Colonel Michael Joseph Buckley Jr. (May 17, 1902 – August 17, 2006) was the first American prisoner of war during World War II when, as a major in the United States Army, he was captured near Tobruk on November 23, 1941 by German military forces under the command of Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel, also known as "The Desert Fox." This was two weeks prior to the United States entering the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.