Distinguished Speakers Series with Frank A. Blazich Jr., PhD

As part of our mission to educate, inform, and pay tribute, the National D-Day Memorial is pleased to debut the Distinguished Speaker Series in 2024.

This occasional series presents fascinating evening lectures by leading experts on the Second World War, discussing untold aspects of history in challenging ways. The Distinguished Speakers Series appeals to the diehard WWII buff and the novice alike, always illuminating the greatest conflict in human history, which continues to shape our present in profound ways.

Join us for the inaugural Distinguished Speaker Series lecture with Frank A. Blazich Jr., PhD—Curator of Military History, Division of Military and Society, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution—presenting “Feathers for Freedom: The Use of Pigeons on D-Day,” addressing the little-known role played by carrier pigeons in the Normandy invasion. Although little remembered today, homing pigeons were an essential line of communication during World War II. The first news about the successful landings on D-Day reached England by carrier pigeon.

This event opens with a meet and greet reception at 6PM, followed by the lecture at 7PM. Gates open at 5:30PM. Tickets are required.

About the Distinguished Speaker

Frank A. Blazich Jr., PhD

A native of Raleigh, North Carolina, Frank Blazich Jr. specializes in the American military experience in the twentieth century. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, he holds a doctorate in modern American history from The Ohio State University (2013). His dissertation, “Economics of Emergencies: North Carolina, Civil Defense, and the Cold War, 1940-1963,” examined the confluence of civil defense, natural disasters, and economic development leading to the evolution of the state’s modern emergency management agency.

Following his doctoral studies, Blazich served as the historian at the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum in Port Hueneme, California before moving to Washington, D.C. to serve as a historian in the History and Archives Division of Naval History and Heritage Command. From June to December 2016, Blazich served as the historian on Task Force Netted Navy working for the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

In January 2017, he assumed his current position as curator of modern military history at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. His first edited book, Bataan Survivor: A POW’s Account of Japanese Captivity in World War II, was published by the University of Missouri Press in February 2017. His second book, “An Honorable Place in American Air Power”: Civil Air Patrol Coastal Patrol Operations, 1943-1943, was published by Air University Press in December 2020.

He has published articles, essays, blog posts, book reviews and delivered public talks on numerous topics relating to modern American military history. His work has appeared in the Journal of Military History, Naval War College Review, The Northern Mariner, North Carolina Historical Review, Army History, Naval History, Air Power History/Journal of the Air Force Historical Foundation, Marine Corps History, War on the Rocks, Volunteer Magazine, Center for International Maritime History, The Sextant, Seabee Magazine Online, Smithsonian Magazine Online, and the Washington Post.

In 2020, he received the Air Force Historical Foundation’s Best Article Award in 2019 for his article “‘Definitely Damaged or Destroyed’ Reexamining Civil Air Patrol’s Wartime Claims,” published in the Spring 2019 issue of Air Power History. In 2022, he received the Keith Matthews Award for Best Article from the Canadian Nautical Research Society for his piece, “Inventors and Innovators: Naval Lighterage and Anglo-American Success in the Amphibious Invasions of German-Occupied Europe,” published in the Summer 2021 issue of Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord. In December 2022, his article “Notre Cher Ami: The Enduring Myth and Memory of a Humble Pigeon,” published in the July 2021 issue of The Journal of Military History, received a 2022 Smithsonian Secretary’s Research Prize awarded for recognizing and promoting excellence in scholarship across the institution.

He currently holds several positions in and outside of the Smithsonian. In December 2023, he founded and currently chairs the Smithsonian Institution Veterans Council. He is the Mid-Atlantic Regional Coordinator for the Society for Military History and the National Curator and National Historian Emeritus of the Civil Air Patrol at the rank of colonel. He serves the Secretary of the Air Force Historical Foundation and is on the board of directors for the National Museum of Civil Defense. Blazich is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and currently a Knight Grand Officer in the Order of Prince Danilo I of the House of Petrović-Njegoš, a Knight Commander in the Equestrian, Secular and Chapterial Order of Saint Joachim, and a Knight in the Order of the Royal Crown of Hawai’i. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife Nicole, and son William.