Cornelius Ryan Cornelius Ryan , ( 5 June 1920 – 23 November 1974 ) was an Irish journalist and author mainly known for his writings on popular military history , especially his World War II books : " The Longest Day : 6 June 1944 D - Day " ( 1959 ) , " The Last Battle " ( 1966 ) , and " A Bridge Too Far " ( 1974 ) . Early life . Ryan was born in Dublin and educated at Synge Street CBS , Portobello . He was an altar boy at St . Kevin ' s Church , Harrington Street and studied the violin at the Irish Academy of Music in Dublin . Ryan moved to London in 1940 , and became a war correspondent for " The Daily Telegraph " in 1941 . He initially covered the air war in Europe , flew along on fourteen bombing missions with the Eighth and Ninth United States Army Air Forces ( USAAF ) , and then joined General George S . Patton ' s Third Army and covered its actions until the end of the European war . He transferred to the Pacific theater in 1945 , and then to Jerusalem in 1946 . Ryan emigrated to the United States in 1947 to work for " TIME " , where he reported on the postwar tests of atomic weapons carried out by the United States in the Pacific . He then reported for " TIME " on the Israeli war in 1948 . This was followed by work for other magazines , including " Collier ' s Weekly " and " Reader ' s Digest " . He married Kathryn Morgan ( 1925 – 1993 ) , a novelist , and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1951 . Career . On a trip to Normandy in 1949 Ryan became interested in telling a more complete story of Operation Overlord than had been produced to date . He began compiling information and conducting over 1000 interviews as he gathered stories from both the Allies and the Germans , as well as the French civilians . Ryan ' s 1957 book " One Minute to Ditch ! " is about the successful ocean ditching of a Pan American Boeing 377 Stratocruiser . He had written an article about the ditching for " Collier ' s " in their 21 December 1956 , issue and then expanded it into the book . In 1956 he began to write down his World War II notes for " The Longest Day : 6 June 1944 D - Day " , which tells the story of the D - Day Invasion of Normandy , published three years later in 1959 . It was an instant success , and Ryan helped in the writing of the screenplay for the film of the same name . Darryl F . Zanuck paid the author US $ 175 , 000 for the screen rights to the book . His next work was " The Last Battle " ( 1966 ) , about the Battle of Berlin . The book contains detailed accounts from all perspectives : civilian , American , British , Russian and German . It deals with the fraught military and political situation in the spring of 1945 , when the forces of the western allies and the Soviet Union contended for the chance to liberate Berlin and to carve up the remains of Germany . This work was followed by " A Bridge Too Far " ( 1974 ) , which tells the story of Operation Market Garden , the ill - fated assault by allied airborne forces on the Netherlands culminating in the Battle of Arnhem . This work was also made into a major motion picture of the same name . Ryan was awarded the French Legion of Honor , and an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Ohio University , where the Cornelius Ryan Collection is housed ( Alden Library ) . He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1970 , and struggled to finish " A Bridge Too Far " during his illness . He died in Manhattan , while on tour promoting the book , " A Bridge Too Far " , only two months after publication . Four years after his death , Ryan ' s struggle with prostate cancer was detailed in " A Private Battle , " written by his wife , from notes he had secretly left behind for that purpose . He is buried in the Ridgebury Cemetery in northern Ridgefield , Connecticut . External links . city