Career
Upon graduation from Berea College, Atwater was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Marines. He commanded a rifle platoon in Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, during the Vietnam War where he received the Purple Heart, a Navy Commendation Medal, and a Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. Promoted to Captain, he served all over the world in various assignments and attended numerous military schools during a ten-year career in the Marine Corps. In 1985 after earning his Doctorate from Duke, William Atwater assumed the directorship of the 101st Airborne/Air Assault Divisional Museum at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, a position he held until 1989. From 1989 to November, 2007 he served as Director of the United States Army Ordnance Museum, then located at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. While Director at the Ordnance Museum he was instrumental in the refurbishment and rebuilding of large artifacts like tanks and artillery to meet EPA standards and the construction of a climate-controlled warehouse to store the museums collection of small arms. In addition to his work for the museum, William Atwater was often called upon as a guest lecturer and speaker at West Point Military Academy, the Defense Intelligence College, National Security Agency, and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Doctor Atwater has served as a contributor to several books, including the Oxford Companion to American Military History (2000) on the topic of grenades, mortars, and land mines. He also served as a technical advisor for the novel Black Hawk Down. Doctor Atwater has appeared as a firearms and ordnance expert in many documentaries regarding military history on such television channels as The History Channel, TLC, Discovery Channel, and The Military Channel. One of Doctor Atwater's recent projects is preserving some of the last remaining historic military assets in the world. Atwater said of the Ordnance Museum Foundation that "It is our moral and legal responsibility to preserve military assets".
Read more about this topic: William Atwater (curator)
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“A black boxer’s career is the perfect metaphor for the career of a black male. Every day is like being in the gym, sparring with impersonal opponents as one faces the rudeness and hostility that a black male must confront in the United States, where he is the object of both fear and fascination.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“They want to play at being mothers. So let them. Expressing tenderness in their own way will not prevent girls from enjoying a successful career in the future; indeed, the ability to nurture is as valuable a skill in the workplace as the ability to lead.”
—Anne Roiphe (20th century)
“I’ve been in the twilight of my career longer than most people have had their career.”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)