Interview with Marvin Wolf and Joseph L. Galloway

Marvin Wolf, author of "They Were Soldiers: The Sacrifices and Contributions of Our Vietnam Veterans"

Marvin Wolf's Website

Marvin J. Wolf, is an Award-Winning Author and Photojournalist.

Wolf didn’t start out to be an author. His writing career arose from his work as a U.S. Army combat photographer in Vietnam. Assigned to a public information section, he was pressed into service as an escort for Nobel laureate John Steinbeck, who helped him see that writing was an important adjunct to his photography. In Vietnam he worked for Charles Siler, “one of the finest officers ever to serve his country,” and “had the great good fortune to meet and become friends with some of the world’s greatest reporters and photographers, including Joe Galloway, Morley Safer, Peter Arnett, Henry Huet, Kyōichi Sawada, Nick Ut, Eddie Adams, and many others. These men were generous with their time and wisdom and helped put me on the path to becoming a writer.”

As he made the transition from magazine writing to longer forms, Wolf was encouraged to specialize but discovered that he was interested in so many things it was impossible to choose only one. Instead, Wolf became a frequent collaborator on a variety of topics, and was pleased to be called upon by such notables as Native American leader Russell Means and former South Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky to work with them on their autobiographies. In 2016 Wolf collaborated with decorated Green Beret William Albracht on the award winning book Abandoned In Hell. Most recently, Wolf is very pleased to have worked as co-author with his early idol Joseph Galloway — co-author of best-selling New York Times book, We Were Soldiers Once, and Young — on They Were Soldiers: The Sacrifices and Contributions of Our Vietnam Veterans. 
 
Over time, Wolf’s also ghosted two award-winning sci-fi novels and a professor’s popular science book. He entered the world of film and television by selling a few screenplays, and in 2005 his script “Ladies Night,” based on his own short story, aired on USA Network. He’s got quite a few more available for development, and some that readers can buy online. He’s also performed in front of the camera, as a stuntman and actor, and behind the camera as a producer and consultant.
 
Wolf’s now also turning his attention to reviewing the gazillion photographs he’s taken over the years, and is creating volumes of coffee table collectibles on a variety of themes. Most are available as eBooks as well; eBook aficionados will find that some are only available in electronic form.
 
Fans of Wolf’s fiction—in a mystery series which debuted with For Whom The Shofar Blows—will be happy to know the Rabbi Ben #4, Bride of Finkelstein, was just published in fall, 2020. You can also check out Rabbi Ben Mystery #2, A Scribe Dies in Brooklyn and Rabbi Ben Mystery #3, A Tale of Two Rabbis. The Zombie Deception. the second in Wolf’s new Chelmin and Spaulding CID Mysteries was just published in fall, 2020.  To read some of his articles, memoir excerpts and short fiction, as well as Photo Backstories, check Marvin’s blog. http://www.marvinjwolf.com/blog

New York Times bestselling author Joseph Galloway and coauthor Marvin Wolf bring to life the inspirational stories of Vietnam veterans who returned home from the “lost war” to enrich America’s present and future. 

Over 58,000 active-duty men and women lost their lives in Vietnam. Those who survived returned to a bitterly divided country where hostility toward the war spilled onto its warriors. For decades, those who served in Vietnam were shunned by the American public and ignored by their government. Many were vilified and struggled to reintegrate into a society that was convinced they were dangerous or demented. Vietnam veterans have not received their due. Until now.

In this groundbreaking, new book, Joseph Galloway, New York Times bestselling author of We Were Soldiers Once … and Young, and award-winning author Marvin J. Wolf—both veterans of Vietnam—present forty-eight profiles of those who bravely served. Their war experiences, the responses they received upon returning home, and the astonishing contributions they made in the years following are brought to life with captivating detail. Included among these heroes are Frederick Wallace (“Fred”) Smith who was awarded the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts then came home to found FedEx; Eileen Moore, a former combat nurse and current appellate judge who founded Veterans Working Group for California Courts; and John Balaban, who served with the International Voluntary Services then became the impetus behind the preservation of a nearly-extinct ancient Vietnamese writing system. 

The diversity and range of these fascinating stories provide a revelatory and engrossing new perspective on the Vietnam War. Beautifully written, They Were Soldiers is a tour de force certain to launch a new interest in the “lost war.”

Joseph L. Galloway, author of "They Were Soldiers: The Sacrifices and Contributions of Our Vietnam Veterans"

Joseph L. Galloway's Website

Joe is an American newspaper correspondent and columnist. Since 2013, he has worked as a special consultant for the Vietnam War 50th anniversary Commemoration project run out of the Office of the Secretary of Defense and has also served as consultant to Ken Burns’ production of a documentary history of the Vietnam War broadcast in the fall of 2017 by PBS. He is also the former Military Affairs consultant for the Knight-Ridder chain of newspapers and was a columnist with McClatchy Newspapers.

During the Vietnam War, he often worked alongside the American troops he covered and was awarded a Bronze Star Medal in 1998, for carrying a badly wounded man to safety while he was under very heavy enemy fire in 1965. Along with Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore, Galloway co-authored a detailed account of those experiences in the best-selling 1992 book, We Were Soldiers Once… And Young.

New York Times bestselling author Joseph Galloway and coauthor Marvin Wolf bring to life the inspirational stories of Vietnam veterans who returned home from the “lost war” to enrich America’s present and future. 

Over 58,000 active-duty men and women lost their lives in Vietnam. Those who survived returned to a bitterly divided country where hostility toward the war spilled onto its warriors. For decades, those who served in Vietnam were shunned by the American public and ignored by their government. Many were vilified and struggled to reintegrate into a society that was convinced they were dangerous or demented. Vietnam veterans have not received their due. Until now.

In this groundbreaking, new book, Joseph Galloway, New York Times bestselling author of We Were Soldiers Once … and Young, and award-winning author Marvin J. Wolf—both veterans of Vietnam—present forty-eight profiles of those who bravely served. Their war experiences, the responses they received upon returning home, and the astonishing contributions they made in the years following are brought to life with captivating detail. Included among these heroes are Frederick Wallace (“Fred”) Smith who was awarded the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts then came home to found FedEx; Eileen Moore, a former combat nurse and current appellate judge who founded Veterans Working Group for California Courts; and John Balaban, who served with the International Voluntary Services then became the impetus behind the preservation of a nearly-extinct ancient Vietnamese writing system. 

The diversity and range of these fascinating stories provide a revelatory and engrossing new perspective on the Vietnam War. Beautifully written, They Were Soldiers is a tour de force certain to launch a new interest in the “lost war.”

Michael Carter, Co-Host

Michael Carter's Website