Stephen Coonts is an American thriller and suspense novelist. Coonts grew up in Buckhannon, West Virginia, a small coal-mining town, and earned a B.A. degree in political science at West Virginia University in 1968. He entered the Navy the following year and flew an A-6 Intruder medium attack plane during the Vietnam War, where he served on two combat cruises aboard the USS Enterprise. He accumulated 1600 hours in the A-6 Intruder and earned a number of Navy commendations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war Coonts served as a flight instructor for A-6 aircraft for two years, then did a tour as an assistant catapult and arresting gear officer aboard USS Nimitz. After being honorably discharged from duty as a lieutenant in 1977, Coonts pursued a Juris Doctor degree at the University of Colorado, graduating in 1979. He then worked as a lawyer for several oil and gas companies, pursuing his writing interests in his free time. Coonts published short stories in a number of publications before writing Flight of the Intruder in 1986. 

July 19th, 1946 in Morgantown (Age 77)