Name: Ronald J. Drez
Born and educated in New Orleans, LA
Education: BBA Tulane University, 1962 MA in History, University of New Orleans, 1985 Military Service: Commissioned Officer, United States Marine Corps 1962-69. Commissioned through the NROTC at Tulane University. Thrice member of Tulane’s National Championship rifle teams, 1960-62 Served as Captain in the Marine Corps, and in combat in Vietnam as Commanding Officer of Company H, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1968-69. Awarded two Bronze Stars, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star for heroism in combat, and the Presidential Unit Citation. Selected for inclusion in publication, Outstanding Young Men of America, 1968. Business: Author, Historian, and Lecturer. Assistant Director and Research Associate to the late historian Dr. Stephen E. Ambrose at the Eisenhower Center, and to Dr. Douglas Brinkley at the University of New Orleans, 1987 – 2007. President of Stephen Ambrose Tours, Inc. Historian and leader for Normandy, Civil War, Lewis & Clark, War in the Pacific, and Italian Campaign tours. Author: UNO award winning thesis in 1985, “Siege at Khe Sanh.” Books: Voices of D-Day, 1994. L.S.U. Press. Awarded George Washington Honor Medal from Freedom’s Foundation at Valley Forge. Twenty-Five Yards of War, Hyperion Press, December 2001. Voices of Valor: D-Day June 6, 1944, Bullfinch Press, April 2004. New York Times Best Seller List – 2004. Remember D-Day, April 2004 – Award-winning Children’s Book for National Geographic – Selected “Best Book of 2004,” by School Library Association. In 2005 selected as Notable Children’s book by American Library Association, and the International Reading Association’s Young Adult’s Choices for 2006. The D-Day Companion, 2004 – Contributing author to this 60th Anniversary publication by Osprey Press edited by Jane Penrose. Voices of Courage: The Battle of Khe Sanh Vietnam, 1968, 2005, Bullfinch Press.
Contributing Writer/Editor: American Legion Magazine – Warriors, 1995 Encyclopedia Britannica web site (Normandy web page on invasion beaches and parachute drops) WWII Magazine. First Encounter with the Band of Brothers – 2001 A Long Walk Through the Valley of Death – Nov. 2001 American Heroes in WWII – Collectors Edition 2002 Forgotten Fate of Glider Four – July 2003 Vietnam Magazine. The Flight of Comanche Trail 102 – 2003 American History Magazine. The Corps of Captain Lewis and Lieutenant Clark – April 2004 Consultant to Harry N. Abrams Publishers, Inc. for D-Day and the Invasion of Normandy. Married to Judith L. Drez with four children and eleven grandchildren | 
