Company K

By William March and Philip D. Beidler

With an Introduction by Philip D. Beidler

This book was originally published in 1933. It is the first novel by William March, pen name for William Edward Campbell. Stemming directly from the author's experiences with the US Marines in France during World War I, the book consists of 113 sketches, or chapters, tracing the fictional Company K's war exploits and providing an emotional history of the men of the company that extends beyond the boundaries of the war itself.

William Edward Campbell served courageously in France as evidenced by his chestful of medals and certificates, including the Croix de Guerre, the Distinguished Service Cross, and the Navy Cross. However, without the medals and citations we would know of his bravery. For it is clear in the pages of Company K that this book was written by a man who had been to war, who had clearly seen his share of the worst of it, who had somehow survived, and who had committed himself afterward to the new bravery of sense-making embodied in the creation of major literary art. It is of that bravery that we still have the record of magnificent achievement, the brave terrible gift of Company K.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University Alabama Press
• Release date: Sep 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9780817386870

William March

William March (1893-1954) was a writer and highly decorated US Marine. March volunteered in 1917, and was sent to France where he took part in every major engagement in which American troops were involved. Returning as a war hero, March suffered periods of depression and anxiety. His masterpiece, Company K, draws directly on his wartime experiences and was criticised when first published for its anti-war sentiment.

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Reviews for Company K

[kcshankd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great War fiction, published in 1933. The author was a U. S. Marine, and was awarded both the Distinguished Service Cross and Navy Cross, a feat that cannot have repeated many times. The novel is episodic, with each member of Company K receiving a few lines or at most a few pages, like a modern day oral history. The vignettes cover boyhood though death in old age, all tied to their time in the trenches but of course most take place in 1918 France. Deserters are shot, cowards survive, officers fragged, prisoners executed, Marines are gassed, a pet goat stewed, and we share it all through their individual voices. Powerful.

[timbazzett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

William March's COMPANY K is definitely a forgotten classic of the Great War. I only heard of it recently when it was cited in an essay about war writing by Phil Klay, whose own story collection, REDEPLOYMENT, won the NBA a few years back.COMPANY K is a novel in a unique form, told in the personal voices of the men and officers of the unit, which served in France in the last year of the war. There are over a hundred 'voices ' heard from here, each telling their story in a short statement or anecdote, seldom more than a page or two. There is little or nothing said of glory or honor of heroism. Instead we hear of fear and hunger, cowardice and theft, buggery and murder, and on and on. In the words of one Private who worked as a court reporter at regimental court martial hearings -"I wish the lads who talk about the nobility and comradeship of war could listen to a few general courts. They'd soon change their minds, for war is as mean as poor-farm soup and as petty as an old maid's gossip."March's serial, plain-spoken narrators being to mind other classics of American letters which have NOT been forgotten. Crane's RED BADGE OF COURAGE, of course, but K is also a kind of WINESBURG of war, or even, since many of the the men are speaking from the grave, SPOON RIVER.Some of the stories here are from after the war, and PTSD, as yet unnamed and unknown, figures prominently, with some sad examples of mental illness and suicides. As a reader, I couldn't help but wonder if March himself might have suffered far-reaching negative effects of his wartime experiences. Indeed, the author (whose real name was William Edward Campbell) was highly decorated for his service with the Marines. COMPANY K, originally published in 1933, was his first book. He published several more, but is probably best remembered for his last, THE BAD SEED. He died soon after, in 1954. He was just 61. Written in a very unique style, with piercing honesty, COMPANY K deserves a much higher place in the pantheon of war lit. The University of Alabama Press deserves kudos for bringing the book back into print for a new generation of readers. My highest recommendation.- Tim Bazzett, author of the Cold War memoir, SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA

[rhydtybyans · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I first read this book in about 1960 when I was about 17 years old and still at school.It was just another paperback amongst many, but the book made a profound impression on me which has remained to this day. It occurred to me late last year, 2008, to search for it on the internet. Lo and behold, I find that it is now rated as a minor classic and that a new edition was published in 2006 by the University of Alabama Press.Well, I ordered the book and it is this edition that now stands on my bookshelf.