Allied Participation in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM
By Stephen A. Carney, 2011

Allied Participation in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM examines the achievements and contributions of the allied nations that supplied ground troops to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq during 2003–2009. It does not cover forces deployed to Iraq under the aegis of the United Nations or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The U.S. military’s experience in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM reconfirms the necessity of coalition building in modern warfare, even when the U.S. Army and Marine Corps ground forces shoulder the largest burden. This monograph offers separate sections on each coalition ally and presents basic information about deployed military forces and their general operational experiences in Iraq. It also provides a framework for more detailed histories to follow.

Domestic Publication Date: December 30, 2011
Government Printing Office S/N: 008-029-00541-7 (Paper);
CMH Pub # 59-3-1Pp. x, 129; illustrations, tables, charts, maps $16
For additional information, contact Bryan Hockensmith at 202-685-2625, or at bryan.hockensmith@us.army.mil

Center of Military History Online Catalog:  http://www.history.army.mil/catalog/index.html
GPO’s Online Bookstore:  http://bookstore.gpo.gov, or call (202) 512-1800 or toll-free 1-866-512-1800.

Then Came the Fire: Personal Accounts from the Pentagon, 11 September 2001, Edited by Stephen J. Lofgren, 2011.

This latest publication from the U.S. Army Center of Military History brings some of the stories about the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon to life. Stephen J. Lofgren, general editor of this collection, and a team of oral historians conducted hundreds of interviews with witnesses, first responders, and survivors of the Pentagon in the days immediately following the event. The anthology consists of excerpts from the accounts of sixty-one people, both oral interview and written, who were involved in the attack, and it provides their stories and perspectives on that day. The range of personal experiences is broad. It includes individuals who watched the plane strike the building, Pentagon occupants—some of whom were badly injured—who sought to escape the burning area, and bystanders and other Pentagon personnel who sought to help and rescue colleagues, as well as people involved in the response and recovery efforts. This book, prepared for the tenth anniversary of the attacks, is an important compilation of personal recountings of the Pentagon on 11 September that will serve to remind future generations of the tragedy and the acts of valor on that day.

Publication Date: September 2, 2011
GPO S/N: 008-029-00545-0; CMH Pub 70-119-1 (Paper)
344 pages; illustrations, abbreviations, index
For additional information, contact Bryan Hockensmith at 202-685-2625 or bryan.hockensmith@conus.army.mil

Center of Military History Online Catalog:  http://www.history.army.mil/catalog/index.html
GPO’s Online Bookstore:  http://bookstore.gpo.gov, or call (202) 512-1800 or toll-free 1-866-512-1800.

Afghanistan: Alone & Unafraid
By Lt. Col. David A. Benhoff, Marine Corps History Division, 2011

Civilizations and peoples have interacted, and sometimes clashed, for centuries in Afghanistan.  It is a land where East meets West, mountains rise from deserts, and life was hard for many long before al-Qaeda and the Taliban. “These are people that are proud of their history, they’re proud of their culture,” observes one U.S. Marine officer. “They know they have a place.”

People and place are chronicled in vivid detail in this new photographic montage. Lieutenant Colonel David A. Benhoff deployed in mid-2009 as a field historian for the Marine Corps History Division to document the work of Marine Embedded Training Teams with the Afghan National Army. What he captured with camera and microphone extends well beyond the military efforts—it records the multidimensional face of rural Afghanistan itself. Readers will come away with a new appreciation of these people and their way of life.

Lieutenant Colonel Benhoff has previously published the award-winning photographic work Among the People: U.S. Marines in Iraq (2008).  He collaborated on the current project with designer Vincent J. Martinez of Marine Corps University Press.

Where to order:  http://bookstore.gpo.gov/actions/GetPublication.do?stocknumber=008-055-00242-7

New officers for the year 2010–11 include:

Pete Daniel (Smithsonian, ret.), President
Matt Wasniewski (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives), Vice President
Michael Bigelow (U.S. Army), council member
Jason Gart (History Associates Inc.), council member
Leo Slater (Naval Research Laboratory), council member
Richa Wilson (U.S. Forest Service), council member
David Turk (U.S. Marshals Service), treasurer
Sejal Patel (National Institutes of Health), membership chair

Suzanne White Junod is the new chair of the Awards Committee. She is a past president of the SHFG and historian at the Food and Drug Administration. E-mail Suzanne.junod@fha.hhs.gov

The Long-range Planning Committee continues to meet and will offer proposals to the Executive Council for new initiatives for growth, membership expansion, activities, and programs. Members include John Roberts, Billy Wayson, Bill Williams, Marc Rothenberg, and Benjamin Guterman.

Federal History News Archive

Matthew Wasniewski was appointed the new Historian of the House of Representatives on October 20, 2010. The House Historian Search Committee appointed by Speaker Pelosi with consultation of Republican Leader John Boehner announced the decision. Dr. Wasniewski had served as the historian and deputy chief in the House Clerk’s Office of History and Preservation, and succeeds Dr. Robert Remini, who retired earlier in the year. The bipartisan selection process was used rather than the permissible appointment by the Speaker. Dr. Wasniewski brings to the job an extensive knowledge of congressional history, and experience with archival issues and publications.  He is the editor-in-chief of Women in Congress, 1917–2006 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2007), Black Americans in Congress, 1870–2007 (GPO, 2008), and Hispanic Americans in Congress, 1822–2011 (GPO, forthcoming 2012). In 2004, he helped create the House’s first oral history program, which focuses on collecting the institutional memory of House officers, longtime staff, and support personnel.  He has been an SHFG member since 2003, serving on several awards committees and, from 2008 to 2010, as a member of the Society’s executive council. He is currently Vice President of SHFG, and will assume the office of President in June 2011. He also serves on the Organization of American Historians’ committee on public history.

The recent National Archives National Declassification Center (NDC) report for January 1–June 30, 2010 declares that nearly 8 million pages of material were processed and made available to the public. However, a backlog of over 400 million pages of materials awaiting declassification remains. See http://www.archives.gov/declassification for more information.

The U.S. Senate Historical Office has released the latest volume of Executive Sessions of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Historical Series), more than 1,000 pages of previously classified testimony and transcripts from closed hearings in 1968. The complete volume is available online at the committee’s web site, www.foreign.senate.gov/, or from the Government Printing Office at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-in/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_senate_committee_prints&docid=f:34737.pdf.

The Census Bureau recently posted the history of the 2000 census on its web site. The history covers various topics regarding the census, including the political and technological context in which the survey was conducted, the planning and execution of the census, and legal challenges to the results. The two-volume work can be downloaded from the pages of the Census web site: www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/overview/2000.html.

The Government Printing Office (GPO) announced that its centennial history, 100 GPO Years, 1861–1961: A History of United States Public Printing, will be reissued in 2010 to kick off its 150th-anniversary celebrations. The book is available online at www.gpo.gov/pdfs/about/GPO_100Years.pdf. Also, in March 2011, GPO will issue a new illustrated official history covering the agency’s 150 years of Keeping America Informed.

History Associates Inc. worked on the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial, scheduled to be completed in 2012. HAI gathered and cataloged hundreds of soldiers’ accounts describing the voices, experiences, and memories of disabled veterans across time. In addition, History Associates researched the accounts for historical context and confirmed accuracy. The memorial is scheduled to be dedicated on a two-acre site adjacent to the National Mall in 2012. Visit www.nxtbook.com/ygsreprints/ygs/G12272SEGD_Nextbook/#/42 to read the full article.

Eavesdropping on Hell: Historical Guide to Western Communications Intelligence and the Holocaust, 1939–1945, by Robert J. Hanyok, Center for Cryptologic History, 2005.

This aptly titled book does three important things.  First, it addresses directly the question of what Allied leaders knew, and when they knew it, about the Holocaust from their widespread collection and cryptanalysis of Axis communications (COMINT).  As it turns out, this was quite a bit, although not much of it was “actionable.”  Next, several chapters describe the process and extent of U.S. and British COMINT, especially emphasizing its limitations.  These chapters are valuable reading for anyone with an interest in intelligence affairs, quite apart from what they say about the Holocaust.  Finally, Hanyok discusses the documentary sources for COMINT and the Holocaust, for those who wish to pursue the subject in even more detail.

Center for Cryptologic History (CCH) publications, including Eavesdropping on Hell, are available in hard copy by contacting CCH at history@nsa.gov or by calling the Center at 301-688-2338.  CCH’s publications are also available in softcopy at:

www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic_heritage/cent_crypt_history/public/index.shtml.

The Bureau of Reclamation’s Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy:  1933–1942 by Christine E. Pfaff.  U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, February 2010. Paperback, 538 pages.  ISBN 9780160824241.

The Bureau of Reclamation’s Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy:  1933–1942 expands significantly on a volume completed in 2000 by the same author. It was the first comprehensive study to focus entirely on Reclamation’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) program. Although Reclamation’s program was smaller than that of other agencies, the impact was profound. Reclamation CCCers rehabilitated irrigation systems that had fallen into serious disrepair, developed supplemental water supplies, and constructed new projects. The CCC also provided Reclamation the opportunity to develop recreational facilities at a number of its reservoirs. Included in the new book is a brief overview of the national CCC program and a description of Reclamation’s CCC program, followed by individual forms containing the history and activities of each Reclamation CCC camp. This revised edition, which is heavily illustrated with historic photographs, further highlights some of the outstanding accomplishments of Reclamation’s CCC program.

Copies are available through the U.S. Government Printing Office bookstore.  For additional information, contact Tom Lincoln, Federal Preservation Officer, Bureau of Reclamation, at 303-445-3311.

The Rucksack War: U.S. Army Operational Logistics in Grenada, 1983, by Edgar F. Raines, Jr. U.S. Army Center of Military History, 2010.

This second volume in the U.S. Army Center of Military History’s Contingency Operations Series provides an account of how Army logistics affected ground operations during the Grenada intervention and, in turn, how combat influenced logistical performance. Noteworthy is the book’s emphasis on the role of individuals and of the decisions they made based on the necessarily incomplete and sometimes misleading information available at the time. The narrative ranges through all levels of war—from the meetings of the National Security Council, where the president grappled with the question of whether to intervene in the wake of a bloody coup, to the jungles of Grenada, where a sergeant in combat coped successfully with a Cuban ambush despite a lack of hand grenades. Raines is careful to place Army logistical planning and operations in a joint context as well as grounding them in the Army’s post-Vietnam reform of logistical organization and doctrine. In addition to furnishing a fascinating account of a complex operation, The Rucksack War identifies many issues that may well influence the conduct of U.S. forces in future short-notice contingency operations.

Publication Date: December 30, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-16-084182-8 (Cloth); GPO S/N: 008-029-00523-9 (Cloth); CMH Pub 55-2
ISBN: 978-0-16-084183-5 (Paper); GPO S/N: 008-029-00524-7 (Paper); CMH Pub 55-2-1
Pp. xxviii, 649; illustrations, bibliography, guide to abbreviations, map symbols, index

For additional information, contact Bryan Hockensmith at 202-685-2625, or at bryan.hockensmith@us.army.mil
Order from GPO’s Online Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov, or call (202) 512-1800 or toll-free 1-866-512-1800.

Center of Military History Online Catalog:  http://www.history.army.mil/catalog/index.html

Trask Lecture honoree Dick Baker accepts the award from President Mike Reis (left) and Vice President Pete Daniel (right).

Technology has enabled them to go beyond a straightforward reflection of an existing physical version of an exhibit. They can be more interactive, allowing the visitor to explore images, documents, and video of their own choosing, in open-ended paths.

At the National Archives Civil War exhibit, for example, visitors can explore an interactive that allows them reveal the links between officers, both Union and Confederate, before the Civil War. Before Confederate officers resigned their U.S. commissions they had many associations with Union officers: as friends, through West Point experiences, and even in pre-war assignments. Thus they knew each other well before they had to engage in mortal combat. This interactive incorporates a database of those associations that the visitor can explore.

The Digital Vaults of the National Archives is something different but also fascinating. Using thousands of image files with supporting identifying data and citations, the viewer can continually shift the array of images by selecting a theme, collecting images that relate to one another by various keywords or topics. The result is a very unique and exciting kind of finding aid for investigating a large number of images in the Archives’ collections. These images can be collected and their information compiled for later research. See www.archives.gov