Bruce Norton

Major Bruce H. 'Doc' Norton, USMC (Ret.) has been a college dropout, a combat veteran, a career Marine Infantry Officer, a military museum director, and an adjunct military history professor, and is an award-winning author of several books on and about United States Marines.

Serving as a navy corpsman from 1967-1972, he was assigned as a recon team member to both 3rd Force and 1st Force Reconnaissance Companies during the Vietnam War, participating in more than thirty long-range reconnaissance patrols from 1968-1970. Both 'jump' and SCUBA qualified, he was the only navy corpsman designated as a Force Recon team leader and was decorated for heroism "under fire on numerous occasions" during his two tours there.

Doc was honorably discharged from the navy in 1972 and three days later was enrolled as a Marine Platoon Leader's Course (PLC) Candidate at the College of Charleston, where he earned a BA in History in 1974. Commissioned a lieutenant of marines upon graduation, he served at various "posts and stations" throughout the Corps to include duties as an infantry platoon leader, deep reconnaissance platoon leader, rifle company commander, operations and training officer, battalion executive officer, and at various joint staff positions.

Following his retirement in 1992, after twenty-four years of military service, he earned a Master's Degree in Military Sciences before becoming the Director of the Marine Corps' Command Museum, in San Diego, California. While there, he also taught military history courses at the University of San Diego.

Doc's first book; FORCE RECON DIARY, 1969, became a best-seller and was followed by five other books on and about marines: FORCE RECON DIARY, 1970; ONE TOUGH MARINE; SERGEANT MAJOR U. S. MARINES; GROWN GRAY IN WAR; and, STINGRAY: THE HISTORY OF MARINE RECONNAISSANCE DURING THE VIETNAM WAR.

From 1991-1997, Doc was a senior editor for BEHIND THE LINES: THE MILITARY JOURNAL OF US SPECIAL OPERATIONS, and was selected as the official historian of the Marine Corps' Force Reconnaissance Association. His published articles on military issues, small unit tactics, biographies, and military leadership have appeared in PARADE MAGAZINE, LEATHERNECK MAGAZINE, MILITARY HISTORY MAGAZINE, VIETNAM MAGAZINE, and in the Marine Corps' GAZETTE.

In 1996, he was the recipient of the General Robert L. Denig Memorial Distinguished Service Award, presented to him by the United States Marine Corps' Combat Correspondence Association for his contributions as an author and Marine Corps historian. In 1997, GROWN GRAY IN WAR won the San Diego Book Awards for Best Biography.

Doc's most recent book is THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN WAR HEROES, published by Facts on File in September 2002, and he has recently finished editing the memoir of a WWII POW of the Japanese, I AM ALIVE, by Thomas Jackson, published in June 2003 by Ballantine Books and Random House Audio.

Doc, his wife Darice and their two young children, Bruce and Elizabeth, reside in Charlestown, South Carolina.