Forrest Carlisle Pogue Jr. (September 17, 1912 – October 6, 1996) was an official
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
historian during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. He was a proponent of
oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people w ...
techniques, and collected many oral histories from the war under the direction of chief Army historian
S. L. A. Marshall. Forrest Pogue was for many years the Executive Director of the
George C. Marshall Foundation as well as Director of the Marshall Library located on the campus of
Virginia Military Institute
la, Consilio et Animis (on seal)
, mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal)
, established =
, type = Public senior military college
, accreditation = SACS
, endowment = $696.8 mill ...
in
Lexington, Virginia
Lexington is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines ...
.
Early and personal life
Forrest C. Pogue was born in
Eddyville, Kentucky
Eddyville is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Lyon County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,554 at the 2010 census, up from 2,350 in 2000. The Kentucky State Penitentiary is located at Eddyville. The town is cons ...
. His grandparents, Marion Forrest Pogue and Betty Matthews Pogue, were farmers, and the young Pogue spent much of his early life in
Frances, Kentucky, where the Pogue family owned a tract of land. He attended