S1E4 James H. Willbanks - US Army Command & General Staff College (retired!)

Jim Willbanks is one of the most interesting military historians you’ll come across. Born in Texas and a graduate of “that school” in College Station, Jim was commissioned as a young lieutenant through ROTC at Texas A&M University. He not long after found himself as an advisor with an ARVN regiment in South Vietnam during the 1972 Easter Offensive, during which he was wounded and decorated for heroism under fire. He spent twenty-three years in the Army, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. His decorations include the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star with “V” and Oak Leaf Cluster, two Purple Hearts, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with two Silver Stars. If that wasn’t enough, Jim graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) with honors, then was selected for the inaugural class of the new Army School for Advanced Military Studies (SAMS). He earned a Ph.D. in history at the University of Kansas, beginning a long and distinguished career as a military historian and instructor in military history at CGSC, where he also served as head of the Department of Military History for several years. Jim is the author or editor of fourteen books, including A Raid Too Far (Texas A&M Press, 2014), Abandoning Vietnam (University Press of Kansas, 2004), The Battle of An Loc (Indiana University Press, 2005), The Tet Offensive: A Concise History (Columbia University Press, 2006), and most recently Danger 79er: The Life and Times of Lieutenant General James F. Hollingsworth (Texas A&M Press, 2018). A dedicated servant of the military history profession, Jim served on the Board of Trustees for the Society for Military History, the Board of Editors for the Journal of Military History, and is on the Editorial Board for Modern War Studies at the University Press of Kansas. He and his work have been highlighted in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, US News & World Report, Wall Street Journal, Army Times, Stars and Stripes, and PBS, where he consulted and appeared in Ken Burns’ Vietnam series.

Now retired, Jim remains as active in the profession as ever and is Aggie as ever. We’ll chat with Jim about being a veteran of the war he now studies, working with Ken Burns, and the value of history in professional military education. Join us!

Rec. 11/04/2021