[140] MTSU Students Stride Through WWII History In Study-Abroad Class

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 12, 2010
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

MTSU STUDENTS STRIDE THROUGH WWII HISTORY IN STUDY-ABROAD CLASS
Bastogne, Dachau, Normandy, Hitler’s Retreat and ‘Band of Brothers’ Campaign on Tap

(MURFREESBORO) –After two excursions to the South Pacific to expose students to some of the critical sites of World War II, an MTSU historian prepares to embark on a tour of some of the pivotal sites of the European Theater of Operations for his “Warfare and Public Memory in Western Europe” class (HIST 3070).
Dr. Derek Frisby, associate professor of history, will escort students across the continent May 19-June 3, 2011, in tracing the war’s “Great Crusade.” The 16-day tour will include an examination of Normandy; Bastogne; Dachau; Operation Market Garden, a campaign fought in Germany and the Netherlands; and the “Eagle’s Nest,” Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler’s retreat in the mountains above Berchtesgarden.
Students also will follow the route of the 101st Airborne Division’s “Band of Brothers.” Tours of Omaha and Utah beaches, Arnhem and the “Battle of the Bulge” site are on the itinerary, as well as the Bayeux Tapestry, Paris, Verdun and Waterloo.
“Being in Europe and so close to many other historical sites, we’re able to sprinkle in a broader type of conflict,” says Frisby, a retired U.S. Marine and veteran of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Frisby anticipates accompanying a diverse mix of students on this study-abroad experience with pre-law and interior design majors joining the history majors. The students who went to Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Pelilieu with Frisby, while benefitting educationally, endured a grueling physical experience marked by scorching heat, crawling through caves, battling insects and discovering human remains and explosives. He believes closer proximity to traditional Western amenities will make the European experience more attractive.
“We’ve begun to recruit some people who’ve never seen the ocean before and yet are motivated enough by this trip to go with us to Europe,” says Frisby. “I think we’ve got a much broader range of students lined up for the European trip.”
Another difference in the Asian and European journeys is the educational emphasis. Instead of just analyzing individual battles, students will be able to look at the fighting in the larger context of a campaign and to dissect the nature and culture of warfare itself, in addition to unpacking the way today’s Europeans frame the conflict for public consumption.
“Are they geared more toward American tourists?” Frisby asks rhetorically. “Are they geared to a European perspective? How do the Europeans promote this as a tourist industry?”

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Frisby, who has performed painstaking research for the Veterans Memorial Committee on MTSU students and employees who perished in military conflict, plans to visit the sites of some fallen MTSU alumni, including Robert J. Sarvis (’41). A Canadian native attached to the U.S. Army Air Corps in Europe, Sarvis was killed on July 25, 1944, when his B-25 bomber reportedly was strafed by a German fighter near Carquebut, France, as he was returning from a bombing raid.
“The village there has found wreckage over the years, including the remains of Robert Sarvis,” says Frisby. “So, even today, that incident continues to play a role in that village’s collective memory.”
Scholarships for up to 50 percent of the program cost may be available through the MTSU Office of Education Abroad and Student Exchange. Pell grants and other financial aid also may be available, and Honors College students may be eligible for additional scholarships or grants.
MTSU alums, history buffs and other persons interested in the subject matter are invited to join Frisby’s group regardless of whether they intend to take the course for credit. The course is limited to 20 persons. A 10 percent discount is available for individuals who make their final payment before Jan. 20, 2011.
For more information, contact Frisby at 615-904-8097 or dfrisby@mtsu.edu. To learn more about financial aid for the European trip and other study-abroad opportunities, contact the Office of Education Abroad and Student Exchange (MT Abroad) at 615-898-5179 or mtabroad@mtsu.edu.

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Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. MTSU now boasts one of the nation’s first master’s degree programs in horse science, and the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., acclaims MTSU’s Master of Science in Professional Science degree—the only one in Tennessee—as a model program. This fall, MTSU unveiled three new doctoral degrees in the sciences.