Let me start this out by saying that I have no qualms with amateur historians, nor do I believe that as a historian with a degree that I am perfect all the times. However, I do have a serious problem with those on social media “profile” pages claiming to be a “Military History” organization and yet they misrepresent the facts whether intentional or not.

As historians, we have a responsibility to record the facts and present them as truthful as possible within a given context. This means that we often research for days upon days turning into years in some cases before we write or publish information that if not presented in its context can be very misleading. Take tonight, for example, I was on Facebook, I know there was my problem right there, but anyway, one of the pages I “follow” posted a photo of  Mr. Bill Robinson, the longest held Enlisted Air Force Prisoner of War on their page. However, what they posted inferred that he was THE longest-held American Prisoner of War (POW) in Vietnam. This, however, is not the case.

September 20th had been a rough day for the U.S. military regarding crashes and those shot down. As a member of an Air Force Search and Rescue team Robinson and his crew were called out on a mission to recover Captain Willis E. Forby.[1] Taking fire, and low on fuel, the men attempted to rescue the down pilot only for their helicopter to crash. The men managed to evade capture for a mere one and a half hours. Robinson was captured on September 20, 1965, and held until his release in  February 1973 after 2,703 days of captivity.

Robinson’s story is fascinating, one that should be read in its entirety, so while I wish I could detail his story here, I feel it would do him a serious injustice to do so.

                        I had the opportunity to hear Bill Robinson’s story in person at Andersonville National Prisoner of War Museum on April 8, 2018, at the 20th anniversary of the museum. Afterwards, he was kind enough to take a photo with me.

Now you ask may be asking why I did I just go into that story? Well, it is simple, I shared that bit of information due to the comments on the very post that the page shared.  Some of the comments were highly inappropriate for sure, but others pointed out how incorrect the original poster was by not giving accurate information.

Now image you are a student in middle or high school and your teacher had given you an assignment on Prisoners of War in Vietnam and you just happened to stumble upon the post before others had commented that they were sharing incorrect information. You see this post, and you automatically assume that because they are a “Military History” page that they are trained historians who are providing accurate information. You include this information in your report for school, only to find out that the information was incorrect and therefore impacted your grade.  As a student, if your teacher said that the use of these types of pages was acceptable for your assignment would you still be willing to trust these types of sources? Probably not. Instead, you might think that those purporting to be historians on social media do not know anything about what they are posting.

In this day and age of people wanting information on the go, in a quick but informed manner by not ensuring that the information you are sharing with the public at large is correct the amateur historian who runs that page could very well be damaging a new avenue that historians are utilizing. Blogs and Social Media are quickly becoming new methods for trained historians to make history more accessible to the public. A public that has become so accustomed to getting their news and information on their phones or tablets, that even textbooks are now purchased more often via electronic formats. As such historians are constantly looking for new methods to share their extensive research into the past.

Keep in mind that not all amateur historians are bad historians, and not all trained historians are good historians.  In the end, we are all flawed, we all make mistakes but it is vitally important that as historians whether professionally trained or amateur those who publish “history” on social media such as Facebook should attempt to ensure that the information they are dispersing is as accurate as possible.

[1] Robins, Glenn. The Longest Rescue: The Life and Legacy of Vietnam POW William A. Robinson, Lexington, Ky: University of Kentucky Press, 2013.