Today’s Veteran of the Day is Air Force Veteran Cormac McCarthy, the celebrated and best-selling author of 12 novels and multiple plays and short stories, including “The Road” and “No Country for Old Men.”

McCarthy was born in Rhode Island in 1933, but grew up in Tennessee. The college dropout joined the Air Force in 1953, serving four years total, including two in Alaska. It was there that the bored airman “read a lot of books very quickly,” perhaps spurning his aversion to punctuation and an interest in writing.

When McCarthy completed his enlistment and re-entered school, he wrote and published two award-winning stories. After dropping out (again, and finally), he moved into a shack at the foothills of the Smokey Mountains to focus on writing. “I always knew that I didn’t want to work,” McCarthy said in 2017 interview. “You have to be dedicated, but it was my number-one priority.”

What followed was more than 55 years of success and critical acclaim, as McCarthy eventually became the recipient and winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

McCarthy died at his home in New Mexico on June 13, 2023. He was 89.

We honor his service.