William March (Campbell)

Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, 1933. VG, First edition, no dust jacket. Green buckram-covered boards, spine faded, otherwise in very nice condition, with no edgewear or bumping. Interior tight, clean & unmarked. 260 pp. An unusual novel, much acclaimed in its day. The author was a highly decorated (Croix de Guerre, Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross) sergeant of Marines who served with the 4th Brigade of Marines (Co F, 2nd Bttn, 5th Marines), 2nd Division, AEF, in WWI. Sgt Campbell served in all major engagements of the Brigade, including Belleau Wood and Blanc Mont, & was both gassed & wounded. Company K, arranged after the manner of Spoon River Anthology, presents brief consecutive soliloquies by 113 members of a Marine Corps rifle company in WWI, most of them characterized by a morbid wit and a tone of bleak resignation. Excerpt: "Private Martin Dailey ~'I awoke in a hospital train. My eyes burned and chest ached and I could feel my leg throbbing with pain. From where I lay, I could catch a glimpse, occasionally, of the French countryside covered with poppies and mustard plants in bloom. I could hear the hum of voices and the clanging of engines when we stopped, for a while, at some station along the way. I lay back and closed my eyes again. There was a stench of disinfectant and dried blood in the coach, and that smell which comes from many men caged together. Above me a man talked ceaselessly of Nebraska. His hand, hanging over his bunk, was grayish white and his nails were turning blue. He talked softly, in a slow voice. He wanted to talk a great deal, because he knew he was going to die before we reached the hospital. But there was nobody to listen to him. We lay there, mostly in silence, and thought of our own misery, like newly castrated sheep, too tired to find comfort in curses. We stared at the ceiling dumbly, or glanced out of the doors at the lovely countryside, now in full bloom.'" Out of Print.

$75.00