Mike Johnson

In 1999, my then aged aunt - she would later die at 100 - gave me a photo showing her older brother on his ordination day as a priest. In looking at the photo I experienced an epiphany. To wit, if I were to take kernels from my uncle's rich life - he flew his own plane, hunted mountain lions and served as a chaplain, I could write the story of WWII from perspectives virtually unknown Americans. The result was Warrior Priest in which readers experience the war through an airborne chaplain, a Polish lancer, two young women Resistance fighters in Warsaw and the French village Ribeauville, a deck fireman on the legendary USS Hornet. Positive reviews and a torrent of reader reactions via email and snail mail caused me to proceed with the ensuing books.

My alma maters include Shelby, Ohio, High School, Ohio University, the Army (Korea), Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State and Stanford's Graduate School of Business.

I've had the good fortune of traveling the world, visiting some 23 nations a total of about 125 times.