United States Army Officer. He was in the US Army for over 20 years, serving during World War II, the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam War. Highly decorated, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross while in Vietnam. He retired in 1963 at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before the peak of the Vietnam War. Publicly, he was outspoken about the manner in which the US military was conducting the war in Vietnam. After retirement in March of 1965, he returned to Vietnam as a civilian working for the Agency for International Development as an advisor for the South Vietnamese Army. Other duties were the distribution of food and supplies to Vietnamese peasants and training community-defense teams. He died in a helicopter crash while flying at night in bad weather. On June 18, 1972, President Richard Nixon posthumously awarded Vann the Medal of Freedom for his ten years of service as the senior American advisor in South Vietnam. For his heroic actions during combat from April 23rd through 24th of 1972, Vann was also awarded posthumously the Distinguished Service Cross, the only civilian in Vietnam to receive this honor; as a civilian, he was not eligible for the Medal of Honor. Born John Paul Tripp in an impoverished household, he was adopted by his step-father and his surname was changed to Vann. He married once to Mary Jane (Allen) Vann, but divorced shortly after his return to Vietnam for a second tour of duty. The couple had four sons and a daughter. In 1954 he received a BS in economics and statistics from Rutgers University. During this time, he was assigned to be an assistant professor of military science and tactics for Rutgers University's ROTC program. In 1959 he earned an MBA from Syracuse University and completed the courses at the university's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs for a PhD. Journalist Neil Sheehan wrote "A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam," which received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction. The book was adapted to a 1998 film.