TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dr. John F. Guilmartin Jr., professor of military history at The Ohio State University, will present the fourth annual Friends of History Lecture, “Gunpowder, the Printing Press and the Death of the Middle Ages,” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, at 205 Gorgas Library at The University of Alabama.
The lecture is offered by the UA history department, the Friends of History, Phi Alpha Theta and the History Club. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Guilmartin earned his Bachelor of Science from the Air Force Academy in 1962. After flying aircrew rescue missions over Vietnam and Laos in 1965 and 1966, he earned a master’s in 1969 and a doctorate in 1971 from Princeton University. He then taught at the Air Force Academy before a second combat tour in Southeast Asia in 1974 and 1975.
On April 28, 1975, he flew the last Air Force rescue helicopter out of Saigon, carrying 253 Vietnamese men, women and children to the safety of an aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin.
After retiring from the Air Force. Guilmartin joined the faculty at Ohio State. His books include “Gunpowder and Galleys: Naval Warfare in the Mediterranean, 1300 to 1600”; “America in Vietnam: The Fifteen Year War;” “A Very Short War: The Mayaguez and the Battle of Koh Tang;” and “Gunpowder and Galleys: Changing Technology and Mediterranean Warfare in the Sixteenth Century.”
For details, phone the history department at 205/348-7100.
The history department is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All-American Teams.
Contact
Dr. Lawrence Clayton, history department, 205/348-7100, lclayton@simplecom.net; Richard LeComte, media relations, rllecomte@ur.ua.edu