April 30, 2024
7:00 – 8:30PM
The Army Historical Foundation invites you to join a panel of historians and museum professionals as they discuss why it’s important to remember D-Day.
This free program, open to members of the Army Historical Foundation, will be moderated by Charlotte Juergens. Ms. Juergens is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, archival producer, and interdisciplinary scholar who’s film “Sunken Roads: Three Generations After D-Day” documents her experience of traveling with a group of D-Day veterans on their way to the 70th anniversary of D-Day.
Ms. Juergens and her guests will discuss the importance of remembering D-Day and what their museums, and others, are doing to honor the 80th anniversary, which may be one of the last anniversaries that is able to honor living World War II veterans.
Participants will be able to ask questions following the discussion.
Meet the historians
Charlotte Juergens
Charlotte Juergens is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, archival producer, and interdisciplinary scholar. She recently directed the documentary feature Sunken Roads: Three Generations After D-Day, which is represented by First Run Features and premiered theatrically in 2021. The film follows her experience traveling with a group of D-Day veterans on a pilgrimage to retrace their route from World War II. As an archival producer, Charlotte’s collaborations have included archival work for PBS, the Smithsonian Channel, the Museum of the City of New York, the Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum, the Connecticut State Library, and the Oscar-nominated short film Joe’s Violin. Her archival experience also includes two years at NBC News Archives, collaborating with documentarians and museum curators to research and license NBC footage for dozens of public humanities projects around the world. Charlotte began her Ph.D. in American Culture at the University of Michigan in Fall 2021. She holds an M.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.A. from Yale University.
Joseph Balkoski
Joseph Balkoski served for many years as Command Historian of the Maryland National Guard and the U.S. Army’s 29th Infantry Division. He is the author of eight widely acclaimed books on World War II history, including a two-volume series on American involvement in the D-Day invasion (Omaha Beach and Utah Beach) and a five-volume series, known collectively as From Normandy to Victory, on the history of the 29th Infantry Division in World War II. Balkoski was the founder and curator of the Maryland Museum of Military History at Maryland National Guard headquarters in Baltimore, which includes the 29th Infantry Division Archives—one of the finest collections of archival papers in the United States related to the service of a U.S. Army division in wartime. He served on the Governor of Maryland’s Commission on Military Monuments, and was recently awarded the Maryland Distinguished Service Cross and Maryland National Guard Meritorious Service Medal for his lifetime of service to veterans, the state of Maryland, and the Army National Guard.
Paul Morando
Mr. Morando began his career in the Army Museum program in 2003 as the Director of the Harbor Defense Museum at Fort Hamilton, NY. In 2007 he became the Director of the Casemate Museum at Fort Monroe, VA and in 2011 he went on to be the Director of the Quartermaster Museum at Fort Gregg-Adams, VA. In October 2017 he became the Chief of Exhibits of the National Museum of the United States Army. He is responsible for the oversight of the design, fabrication, and installation of the museum’s exhibits as well as the artifact collection on display. In 2018, he supervised the design, development, and installation of the Nisei Soldiers exhibit in the museum and is currently working on the Army’s first traveling exhibit, “I Am An American: The Nisei Soldier Experience.” Mr. Morando holds a Master’s Degree in History from the City University of New York. He currently resides in Woodbridge, VA with his wife and four children.
John D. Long
John D. Long is an alumnus of Roanoke College and the University of Virginia. A museum professional for over twenty-five years, he currently holds the position of Director of Education at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA. He has written extensively about both World Wars and on the history of southwest Virginia, and has also taught history at Roanoke College, Radford University, and Virginia Western Community College. He is a contributing columnist for the Roanoke Times, cohost of the WWII history podcast “Someone Talked,” and has served on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Association of Museums. He and his wife Candace have five children and live in Salem, VA.
