Duke's a good school and their biology department is probably also good. But if you're interested specifically in marine biology, you might want to email their biology department and see if they offer any courses related specifically to marine biology. You also might want to look into schools like Florida State that offer more courses in marine biology.
Duke is good for everything just based on the strength of its name, but marine biology is unique in that it generally requires proximity to an ocean (obviously) and a lot of hands on undergraduate research. The names you typically hear tossed around as it relates to marine biology are Hawai'i, UC-Santa Cruz, Florida, Miami, Texas A&M, South Carolina, and especially Washington.
You can major in biology anywhere; marine biology is more of a graduate school specialty than a major (a major in it isn't all that useful; you'd need a PhD to do anything in the field, and if you want one, biology is a much stronger major). While Duke has a good bio program, it's very expensive.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.