Mike’s first book, Bloodstained Sea: The U.S. Coast Guard in the Battle of the Atlantic 1941-1944, was published by International Marine, a division of McGraw-Hill, and received critical acclaim by reviewers and veterans. The Naval Order of the United States honored him with its 2005 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature. Bloodstained Sea is now available through Cutter Publishing.

On the lighter side, he published, in conjunction with Flat Hammock Press, a new edition of Sinbad of the Coast Guard, the adventurous, true story of the USCGC Campbell’s mascot whose exploits during World War II became legend. Appropriately, Sinbad's story was told by a fellow member of the Coast Guard, Chief George F. Foley, Jr., while the fine pictures were drawn by the outstanding Coast Guard Reserve artist, George Gray.
 
Mike’s first novel Choke Points (Cutter Publishing, 2009) addresses the real threats to Maritime and Port Security. It’s the first of a ten-book Fletcher Sage series spanning 250 years.

He is a contributing author to the US Naval Institute’s Naval History Magazine as well as regularly posting articles on Authors Den.

In 2005, Mike appeared on the History Channel series Man, Moment, Machine episode about Andrew J. Higgins, the designer and builder of the vital landing craft used in World War II, and, as a script consultant for the episode, reviewed the material for accuracy. In the spring of 2010 he will be one of the subject matter experts on a PBS documentary about the U-boat war off the US east coast during WWII.

His current projects include a book about the two greatest and successful aircraft ditchings in aviation history titled In the Event of a Water Landing (available in April 2010), two unique books about the war in Iraq (due out in January 2011), and a second novel Admiral Raeder’s War (on sale in September 2010).

In different venue, Mike has produced a new version of the old song "I’d Like to Find the Guy Who Named the Coast Guard," originally written and recorded by Paul Yacich and the Coast Guard Band in 1945. The music has been lost, but working with Alison Freemen, this wonderfully humorous tune has been given a new lease on life and updated with three verses reflecting today’s Coast Guard global missions.

He is an internationally recognized expert on World War II. His expertise also includes such diverse fields as leadership, international terror, trans-national crime, human trafficking, piracy and counter piracy operations as well as geo-political and military history.

After graduating from Montclair State College with a BA in Biology, Mike served in the U.S. Coast Guard for six years as a commissioned officer and a senior petty officer. His assignments included buoy tending, search and rescue missions, search and rescue coordination, drug law enforcement, and oceanographic operations in the Arctic. As part of the Boarding Party and Prize Crew on two cutters he participated in the seizures of a Panamanian drug-runner and a Cuban fishing boat. His decorations include the U.S. Coast Guard Achievement Medal (Operational) for counter-drug operations, Arctic Service Medal, Sea Service Medal, the National Defense Medal, and USCG Cutterman's Insignia.

Mike has spent more than 45 years collecting stories from veterans from World War II, Korea, Viet Nam, and Iraq as well as those of pilots, merchant seaman, civilian personnel with NATO and EUFOR in the Balkans. His research has included visits to London; Sarajevo; Baska Voda,  Croatia; Halifax, Nova Scotia; St. John’s, Newfoundland; and New Orleans.

That's the official biography of Mike Walling. But if you want to hear the story of his life in his own words, click here!