Daniel Ford (born 1931 in Arlington, Massachusetts) is an American
journalist
A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism.
Roles
Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
, novelist, and
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...
. The son of Patrick and Anne Ford, he attended public schools in
New Hampshire
New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
and
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, graduating in 1950 from
Brewster Academy
Brewster Academy is a co-educational independent boarding school located on in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, United States. It occupies of shoreline along Lake Winnipesaukee. With around 350 students, it serves grades nine through twelve and po ...
in
Wolfeboro, New Hampshire
Wolfeboro is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,416 at the 2020 census. A resort area situated beside Lake Winnipesaukee, Wolfeboro includes the village of Wolfeboro Falls.
History
The town was grant ...
. He was educated at the
University of New Hampshire
The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...
(A.B. Political Science 1954), the
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...
(Fulbright Scholar, Modern European History 1954–55), and
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
(M.A. War Studies 2010).
Ford served in the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
at
Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg (formerly Fort Liberty from 2023–2025) is a United States Army, U.S. Army Military base, military installation located in North Carolina. It ranks among the largest military bases in the world by population, with more than 52,000 m ...
and in
Orléans
Orléans (,"Orleans" (US) and Overseas Weekly in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
, Germany, he became a free-lance writer in
Durham, New Hampshire
Durham is a New England town, town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 15,490 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 14,638 at the 2010 census.United States Census BureauU.S. Census website 2010 ...
. He received a Stern Fund Magazine Writers' Award (1964) for his dispatches from
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...
, published in ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...
National Air and Space Museum
The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration.
Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...
to work with Japanese accounts of the air war in
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
; and an Aviation - Space Writers' Association Award of Excellence (1992) for his history of the
Flying Tigers
The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States Ar ...
. He is best known for his Flying Tigers research, and for the 1967 Vietnam novel ''Incident at Muc Wa'' that became the Burt Lancaster film ''
Go Tell the Spartans
''Go Tell the Spartans'' is a 1978 American war film directed by Ted Post and starring Burt Lancaster. The film is based on Daniel Ford's 1967 novel ''Incident at Muc Wa'' about U.S. Army military advisors during the early part of the Vietnam ...
''.
Ford is a resident scholar at the University of New Hampshire. He writes for ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', ''Michigan War Studies Review'', and ''Air&Space/Smithsonian'' magazine; maintains the Warbird's Forum, Piper Cub Forum, and Reading Proust websites; and blogs on Daniel Ford's Blog. He soloed in a J-3
Piper Cub
The Piper J-3 Cub is an American light aircraft that was built between 1938 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. The aircraft has a simple, lightweight design which gives it good low-speed handling properties and short-field performance. The Cub is P ...
at the age of 68 and flew as a sport pilot until he turned 80.
Non-fiction
* ''Looking Back From Ninety: The Depression, the War, and the Good Life That Followed'' (2021)
* ''Cowboy: The Interpreter Who Became a Soldier, a Warlord, and One More Casualty of Our War in Vietnam'' (2018)
* Editor: ''The Greater America: An Epic Journey Through a Vibrant New Country'' (1907, revised 2017)
* ''Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942'' (1991, 2nd edition 2007, 3rd edition 2016; translated into Chinese)
* ''Poland's Daughter: How I Met Basia, Hitchhiked to Italy, and Learned About Love, War, and Exile'' (2013)
* ''A Vision So Noble: John Boyd, the OODA Loop, and America's War on Terror'' (2010)
* Editor: ''The Lady and the Tigers: Remembering the Flying Tigers of World War II'', by Olga Greenlaw (1943, revised 2002)
* ''The Only War We've Got: Early Days in South Vietnam'' (2001)
* ''Glen Edwards: The Diary of a Bomber Pilot'' (1998)
* The Country Northward (1976, 2010)
Novels
*''Michael's War: A Story of the Irish Republican Army'' (2003, 2015)
*''Remains: A Story of the Flying Tigers'' (2000, 2013)
*''The High Country Illuminator: A Tale of Light and Darkness and the Ski Bums of Avalon'' (1971, 2013)
*''Incident at Muc Wa: A Story of the Vietnam War'' (1967; translated into Dutch; filmed as ''
Go Tell the Spartans
''Go Tell the Spartans'' is a 1978 American war film directed by Ted Post and starring Burt Lancaster. The film is based on Daniel Ford's 1967 novel ''Incident at Muc Wa'' about U.S. Army military advisors during the early part of the Vietnam ...
'', 1976; 2012)
*''Now Comes Theodora'' (1965, 2000)