author
Cyril J. O'Brien
1919–2011
A journalist and Marine war correspondent, he wrote with firsthand knowledge of World War II in the Pacific. His best-known work revisits the recapture of Guam with the eye of someone who had been there.
1 Audiobook
Liberation: Marines in the Recapture of Guam
by Cyril J. O'Brien
About the author
Born in 1919 and dying in 2011, Cyril John O'Brien was an American journalist whose career stretched well beyond the war years. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory described him as the oldest known living Marine Corps war correspondent at the time of his death.
O'Brien is especially associated with military history writing, including Liberation: Marines in the Recapture of Guam. A 1944 photo preserved by Johns Hopkins APL shows him on Guam using a typewriter, which fits the direct, eyewitness quality readers often value in his work.
Later in his career, he also served as head of media relations at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. That mix of reporting, military experience, and public communication helps explain the clear, practical tone of his writing.