Bill McCloud
{{Short description|American war history author}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Bill McCloud
| image = Bill McCloud.jpg
| birth_name = Billy Glen McCloud
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1948|10|29}}
| birth_place = Ponca City, Oklahoma, U.S.
| occupation = {{cslist | Author | Teacher}}
| period = 1989-present
| notable_works = What Should We Tell Our Children About Vietnam?
Smell of the Light: Vietnam 1968-1969
| module = {{Infobox military person
| embed = yes
| branch = United States Army
| serviceyears = 1967-1970
| rank = E5
| unit = 147th Assault Support Helicopter Company (Hillclimbers)
}}
}}
Billy Glen McCloud ({{IPAc-en|m|ʌ|k|l|'|aʊ|d}}; born October 29, 1948) is an American adjunct professor of American History at Rogers State University. He has written two books, What Should We Tell Our Children About Vietnam? and a book of poems, The Smell of the Light: Vietnam, 1968-1969.
Early life and career
In 1987 McCloud prepared to teach his junior high-school history class about the Vietnam War, but found history textbooks to have brief and superficial sections to cover the conflict. He then wrote letters to more than 200 persons, asking them to respond to the question: What are the most important things for today's students to understand about the Vietnam War? In 1988 American Heritage included several replies he had received in their Volume 39, Issue 4 magazine, bringing his work to national attention. He received 160 replies in total, and in October of 1989 the University of Oklahoma Press published his book What Should We Tell Our Children About Vietnam? that include 128 of those responses received. In 2009 Harvard University's Houghton Library purchased the archive McCloud accumulated while creating this book.
Since April 2019, he has been a prolific contributor of fiction and poetry book reviews to [https://vvaveteran.org/ The VVA Veteran] magazine's online [https://vvabooks.wordpress.com/ Books in Review II] page.
He holds degrees from Northern Oklahoma College, Oklahoma State University and Northeastern State University.{{cite news |title=RSU Instructor Recognized as Three Time Woody Guthrie Poet |url=https://www.rsu.edu/rsu-instructor-recognized-three-time-woody-guthrie-poet/ |access-date=23 October 2023 |publisher=Rogers State University |date=30 September 2020}}
Northern Oklahoma College inducted McCloud into their Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame in 2018.{{cite news |title=Roustabout benefit show Saturday night |url=https://www.poncacitynow.com/roustabout-benefit-show-saturday-night/ |access-date=23 October 2023 |agency=Ponca City Now |date=27 March 2018}}
Military career
McCloud served in the U.S. Army from 1967-1970 during the Vietnam War. He was in Vietnam from March 1968 to March 1969 as flight operations coordinator for the 147th Assault Support Helicopter Company (Hillclimbers). He received the Air Medal for flying in 50 helicopter missions.
During his time in Vietnam, McCloud wrote a series of letters to his mother. After arriving in the country, he had gone a month without writing home, when a first sergeant instructed him to have a letter ready to go every Monday. 52 of these letters were saved by his mother and later became the basis for a series of poems that would be collected into his book The Smell of the Light: Vietnam, 1968-1969.
Awards
- USA Today's "People Who Make A Difference." (1988)
- George Washington Honor Medal for Excellence in Public Communications from Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge (1998)
- Vietnam Veterans of America's Excellence in the Arts Award (2024)
Bibliography
A complete listing of works by Bill McCloud:
- What Should We Tell Our Children About Vietnam? (1989)
- The Smell of the Light: Vietnam, 1968-1969 (2017)
- The Error of the Stars: The Poetry of Bill McCloud (2024)
References
{{reflist|refs=
{{Cite news|last=Meyer|first=Richard E.|date=1988-10-23|title=Teacher Goes to Source: Preparing the Lesson of Vietnam|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-10-23-mn-349-story.html|access-date=2022-11-21}}
{{Cite web|last=Tramel|first=Jimmie|date=2017-10-13|title=Author's poems about Vietnam War experiences collected in book form|url=https://tulsaworld.com/entertainment/authors-poems-about-vietnam-war-experiences-collected-in-book-form/article_f1356eca-54eb-5c93-948f-25e913e10684.html|access-date=2020-12-10|website=Tulsa World|language=en}}
{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=2017-12-17|title=Best-Sellers|page=7D|work=The Oklahoman}}
{{Cite news|last=Foisie|first=Jack|date=1990-01-09|title=Vietnam War Is Over, But What Do We Tell Our Children About It?|work=The Seattle Times|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19900109&slug=1049900|access-date=2021-07-03}}
{{Cite news|last=Leepson|first=Marc|date=1992-09-13|title=Vietnam For Kids|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1992/09/13/vietnam-for-kids/c2df6fe9-98e0-4cec-aed7-de96ad083ddc/|access-date=2022-03-14}}
{{Cite journal|date=1988|title=What Should We Tell Our Children About Vietnam?|url=https://www.americanheritage.com/what-should-we-tell-our-children-about-vietnam#1|journal=American Heritage|volume=39|issue=4}}
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCloud, Bill}}
Category:20th-century American male writers
Category:21st-century American male writers
Category:Writers from Oklahoma
Category:Northern Oklahoma College alumni
Category:Oklahoma State University alumni
Category:Northeastern State University alumni
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCloud, Bill}}