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His two best-known books are The Longest Day, which tells the story of the World War II invasion of Normandy, and A Bridge Too Far, which tells the story of Operation Market Garden, the ill-fated assault by airborne forces on the Netherlands culminating in the battle of Arnhem. Both books were made into major motion pictures.
Born in Dublin, Ryan moved to London in 1940, and became a war correspondant for the Daily Telegraph in 1941. He initially covered the air war in Europe, and then joined General George Patton's army and covered its actions until the end of the European war. He transferred to the Pacific theatre in 1945, and to Jerusalem in 1946.
Ryan emigrated to the United States in 1947 to work for Time magazine, followed by other magazines. He married Kathryn Morgan and became a naturalized citizen of the United states in 1950.
In 1956 he began to write The Longest Day. It was an instant success, and he followed it with The Last Battle, about the Battle of Berlin in 1965. He was awarded the French Legion of Honor, and an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Ohio University. A Bridge Too Far was published in 1974, and he died of cancer while on tour promoting the book.