Week Award ceremonies by NHF board member Captain Edward L. “Ned” Beach, Jr. With his passing in 2002, the award was renamed in his honor. Until recent years, his widow, Ingrid Beach, would make the trip to Annapolis to present the “Beach Prize.” Today, Mrs. Beach continues to help to underwrite the presentation plaque. This year the winning midshipman, earned a five-year membership to the NHF, thanks to a donation by Capt. Bill Peerenboom who has pledged to continue this practice in coming years.

This year, Dr. Winkler nominated the section leader for his oral history class: Midshipman First Class Joseph Koch. “Normally, a section leader’s job is to take attendance,” Midn. Joseph Koch observed Capt. Peerenboom, who served as a liaison with the class and fellow members of the Class of 1957 who were the subjects of interviews on their experience in Vietnam. “Joe photocopied the class Lucky Bag and class reunion books, posted source materials, and coordinated the writing of 15 chapters,” Peerenboom observed. Peerenboom got to know Koch closely because he was the interview subject for the graduating midshipman.

Having been commissioned in May, Ensign Koch is slated to go to nuclear propulsion school and service with the submarine force. Attached to the history department over the summer months, the Winkler-trained oral historian will continue to record and document the impact of COVID-19 at the U.S. Naval Academy as the incoming plebe class arrives.

National History Day Prizes and Teachers of Distinction

By Capt. James A. Noone, USNR (Ret.)

The NHF Coskey Prizes are named after the late Capt. Ken Coskey, a Navy pilot, Vietnam prisoner of war, and former NHF executive director. The prizes were established in 1999. Every year since then NHF has awarded two Coskey Prizes to the top ranked National History Day (NHD) projects in naval history. Each prize is a $1,000 student award that has been generously underwritten by Ms. Rosemary Coskey.

Over half a million middle and high school students participate annually in NHD all over the United States. Each year some 3,000 student finalists and several hundred teachers descend on the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland, in mid-June for the final rounds of the national competition. This year, however, the competition was conducted in a virtual format due to the coronavirus pandemic. NHD has a broad theme for the contest every year. This year’s theme was “Breaking Barriers in History.” Student projects are expected to be consistent with the NHD theme.

Some 600,000 students from the United States, District of Columbia, territories, and international schools in China, Korea, and South Asia participate annually.