Michael Lee Lanning

When Dwight Eisenhower graduated from West Point in 1915, few would have predicted he was destined for greatness. A middling student, he was denied his first choice of posting, missed overseas service in World War I, spent a dozen years as a major, and never commanded a unit larger than a battalion. Yet the young officer made the most of the opportunities he was given, made a lasting impression on superiors including George Marshall, and eventually gained a reputation as an excellent staff officer with a knack for administration, loyalty, and “getting along.” Eisenhower was promoted to colonel in March 1941 and, sixteen months later, was a lieutenant general in command of the European Theater of Operations. His rise through the ranks was first painfully slow, then meteoric. It is one of the great, and most important, stories in military history, and Michael Lee Lanning tells it vividly, with an eye for the dramatic turning points in Eisenhower’s rise.The West Point class of 1915 was “the class the stars fell on.” Fifty-nine graduates became generals during World War II, but none of that was clear at the time, especially not for the young Dwight Eisenhower, who graduated 61st in a class of 164. He failed to make the baseball team, but made the football team, only to see an injury end his playing career, and was known as a card player and prankster. Denied his request for service in the Philippines, Eisenhower was sent to Texas, where he spent a good bit of his time coaching football. Later denied his request to fight in France, he spent World War I training a tank unit near Gettysburg. During the 1920s into the early 1930s—lean years for the army during which promotions came slowly and many officers quit the service—Eisenhower started to catch the eye of superiors and earned positions under the U.S. Army’s leadings lights, including Fox Conner, John Pershing, and Douglas MacArthur, whom he served under during pivotal years in the 1930s, from the Bonus March to the Philippines.By the late 1930s, as war broke out in Europe, Eisenhower’s star was on the rise. After serving in a series of staff positions—regimental executive officer, then corps and army chief of staff—Eisenhower joined the General Staff in Washington, DC, where he helped develop war plans and eventually became deputy chief of staff under George Marshall. When the time came to appoint a commander to execute the plans, Eisenhower recommended another officer, but Marshall knew Eisenhower was the man for the job.Becoming Eisenhower is the story of a young man who first pursued the army for its free education but ultimately found his calling as an officer, the story of an officer who was initially overlooked but was motivated by this frustration to make himself the army’s indispensable man, the story of how General Eisenhower carried these experiences not only into Supreme Command but also the presidency. This book will be essential reading for World War II buffs, people interested in American presidents, and readers looking for the leadership lessons of history.

Had Lieutenant George S. Patton not served on the southern border during the Mexican Expedition of 1916, there might never have been a General George S. Patton who took the world by storm as a bold and daring commander during World War II. Relying on Patton’s detailed personal journals of his eight months in Mexico, Michael Lee Lanning describes the young officer’s exploits during the hunt for Pancho Villa. As an aide to General John Pershing, Patton learned leadership and logistics from the man who would soon command American forces in World War I. Begging for a field command, he received it—and led the first motorized attack in U.S. military history and may or may not have killed two of Villa’s lieutenants. The press ate it up, and Patton learned not only how much he loved attention, but how to promote himself.In Mexico are the roots of Patton the World War II general, and Lanning tells the story deftly, focusing on Patton the man as well Patton the commander, and always casting an eye forward to Patton’s future career. This is how Patton became Patton.

From the War for Independence to the War on Terror, American military intelligence has often failed, costing needless casualties and squandering money and materiel as well as prestige – and all too often it has failed to learn from its mistakes. Senseless Secrets covers more than 200 years of intelligence breakdowns in every American war, including not only how intelligence has been wrong, but also how good intel has failed to make it to battlefield commanders, how spies and traitors have infiltrated the military intelligence community, and more. Here are stories of Benedict Arnold’s turn in the Revolution, George McClellan’s reliance on the Pinkertons’ inflated estimates of enemy strengths in the Civil War, Custer’s flawed intelligence prior to the Little Bighorn, the controversy over Pearl Harbor, the surprise German attack that started the Battle of the Bulge, the failure to convey useful intelligence to small-unit commanders in Vietnam, overestimates of Iraqi strength during Operation Desert Storm, the bad intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s supposed nuclear arsenal in 2002-03, and the chaos surrounding the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.Senseless Secrets is a military history of the United States through its intelligence operations. It should be required reading inside the U.S. military and beyond.

Eleven years before Rosa Parks resisted going to the back of the bus, a young black second lieutenant, hungry to fight Nazis in Europe, refused to move to the back of a U.S. Army bus in Texas and found himself court-martialed. The defiant soldier was Jack Roosevelt Robinson, already in 1944 a celebrated athlete in track and football and in a few years the man who would break Major League Baseball’s color barrier. This was the pivotal moment in Jackie Robinson’s pre-MLB career. Had he been found guilty, he would not have been the man who broke baseball’s color barrier. Had the incident never happened, he would’ve gone overseas with the Black Panther tank battalion—and who knows what after that. Having survived this crucible of unjust prosecution as an American soldier, Robinson—already a talented multisport athlete—became the ideal player to integrate baseball.This is a dramatic story, deeply engaging and enraging. It’s a Jackie Robinson story and a baseball story, but it is also an army story as well as an American story.

La Valentia, el valor, la bravura. Since the creation of the Medal of Honor by the United States Congress in 1861, sixty Americans of Hispanic heritage have been awarded the nation’s highest decoration for bravery and self-sacrifice in combat. In this important new work, Michael Lee Lanning documents what one reader describes as “some of the most extraordinary battlefield exploits ever performed in an American military uniform.”Based on meticulous research, Lanning has assembled authoritative accounts of these heroic individuals and their deeds of valor, from the American Civil War through the current campaign in the Middle East. This clear and vigorous narrative—derived from enlistment records and other public documents, newspaper accounts, archival sources, and interviews with the families of the honorees—presents brief biographies that include details of the recipients’ lives before and—in the case of those who survived—after their active-duty service. Lanning also includes the text of the citation from each recipients’ Medal of Honor ceremonies and gripping accounts of the battlefield heroics that earned them the ultimate military honor from a grateful nation.Hispanic Medal of Honor Recipients: American Heroes provides the most thorough documentation to date of these courageous Americans and their service to our nation. The work offers a fitting commemoration of their remarkable actions under the direst circumstances, often performed under conditions of discrimination and prejudice, providing inspiration and encouragement for years to come.

Jewish Americans have fought in every war and conflict to protect the liberties and freedoms of their country, despite anti-Semitism and prejudices they encountered. Across differences of time, place, and individual background, the heroic service members profiled in this work share a common factor beyond their Jewish heritage: their deeds moved a grateful nation to bestow upon them its greatest military honor. In Jewish Medal of Honor Recipients: American Heroes, veteran author Michael Lee Lanning presents the stories and official citations of Jewish service members who joined the US Armed Forces’ most exclusive group through their bravery and self-sacrifice in combat. From the total to date of 3,526 service members who have received the Medal of Honor, Lanning has identified 17 recipients who are confirmed to be Jewish, 11 more who are thought to be Jewish but whose ethnicity has not been fully verified, and another five who were initially recognized as Jewish at the time of award but who have since been determined not to be. Each of these 33 men receives individual attention as Lanning delves into their backgrounds with brief biographies to show the different paths that brought them to their place on the list of honor. He includes the full award citation for each as well. Jewish Medal of Honor Recipients: American Heroes is the result of thorough review of archival sources, interviews with surviving family members, newspaper accounts, and military service records, providing testimony to extraordinary deeds, service, and sacrifice.

During World War II, some 10,000 American bombers and fighters were shot down over Europe. Of the crews aboard, 26,000 men were killed, while 30,000 survived being shot down only to be captured and made prisoners of war. Against the longest of odds, nearly 3,000 airmen made it to the ground alive, evaded capture, and escaped to safety. These men proudly called themselves the Blister Club.Drawing on tens of thousands of pages of mostly untapped documents in the National Archives, Michael Lee Lanning tells the story of these courageous airmen. They had received escape-and-evasion (E & E) training, and some were lucky enough to land with their E-&-E kits—but all bets were off once they hit the ground. They landed after an air catastrophe. The geography was usually unfamiliar. Civilians might or might not be trustworthy. German soldiers and Gestapo agents hunted down airmen as well as civilians who dared help them. If an airman abandoned his uniform for civilian garb, he forfeited Geneva Convention protections. Most faced the daunting task of escaping on foot across hundreds of miles. The fortunate connected with one of the established escape routes to Spain or Switzerland or across the English Channel, or they hooked up with the underground resistance or friendly civilians. Upon return to friendly lines, these men were often able to provide valuable intelligence about enemy troop dispositions and civilian morale. Many volunteered to fly again even though regulations prohibited it.The Blister Club is history with a punch. With a historian’s eye, Lanning covers the hows and whys of escape-and-evasion and aerial combat in the European theater, but the book also vividly captures the stories of the airmen who did the escaping and evading, including that of a young pilot named Chuck Yeager, who, during his own escape, aided the French Resistance and helped another downed airman to safety—and then begged to fly again, eventually securing Eisenhower’s approval to return to the air, where he achieved ace status. Stories of escape are popular, especially those set during World War II, as are stories of the war in the air. Combining both of these, The Blister Club should find an enthusiastic audience.

These are the stories Vietnam vets tell over beers at Legion halls and VFW posts—stories of young men tangled up in the chaos of landing zones and nameless jungle hills, in the boredom of base camps, in the confusion of a controversial war. Raw, often gut-wrenching, sometimes funny, these war stories describe slices of individual tours of duty, from the firefights to the friendships, and capture the kaleidoscope of the American experience in Vietnam.

This final advice, thoughts, remembrances, and guidelines to life by a dying grandfather to his granddaughter offers "things that I have not yet taught her and experiences that I want her to know about and consider." Its poignant information and guidance, delivered with honesty, humor, and affection that is thought-provoking for all ages. It a book that every grandparent should write and every grandchild should read.More than 130 widely varying subjects--from abortion to Zen, and from military service to writing--are included. "Some of these things I know for sure, others not so much. Some lessons have come easily, others with much angst, disappointments, and sadness. I have placed them in alphabetical order for no other reason than an orderly life is a good life--and that life itself is so complex and constantly changing, there is no other logical or illogical way to list them. Many of these "things I know for sure" and the "others not so much" are accompanied by quotes from the famous and infamous, lines from movies, song lyrics, and from my earlier writings and from my personal journals of the past fifty years."As I wrote this letter, I thought about all the things that I would like to ask my father and grandfathers if they were still alive. There are so many things about them and their experiences that I wonder about because I did not inquire when I could have. I do not want my grandchildren to find themselves in the same situation. My primary purpose in writing this letter is to leave something behind for Allyanna. My secondary mission is hopefully to inspire others likewise to leave a written legacy for their families."Doubtless many readers of this letter will not agree with the myriad of observations, advice, and opinions that I include. That bothers me not at all. I hope readers will feel free to mark out, scratch through, or otherwise eliminate those things with which they don't agree. Margins are good places to record opposing thoughts or expand on what I've written."If nothing else, my deepest wish is for you to have a good, safe, interesting life and to always remember that your grandfather loved you with all his heart. I will always be on your side and at your side as long as I live. After my death, my spirit will always be with you."When my time comes I will fight for every last breath, and for every additional second of life. But I will die in peace knowing I have done all that I could and fought for as long as possible. My last thoughts will be of you and the wonderful life you have before you. there are so many important areas of life for which I have not provided you advice. There are so many things that I want you to know. That is the purpose of this letter."

Texas, home to more than 1.7 million living veterans (the second largest number of any state), is also home to six nationally run and four state-run veterans cemeteries. Each year, more than 12,000 veterans are laid to rest in these hallowed grounds. The Veterans Cemeteries of Texas recounts the stories of these ten official final resting places for Texas veterans, creating—for the first time—a complete guide to these solemn bivouacs of the dead.Author Michael Lee Lanning, a US Army veteran, has not only reconstructed the history of these cemeteries as a tribute to the fallen but has also compiled a useful resource for the living. Lanning details the exact locations, eligibility requirements, and contact information throughout the state for those veterans and their families who might choose to make use of these important public services. Richly illustrated, the book also provides moving descriptions of military burial traditions, such as “Taps” and the 21-gun salute, as well as information about the various types of military headstones (including sixty authorized religious symbols).In the author’s words, “A walk through these burial grounds is a journey across the history of Texas and of the United States.” Lanning’s use of more than 100 captivating photographs, along with his compelling text, allows readers to take that walk through veterans cemeteries in Texas. For lovers of Texas history and military history, The Veterans Cemeteries of Texas is a gripping tribute to past, present, and future Texas veterans and the solemn places where they rest in their last formation and final parade.

The news swept from Lubbock to San Antonio and rippled across the country. The story that a university would fire its most successful coach ever on the eve of a nationally televised bowl game was so baffling that it erupted from the sports sections to national headlines.Coach Leach and the Red Raiders had departed Lubbock heading for San Antonio on Monday, December 28, 2009 to complete preparations for the upcoming post-season bowl game to be played four days later. Upon his arrival in the Alamo City, however, Leach received a stunning telephone call from Athletic Director Myers telling him that he had been suspended from coaching duties--effective immediately--until further notice.The team--after its spectacular 2008 year--had just completed another successful season, racking up an 8-4 record and making Mike Leach the most winning football coach in Texas Tech history. Not only had the Red Raiders, who had been un-ranked and mostly unnoted a decade before Leach took over, gained national recognition, but also they had done it in a style that old-school proponents of the game said could not be done. Coach Leach had had the vision, and his players had executed it right into the Top 25 in the polls. The Raiders had been flying in more ways than just on planes.Instead of working on plans for the game scheduled for January 2, Leach sat alone in his hotel room awaiting a legal decision from the 99th Judicial Court in Lubbock, a ruling that would either lift or uphold his coaching suspension imposed two days before by his bosses, Texas Tech Athletic Director Gerald Myers and University President Guy Bailey.

Behind-enemy-lines stories of elite Marines in Vietnam Force Recon companies were the eyes and ears of the Marine Corps in Vietnam. Classified as special operations capable, Force Recon Marines ventured into the enemy’s backyard to conduct reconnaissance and launched deliberate strikes against the enemy. Lanning and Stubbe blend analysis and you-are-there stories of Force Recon in action to create the definitive account of Recon Marines.

These are the stories Vietnam vets tell each other at reunions and over beers.Episodes of valor, hardship, humor, and everything in between from more than forty veterans of the Vietnam WarCovers all branches of service and all areas of operation in Southeast Asia

If the costs of the Vietnam War were great to Americans and staggering to the South Vietnamese, they were even worse for the North. And those costs were borne largely by the individual soldiers - the soldiers who won the war.Based on interviews, soldiers' diaries, letters, and government documents, this book, first published in 1992, gives a classic, soldier's-eye account of the war that our opponents fought and the men who fought it.

The Civil War was the defining event in American history.The Civil War 100 uses a truly novel approach to analyze the respective importance of the events, leaders and battles of America's most important war. "Across this easily accessible reference, readers meet notonly such icons as Lincoln and Lee, but also chronic fumblerswhose tarnished reputations have most often sunk beneaththe notice of the endless waves of Civil War histories...Arecommended reference for the aficionado and the uninitiatedalike. Those well-versed in Civil War lore will enjoy theintellectual challenge of supporting or debunking Lanning'srankings, while the merely curious will be exposed to aninsightful world of detail that they may have otherwisemissed." -ForeWord Magazine

Lieutenant Michael Lee Lanning went to Vietnam as an eager young patriot who was confident of surviving the war. After six months in-country, he was promoted at age 23 to company commander, and his sense of duty began to shift from his nation to preserving the lives of the men in Bravo Company. Lanning and his men faced an enemy who was patient, elusive, and firm in the belief that they could outlast the Americans. The young commander also confronted the prospect of sudden, violent death, bone-numbing weariness, and the stench of blood and decaying flesh. He would lose friends and would acquire a cynical contempt for all Vietnamese, both allies and enemies. ""Vietnam, 1969-1970"", like its predecessor, Lanning's ""The Only War We Had"", is taken from the journals the author kept during his tour of duty. He writes, ""I dusted off men with wounds that will disable them for the rest of their lives. I dusted off a dead man that was one of the best soldiers I ever have known. I am realizing the full burdens of being a company commander"".

In my year in Vietnam, I walked the booby-trapped rice paddies of the Delta, searching for the elusive Viet Cong, and later macheted my way through the triple-canopy jungle, fighting the North Vietnamese Regulars...I sweated, thirsted, hunted, killed. Somewhere in all my experiences, I overlapped the situations of nearly every infantryman and many others who served. Michael Lee Lanning's journal of his first tour of duty in Vietnam provides an unvarnished daily account of life in the field - the blood, fear, camaraderie, and tedium of combat and maneuver. Fleshed out with narrative and detail years later, the pages of this memorable book, first published in 1987, show an eager young recruit growing before the reader's eyes into a proud but bloodied combat veteran. Subsequent volumes in his ""Vietnam Trilogy"" will detail Lanning's tour as a company commander and his postwar investigation into the mind of the enemy. Through his eyes, readers see the reality of a war that did not always receive glory but was, in his words, ""the only war we had.

"The American sniper could be regarded as the greatest all-around rifleman the world has ever known. . . ."At the start of the war in Vietnam, the United States had no snipers; by the end of the war, Marine and army precision marksmen had killed more than 10,000 NVA and VC soldiers—the equivalent of an entire division—at the cost of under 20,000 bullets, proving that long-range shooters still had a place in the battlefield. Now noted military historian Michael Lee Lanning shows how U.S. snipers in Vietnam—combining modern technology in weapons, ammunition, and telescopes—used the experience and traditions of centuries of expert shooters to perfect their craft. To provide insight into the use of American snipers in Vietnam, Lanning interviewed men with combat trigger time, as well as their instructors, the founders of the Marine and U.S. Army sniper programs, and the generals to whom they reported. Backed by hard information and firsthand accounts, the author demonstrates how the skills these one-shot killers honed in the jungles of Vietnam provided an indelible legacy that helped save American lives in Grenada, the Gulf War, and Somalia and continues to this day with American troops in Bosnia.