Winston Francis Groom Jr. (March 23, 1943 – September 17, 2020) was an American novelist and non-fiction writer. He is best known for his novel Forrest Gump (1986), which became a cultural phenomenon after being adapted as a 1994 film of the same name, starring Tom Hanks. After the film was released, gaining a high box office and winning numerous awards, Groom's novel sold more than one million copies worldwide. Groom wrote a sequel, Gump and Co., published in 1995. His last novel was El Paso (2011). He also wrote a total of fifteen non-fiction works on such varied subjects as the American Civil War and World War I, including five multiple biographies. Early life and education Groom was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Ruth (Knudsen), an English teacher, and Winston Francis Groom, a lawyer at the Pentagon. He and his family returned to Mobile, Alabama where the senior Groom practiced law. Winston Groom was raised in Mobile County, Alabama, where he attended the private University Military School (now known as UMS-Wright Preparatory School). His earliest ambition was to become a lawyer like his father. Groom attended the University of Alabama, where he became a member of Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity and the Army ROTC. While serving as a literary editor in college, he settled on a new ambition to become a writer. He graduated with Omicron Delta Kappa honors in 1965. Groom served in the United States Army from 1965 to 1967, including a tour of duty in the Vietnam War (from 66–67). Most of his service time was spent with the Fourth Infantry Division. Career Upon his return from Vietnam, Groom worked as a reporter for the Washington Star, a Washington, D. C. newspaper covering the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. federal courts. Groom resigned and moved to New York to pursue a career in writing novels. Groom's first novel was Better Times Than These, published in 1978. Better Times Than These was about a rifle company in the Vietnam War whose patriotism and lives are shattered. According to P.J O'Rourke, journalist and political satirist, and a friend of Groom, Better Times Than These was "the best novel written about the Vietnam War." His next novel As Summers Die (1980) received better recognition. His book Conversations with the Enemy (1982) follows an American soldier who escapes from a POW camp in Vietnam and takes