WWII Tour Group to Meet Author Alex Kershaw, Historians, General, Vets Says Magazine

(from sfgate.com)

Photo: Jim Heupel, PRWeb

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (PRWEB) January 31, 2014

Bestselling author Alex Kershaw—author of World War II books including THE BEDFORD BOYS (2004), ESCAPE FROM THE DEEP (2009), and THE LIBERATOR (2013)—will be among the speakers featured during AMERICA IN WWII magazine’s Double Victory Tour this May, the publisher announced today.

The WWII tour will visit the National World War II Museum in New Orleans; the Museum of the American GI in College Station, Texas; and the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas—plus other sites and regional attractions along the way—May 16–25, 2014.

AMERICA IN WWII is actively seeking attendees for the tour, which is being coordinated by Specialty Tours of Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Kershaw will speak on aspects and stories of the American role in the European theater of World War II. Other speakers for the tour and their topics include:

Vincent P. O’Hara, author of THE US NAVY AGAINST THE AXIS: SURFACE COMBAT, 1941–1945 (2007), and numerous books on naval war in the Mediterranean, speaking on the US naval war in the Pacific and European theaters;
General Michael W. Hagee, USMC (Retired), 33rd commandant of the US Marine Corps and president and CEO of the National Museum of the Pacific War, on telling the story of the Pacific war;
George F. Cholewczynski, author of POLES APART: THE POLISH AIRBORNE AT THE BATTLE OF ARNHEM (1993) and co-author of AIRBORNE TROOP CARRIER THREE-ONE-FIVE GROUP (2003), on the roles and interrelationship of Troop Carrier pilots and mixed Allied paratroopers in the European theater; and
Michael Joseph Edwards, historian, on the Higgins boat and its origins, maker, and role in the Normandy D-Day landings of June 6, 1944. Edwards is also expected to lead a military-history-themed tour of New Orleans.
Work by Kershaw, O’Hara, Cholewczynski, and Edwards has appeared in AMERICA IN WWII magazine over the past several years, according to AMERICA IN WWII publisher Jim Kushlan. Each of the speakers will be available for photos, questions, and book signings after addressing the tour group.

The Double Victory Tour “is going to be somewhere between a tour and a rolling World War II conference,” says Kushlan, who will personally host the tour.

“Once the attendees get themselves to New Orleans, we’ll be into World War II up to our ears, and loving it.”

Among the WWII tour’s planned attractions, says Kushlan, are in-depth exploration of America’s two top World War II museums—the National WWII Museum and the National Museum of the Pacific War—plus visits to the Museum of the American GI and its impressive tank collection; Texas A&M’s Colonel Earl Rudder Monument, to the man who led the 2nd Ranger Battalion up Pointe du Hoc on D-Day; and the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum (of the WWII-veteran Bush).

WWII-themed activities will include tanks in motion, warbirds in the air, live swing music, and a Pacific island combat simulation with a real flamethrower.

“All that said, I think the high point of the whole thing will be the veterans we’ll meet in New Orleans and in Texas,” Kushlan remarked. “That and the friends we’ll make along the way.”

The Double Victory Tour is priced at $1,995. Details of the WWII tour, including a complete itinerary are online at http://spec-tours.com/tour/double-victory-tour-may-16-25-2014/.

AMERICA IN WWII is a bimonthly magazine about the American experience in the Second World War—the war, the home front, and the people. It is available at Barnes & Noble and Books A Million stores, and select other bookstores.

Subscriptions to the print edition are available at 1-866-525-1945 (toll-free). Readers can also find digital editions for any device by searching for “america in wwii” on their mobile and handheld devices’ app stores, or by visiting http://www.AmericaInWWII.com/subscriptions/ (print subscriptions can also be purchased there).

AMERICA IN WWII and AmericaInWWII.com are publications of 310 Publishing LLC of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a company committed to telling the stories of history in human terms.

Specialty Tours, based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, offers affordable and authentic tours for the WWII military enthusiast.