Todd DePastino, PhD, is an independent scholar in Pittsburgh and is founding director of the Veterans Breakfast Club. DePastino’s interest in veterans’ stories first grew out of his work as a historian. He is author and editor of seven books, including the award-winning Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front (W.W. Norton), a biography of the famed WWII cartoonist and Willie & Joe: The WWII Years and Willie & Joe: Back Home. He has a PhD in American History from Yale University and has taught at Penn State Beaver and Waynesburg University, where he received the Lucas-Hathaway Award for Teaching Excellence.