Keith William Nolan (May 7, 1964 – February 19, 2009) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

military historian Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships. Professional historians ...

, focusing on the various campaigns of 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 ...

Early Life

Nolan was born in

Webster Groves Webster Groves is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 24,010 at the 2020 census. The city is home to the main campus of Webster University. Geography According to the United States ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, and lived in southeastern Missouri as well as in the St. Louis suburbs. Nolan’s father, William Francis Nolan, the son of an Irish father and a German mother, taught history at St. Louis Community College after serving his country as a Marine. Keith's mother, a Swedish immigrant from Falköping, worked as a dental hygienist. As a child, Nolan was deeply affected by reports of war that he would see on the nightly news; as he grew into a young man, he would later say that these images are what sparked his interest in writing about the Vietnam conflict.

Publications

His first book was published when Nolan was 19 years of age, his first magazine article was published for Vietnam Magazine when he was 14. Nolan graduated from

Webster University Webster University is a private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, Missouri, United States. It has multiple branch locations across the United States and countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. The university has an alumni net ...

in Webster Groves, Missouri in 1989 with a Bachelor's degree in History.

Death

Nolan was in good health and working on his twelfth manuscript (published posthumously) in 2007 when a routine office visit to his general practitioner revealed a large, late-stage tumor in his lung. Despite intensive treatments, Keith William Nolan died of lung cancer in February 2009 in Wentzville, Missouri at the age of 44. He left behind a young daughter and many loved ones, as well as a tight-knit community of Vietnam War-era veterans whose stories he wrote about in his books.

Bibliography

*''House to House:Playing the Enemy's Game in Saigon'', *''Ripcord: Screaming Eagles Under Siege, Vietnam 1970'', *''Sappers In The Wire (Texas A&M University Military History Series)'', *''A Hundred Miles of Bad Road'' (Dwight Birdwell, coauthor), *''The Magnificent Bastards: The Joint Army-Marine Defense of Dong Ha, 1968 '', *''Operation Buffalo: USMC Fight for the DMZ'', *''Into Cambodia, 1970: Spring Campaign, Summer Offensive'', *''Into Laos: The Story of Dewey Canyon II/Lam Son 719, Vietnam 1971'', *''Death Valley: The Summer Offensive, I Corps, August 1969'', *''Battle for Hue: Tet 1968'', *''The Battle for Saigon: Tet 1968'', *''Search and Destroy: The Story of an Armored Cavalry Squadron in Vietnam'',

References

1964 births 2009 deaths People from Webster Groves, Missouri Historians of the Vietnam War Writers from Missouri Webster University alumni 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers {{US-historian-stub