Col. Red Reeder

Russell Potter "Red" Reeder, Jr., American author (1902-1998)

Colonel Red Reeder, with his sister Nardi Reeder Campion, wrote the Landmark book The West Point Story. He began his career as a writer in World War II when he was ordered by the Army's chief of staff, General George C. Marshall, to go to Guadalcanal and bring back the lessons that American soldiers and Marines were learning in leadership and in jungle warfare. Since then he has written twenty-four books, among them "the story of the war" series and the "Clint Lane" series, the latter about a boy at West Point.

When he was a cadet at West Point, Red Reeder played on the football and baseball teams. He graduated in 1926. In World War II he saw combat in New Guinea, Guadalcanal, and Normandy. In the invasion of Normandy he won the Distinguished Service Cross—and the Purple Heart. He is presently employed as Special Assistant to the Director of Athletics in the Army Athletic Association at West Point.

—from the Landmark book Medal of Honor Heroes

Russell Potter Reeder, Jr., was born at reveille, just as the saluting gun boomed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, March 4, 1902. An Army father, an Army family, and Army life were his from the start. A graduate of West Point, he had a distinguished Army career, which was brought to a close by an enemy shell during the invasion of Normandy in World War II. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, and also holds the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, the Croix de Guerre with Palm, the French Légion d'Honneur, and other citations.

In recent years, as Assistant Director of Athletics at West Point, and as the author of twenty books for young people, he has continued to instill the ideals and principles of leadership that he learned so well himself in his many years as an Army man.

—from the book The Story of the Mexican War

Books by Mr. Reeder:

• West Point Plebe
• West Point Yearling
• West Point Second Classman
• West Point First Classman
• Second Lieutenant Clint Lane: West Point to Berlin
• Clint Lane in Korea
• Attack at Fort Lookout
• Whispering Wind
• The Sheriff of Hat Creek
• The MacKenzie Raid
• The French and Indian War
• The Story of the Revolutionary War
• Bold Leaders of the American Revolution
• The Story of the War of 1812
• The Story of the Mexican War
• The Story of the Civil War
• The Story of the Spanish-American War
• The Story of the First World War
• The Story of the Second World War: The Axis Strikes (1939-1942)
• The Story of the Second World War: The Allies Conquer (1942-1945)
• Pointers on Athletics
• Sheridan: The General Who Wasn't Afraid to Take a Chance
• The Northern Generals
• The Southern Generals
• Ulysses S. Grant
• Omar Nelson Bradley
• Medal of Honor Heroes
• Born at Reveille
• On the Mound
• The West Point Story
• Bringing Up the Brass