John Wemlinger is a retired U.S. Army Colonel and served 27 years on active duty in positions of ever-increasing responsibility around the world. A Vietnam veteran, he logged nearly 1,000 combat flying hours. Nearly half of his time in the Army was spent in various command positions including command of military ports at Cape Canaveral, Florida and Okinawa, Japan. His final command tour was as the commander, Military Traffic Management Command, Pacific (Now the 599th Transportation Brigade) where he was in charge of military ports in the Pacific rim from Pusan, South Korea to Auckland, New Zealand.

Following his retirement he worked in public education serving as an administrator in several alternative high schools serving at-risk students who had failed to achieve success in the traditional high school environment. In 2012, he retired in order to pursue his passion for writing and has since published three novels, "Winter's Bloom" (2016-Mission Point Press); "Operation Light Switch" (2017-Mission Point Press); and "Before the Snow Flies" (2019-Mission Point Press). "Winter's Bloom" was a regional best-selling paperback; "Operation Light Switch" was a finalist in the Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Award; and "Before the Snow Flies" placed third in the Colorado Independent Publishers' Association's Annual EVVY Awards and is a nominee as a Michigan Notable Read for 2019.

A sought-after speaker, Wemlinger readily relates his military and other life experiences to the major themes in the down-to-earth novels that he writes.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from The Ohio State University (1968); a Masters of Science from St. John's University in New York City (1983); and a Masters of Arts from the U.S. Naval War College (1993). He is a senior Army aviator. His military decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal; the Legion of Merit; the Bronze Star; two awards of the Defense Meritorious Service Medal; four awards of the Army Meritorious Service Medal; and four awards of the Army Commendation Medal. He was recently named to Who's Who in America for his leadership in both the military and civilian sectors.

“Wemlinger knows how to plot a novel and pace it well. And his characters grip us.”
– Kirkus Reviews