The Hampton Roads Naval Museum hosted a free lecture with historian and author Ian Toll, July 11, to commemorate the 75th anniversaries of the Battle of Midway and Guadalcanal.

Toll is a well-known scholar and best-selling author of "Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the US Navy," "Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942," and "The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944." More than 200 people attended the event, where they had the chance to ask questions, interact with Toll, and attend a book signing session after the lecture.

"My father served in the Pacific during World War II, so it is a real pleasure to have a chance to meet Mr. Toll and talk to him about his books and the history of that conflict," said an attendee.

The battles of Midway and Guadalcanal were both turning points for U.S. forces fighting in the Pacific during World War II. Elijah Palmer, the special events coordinator for the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, planned this lecture to commemorate the two battles and also increase public awareness of the sacrifices made by those who came before us.

"I think events like this are a great opportunity for people to come out and meet these authors and listen to them talk more about their books. And it gives people a more social way to learn about the history of these battles," said Palmer. "I think it is important to remember where we came from and those who came before us. Some people had family that served during these conflicts, and it is important to remember those connections."

As a historian, Toll tries to write about aspects of these conflicts that other historians have not explored, and feels that learning about these battles gives us insight into how they shaped our society and our Navy.

"I think the history of war is inherently interesting because it can be considered a stress test. Engineers stress test a bridge to find out what it is made of and to get information about it," said Toll. "In the same way if you put a society or a government through a war, you are stress testing it, and you learn information that you wouldn't learn during peacetime."

Toll is currently writing an addition to his non-fiction trilogy "Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific," which were released from 1944-1945. The new book will be published in 2018.

The Hampton Roads Naval Museum is one of 10 official U.S. Navy museums administered by the Naval History and Heritage Command. The museum displays artifacts from 242 years of U.S. naval history and is free to the public. For more information, visit http://www.hrnm.navy.mil.

Six Frigates, Pacific Crucible, and The Conquering Tide can be found on the Chief of Naval Operations Reading list, at http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/CNO-ReadingProgram/azlist.html.

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