John Irving--only one year older than I am--

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Irving

Irving never met his biological father, who was a pilot in the Army Air Forces during World War II. In July 1943,[8] John Blunt Sr. was shot down over Burma but survived. The incident was incorporated into The Cider House Rules. Irving did not find out about his father's heroism until 1981, when he was almost 40 years old.[9]