Pensacola Headshots Session | Where Do We Get Such Men

I vividly remember, during my sophomore year of high school, sitting in the classroom of my favorite history teacher. I remember her love of George Washington and the lengths to which she would go to breathe new life into history. I remember two of my friends and I helping Blake, a fellow classmate, pass her class. Our teacher had told him that if he could just memorize all of the presidents and write them down in order by the end of the day, she would give him a passing grade. After much quizzing, broken by fits of anxious laughter, he did it, and the insanity and hilarity of the situation made it one of my favorite high school memories.

Over a decade later, as my teacher completed work on her second book, I was honored to photograph her, as well as the subject and co-author of the book, her stepfather, Capt. Allen C. Brady, USN, Retired.

Dawn Quarles, who has spent much of her life teaching American history, has now been given the opportunity to chronicle and preserve it.

Her upcoming book, “Where Do We Get Such Men?” tells the life story of her 88-year-old stepfather, following him through major events in American history, all for which he was present. Such events as the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the rise of Hitler in Berlin, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War, are all explored through his eyes.  

I also feel a special honor to be married to a man who is continuing that story of American heroism. Already Ryan and the men who serve with him in his squadron have done so much on their previous deployment. On Ryan’s last deployment he piloted the P-3C Orion aircraft. This would be the aircraft’s last active duty deployment. This plane has been around since the Cold War era, where it was best known for hunting Russian submarines. Last deployment it helped track and stop $17 million of worth of cocaine before it was smuggled into the U.S.

They were also a vital part of the operations in the Middle East, along with British and French naval vessels. This deployment, I know, will be much of the same now that Ryan is flying the newer P-8 on missions all over the world. 

God bless men like Captain Allen C. Brady, USN, and my husband, LT Ryan Johnson, and all of the men and women serving our great nation and protecting our freedom day in and day out.

Below is my beautiful high school history teacher and author of “Where Do We Get Such Men” and the subject of the book, Captain Allen C. Brady. For more information on Dawn Quarles’ new book, and how to order it when it’s released, please visit www.dawnquarles.com