23 Facts About Cornelius Ryan

Cornelius Ryan was an Irish journalist and author known mainly for writing popular military history.

Cornelius Ryan was especially known for his histories of World War II events: The Longest Day: 6 June 1944 D-Day, The Last Battle, and A Bridge Too Far.

Cornelius Ryan became involved in covering World War II and travelled with troops in Europe.

Cornelius Ryan immigrated to the United States in 1947 to work for Time.

In 1951 Ryan became a naturalized US citizen and lived there for the remainder of his life.

Cornelius Ryan was born in Dublin and educated at Synge Street CBS, Portobello, Dublin, Ireland.

Cornelius Ryan was an altar boy at St Kevin's Church, Harrington Street and studied the violin at the Irish Academy of Music in Dublin.

Cornelius Ryan was a boy scout in the 52nd Troop of the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland and travelled on their pilgrimage to Rome on the liner Lancastria in 1934.

Cornelius Ryan moved to London in 1940, where he became a war correspondent for The Daily Telegraph in 1941.

Cornelius Ryan joined General George S Patton's Third Army and covered its actions until the end of the European war in 1945.

Cornelius Ryan travelled to Jerusalem in 1946 to cover the end of the Palestinian mandate and rise of an independent Israel.

Cornelius Ryan emigrated to the United States in 1947 to work for Time.

Cornelius Ryan reported on the postwar tests of atomic weapons carried out by the United States in the Pacific.

Cornelius Ryan reported for Time on the Israeli war in 1948.

Cornelius Ryan became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1951.

Cornelius Ryan began compiling information and conducting over 1000 interviews as he gathered stories from both the Allies and the Germans, as well as French civilians.

Cornelius Ryan helped to write the screenplay for the 1962 The Longest Day.

Cornelius Ryan followed this work by A Bridge Too Far, which tells the story of Operation Market Garden, the ill-fated assault by Allied airborne forces on the Netherlands, culminating in the Battle of Arnhem.

Cornelius Ryan was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1970, and struggled to finish A Bridge Too Far during his illness.

Cornelius Ryan died in Manhattan, while on tour promoting the book, two months after its publication in 1974.

Cornelius Ryan is buried in the Ridgebury Cemetery in northern Ridgefield, Connecticut.

Four years after his death, his widow Kathryn Morgan Cornelius Ryan published a memoir about his last years, entitled A Private Battle.

Cornelius Ryan based it on notes that he had secretly left behind for that purpose.