Special to the
Opelika Observer

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Auburn University (OLLI at Auburn) will host its lecture series titled “Wisdom Wednesday’s” on Sept. 26 from 2:30 – 4 p.m. at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, located at 901 S. College St. in Auburn. OLLI members, guests and friends are all invited to learn more about OLLI at Auburn course offerings, social engagements and initiatives.
Dr. Daniel L. Haulman will provide OLLI at Auburn with a presentation titled “The Yamamoto Mission – April 18, 1943.” Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto planned the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor and Midway, and was the most important Japanese military leader during World War II. When American code breakers discovered he would be flying over Bougainville in the Solomon Islands of the Southwest Pacific on April 18, 1943, the first anniversary of the Doolittle raid on Tokyo, the United States planned an air raid to assassinate him. The raid, largely planned by Marine Corps and Naval leaders in the theater, and performed by the Army Air Forces using P-38s flying from Guadalcanal, succeeded beyond all expectations. The interception took place at the appropriate time and place, and Yamamoto and much of his staff was killed. The meticulous planning and execution of the raid was later largely obscured by a great controversy over which of the P-38 pilots, Captain Thomas Lanphier or his wingman Lieutenant Rex Barber, actually shot down Yamamoto’s airplane. This presentation will focus on the importance and details of the raid, and also on the controversies it engendered.
Haulman is head of the organizational histories branch of the Air Force Historical Research Agency, at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, where he has worked since 1982. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1971, his master’s degree from the University of New Orleans in 1975, and his Ph.D. in history from Auburn University in 1983.
His dissertation examined the first state constitutions and how they differed from the colonial frames of government. During the 1970s, he worked at Charity Hospital in New Orleans and taught high school social studies in Louisiana for five years.
He has authored several books about aviation history, including “Air Force Aerial Victory Credits: World War I,” “World War II, Korea, and Vietnam;” “The United States Air Force and Humanitarian Airlift Operations, 1947-1994;” “One Hundred Years of Flight: USAF Chronology of Significant Air and Space Events, 1903-2002;” “The Tuskegee Airmen: An Illustrated History, 1939-1949 (with Joseph Caver and Jerome Ennels),” “Eleven Myths About the Tuskegee Airmen and Killing Yamamoto.”
Haulman has also written three Air Force pamphlets, including “The High Road to Tokyo Bay;” “Hitting Home: The Air Offensive Against Japan” and “Wings of Hope: The U.S. Air Force and Humanitarian Airlift Operations.”
He has composed chapters in other USAF publications and compiled the list of official USAF aerial victories appearing on the Air Force Historical Research Agency’s internet web page.
The author of 27 published articles in various journals, Dr. Haulman has also presented 29 talks at historical conferences and taught courses at Auburn University, Auburn University Montgomery, Faulkner University, and Huntingdon College. He is married to Ellen Evans Haulman, and they have a son named Evan.
OLLI at Auburn offers academic not for credit programs for adults aged 50 years or older through program sites at Auburn University, AUM in Montgomery, Alabama, and the Chambers County Public Library in Valley.
OLLI at Auburn is a program of the Office of the Vice President for University Outreach at Auburn University. OLLI administrative offices and select classes are located at the historic Sunny Slope property, 1031 S. College St. in Auburn.
For more information regarding this event or if one would like to assist the organization as a volunteer faculty member, volunteer service assistant, or sponsor, call Ileeia A. Cobb, Ph.D., OLLI Director, at 334-844-3105.