Once there was a war

THE WAY

IT WAS

“THE LIEUTENANT WALKED SLOWLY

up the hill toward the German positions.

He carried his white flag over his head,

and his white flag was a bath towel.

Last night when he had argued for the

privilege of going up and trying to kid

the Jerry into surrender he hadn’t known it

would be like this. He hadn’t known

how lonely and exposed he would be.

The lieutenant knew that if he were hit and

not killed he would hear the shot after

he was hit, but if he were hit in the

head he wouldn’t hear or feel

anything. He hoped, if it happened, it

would happen that way ...”

One of the Unforgettable Stories John

Steinbeck Tells in Once There Was a War

Books by John Steinbeck

CUP OF GOLD

THE PASTURES OF HEAVEN

TO A GOD UNKNOWN

TORTILLA FLAT

OF MICE AND MEN

THE RED PONY

THE GRAPES OF WRATH

CANNERY ROW

THE WAYWARD BUS

THE PEARL

BURNING BRIGHT

EAST OF EDEN

SWEET THURSDAY

THE SHORT REIGN OF PIPPIN IV

Published by Bantam Books

ONCE THERE

WAS A WAR

by

JOHN STEINBECK

Bantam Books • New York

THIS LOW-PRICED BANTAM BOOK

printed in completely new type, especially designed for easy reading, contains the complete text of the original, hard-cover edition. NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED.

ONCE THERE WAS A WAR

A Bantam Book / published by arrangement with

The Viking Press, Inc.

PRINTING HISTORY

Viking edition published September 1958

Books Abridged edition published March 1959

Serialized the NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE Syndicate

June-December 1943

Bantam edition published January 1960

All rights reserved

Copyright © 1943, 1958, by John Steinbeck

Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada

Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, Inc. Its trade-mark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a bantam, is registered in the U. S. Patent Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Printed in the United States of America. Bantam Books, Inc., 25 West 45th St., New York 36, N. Y.

Contents

Contents

Introduction

ONCE THERE WAS A WAR: AN INTRODUCTION

England

TROOPSHIP

A PLANE’S NAME

NEWS FROM HOME

SUPERSTITION

PREPARATION FOR A RAID

THE GROUND CREW

WAITING

DAY OF MEMORIES

THE PEOPLE OF DOVER

MINESWEEPER

COAST BATTERY

ALCOHOLIC GOAT

STORIES OF THE BLITZ

LILLI MARLENE

WAR TALK

THE COTTAGE THAT WASN’T THERE

GROWING VEGETABLES

THE SHAPE OF THE WORLD

THEATER PARTY

DIRECTED UNDERSTANDING

BIG TRAIN

BOB HOPE

A COZY CASTLE

THE YANKS ARRIVE

A HAND

THE CAREER OF BIG TRAIN MULLIGAN

CHEWING GUM

MUSSOLINI

CRAPS

Africa

PLANE FOR AFRICA

ALGIERS

A WATCH CHISELER

OVER THE HILL

THE SHORT SNORTER WAR MENACE

THE BONE YARD

Italy

REHEARSAL

INVASION

PALERMO

SOUVENIR

WELCOME

THE LADY PACKS

CAPRI

SEA WARFARE

THE WORRIED BARTENDER

THE CAMERA MAKES SOLDIERS

THE STORY OF AN ELF

MAGIC PIECES

SYMPTOMS

THE PLYWOOD NAVY

A DESTROYER

A RAGGED CREW

VENTOTENE

Introduction

ONCE THERE WAS A WAR: AN INTRODUCTION

ONCE UPON A TIME there was a war, but so long ago and so shouldered out of the way by other wars and other kinds of wars that even people who were there are apt to forget. This war that I speak of came after the plate armor and longbows of Crécy and Agincourt and just before the little spitting experimental atom bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I attended a part of that war, you might say visited it, since I went in the costume of a war correspondent and certainly did not fight, and it is interesting to me that I do not remember very much about it. Reading these old reports sent in with excitement at the time brings back images and emotions completely lost.

Perhaps it is right or even necessary to forget accidents, and wars are surely accidents to which our species seems prone. If we could learn from our accidents it might be well to keep the memories alive, but we do not learn. In ancient Greece it was said that there had to be a war at least every twenty years because every generation of men had to know what it was like. With us, we must forget, or we could never indulge in the murderous nonsense again.