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.
W.A.G.