David Sears is a New Jersey-based historian and author specializing in military history, popular American history, and military affairs. Born and raised in New England, he earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a graduate degree from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. His early career included service as a U.S. Navy officer with extensive sea duty aboard a destroyer and a tour of duty as an advisor to the Vietnamese Navy during the Vietnam conflict. Sears' subsequent business career has included: industrial relations positions with the cities of San Francisco and Portland, Ore.; and human resources management and executive positions with TheNew York Times Co. and Dow Jones & Co. His subsequent consulting expertise encompassed executive and professional staffing, compensation and incentives, and organizational change consulting.

Sears has appeared as a commentator on the History Channel and frequently has spoken before military and civic groups including Chicago's Pritzger Military History Library, New York's Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, and the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. He frequently writes features, essays, profiles, and reviews for magazines such as American History, Aviation History, Military History Quarterly, Military Officer, Naval History, Smithsonian Air/Space, VFW Magazine, Vietnam Magazine, and World War II.