The U.S. Marines have never had need of a publicist. Still they have had many. None can compare with Col. J.W.T. Jr. When one of his books came out with his sketches the young ridge runners, North and South would come down out of the mountains by the droves to have their manes roached, hoofs trimmed and enlist.

Colonel T. established the idealized example of them as hard drinking, hard fighting, hard living, and hard to kill. Of course he was speaking of the “Old Corps” which never existed except in fantasy. Still generations of Marines have tried to live up to this mold. The following fictional stories are of a little man who did just that.