Dr. Joshua M. Smith grew up in the United States on Cape Cod and coastal Maine. He holds degrees from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, Maine Maritime Academy, East Carolina University, and the University of Maine. He is author of Borderland Smuggling: Patriots, Loyalists, and Illicit Trade in the Northeast, 1783-1820, which explores smuggling on the Maine-New Brunswick border and won the John Lyman Award in American Maritime History in 2007. In 2009 he published Blockhouse and Battery: A History of Fort Edgecomb as part of that historic site's bicentennial, and Battle for the Bay: The Naval War of 1812, which explores dimension of maritime warfare off New England's coast. He has also edited a two volume collection of documents in American maritime history in conjunction with the National Maritime Historical Society entitled Voyages. He currently is an associate professor of humanities and Interim Coordinator of the American Merchant Marine Museum at the United States Merchant Marine Academy, in Kings Point, New York as well as serving as Department Head of the Humanities Department until September, 2015. Professor Smith lives in Port Washington, NY with his wife and daughter.

Burley Smith was born in Islip, New York, on January 9, 1929. As a child during the Great Depression, his family moved around but he spent most of his elementary and high school years in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He does not remember learning about Korea in school, but his strong interest in learning about what was happening in the world fueled his love for reading newspapers and learning about Korea. Shortly after graduating from the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, he was assigned as a Junior Third Mate to the SS Meredith Victory in Norfolk, Virginia. During his six month assignment in Korea, his vessel was part of the convoy for General MacArthur’s infamous Inchon Landing and the revered Heungnam Evacuation.