Acknowledgements
The editors of this volume would like to thank everyone who contributed to its creation. Without the generous support of those mentioned here, we could not have held the commemorative conference that took place at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies on 23rd and 24th September of 2016, nor could we have compiled the presented papers into this volume, which seeks to honor the extraordinary legacy of Dr. John F. Guilmartin, Jr.
First, we thank the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation of Milwaukee. The Foundation members were tireless in their efforts to support Joe’s various contributions to the study of warfare, and were generous with funding his research and also in assisting graduate students at The Ohio State University who were completing their own military history studies. Not only did they support the conference held in Joe’s honor, but many essays in this volume were written by students who benefitted from their assistance.
We would also like to thank Scott Laidig, a great friend of Dr. Guilmartin’s and a champion of The Ohio State University’s Department of History. Scott’s direct support to the conference has been heartwarming and most welcome. So has his unstinting advocacy of student development and scholarships. Scott’s service as a Marine officer during the Vietnam War helped to make him a man of great character, an outstanding advocate for students and scholars of military history, and a student and author of military history in his own right.
Next, we would like to thank the Department of History and the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at The Ohio State University. Not only did the Department of History provide essential financial support for the conference, but military history professors Geoffrey Parker, Peter Mansoor, Jennifer Siegel, Mark Grimsley, and Bruno Cabanes were immediately willing to assist with the event in any way needed, which they did to great effect. The Mershon Center was also willing to host the conference event, which is no surprise given their decades of support to both Joe’s own scholarship and that of his students.
We would like to thank other contributors to the creation of both the conference and volume, including Dr. Kelly DeVries, Dr. Alan Millett, Dr. Williamson Murray, and all those scholars who will contribute to a second volume of essays to commemorate Joe’s life and academic work. Drs. Millett and Murray were immediately eager to help celebrate their former colleague, and Dr. DeVries was essential, not only to the planning of the conference, but in its success and the compiling of this volume.
Lastly but most importantly, we would like to thank Joe’s wife, Lore, and the rest of his wonderfully supportive family. Joe would be the first to say that Lore’s love and support were instrumental to his success as a scholar and mentor. Her unwavering encouragement to those who compiled this volume was equally beneficial. She was an intrinsic part of this project from beginning to end, and Joe’s family stood both behind and beside her through all her endeavors. We thank them for that, and submit this volume as a token of our thanks for all they, and those mentioned above, have done to make it a success.