Thomas P. McKenna (born July 23, 1930) is a retired United States Army officer and author. His book ''Kontum: The Battle to Save South Vietnam'' won the 2013 William E.

Colby Award The William E. Colby Military Writers' Award was established in 1999 by the William E. Colby Military Writers' Symposium at Norwich University in Vermont in order to recognize "a first work of fiction or non-fiction that has made a major contributio ...

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Early life

McKenna was born on July 23, 1930, and raised in Nebraska and Florida. He was a

Boy Scout A Scout, Boy Scout, Girl Scout or, in some countries, a Pathfinder is a participant in the Scout Movement, usually aged 10–18 years, who engage in learning scoutcraft and outdoor and other special interest activities. Some Scout organizatio ...

and made

Eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

rank.

Military career

Upon his graduation from

Castle Heights Military Academy Castle Heights Military Academy was a private military academy in Lebanon, Tennessee, United States. It opened in 1902 and became a military school in 1918. The school closed in 1986. Its former campus was placed on the National Register of His ...

in 1948, McKenna enlisted in the army, and served with the

82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry division (military), division of the United States Army specializing in Paratrooper, parachute assault operations into hostile areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops ...

. After a year of service, he was sent to

West Point Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

. McKenna spent a total of 22 years in the military. His military education included stints at the Parachute and Glider School, Basic and Advanced Infantry Officer Courses,

Ranger School The Ranger School is a 62-day United States Army small unit tactics and leadership course that develops functional skills directly related to units whose mission is to engage the enemy in close combat and direct fire battles. Ranger training w ...

Airborne School The United States Army Airborne School—widely known as Jump School—conducts the basic paratrooper (military parachutist) training for the United States Armed Forces. It is operated by the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 507th Infantry, United S ...

Pathfinder School The United States Army Pathfinder Course trains military personnel in the U.S. Army and its sister services to set up parachute drop zones and helicopter landing zones for airborne and air assault missions. The two-week course trains Pathfinder ...

, and the

Command and General Staff College The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

. McKenna also obtained a master's degree in history from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

. He was stationed in Germany, Italy, Korea, and Vietnam, spending the last of his military career as an advisor to

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 ...

. It was during his time as an advisor to South Vietnamese that the

Battle of Kontum The lead-up to the Battle of Kontum began in mid-1971, when North Vietnam decided that its victory in Operation Lam Son 719 indicated that the time had come for large-scale conventional offensives that could end the war quickly. The resulting off ...

occurred.

Books

*Reviews of ''Kontum: The Battle to Save South Vietnam'' include: * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenna, Thomas P. 1930 births Living people United States Army officers United States Military Academy alumni United States Army Command and General Staff College alumni University of Kansas alumni United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War Writers from Vermont 21st-century American non-fiction writers People from Lamoille County, Vermont American military writers