Danny M. Francis was born in the small rural town of Royalton, Illinois on October 11, 1941. He grew up in nearby Du Quoin, Illinois, where after graduating from high school in June 1959, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.

Francis entered active duty on July 2, 1959, and began his training in San Diego, California. He remained on active duty, and after completing twenty years of active service retired as a First Lieutenant on August 1, 1979. His Marine Corps service included duty all over the world on land, at sea and two full tours of combat duty in Vietnam 1965-66 with the 2nd BN, 1st Marines and 1968-69 with the 1st BN, 7th Marines where as a Staff Sergeant, he earned a direct commission to Second Lieutenant in October 1968, just before starting his second tour of duty. He was wounded three times in combat and earned more than a dozen personal and unit citations for valor in combat.

Dan speaks Russian and Korean and some Japanese – he served his last few years in the Marine Corps as a Team Commander of several Marine Corps Interrogator-Translator Teams in California, North Carolina, Okinawa, Japan, and the Middle East, and he flew as a Marine / Naval Aerial Observer controlling combat aircraft and training new pilots for service in Vietnam.

Following military service, Danny went on to complete college courses earning three Associate Degrees from East Los Angeles College and Los Angeles City College. He then continued on to earn his Bachelor’s degree in New York in 1982, and finally earning his Masters in Education from the University of Southern California in 1984. He has taught at the two-year and four-year college levels, and grades 7-12. He holds teaching credentials from California and New York State in social studies, foreign languages and political science.

Dan’s post-military career has included education positions as Assistant Director for St. Louis High School in Hawaii, operating with U.S. Forces in Korea; Assistant Director, Student Services for Los Angeles Community College-overseas; and, over 20 years as a Department of the Army civilian employee in several key education positions with U.S. Forces, Korea; at Fort Drum, New York; and, most recently with the Army Recruiting Command in Syracuse, New York. On December 30, 2006, Dan retired after 44 years of combined Marine Corps and Federal civil service while with the Department of the Army in Syracuse, New York.

Dan holds memberships in the VFW, the Marine Corps League, the Marine Corps Association, the Association of the United States Army, the New York State New Compact for Learning, the US PGA, and a lifetime member of the USC Alumni Association. Dan enjoys reading, writing, and research of current events and political issues of the time. He wrote his first book titled, “Last Ride Home - A Memoir of Vietnam War” which was published in Feb 2004.

He and his wife, Katharina, have been married 25 years - they have two children, a son and a daughter. They live in Upstate New York.