Published by
THE MILITARY SERVICE PUBLISHING COMPANY
HARRISBURG, PA.
PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY
THE TELEGRAPH PRESS
HARRISBURG, PA.
_To
George Washington
ever revered
seldom obeyed_
_HOW IT STARTED_
This booklet cropped out from a mixture of chance happenings. One day
last October, Captain R. B. Lovett, Adjutant General’s Department,
came into my office. I hadn’t seen him since he was a student at the
Infantry School in Georgia when I was an instructor. He said Colonel
Harvey W. Miller, Adjutant General, 1st Corps Area, thought it would
be a good thing for the recruiting service and the public in general
to be informed about the soldier. There were so many misunderstandings
about him. Would I do ten talks over the radio? They looked mountainous
with all my other work. But if you knew Lovett, you’d appreciate
how convincing he can be. He put in a plea of public service and I
succumbed. The next thing I heard was that the Yankee Network had
generously given time to the series Saturday nights. I began December
eighth. I felt the first talk was a beautiful flop. I got no fan mail
and my friends who phoned me were just pleasant. I suspected they were
letting me down easily. Anyway, I kept plugging along. After the third
talk, fan mail from strangers in Portland, Newburyport, Bridgeport
and little towns began to come in. After the fifth talk, there was a
flood of requests for copies. Then letters began to pile in from every
walk of life. The copies asked for couldn’t be furnished. There were
no means or money to get them out and mail them. My friends suggested
printing the whole series at as little cost as possible. Well, this is
the result. I hope you’ll get something out of it.