Background
Joe William Haldeman was born on June 9, 1943, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Joe and Gay Haldeman, 1995
Jack and Joe (right) Haldeman, with mother Lorena, about 1946
Haldeman in Vietnam, 1968
With wife, Gay, 1970
Joe William Haldeman was born on June 9, 1943, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Haldeman studied at local schools. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Maryland in 1967. In 1975, he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. Also, he attended American University and University of Oklahoma and participated in the Milford Writer’s Workshop.
Joe William Haldeman served as a combat engineer in Vietnam, where he was severely wounded and earned a Purple Heart. This experience informed his best known work, the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning The Forever War. In addition to continuing to produce top quality since fiction, Joe Haldeman teaches writing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Joe Haldeman's vision of the universe was profoundly shaped by the Vietnam War. Vietnam surfaces as a theme, a backdrop, or a reference point in many of his stories.
Haldeman is a member of the Authors Guild and Science Fiction Writers of America.
On August 21, 1965, Haldeman married Mary Gay Potter, a teacher.