This collection contains eight typed letters by author Leslie W. Quirk to his friend, fellow World War I veteran Walker H. Mills, and retained copies of Mills's nine responses to Quirk. Mills and Quirk served together in the American Field Service on the Western Front, Réserve Mallet, Motor Transport Company 839. Quirk struck up the correspondence in 1926 as he began writing a juvenile novel about the war, which he eventually published as Jimmy Goes to War (1931). They discussed the potential contents of the book, what parts of the story it would leave out or keep in, and descriptive details (such as insignia colors, the text of French signs, and other minutia). An inscribed copy of Jimmy Goes to War to Walker Mills accompanies the letters. The volume contains manuscript notations that appear to be an effort to identify the real names of fictionalized characters in the story.
Walker Hill Mills was born on November 23, 1893, to parents Louis Albert Mills (1864-1947) and Anna Mills (1870-1960). Walker lived with his sisters Margaret and Anna Louise Mills on Lincoln Avenue in Decatur, Illinois. In the spring of 1917, while studying at the University of Michigan, Walker Mills registered for the draft. He subsequently enlisted and served as Corporal in the American Field Service, Réserve Mallet. Mills served in Motor Transport Company 839, which handled ambulance and supply transportation on the Western Front. After the war, Mills earned his LL.B. from the University of Michigan in 1922 and, on December 13, 1924, he married Rebecca Munro McCredie (1893-1944). The two had three children, including Cynthia Y., David K., and Nancy R. Mills. Walker Mills died on January 17, 1962.
Leslie W. Quirk was born on May 12, 1882, in Alta, Iowa, to parents William F. and Emma Elizabeth Quirk. The family settled in Madison, Wisconsin. Leslie Quirk studied English at the University of Wisconsin, graduating in 1904, before moving temporarily to Bergen, New Jersey, and New York City. He began a career as an author, publishing coming of age stories for a juvenile audience and an instructional work, How to Write a Short Story (1906). On October 28, 1917, Quirk enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving as Sergeant in the American Field Service, Réserve Mallet, Motor Transport Company 839, with Walker H. Mills. He received his discharge June 25, 1919. Quirk continued his writing career and moved to San Diego, California, in 1931. He died on November 28, 1960.
