Understanding the price of freedom
“It’s not every day you sign up for a history course and it ends up changing your life.”
Pavla Ovtchinnikova (Normandy Scholars Class of 2014)
Tom Long, Professor
“My goal is to give students a perspective on conflict and its impact on individuals and families that you can’t get from reading a book or watching a movie. I want them to feel the weight of the human loss.”
The History Department at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. offers an unusual course each spring semester that gives students the opportunity to learn about a soldier from his or her hometown who died in the Normandy campaign and is buried in the Normandy American Cemetery at Omaha Beach. The class, taught by Professor Tom Long, explores the causes, conduct, and consequences of the Normandy campaign, examining the impact on individuals, communities, and the nation.
The George Washington University
Normandy Scholars
The Price of Freedom: Normandy, 1944
A course like no other
Highlight:
2016 Normandy Scholars
Tom Long
Meet the Professor
When he's not scouring the French countryside in search of little-known sights for the Normandy class to visit or leading a group of students along hedgerows and beaches, Tom Long conducts research on the military and legal interactions between Britain and America through 1815. He is currently investigating the activities and influence of Admiral George Montagu, Sir Andrew Snape Hamond, and James and Richard Barron during the American Revolution through their participation in the naval campaign in the Chesapeake. He also continues to investigate the impact of federalism on American life through the federal regulation of economic activity.
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Tom also serves as advisor to the GW chapter of the National History Honor Society, Phi Alpha Theta and has served as Academic Director for the Albert H. Small Student/Teacher Institute - Normandy: Sacrifice for Freedom in 2011 and 2012.
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Education:
Ph.D., The George Washington University, 2005.
J.D. Cum Laude, Harvard University, 1970.
During Spring Break, the class flies to Paris and from there drives directly to the Normandy region to begin an intensive week-long "staff-ride" (that’s army-speak for a participatory, educational tour) of the Normandy campaign. The tour starts at Pegasus Bridge, where British Airborne troops landed at 16 minutes after midnight on D-Day – 6 June 1944 – and ends a week later in Paris.
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Each student conducts a briefing (report) about an element of the campaign at the appropriate location. The students conclude their visit to the actual landing beaches by laying a wreath at the memorial in the American Cemetery and each presenting a eulogy for his or her soldier at the graveside.
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For more information about the staff-ride, visit our Travel page.
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