Marion Hargrove made his mark in 1942 with See Here, Private Hargrove, a comic account of his transition from civilian to soldier. An immediate best-seller, the book went through five reprintings in three months, was excerpted by Life, Reader's Digest, and Good Housekeeping and became the basis for two movies. Hargrove remained in the public eye through the end of the 1950s, as he produced two more novels, contributed articles to a number of popular magazines, lectured on army life and social issues, and wrote scripts for the "Maverick" television series.

Born to Marion Lawton and Emma Hargrove in Mount Olive, North Carolina, Marion Lawton Hargrove, Jr., attended high school in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he was a feature writer and then editor of the school paper. He did not graduate with his class in 1938 because he was missing a half-point credit, but in 1946 the high school accepted his...