A specialist in Japanese military history, Edward John Drea graduated from Canisius College in Buffalo, in 1965. After service in the United States Air Force, Drea entered the Sophia University in Tokyo in 1971, where he earned a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree. He was awarded a Japanese ministry of education dissertation fellowship, which allowed him to gain a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in modern Japanese history from the University of Kansas in 1978. Drea joined the Combat Studies Institute of the Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1975, and became the head of the Research and Analysis Department at the US Army Center for Military History in Washington, D.C. He also taught at United States Army War College.