War Correspondent: Decreed Unfit for Service, the Author Saw the Normandy Landings, Arnhem, the Battle of the Bulge and Kamikaze Attacks

by Michael Moynihan

The offhand admission to the doctor at the recruiting centre that he suffered from asthma as a boy was enough to put an end to Michael Moynihan's military career even before it started. However, this unpropitious beginning was eventually to lead to a wartime career far more dramatic than anything he could have imagined had he been allowed to don the King's uniform. For, after a provincial grounding as a cub reporter in the North, he moved to London and soon became a war correspondent on the now long-defunct News Chronical, then one of the leading newspapers in Fleet Street. Prior to that he had acclimatised himself to a via de boheme in violent contrast to an upbringing largely centred around the near by Strict and Particular Baptist Chapel, and which gave him the opportunity to make the acquittance of the likes of Dylan Thomas, Tambimuttu, and his cousin Rodrigo, the painter. Then came D-Day and he is off to France. He is present at the Liberation of Paris. He covers the Arnhem fiasco from the air. He is in the American sector during the Battle of the Bulge He is sent to the Far East and flies the first dispatch from Hiroshima. And those are just a few of the highlights. From his own dispatches, many of which, in those space-starved days, were never published, from his on-the-spot diaries and letters to friends and relations, and from his won memories Michael moynihan has woven a tapestry which vividly brings to life the quite remarkable adventure of a man who was considered too unfit to fight for his country but who managed to serve it with as much courage as any who came home with a chest covered with medals.

244 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Moynihan was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a lawyer father. Moynihan identifies his background as entirely Northern European: Irish, English, Welsh, and German.[5] He is involved in a long standing collaborative and romantic relationship with musician Annabel Lee, with whom he has fathered a child.[1] He became active in experimental music from 1984, forming Blood Axis in 1989 and releasing his first album in full length album under the name in 1995.

Moynihan collaborated with Boyd Rice from 1989, and in 1990 the two moved into an apartment in Denver.[6] Like Rice and Thomas Thorn, Moynihan was a member of the Church of Satan at this time.[7] Moynihan appeared as a guest with Rice on Bob Larson's "Manson Maniacs", a special for Larson's Christian radio talk show. During the summer of 1991, Moynihan states that he was visited at his apartment by agents of the United States Secret Service about an alleged plot to assassinate then President of the United States George H. W. Bush.[5]

Moynihan agreed to a polygraph test and no charges were filed. Moynihan stated that it was a simple case of intimidation stemming from his correspondence with Charles Manson and visits to Sandra Good. Moynihan stated that he felt that the he had been being monitored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation since 1984, that they had taken his luggage on an occasion, and that they had once called his father, admitting to him that they had taken a parcel from his mail. Moynihan cited his then-friendship with Peter Sotos as a potential cause.[5]

Differences between Boyd Rice and Michael Moynihan led to an acrimonious split between the two in the mid-1990s,[5] though Rice would later remember their time together fondly and refer positively to Moynihan.[6] After the split, Moynihan disassociated himself with Rice and was no longer involved with the Abraxas Foundation.[5] Moynihan has been a member of the small Asatru collective Wulfing Kindred since 1994.

In 1995, Moynihan released the first full length album by Blood Axis, The Gospel of Inhumanity and moved from Denver to Portland, Oregon where he became an editor at Feral House, a publishing company owned by Adam Parfrey.[7] After studying language and history at the University of Colorado and Portland State University, Moynihan received his B.A. in German language in 2001.

Moynihan is one of the editors of TYR: Myth - Culture - Tradition and the North American editor of Rûna.[8]

In 1992, Moynihan edited and published a collection of writings by ex-National Socialist Mansonite James N. Mason into a book entitled Siege: The Collected Writings of James Mason.[4][9] Published by Feral House, he co-authored the 1998 book Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground with Norwegian journalist Didrik Søderlind won the 1998 Firecracker Alternative Press Award.[4]

During this period Moynihan contributed to various magazines and journals, including Seconds and The Scorpion,[10] and has interviewed artists and figures such as power electronics founder Whitehouse,[11] Unleashed,[12] Bathory,[13] In the Nursery,[13] Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey,[14] controversial figure Charles Manson,[15] Peter Steele of Type O Negative, discussing Social Darwinism,[16] Misfits founder Glenn Danzig,[17] Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV founder Genesis P-Orridge,[18] and Swans founder Michael Gira.[19]

In 2001, Moynihan co-authored The Secret King with Stephen Flowers. 2001 also saw Moynihan also editing a reprint of Introduction to Magic, originally published in 1929, and in 2002 edited the first English language translation of the 1953 book Men Among the Ruins, both by Julius Evola and both published by Inner Traditions - Bear & Company. In 2005 Moynihan edited and published a collection of essays by British writer John Michell's The Oldie entitled Confessions of a Radical Traditionalist.