Ed Bearss

Ed Bearss
Ed Bearss leading a tour in 2005
Born	Edwin Cole Bearss (1923-06-26) June 26, 1923 (age 93) Billings, Montana, U.S.
Occupation	Historian and author, Chief Historian of the National Park Service
Spouse(s)	Margie Riddle Bearss (married 1958–2006)

Edwin Cole Bearss (/ˈbɑːrs/; born June 26, 1923), a United States Marine Corps veteran of World War II, is a military historian and author known for his work on the American Civil War and World War II eras. He is a popular tour guide of historic battlefields for The Smithsonian Associates. He served as Chief Historian of the National Park Service from 1981 to 1994 and is currently Chief Historian Emeritus.

Bearss was born in Billings, Montana, the elder son of Omar Effinger Bearss and Virginia Louise Morse Bearss, and grew up on the family cattle ranch near Sarpy, Montana. His father, a Marine in World War I, read accounts of military campaigns to Bearss, and his lifelong interest in military history was inspired by John Thomason's biography of Confederate cavalry general J.E.B. Stuart.

Bearss graduated from Hardin High School in May 1941 and hitchhiked around the United States, visiting his first Civil War battlefields. He enlisted in the Marine Corps on April 28, 1942, and by July was on a troop transport to the Pacific War. He was with the 3d Marine Raider Battalion in the invasion of Guadalcanal and the Russell Islands and 7th Regiment, 1st Marine Division, in New Britain.

On January 2, 1944, Bearss was severely wounded at "Suicide Creek" (Cape Gloucester, New Britain) by Japanese machine gun fire. He was evacuated to California, and spent 26 months recovering in various hospitals. He was honorably discharged from the Marines as a corporal on March 15, 1946, and returned home to Montana.