John Rowe (20 March 1936 – 9 November 2017) was an Australian author who wrote numerous war novels about his experiences in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

.Classic Australian Works
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Early life and military

John Rowe, a former professional career

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

, was educated at Sydney Grammar School and was a 1957 graduate of the

Royal Military College, Duntroon The Royal Military College, Duntroon, also known simply as Duntroon, is the Australian Army's Officer (armed forces), officer training establishment. It was founded at Duntroon, Australian Capital Territory, Duntroon in Canberra, Australian Capi ...

. Rowe started his active military service in 1958 fighting in four wars, including the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, was a guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war fought in Federation of Malaya, Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Arm ...

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, and

. Promoted to Major, by 1968 Maj. John Rowe served as an exchange officer with the American

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and served with the

173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team The 173rd Airborne Brigade ("Sky Soldiers") is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry brigade combat team (IBCT) of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States European Command's conventional airborne strategic respo ...

and the

1st Australian Task Force The 1st Australian Task Force (1 ATF) was a brigade-sized formation which commanded Australian Army, Australian and New Zealand Army units deployed to South Vietnam between 1966 and 1972. 1 ATF was based in a rubber plantation at Nui Dat, north ...

Author

*Over the course of his career, Rowe wrote six published novels and a

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history book on Australian soldiers in the Vietnam War. *In 1968, Maj. John Rowe wrote his first novel on the

while serving in

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, with the

. The book "Count Your Dead" was published by

Angus & Robertson Angus & Robertson (A&R) is a major Australian bookseller, publisher and printer. As book publishers, A&R has contributed substantially to the promotion and development of Australian literature.Alison, Jennifer (2001). "Publishers and editors: A ...

. An article on Rowe's book written by John Miles called "Soldier’s Bitter Vietnam Book" was later published in a 16 August 1968 newspaper article for

The Adelaide Advertiser ''The Advertiser'' is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format newspaper based in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. First published as a broadsheet named ''The South Australian Advertiser'' on 12 July 1858,

in Australia. *In 2003, "Count Your Dead" was selected by the Sydney University Press for inclusion in their Classic Works series of 25 books by Australian authors both living and dead. *In 2012,

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

beat writer Peter Pierce wrote an article on Rowe's book "Count Your Dead" called "Kill by Kill, Name by Name". Pierce states that Rowe condemned the vacillations and complacency of Australian politics including the foreign relations and the dependence on its major allies. Rowe resigned from the army after the book was published and returned to Australia. *Author John Rowe is an author entry in reference book "Who’s Who of Australian Writers" and

Oxford Companions ''Oxford Companions'' is a book series published by Oxford University Press, providing general knowledge within a specific area. The first book published in the series was ''The Oxford Companion to English Literature ''The Oxford Companion to ...

book series; the 2nd Edition of "The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature"

Published books

* ''Count Your Dead'' (1968) Publisher:

* ''McCabe PM'' (1972) Publisher Collins * ''The Chocolate Crucifix'' (1972) Publisher

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* ''The Warlords'' (1978) Publisher

* ''The Aswan Solution'' (1979) Publisher: Knopf

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* ''The Jewish Solution'' (1980) Publisher:

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Rinehart & Winston - * ''Long Live the King'' (1984) Publisher

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* ''Long Live the King'' (1984) Publisher Rigby * ''Vietnam, the Australian experience'' (1987) Publisher

References

External links

Bibliography
at the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, John 1936 births 2017 deaths Australian writers Australian military personnel of the Vietnam War Royal Military College, Duntroon graduates