Charles Krohn

Author, 'The Lost Battalion of Tet'

Charles Krohn was born in Saginaw, Michigan in 1937, the youngest of four sons, all who served in the US Army. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1959 he attended Stanford Law School, but only for three semesters. Realizing he had little interest in law as a profession, he performed his ROTC-obligated 2-year commitment in South Korea and Oakland Army Terminal. He then worked for several newspapers in Michigan, including The Flint Journal. As the war in Vietnam escalated, Krohn aspired to be a military writer and went to work for UPI in Chicago, hoping for an assignment in UPI's Saigon bureau. That didn't seem likely so he accepted the Army's invitation to return to active duty as the public affairs officer of the 1st Air Cavalry Division. His experience as the intelligence officer provided the basis for his book, The Lost Battalion of Tet. Afterword he had assignments in Germany, Fort Stewart, GA, the Pentagon and Fort Monroe, VA. He had a second assignment in Vietnam as an advisor, 1970-71. He ended his career, first in the Pentagon as the Army's deputy chief of public affairs, briefly as a public affairs officer in Iraq, then as a visiting professor of journalism at the University of Michigan, and finally as a public affairs advisor to the Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission in Arlington, VA. He may be reached at clex@msn.com