The Marine, J.D. Salinger and Service

Like many of my generation (I turned 66 on Monday), I grew up with the works of J.D. Salinger, not only The Catcher in the Rye, but his short stories in The New Yorker, which I subscribed to for years, including when I was in the Marine Corps.

When Salinger died last month, I tended to agree with the numerous obituaries that portrayed him as an enigmatic figure who frittered away his talent by abandoning the literary life of Manhattan for a reclusive and unproductive existence in Cornish, N.H.

A letter from a Marine, Paul Kane, who serves in the Marine Corps headquarters' public affairs shop, to the Financial Times on Feb. 6 nudged me to a deeper understanding of Salinger - and his service to the nation. In his letter, Kane took sharp exception to the newspaper's obituary on Salinger, which began, "Seldom has a man who wrote so few words attracted so many as J.D. Salinger . . . ." The article pointed out he had not written anything since 1965. (Hapworth 16, 1924, which The New Yorker published in June, 1965, just before I returned home from Vietnam.)

Kane told the FT that "Salinger's writing was informed by his exposure to very real world experiences," such as his Army service, which included a landing on Utah Beach in France on D-Day.

Salinger, Kane wrote, then "fought across Europe in four other campaigns and saw continuous combat action in the Battle of the Bulge. He was among the first soldiers to liberate a German death camp and witness its inhumanity.

"After the war, he stayed in Europe and applied his fluency in German and French doing counter-intelligence work, interrogating prisoners and hunting war criminals."

Taking aim at the FT's core audience, Kane also pointed out, "In a world today where bankers, chief executives and fund managers wince when they hear the term 'personal adversity,' and think of how they once lost 20 percent of their portfolio, Salinger's generation was made of tougher stuff, investing in themselves and taking risks to defend and repair a broken world."

Based on Kane's online biographical information, he's made of tougher stuff, too, and has taken the kind of risks avoided by many of his generation and education, which includes an undergrad degree from the University of Maryland and a fellowship in the International Security Program at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.

Kane joined the Marine Reserves after graduating from Maryland, did a tour in Iraq in 2003 as an enlisted man and returned to active duty at HQMC in 2008.

Semper Fidelis.