S3E25 Charles Bowery - US Army Center of Military History

To close out Season 3 (and our 75th overall episode!), our guest today is retired US Army colonel Charles R. Bowery, Jr. Charles, the Executive Director of the US Army Center of Military History and Chief of Military History at Ft. McNair in Washington, DC. He oversees all historical matters in the Department of the Army and the twenty-nine Army museums, including the National Museum of the United States Army. He also advises the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the Army and other Army Senior Leaders on historical background relevant to events and projected actions affecting the Army. This included advising the recent Naming Commission.

Charles earned a BA in History at the College of William and Mary and his MA in History at North Carolina State University. He is currently finishing his PhD in History at George Washington University, with a dissertation titled “Black Officers in Army Green: African American Officers in the All-Volunteer Army, 1973-2020.” Charles is the author of The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, 1864-1865 (Praeger) and Lee and Grant: Profiles in Leadership From the Battlefields of Virginia (American Management Association). He is also the co-editor with Ethan S. Rafuse of The Army War College Guide to the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign (University Press of Kansas).

Charles has conducted staff rides at American Revolution, Civil War, and American World War I & II battlefields. He has been awarded the Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the Legion of Merit, the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award, and the General George C. Marshall Award. Charles is also a retired colonel in the United States Army, where he taught history at West Point but spent much of his career as a Master Army Aviator (helicopters!) and Parachutist. His deployments included Korea, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He has earned numerous commendations, including three Bronze Star medals.

This is a very interesting and informative episode. Join us as we chat with Charles about growing up in rural Virginia near the Seven Days battlefields, making career choices, flying helicopters, the Tom Glavine, INXS, and the myriad challenges facing Army historians today.

75 episodes! Thanks, everyone, for the support and for listening!

Rec.: 07/28/2023