Dr. Charles E. Heller
Dr. Charles E. Heller (Colonel USA) retired as a Professor of Command and Leadership, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (USACGSC). Prior to this he was recalled to active duty and assigned to the Joint History Office, Office of the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, The Pentagon, Washington, DC.
Heller holds a BA in US History from Hofstra University, possesses Master and Doctorate degrees in US History, Civil War and Reconstruction from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. Military schools include, among others, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College. He also served on the faculty at both institutions. At the former he, in conjunction with the Auschwitz Institute in New York, developed a “Genocide and Mass Atrocity Course” for military officers held at the Auschwitz Death Camp in Poland.
In addition to his military career Heller was Director of the Evening College and Summer Sessions at the University of Massachusetts/ Amherst, a Coming Glass Works Production Supervisor and Assistant Professor at Washburn University, Topeka, KS where he developed a Military and Strategic Studies Program and assisted in the development of a Master of Liberal Studies degree.
Publications include In Advance of Fate, A Biography of Abolitionist George L. Steams, 1809-1867 who was John Brown’s “Banker” and recruited the famous Black regiment the 54th Massachusetts (film Glory). America’s First Battles (Kansas University Press); Between Two Fires: The 54th Massachusetts
Infantry Volunteer Regiment; The U.S. Army, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and Leadership for World War II, 1933-1942; Armed Forces and Society; and numerous professional articles and book chapters on a variety of National Defense subjects and U.S. History. Currently he is working on a history of the 6th Maryland Volunteer Infantry Regiment one of the “fighting regiments” of the Civil War (fought in 10 or more major engagements and had a high casualty rate to prove it).
USACGSC writing awards: Two Silver Pens and two Bronze Pens.
Among Dr. Heller's Military decorations are the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Army Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Army Commendation Medal with four oak leaf clusters, and the Basic Airborne Badge, Joint Chiefs of Staff Badge.