We are pleased to publish the video of the Masterclass lectured by Prof. Frank Blazich Jr. from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. A lecture hold within the framework of the Master’s Degree in Military History of INISEG, the International Institute for Studies on Global Security.
In this truly remarkable lecture, our distinguished speaker will analyze in complete detail the amphibious landings of Normandy, Sicily and Salerno, in which US Navy landing pontoons were used for the very first time at that scale. The steel box pontoons, a fairly simple innovation, were the idea of civil engineer Captain John N. Laycock, who developed and perfected his ingenious design on the eve of the United States’ entry into WWII.
Once America was in the conflict, a Royal Navy reserve officer assigned to the Combined Operations Headquarters, Captain Thomas A. Hussey, conceptualized innovative uses of those American pontoons for offensive amphibious operations. Working together, these men developed pontoon causeways and enormous lightering barges that ensured the logistical success for the Allied amphibious landings in German-occupied Europe.
Prof. Frank Blazich Jr. holds a PhD degree from Ohaio State University. Since January 2017, he is curator of modern military history at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. He is a veteran of the US Air Force, and his first edited book, ‘Bataan Survivor: A POW’s Account of Japanese Captivity in WWII’, was published by the University of Missouri Press in February 2017.
He has published widely and delivered public talks on numerous topics relating to modern American military history. His work has appeared in various publications, such as the North Carolina Historical Review, The Northern Mariner, Marine Corps History, the Naval War College Review, Air Power History and the Washington Post, among others. He is a colonel in the Civil Air Patrol and director of the Col. Louisa S. Morse Center for Civil Air Patrol History. He previously served as the corporation’s national historian from April 2013 to March 2018, serving as principal historical advisor for the Civil Air Patrol Congressional Gold Medal Effort.
Blog GRIP will keep publishing a selection of Masterclasses and lectures on military history and armed conflicts, with a special emphasis, albeit not exclusive (as this lecture shows), on the Vietnam War, direct consequence and legacy of the First Indochina War, a conflict taught by Professor Juanjo Alarcón in the Master’s Degree in Contemporary Military Conflicts, whose video presentation is also available on Blog Grip. Incidentally, Prof. Juanjo Alarcón is the host of these lectures.
We really hope that this series of selected lectures may spark your interest in the topics presented in each one of them. And since they are all part of the Area on Security and Defense and the Master’s Degree in Military History of INISEG, we provide you with the links to INISEG’s academic offer directly related to the lectures we publish:
