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Once A Marine-Always A Marine
Soldier-adventurer Ben Finney has lived and fought through three wars --- and seen quite a bit of the world in between. He knew Fitzgerald and Hemingway. He starred in a motion picture during the 1920s. He went on safari in Africa.
The author sees his Marine Corps experience --- in the First World War, the Second World War, and finally Korea --- as the unifying thread of his life. He has always been a soldier, and he has learned to accept the bad with the good.
He joined the Marine Corps while still underage and fought in some of the most decisive battles of the First World War. After being wounded and discharged, he traveled extensively the world over: spending time in Africa and Asia, cruising the South Pacific, crossing Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and returning every summer to the French Riviera. In France in the 1920s, Ben Finney became part of the circle of American expatriates --- artists, writers, and film personalities with whom he lived and played, from Paris to Saint Moritz to the Cap d'Antibes.
Again volunteering for duty in the Second World War, he was soon fighting the Japanese in the Pacific, particularly on Guadalcanal. After the war, he tried his hand at film producing, on location and in Hollywood, and finally returned to his adopted city of New York. It was from there that, in 1952, he was recalled to active duty in Korea and commissioned to report on Marine air and land activities along the front lines.
Ben Finney has done a lot of living in a world that has changed immensely, and he has recorded here the story of his small part in changing it and his large part in enjoying it. Through peace and war, good times and bad, he has given and taken with the best of them. Here are the terrors and hardships of combat, but most of all here is the irrepressible spirit of a Marine who loved life and who, even in the worst of circumstances, tried to make the best of things.
The author sees his Marine Corps experience --- in the First World War, the Second World War, and finally Korea --- as the unifying thread of his life. He has always been a soldier, and he has learned to accept the bad with the good.
He joined the Marine Corps while still underage and fought in some of the most decisive battles of the First World War. After being wounded and discharged, he traveled extensively the world over: spending time in Africa and Asia, cruising the South Pacific, crossing Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and returning every summer to the French Riviera. In France in the 1920s, Ben Finney became part of the circle of American expatriates --- artists, writers, and film personalities with whom he lived and played, from Paris to Saint Moritz to the Cap d'Antibes.
Again volunteering for duty in the Second World War, he was soon fighting the Japanese in the Pacific, particularly on Guadalcanal. After the war, he tried his hand at film producing, on location and in Hollywood, and finally returned to his adopted city of New York. It was from there that, in 1952, he was recalled to active duty in Korea and commissioned to report on Marine air and land activities along the front lines.
Ben Finney has done a lot of living in a world that has changed immensely, and he has recorded here the story of his small part in changing it and his large part in enjoying it. Through peace and war, good times and bad, he has given and taken with the best of them. Here are the terrors and hardships of combat, but most of all here is the irrepressible spirit of a Marine who loved life and who, even in the worst of circumstances, tried to make the best of things.
128 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1977
About the author
Ben Finney
13 books1 followerBen Rudolph Finney (1933-2017) was an American anthropologist.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 25, 2020
An absolutely fascinating memoir jammed into a very short read. Ben Finney was a Marine who served in two World Wars and in the Korean conflict. He was a world traveler and adventurer. He circumnavigated the Earth 14 times in his life. He crossed Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. He was one of the passengers on the Graf Zeppelin's first trans-Atlantic flight. He always returned to Paris in April and spent his summers on the Riviera. He explored Africa and the Far East extensively. He was one of the first tourists to visit Angkor Wat. He could speak French and Swahili. He hunted and fished with Robert Roark and Earnest Hemingway. He says of his early life "Nobody had a better time spending an inheritance".
His close friends included Hemingway, Cole Porter, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, John O'Hara, and countless Hollywood and television stars. He was an author, movie actor, and movie and television producer and writer. I find it astonishing that if you Google his name you will find nothing. How can a person who lived such a life surrounded by such famous friends be lost to us today?
His close friends included Hemingway, Cole Porter, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, John O'Hara, and countless Hollywood and television stars. He was an author, movie actor, and movie and television producer and writer. I find it astonishing that if you Google his name you will find nothing. How can a person who lived such a life surrounded by such famous friends be lost to us today?
January 3, 2014
This book dovetails Finney’s first book “Feet First” published six years prior that was twice as long and contained more tails and adventures. Still this is a very humorous memoir full of friendships and connections with Hollywood personalities, the well-to-do and some of the Marine Corps finest. Finney began his Marine Corps service as an active WWI officer in France and as a reservist he found his way to serve during WWII at Guadalcanal, followed by duty in the Korean War to ultimately have the lasting recognition of being the final officer from the original WWI Fifth Regiment to retire. The forward was written by his good friend and 20th Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Lemuel Shepherd (Ret.)
December 4, 2013
Let's see - a autobiography about a man that served in the U.S. Marine Corps in three wars, starred in a movie, was a globe trotter, big game hunter, rubbed elbows with the Hollywood elite during the glamour years. Did I leave anything out? Oh, he includes the best recipe for mint julep that I have encountered. All that in a little over 100 pages.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews