Willis B. Hughes Family and Friends

The Willis B. Hughes Humanities scholarship was established in 1976 in honor of the former professor Willis B. Hughes. Willis was born in Wisdom, Montana in 1915. He was educated in schools in Montana and Idaho before graduating from the University of Oregon in 1940 with a BA in History. He was commissioned at Fort Benning, Georgia at the beginning of World War II and joined the 41st Infantry Division in the European Theatre as a 1st Lieutenant. He served with distinction until he was injured in a land mine explosion in France and was returned to hospitals in the United States for recuperation. Mr. Hughes returned to the University of Oregon to obtain his Master’s Degree in History and subsequently obtained his Ph.D. in the same field from the University of Minnesota in 1955. He was a member of Phi Delta Kappa honorary, the American Historical Association and the National Rifle Association.

He served for five years as the U.S. Army Research and Development Command Historian in Baltimore, Maryland, and taught at Henderson State College in Arkansas, as well as DePaul University in Chicago and the University of Wisconsin-Superior.