Michael Patrick Ryan was a highly decorated officer of the United States Marine Corps with the rank of major general. He is most noted for his service as a company commander during Battle of Tarawa, where he earned the Navy Cross, the United States military's second-highest decoration awarded for valor in combat. Ryan later served in Korean and Vietnam Wars and ended his career as director of Marine Corps Reserve. Together with Colonel James L. Fowler, he co-founded the Marine Corps Marathon.

The Battle of Tarawa was fought on 20–23 November 1943 between the United States and Japan at the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, and was part of Operation Galvanic, the U.S. invasion of the Gilberts. Nearly 6,400 Japanese, Koreans, and Americans died in the fight, mostly on and around the small island of Betio, in the extreme southwest of Tarawa Atoll.