WASHINGTON NAVY YARD – Recognizing a gap in the modern literature of the U.S. Navy regarding the importance of humanitarian and disaster relief (HADR) operations, one Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) historian fills the void with his latest publication “A Global Force for Good: Sea Services Humanitarian Operations in the Twenty-First Century.” Marking the seventh naval history publication by Dr. John Darrell Sherwood, this new book analyzes the responses of the U.S. Navy and its partners to three of the most destructive disasters in recent history: the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Japan’s triple disaster in 2011. Based on original oral histories with service personnel who participated in these HADR operations through numerous interviews conducted by Dr. Sherwood and a team of naval reservists, studies of humanitarian operations authored by the staff of Center for Naval Analyses, and documents held by NHHC’s archives, Sherwood has crafted a vivid and compelling narrative of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard’s willingness and ability to help civilians in severe distress. “I had contemplated writing a book on humanitarian operations for many years. The initial inspiration came out of my research on the U.S. Navy in Vietnam,” said Sherwood. “During that war, the Navy and its sister sea services conducted numerous humanitarian operations ranging from providing medical support for civilians to massive non-combat evacuation operations.” As many Navy ships are within a few days of steaming distance from areas of the world that are highly prone to natural disasters, the sea services are often a crucial first responder when an ally or partner nation suffers a catastrophic natural disaster – one too big for local authorities to effectively respond to and manage. Sherwood’s first example highlights the third largest earthquake since instrument recording began in […]
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