A graduate of Ohio State University, Roy Edgar Appleman earned an A.M. at Columbia University in 1935. In 1936, he began a career as a historian with the National Park Service, retiring as chief, Branch of Park History Studies, Washington Office in 1970. During World War II, Appleman served as an Army officer and combat historian with the Tenth Army on Okinawa. He was a lieutenant colonel with the X Corp during the Korean War. He wrote the volume on the Okinawa campaign for the Army Green Book series on World War II, and the first volume in the U.S. Army's official history of the Korean War.