The Wyoming Veterans Memorial Museum will host a program titled “Wyoming National Guardsmen in the Philippines, 1898-1899″ on Thursday, Sept. 15, in Casper. Dr. Mark Johnson, Ph.D., a contract historian for the Wyoming National Guard and the Senior Army Instructor at Natrona County High School in Casper, will present the program. The program will start at 7 p.m. at the Wyoming Veterans Memorial Museum and will be broadcast via Facebook live.

Dr. Johnson’s program will focus on the organization and operations of the 1st Wyoming Volunteer Infantry Battalion during the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars. The battalion was a volunteer force drawing heavily from the Wyoming National Guard. It served in the Philippines for 494 days before its deactivation in 1899.

Dr. Johnson is the Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army for the state of Wyoming, serving as the Secretary’s representative in the Cowboy State. A retired Army officer with 31 years of military service, he is also the Senior Army Instructor for the Natrona County High School Army Junior ROTC program and an adjunct professor of history at the University of Wyoming. As a contract historian for the Wyoming Military Department, he serves as the chief historian, researcher, and author on a multidisciplinary team from the Wyoming Military Department, Wyoming National Guard Association, and Wyoming National Guard Historical Society. The teams are publishing a two-volume history of the Wyoming National Guard. Dr. Johnson is a United States Military Academy graduate of West Point, holds a master’s degree in history from the University of Wyoming, and received a doctorate in American history from the State University of New York.