Cornelius Ryan

Cornelius Ryan (5 June 1920 – 23 November 1974) was an Irish journalist and author mainly known for his writings on popular military history, especially his World War II books: The Longest Day: 6 June 1944 D-Day (1959), The Last Battle (1966), and A Bridge Too Far (1974).

Ryan was born in Dublin and educated at Synge Street CBS, Portobello, Ireland. He was an altar boy at St. Kevin's Church, Harrington Street and studied the violin at the Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. Ryan moved to London in 1940, and became a war correspondent for The Daily Telegraph in 1941.

He initially covered the air war in Europe, flew along on fourteen bombing missions with the Eighth and Ninth United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), and then joined General George S. Patton's Third Army and covered its actions until the end of the European war. He transferred to the Pacific theater in 1945, and then to Jerusalem in 1946.

Ryan emigrated to the United States in 1947 to work for TIME, where he reported on the postwar tests of atomic weapons carried out by the United States in the Pacific. He then reported for TIME on the Israeli war in 1948. This was followed by work for other magazines, including Collier's Weekly and Reader's Digest.

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