Joe (Corporal Rendinell) at the outbreak of the War was working in the steel mills as an electrician. He joined up with the 6th Marines, and - fought with his regiment through the battle of Belleau Woods. He was wounded and gassed three times, rejoined his regiment and was discharged at the end of the war with three citations for bravery. "Here is the war seen through the eyes of the average young American soldier, disciplined and toughened by it, both physically and spiritually. When it came to rough stuff he could hold his own with anybody. He had none of the edifying traits of the bedtime story hero. With him war was a desperate "knock down and drag out" business, the mighty crushing drama of stem reality. "His diary, ungrammatical, illiterate, with spelling often incorrect, has in its simplicity a majesty and dramatic range that is remarkable. Says George Pattullo, "The Corporal has put a whole war into fewer words than a correspondent employs to tell how clever he was in getting up to the front." "He describes with vivid simplicity the battle of Belleau Woods, in which he was a member of an advance scouting party. He dismisses mention of his being wounded in half a dozen words, but words which are loaded impressively with feeling and strength. "His diary is the personal touch applied to history, and withal it has a robust, healthy, frank humour."
