A Boy in France

From Bananafish

A Boy in France Status underpublished Original publication source Saturday Evening Post Original publication date March 31, 1945 Salinger.org rating 2.9 Previous Next Once a Week Won't Kill You Elaine

Original art from the Saturday Evening Post

A sad story about a young man preparing for the night on the front lines in France. He reads a letter which says "Dear Babe" from a young girl named Matilda so we can assume it's about Babe Gladwaller.

The boy raised his dirty, stinking, tired upper body, and from a sitting position, without looking at anything, he got to his feet. Groggily he bent over, picked up and put on his helmet. He walked unsteadily back to the blanket truck, and from a stack of muddy blanket rolls he pulled out his own. Carrying the slight, unwarm bundle under his left arm, he began to walk along the bushy perimeter of the field. He passed by Hurkin, who was sweatily digging a foxhole, and neither he nor Hurkin glanced with any interest at the other.

Contents 1 Deck 2 Recurring characters 3 Trivia 4 Sources

Deck

He was young, tired and half sick. But for a few minutes he forgot the misery of foxhole life while he reread a crumpled letter from home.

Recurring characters

Appearing:

• Babe Gladwaller
• Matilda Gladwaller

Mentioned:

• Mrs. Gladwaller
• John Gladwaller
• Frances Polk
• Jackie Benson

Trivia

• The letter is dated July 5, 1944

Sources

• (March 31 1945) A Boy in France. Saturday Evening Post CCXVII: 21, 92.

• Reprinted in:
  • The Saturday Evening Post, July/August 2010
  • The Saturday Evening Post Stories, 1942-1945 ed. by Ben Hibbs (New York: Random House, 1946), pp. 314-320