118A
20A
98
A01=Mike Farris
A01=Paul Heckmann
addiction
Air America
Allen Stanford
Army Security Agency
Author_Mike Farris
Author_Paul Heckmann
Category=DNC
Category=NHWR9
Category=VS
CIA
college football
Commando Raiders
cruise ships
Dallas
disco
domino theory
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_self-help
film
forthcoming
Geneva Accords
Ho Chi Minh Trail
Inc.
Intelligence Star
Laos most bombed country
Lima Site 11
Long Tieng (or Long Cheng)
Memorial Wall
Memories
modeling
music history
Nam Yu
night clubs
North Texas State University (now University of North Texas)
Pakse
Pentagon Papers
recovery
Secret war in Laos
Southeast Asia
Tardive Dyskinesia
Texas A&I Javelinas
Texas A&M-Kingsville
tv
Vietnam War
Product details
- ISBN 9780875659862
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 24 Nov 2026
- Publisher: Texas Christian University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
In 2000, CIA director George J. Tenet revealed the identities of some of those who were represented by nameless stars on the CIA’s Memorial Wall at its headquarters. Among those was a Texan named John W. Kearns. John served as a special operations officer in the so-called “secret war” in Laos, the CIA’s paramilitary operation during the Vietnam War. John, whose call sign was, fittingly, “Lone Star,” was killed in action in 1972. He was posthumously awarded the CIA’s highest honor, the Intelligence Star, “in recognition of his courageous performance under hazardous conditions.”
For years, John’s story stayed pretty well unknown, shrouded in secrecy by classified government documents and mentioned only in passing in books about the “secret war.” Until now. Paul Heckmann, with the assistance of Mike Farris, tells his own personal story of adoption as a child and struggles with addiction that, later in life, led him to search for his biological family—and to discover a hero half-brother he had never known. While digging deeper into John’s story of heroism, he struggled with new and seemingly insurmountable physical difficulties of his own.
Searching for Lone Star tells the story of two brothers, neither of whom knew about the other until long after the heroic death of the older that inspired the younger to overcome his own adversity. It is a story of sacrifice and inspiration, of love and loss, and, ultimately, of family.
For years, John’s story stayed pretty well unknown, shrouded in secrecy by classified government documents and mentioned only in passing in books about the “secret war.” Until now. Paul Heckmann, with the assistance of Mike Farris, tells his own personal story of adoption as a child and struggles with addiction that, later in life, led him to search for his biological family—and to discover a hero half-brother he had never known. While digging deeper into John’s story of heroism, he struggled with new and seemingly insurmountable physical difficulties of his own.
Searching for Lone Star tells the story of two brothers, neither of whom knew about the other until long after the heroic death of the older that inspired the younger to overcome his own adversity. It is a story of sacrifice and inspiration, of love and loss, and, ultimately, of family.
Texas Tech Law Review, assoc. editor
Order of the Coif, Texas Tech Law School, cum laude graduate
Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Texas Tech Law School
Past Chair of Dallas Bar Association Entertainment Art & Sports Law Section, 2009, 2012, 2014
Past Editor of State Bar of Texas Entertainment and Sports Law Journal, 2014-2015
Past Officer of State Bar of Texas Entertainment and Sports Law Section, Secretary 2015-2016; Vice-Chair 2016-2017; Chair 2017-2018
