Grady Thane Birdsong was raised in Kansas and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1966. After serving two combat tours in the Northern I Corps region of Vietnam during the Tet Offensive in 1968 and along the DMZ in 1969, he enjoyed a successful career traveling the world as an executive in engineering, marketing, and business development in the telecommunications/data, information technology, and optical/fiber systems industries.
Grady has authored three books and guest authored in two other books. The first, A Fortunate Passage: Two Families’ Journey into the Heartland, received two CIPA EVVY awards from the Colorado Independent Publishers Association. In 2016 he
and co-author Colonel Bob Fischer wrote The Miracle Workers of South Boulder Road: Healing the Signature Wounds of War, a book about Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress. It received three first-place CIPA EVVY awards. Published in 2018, To the Sound of the Guns: 1st Battalion, 27th Marines from Hawaii to Vietnam 1966 -1968 won three CIPA EVVY awards, a first, third, and Merit in three separate categories (BirdQuill LLC Publisher).
He is an advocate for returning veterans of the Middle East Wars and the Rocky Mountain Hyperbaric Association for Brain Injuries, Healing Our Heroes Program, a 501c3 organization. As a volunteer, Grady helped design, commission, and build a computer lab at the Denver Vet Center. Courses for veterans to learn computer basics, computer building, Video/Photo presentation, and Photoshop instruction began in 2005. The American Legion Department of Colorado donated the monies, computers, and space to start this project.
Now retired, Grady lives with his wife, Pamela, in the Denver area, where he enjoys his grandchildren and spends his time researching, writing, volunteering, and hunting big game. Grady is a graduate of Regis University (BSBA) in Denver, Colorado, an officer in the 1st Marine Division Association, Rocky Mountain Chapter, and program chair of the Denver area monthly Marine Corps Luncheon group, “Coopers Troopers.”
For more information about his books, please visit www.gradytbirdsong.com.
