SOURCE: “An Unending Circle of Pain: William March's Company K,” in Ball State University Forum, Vol. XVI, No. 2, Spring, 1975, pp. 33-46.

In the following essay, Simmonds explores the origins, themes, characters, and structure of Company K.

On 25 July 1917, just over three months after America's entry into World War I and a fortnight or so after the first contingent of the American Expeditionary Forces arrived in Paris, William Campbell, then aged twenty-four and employed as a clerk and subpoena server for a large law partnership in New York, applied for enlistment in the United States Marine Corps. He was accepted on 31 July, joining Company F, Marine Barracks, Parris Island, South Carolina, and was subsequently transferred to 133rd Company at the Marines' new base at Quantico, Virginia, in early January the following year. In February, the company sailed from Philadelphia in the USS Von Steuben, arriving in Brest on 24 February...