Night Fighter

For readers of American Sniper, the stirring account of a life of service by the “father of the US Navy SEALs”

One month after the Bay of Pigs fiasco, when President John F. Kennedy pressed Congress about America’s “urgent national needs,” he named expanding US special operations forces along with putting a man on the moon. Captain William Hamilton was the officer tasked with creating the finest unconventional warriors ever seen. Merging his own experience commanding Navy Underwater Demolition Teams with expertise from Army Special Forces and the CIA, and working with his subordinate, Roy Boehm, he cast the mold for sea-, air-, and land-dispatched night fighters capable of successfully completing any mission anywhere in the world. Initially, they were used as a counter to the potential devastation of nuclear war, and later for counterterrorism and hostage rescue. His vision led to the formation of the celebrated SEAL Team 6. In this stirring, action-filled book, Hamilton tells his story for the first time.

Night Fighter is a trove of true adventure from the history of the late twentieth century, which Hamilton lived, from fighter pilot in the Korean War to operative for the CIA in Vietnam, Africa, Latin America, and Europe, from the Pentagon to Foggy Bottom, and from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the Reagan White House’s Star Wars. Like American Sniper, here is the record of a life devoted to patriotic service.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

William H. Hamilton Jr. graduated from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1949 and served as a fighter pilot in the Korean War. Fascination with unconventional warfare led his involvement in underwater demolition teams. In 1961, he became the commander of UDT-21, in Little Creek, Virginia, where, with Roy Boehm as his operations officer, he was responsible for developing the Navy SEAL program. Hamilton subsequently conducted missions with SEALs and CIA in Cuba, Vietnam, Latin America, and Africa. After the Iran Hostage Crisis, he worked in counterterrorism, and was one of two men responsible for developing SEAL Team Six. He also advised the Reagan White House on the security of the Strategic Defense Initiative. Hamilton retired from the Navy in 1986. He resided with his wife in Virginia Beach, Virginia, until his death in November 2016.

Charles W. Sasser is a full-time freelance writer, photographer, and journalist with more than sixty published books and thousands of magazine articles in publications from Reader’s Digest and Time/Life to Soldier of Fortune and WWII History. A former Navy journalist, then an Army Special Forces (Green Beret) soldier, he is now retired from the Army (active and reserve). He  also served fourteen years as a police officer in Miami, Florida, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was a homicide detective. He has taught history and other subjects at universities, lectured nationwide, and traveled extensively throughout the world. His bio is included in Who’s Who in the World, and he was awarded the organization’s 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1986 he was a finalist to fly into space with NASA’s Journalist-in-Space Project; in 2001 he set a world’s record by making the first transcontinental flight in an ultralight powered parachute aircraft; he has sailed a forty-foot sloop across the Caribbean, solo-kayaked Canada’s Inside Passage, climbed Africa’s Mt. Kilimanjaro; guided missionaries into Algeria; ridden horses across Alaska, and dog-sledded the Arctic.

His published books have been translated into Chinese, Russian, Serbian, Thai, French, Spanish, and other languages. His most recent and successful books include: Crushing the Collective; Two Fronts/One War; One Shot–One Kill (with Craig Roberts); and The Night Fighter (with Bill Hamilton). He lives in Chouteau, Oklahoma.

Lt. Colonel William Craig Roberts, USA (Retired) served in combat with the US Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, where he was awarded a Purple Heart, Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, and Presidential Unit Citation, among other awards. He also served twenty-five years in the Army National Guard (Infantry) and Army Reserves, retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 1999. In addition he served twenty-seven years until retirement with the Tulsa, Oklahoma, Police Department in various assignments to include TAC/SWAT, Bomb Squad, Fugitive Warrants, and police helicopter pilot. As an expert in various weapons, he trained law enforcement and military personnel, including members of the Queen’s Regiment in England. Roberts is author, co-author, or contributing author of fourteen published books: Police Sniper; Kill Zone—A Training Manual for Riflemen; The Medusa File: Crimes and Coverups of the U.S. Government; The Medusa File: The Politics of Terror and the Oklahoma City Bombing; Combat Medic: Vietnam; Hellhound (w/Allen Appel); JFK: The Dead Witnesses (with John Armstrong); The Dragunov Solution; The Hind Heist; The New Face of War, Time Life series (contributing); One Shot-One Kill (with Charles W. Sasser); Crosshairs On The Kill Zone (with Charles W. Sasser); The Walking Dead—A Marine’s Story of Vietnam (with Charles W. Sasser). He lives in Locust Grove, Oklahoma.