Speaker: Dr. Paul Severance

Presented by the Lifelong Learning Institute, Manassas

This event is open to the public. For more information about the Lifelong Learning Institute, Manassas, visit lli-manassas.org

Dr. Severance’s presentation will focus on the principal physical and cultural (Human Geography) concepts, principles, and virtues that impacted the planning, execution, and outcomes of the campaign to invade and occupy the island of Iwo Jima in WWII. He will address such factors as climate and weather; geomorphology, topography, and micro-terrain; vegetation; soils; tides and currents; and infrastructure (defenses; airfields). Given that we celebrated the 80th Anniversary of the Iwo Jima campaign in 2024, this presentation should be of significant historical interest and enjoyment for members who embrace U.S. military history.

Dr. Paul Severance is a retired historian and now the head docent of the Lincoln Assassination Conspirators’ Trial Restored Courtroom at Fort Leslie J. McNair in Washington, D.C. He served as a professor of strategy and professor of military science at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF) and the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy at Fort McNair from 1993 to 2018. Dr. Severance is also a faculty member of the Blue-Gray Education Society and a highly sought-after educator on the American Civil War and the Gettysburg, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Peninsula, and Seven Days campaigns. Dr. Severance received his undergraduate degree in education from Northeastern University, his master’s in systems management from the Florida Institute of Technology, and his doctorate in human development from Virginia Tech. He is currently an instructor with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the College of William and Mary and the Lifelong Learning Society at Christopher Newport University, where he lectures on the nature of war, forms of war and patterns in warfare, military history, and geography. He has spoken at LLI-Manassas on the Lincoln assassination trial, the Geography of the Normandy invasion, and the Geography of Operation Market Garden in WWII.