Odyssey Of A Hero

Excerpt: When, in 1919, Private John Benton returned from France, he was not a hero of the proportions of three or four who, alone and unaided, had slain six or a dozen of the enemy and captured a hundred; but he was a warrior not to be sneezed at. He had been decorated by three nations and kissed by half the women in Paris, and the welcome given him by natives of his home town was one that rocked Idaho from end to end. There were seven speeches and a dozen bands and two truckloads of flowers, and more flags and friends and goodwill than John had ever seen before. His mother sat between two mayors, and his gawky young sister was deferred to and flattered by all the politicians between Boise and the Wyoming line.