OHL, John Kennedy 1942-

PERSONAL:

Born February 28, 1942, in Brackenridge, PA; son of Henry Louis (a steelworker) and Martha Katherine (a nurse; maiden name, Kennedy) Ohl; married Maria Caramone (a teacher), December 27, 1965; children: Alison, Justin, Jocelyn. Education: Slippery Rock State College, B.S. (education), 1964; Duquesne University, M.A., 1966; University of Kentucky, M.S.L.S., 1974; University of Cincinnati, Ph.D., 1971. Politics: Democrat. Religion: United Methodist.

ADDRESSES:

Home—847 East Glade Ave., Mesa, AZ 85204. Office—Social Science Department, Mesa Community College, Mesa, AZ 85202. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Educator and author. University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, assistant professor of history, 1971-72; Wright State University, Dayton, OH, assistant professor of history, 1972-73; Mesa Community College, Mesa, AZ, professor of history, 1976—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Grant from U.S. Army Military Institute, 1986.

WRITINGS:

Hugh S. Johnson and the New Deal, Northern Illinois University Press (DeKalb, IL), 1985.

General Brehon B. Somervell and Logistics in the European Theater of Operations in World War II, U.S. Army Material Command (Alexandria, VA), 1993.

Supplying the Troops: General Somervell and American Logistics in World War II, Northern Illinois University Press (DeKalb, IL), 1994.

Minuteman: The Military Career of General Robert S. Beightler, Lynne Reinner (Boulder, CO), 2000.

Contributor to reference books, including American National Biography, Dictionary of American Biography, Brassey's Encyclopedia of Military History and Biography, Oxford Companion to American Military History, World War II in the Pacific: An Encyclopedia, Oxford Companion to United States History, The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia, The Korean War: An Encyclopedia, Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, and Encyclopedia USA. Contributor to journals, including Military Affairs, Military Review, Montana, Pennsylvania History, Prologue, and Timeline.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Researching military history of the U.S. southwest, and the U.S. presence in World Wars I and II.

SIDELIGHTS:

John Kennedy Ohl is a professor of history whose specific area of interest is in the U.S. Army during the period encompassing the two world wars of the twentieth century. In his most widely reviewed work, Minuteman: The Military Career of General Robert S. Beightler Ohl draws from letters, interviews, and government documents to create what Air and Space Power Journal reviewer James Gates described as "a significant contribution to our understanding of the role of the National Guard in World War II." Beightler was one of the two National Guardadjutant generals assigned to command combat divisions, and was in charge of Ohio's Thirty-seventh Infantry Division between 1940 and the final demobilization of U.S. troops in 1945. Described by James C. McNaughton as "an unusually able commander" in Army History, Beightler commanded his National Guard division "in some of the war's toughest battles, from the jungles of New Georgia and Bougainville to the streets of Manila." While joining other critics in bemoaning the quality of the book's maps, McNaughton praised Minuteman as "a solid study of division command" in World War II's Pacific theatre, as well as a "well-crafted biography." Calling the book "a valuable contribution to historical literature," Parameters critic Richard J. McCallum also dubbed it "a terrific masterpiece of detailed research," noting that Ohl's efforts would reward "the reader who peruses endnotes, bibliographies, and archive notes."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Air and Space Power Journal, winter, 2002, James Gates, review of Minuteman: The Military Career of General Robert S. Beightler, p. 111.

Army History, fall, 2002, James C. McNaughton, review of Minuteman, pp. 32-33.

NYMAS Newsletter, March, 2001, review of Minuteman.

Parameters: U.S. Army War College Quarterly, spring, 1995, Charles R. Schrader, review of Supplying the Troops: General Somervell and American Logistics in World War II, pp. 134-136; winter, 2001-02, Richard J. McCallum, review of Minuteman, pp. 171-172.*