Anton Olmstead Myrer (November 3, 1922–January 19, 1996) was an American author, known best for writing the historical fiction military novel Once an Eagle (1968).
Born in Worcester, Massachusetts,,on November 3, 1922, to Raymond Lewis and Angele E. Myrer, he grew up in Boston, graduating from Boston Latin High School during 1940. He prepared at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire before entering Harvard College during September 1941 with the Class of 1945. His studies were interrupted, however, after the December 7, 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor. Soon after the attack, he, like many of his college peers, sought to enroll in the Army Reserve but was rejected. During 1942, he enlisted and was accepted by the United States Marine Corps. He participated with the Battle of Guam and the occupation of the remaining Mariana Islands afterwards. He was wounded in Guam and was promoted to the rank of corporal before being discharged during 1946.
He returned to Harvard and graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. two years after his original classmates during May 1947.
During August 1947, he married artist Judith Rothschild and relocated to California. Random House published his first novel Evil Under the Sun during 1951. To support his family, he continued to work a number of low-paying, unskilled jobs. During 1957, his novel The Big War, published by Appleton-Century-Crofts, was financially and critically successful resulting in the 1958 film screenplay he wrote with Edward Anhalt re-titled In Love and War, starring Robert Wagner and Bradford Dillman.
During 1960, the Myrers relocated back to the Northeast to a country home in Saugerties, NY, and a summer home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Little, Brown published The Violent Shore (1962) and The Intruder (1965).
Myrer’s most successful novel, Once an Eagle, was published during 1968 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, during the Vietnam War.
He separated from his wife and divorced her during 1970 and soon he married Patricia Schartle (1923-June 26, 2010).
He wrote three more novels: The Tiger Waits (1973 published by Norton); The Last Convertible (1978 published by Putnam); and A Green Desire in (1981 also published by Putnam).
Mr. Myrer died on January 19, 1996, of leukemia., at the age of 73. He was survived by his widow.
Evil Under the Sun - The story of a group of artists, literary figures and locals during a summer on post-war Cape Cod. Prejudices, lingering war trauma, and frustration about the state of post-war America results in violence. Not to be confused with the Agatha Christie novel of the same name.
The Big War
The Violent Shore
The Intruder
Once an Eagle - The story of two Army officers, one a ruthless, career-obsessed schemer, the other his opposite, and their often intermingled personal and professional lives from the end of World War I to the beginning of Vietnam. This novel is reportedly well known among American career military officers for its portrayal of leadership ideals and failures. The book is on the Marine Corps commandants' reading list and the U.S. Army War College uses it in leadership training. West Point cadets are assigned the book in classes and seminars. It was made into a television miniseries during 1976.
The Tiger Waits-The story of one man's rise to academic and then political prominence in an administration, his love-hate relationship with Boston society, and how he discovers and handles a plot that threatens war.
The Last Convertible - The story of five Harvard men and their coming-of-age during World War II through the early 1960s New Frontier/Camelot/John F. Kennedy era. The elegant "last convertible" of the title is seen by them as the symbol of their romantic youth.
