Marc Leepson | |
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| Born | June 20, 1945 Newark, New Jersey, United States |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Years of service | 1967-1969 |
| Alma mater | George Washington University (MA) |
| Children | 1 son and daughter |
| Other work | Desperate Engagement Flag: An American Biography Saving Monticello |
| Website | marcleepson |
Marc Leepson (born June 20, 1945) is an American journalist, historian, and author.
Leepson was educated at Hillside High School in Hillside, New Jersey (Class of 1963) and George Washington University where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1967 and his Master of Arts degree in European History in 1971. [1]
Almost immediately after graduating from college, Leepson's draft classification was changed by his local draft board and he was drafted into the United States Army in 1967. Chosen to be trained as a clerk, he served for two years, including a year (December 1967-December 1968) in the Vietnam War with the 527th Personnel Service Company in Qui Nhơn. [2] He received his honorable discharge in 1969. [1]
Leepson was a staff writer at Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C. from 1976 to 1986. [3] He has been a full-time freelance writer since 1986. He is Senior Writer, Arts Editor and columnist for The VVA Veteran , [4] the magazine published by Vietnam Veterans of America, since 1986.
His work has appeared in many magazines and newspapers, including The Washington Post , The New York Times , The New York Times Book Review , Chicago Tribune , The Baltimore Sun , and Smithsonian , Preservation , and Military History magazines. He has been interviewed many times on radio and television, including on The Today Show, CBS This Morning Saturday , [5] CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, [6] The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, PBS-TV's History Detectives , All Things Considered , Talk of the Nation , Studio 360 , NPR's Here and Now , To The Point, Morning Edition , The Diane Rehm Show , "Imus in the Morning ," [7] the BBC Newshour , Russian Channel 1 TV (RTV), Irish Radio, and CBC (Canada).
He is a contributor to The Encyclopædia Britannica , [8] and has written entries for the Encyclopedia Americana , the Encyclopedia Americana Yearbook , the Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History, and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography .
Since the early 1990s, he has been active in many non-profit groups. That includes board memberships on the Middleburg (Virginia) Library Advisory Board (President and Vice President), the Loudoun County (Virginia) Library Board of Trustees, the Library of Virginia Foundation [9] (Treasurer), the Virginia State Library Board, the Friends of Thomas Balch Library, the YMCA of Loudoun County (Virginia), the Goose Creek Association (Secretary), and the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association (Secretary, Vice President, President). [10] He taught U.S. history at Lord Fairfax Community College (now known as Laurel Ridge Community College) in Warrenton, Virginia from 2008 to 2015, and was Scholar in Residence [11] at Mikveh Israel Synagogue in Savannah, Georgia, in May 2017.
A member of The Authors Guild, [12] he was elected to the Board of Directors [13] of the Biographers International Organization (BIO) in 2013. He was named the organization's Treasurer in 2014. He received a 2019 National Society Daughters of the American Revolution History Award Medal. [14]
Leepson lives in Loudoun County, Virginia. He and his wife, Janna (Murphy) Leepson, have two children, Devin and Cara, and two grandchildren. He also has a brother, R. Evan Leepson.
"The Ballad of the Green Berets" is a 1966 patriotic song in the ballad style about the United States Army Special Forces. Written and performed by Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, it was one of the few popular songs of the Vietnam War years to cast the military in a positive light. Sadler's version became a major hit in January 1966, reaching No. 1 for five weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and four weeks on Cashbox. It was also a crossover hit, reaching No. 1 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart and No. 2 on Billboard's Country survey.
Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer, author, and poet from Frederick, Maryland, best known as the author of the text of the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner". Key observed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814 during the War of 1812. He was inspired upon seeing the American flag still flying over the fort at dawn and wrote the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry"; it was published within a week with the suggested tune of the popular song "To Anacreon in Heaven". The song with Key's lyrics became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner" and slowly gained in popularity as an unofficial anthem, finally achieving official status as the national anthem more than a century later under President Herbert Hoover.
Monticello was the primary plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at the age of 14. Located just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, in the Piedmont region, the plantation was originally 5,000 acres (20 km2), with Jefferson using the forced labor of black slaves for extensive cultivation of tobacco and mixed crops, later shifting from tobacco cultivation to wheat in response to changing markets. Due to its architectural and historic significance, the property has been designated a National Historic Landmark. In 1987, Monticello and the nearby University of Virginia, also designed by Jefferson, were together designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The United States nickel has featured a depiction of Monticello on its reverse since 1938.
Loudoun County is in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. The county seat is Leesburg. Loudoun County is part of the Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette, known in the United States as Lafayette, was a French nobleman and military officer who volunteered to join the Continental Army, led by General George Washington, in the American Revolutionary War. Lafayette was ultimately permitted to command Continental Army troops in the decisive Siege of Yorktown in 1781, the Revolutionary War's final major battle that secured American independence. After returning to France, Lafayette became a key figure in the French Revolution of 1789 and the July Revolution of 1830 and continues to be celebrated as a hero in both France and the United States.
Three Soldiers is a bronze statue by Frederick Hart. Unveiled on Veterans Day, November 11, 1984, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., it is part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial commemorating the Vietnam War. It was the first representation of an African American on the National Mall.
Elizabeth Griscom Ross, also known by her second and third married names, Ashburn and Claypoole, was an American upholsterer who was credited by her relatives in 1870 with making the second official U.S. flag, accordingly known as the Betsy Ross flag. Though most historians dismiss the story, Ross family tradition holds that General George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and two members of a congressional committee—Robert Morris and George Ross—visited Mrs. Ross in 1776. Mrs. Ross convinced George Washington to change the shape of the stars in a sketch of a flag he showed her from six-pointed to five-pointed by demonstrating that it was easier and speedier to cut the latter. However, there is no archival evidence or other recorded verbal tradition to substantiate this story of the first U.S. flag. It appears that the story first surfaced in the writings of her grandson in the 1870s, with no mention or documentation in earlier decades.
The Battle of Sewell's Point was an inconclusive exchange of cannon fire between the Union gunboat USS Monticello, supported by the USS Thomas Freeborn, and Confederate batteries on Sewell's Point that took place on May 18, 19 and 21, 1861, in Norfolk County, Virginia in the early days of the American Civil War. Little damage was done to either side. By the end of April 1861, USS Cumberland and a small number of supporting ships were enforcing the Union blockade of the southeastern Virginia ports at the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay and had captured several ships which attempted to pass the blockade. USS Monticello's bombardment of the Sewell's Point battery was one of the earliest Union Navy actions against Confederate forces during the Civil War. While it has been suggested by some sources that the Monticello's action may have been the first gunfire by the Union Navy during the Civil War, a brief exchange of cannon fire between the U.S. gunboat USS Yankee and shore batteries manned by Virginia volunteer forces which had not yet been incorporated into the Confederate States Army at Gloucester Point, Virginia on the York River occurred on May 7, 1861.
The Continental Union Flag was the flag of the United Colonies from 1775 to 1776, and the de facto flag of the United States until 1777, when the 13 star flag was adopted by the Continental Congress.
Jefferson Monroe Levy was a three-term U.S. Congressman from New York, a leader of the New York Democratic Party, and a renowned real estate and stock speculator.
Uriah Phillips Levy was a naval officer, real estate investor, and philanthropist. He was a veteran of the War of 1812 and the first Jewish Commodore of the United States Navy. He was instrumental in helping to end the Navy's practice of flogging, and during his half-century-long service prevailed against the antisemitism he faced among some of his fellow naval officers.
Jonas Phillips Levy (1807–1883) was an American merchant and sea captain. Levy was granted the "freedom of the country" by the government of Peru for signal services rendered in the Peruvian Navy.
The Virginia Glee Club is a men's chorus based at the University of Virginia. It performs both traditional and contemporary vocal works typically in TTBB arrangements. Founded in 1871, the Glee Club is the university's oldest musical organization and one of the oldest all-male collegiate vocal ensembles in the United States. It is currently conducted by Frank Albinder.
Arthur W. "Nick" Arundel was a Harvard graduate and former United States Marine Corps combat officer in the Korean War. Arundel covered Washington, D.C., as a correspondent for CBS News and later The White House for United Press International. The founder of Arundel Communications based near Dulles Airport, he originated in American journalism the concept of 24-hour news cycle All-news radio format at Washington radio station WAVA-FM in 1960. Arundel was board chairman for George Mason College and was instrumental in its expansion from a college, to a university. He was chairman and publisher of the 17 Times Community Newspapers and has been inducted into the Hall of Fame of Virginia Communications.
The Betsy Ross flag is an early design for the flag of the United States, which is conformant to the Flag Act of 1777 and has red stripes outermost and stars arranged in a circle. These details elaborate on the 1777 act, passed early in the American Revolutionary War, which specified 13 alternating red and white horizontal stripes and 13 white stars in a blue canton. Its name stems from the story, once widely believed, that shortly after the 1777 act, upholsterer and flag maker Betsy Ross produced a flag of this design.
Nolands Ferry I Archeological Site is an archaeological site near the historic Noland's Ferry boat landing at mile 44.58 on the C&O Canal and Tuscarora. The Archeological Site is a prehistoric occupation site located in the Monocacy region of southern Frederick County, Maryland. Diagnostic artifacts at the site indicate that the site was almost continuously inhabited from the Paleo-Indian period to the early 19th century, with the most substantial inhabitation occurring during the Late Woodland period.
James William Jackson was an ardent secessionist and the proprietor of the Marshall House, an inn located in the city of Alexandria, Virginia, at the beginning of the American Civil War. He is known for flying a large Confederate flag – the "Stars and Bars" variant – atop his inn that was visible to President Abraham Lincoln from Washington, D.C., and for killing Col. Elmer Ellsworth in an incident that marked the first conspicuous casualty and the first killing of a Union officer in the Civil War. Jackson was killed immediately after he killed Ellsworth. While losing their lives, both gained fame as martyrs to their respective causes.
Newton Foust Heisley was an American commercial artist who was responsible for the design of the POW/MIA flag adopted by the National League of Families, and officially recognized by the United States Congress in relation to the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue "as the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, thus ending the uncertainty for their families and the Nation".
Daniel Serafin Lliteras is an American author best known for his spiritual novels.
William "Bill" Albracht was an Army captain in the Vietnam War. He is a recipient of three Silver Stars, and is the author of Abandoned in Hell: The Fight for Vietnam's Firebase Kate.
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