Robert Skimin (July 30, 1929 in

Belden, Ohio Belden is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community in Lorain County, Ohio, Lorain County, in the U.S. state of Ohio. History Belden was originally called Rawsonville. A post office called Rawsonville was established in 1852, ...

– May 9, 2011 in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

) was a U.S. Army officer, artist, and

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-nominated and award-winning author of both fiction and historical books.

Military career

Born in a small village in rural

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, Skimin became an army aviator during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. He was awarded the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the president to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

, the

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

, and the

Army Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issu ...

with Oak Leaf Cluster.Author Detail , Ohio Center for the Book @ Cleveland Public Library
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Author

Skimin has written a number of books of both factual and

alternate history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

. The

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

lists 14 titles to date. He has received several awards, including induction into the El Paso Writers Hall of Fame, and received the Ohiana Book Award in 1984 for ''Chikara''. In 1993, he earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination for ''Apache Autumn'' with most other titles being best sellers. His last work was a book series called ''Danny Drumm's Heroes'': Author speaks of series on YouTube. *Volume 1: ''Johnny Clem'' - This book introduces the narrator, a

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

drummer boy, and his dog Shadow. It tells the story of one of the many drummer boys in the Civil War who later became a two-star general, John Clem. *Volume 2: ''America's Beginnings - The Spaniards'' - Danny Drumm narrates the early exploration of the Americas. *Volume 3: ''The Early Settlement of New Mexico'' - This book is largely about the Spaniard's conquest of New Mexico and touches on the Indian rebellions. *Volume 4: "The Pilgrims" - and the Indians they met and the unrest with the colonies. *Volume 5: about battles and presidents. In the works, not yet released.

Bibliography

Skimin published both novels and nonfiction. *''Los Toros (The Story of Bullfighting)'' (nonfiction, 1973) *''The Booze Game'' (memoir, 1976) *''The Rhodesian Sellout'' (nonfiction, 1977) *''Soldier for Hire'' (series of adventure novels; Skimin wrote four books in the series, while other writers contributed to the series) **''Zulu Blood'' (1981) **''Trojan in Iran'' (1981) **''U.N. Sabotage'' (1981) **''Bloodletting!'' (1982) *''Chikara!'' (historical novel, 1984) *'' Gray Victory'' (alternate history novel, 1988) *''Renegade Lightning'' (written with Ferdie Pacheco) (historical novel, 1992) *''Apache Autumn'' (historical novel, 1993) *''Ulysses: A Biographical Novel of U.S. Grant'' (historical novel, 1994) *''The River and the Horsemen: A Novel of the Little Bighorn'' (historical novel, 1999) *''Custer's Luck'' (written with William E. Moody) (alternate history novel, 2000) *''Footprints of Heroes: From the American Revolution to the War in Iraq'' (nonfiction, 2005) *''Danny Drumm's Heroes'' (four juvenile history books, 2006-2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skimin, Robert People from Lorain County, Ohio Military personnel from El Paso, Texas United States Army officers 1929 births 2011 deaths American male writers