William March William March ( September 18 , 1893 – May 15 , 1954 ) was an American writer of psychological fiction and a highly decorated US Marine . The author of six novels and four short - story collections , March was praised by critics but never attained great popularity . March grew up in rural Alabama in a family so poor that he could not finish high school , and did not get a high school equivalency until he was 20 . He later studied law , but was again unable to afford finishing his studies . In 1917 , while working in a Manhattan law office , he volunteered for the US Marines and saw action in World War I , for which he was decorated with some of the highest honors — the French Croix de Guerre , the American Distinguished Service Cross and the Navy Cross . After the war he again worked in a law office before embarking on a financially successful business career . He also began writing , first short stories , then in 1933 a novel based on his war experiences , " Company K " . Literary success eluded him . His last novel , " The Bad Seed " , was published in 1954 , the year March died . It became a bestseller , but he never saw his story adapted first for the stage and then for film . Only " Company K " and " The Bad Seed " are still in print . Early life . William March was born William Edward Campbell , in Florida , where his father worked as a " timber cruiser " , his job to estimate which stands of trees were big enough for lumber companies to invest in a saw mill in the area . He was the eldest son of eleven children ( two of whom died in infancy ) , and grew up in and around Mobile , Alabama . His father was an occasional heavy drinker who had a fondness for reciting poetry ( especially Edgar Allan Poe ' s ) at the dinner table . His mother , whose maiden name was Susan March , was probably better educated and taught the children to read and write ; in the eyes of her family , she had married beneath herself . Neither of them seemed to have supported young March ' s literary efforts ; he later stated he had composed a 10 , 000 line poem at the age of 12 but had burned the manuscript . Having 8 other siblings , March was afforded no privileges ; by the time he was 14 the family moved to Lockhart , Alabama , preventing him from going to high school ( Lockhart would later become the imaginary Hodgetown , Pearl County , in March ' s 1936 novel " The Tallons " ) . Instead , March received occasional schooling , probably in one - room edifices then common in sawmill towns . He found employment in the office of a lumber mill . Two years later March had returned to Mobile and found employment in a local law office . By 1913 , he had saved enough money to take a high school course at Valparaiso University in Indiana , which allowed him to enroll at the University of Alabama to study law . He thrived as a student but lacked the necessary tuition to complete his law degree . In the fall of 1916 , he moved to New York . There he lived in a small boarding house in Brooklyn , finding work as a clerk in the Manhattan law firm of Nevins , Brett and Kellog , and attending plays . World War I . On June 5 , 1917 , March registered for military service , a little over a month after the U . S . entered World War I . He volunteered for the U . S . Marines on July 25 , and after completing his training on Parris Island was shipped to France in February 1918 . Along with two other future World War I literary figures , John W . Thomason ( " Fix Bayonets " ) and Laurence Stallings ( " What Price Glory ? " ) , March embarked on USS " Von Steuben " at Philadelphia . March reached France in March 1918 , serving as a sergeant in Co F , 2nd Battalion , 5th Marines , 4th Brigade of Marines , Second Division of the U . S . Army Expeditionary Force . March ' s company took part in every major engagement in which American troops were involved , incurring heavy casualties . As a member of the 5th Marines , March saw his first action on the old Verdun battlefield near Les Eparges , and shortly afterwards at Belleau Wood , where he was wounded in the head and shoulder . He returned to the front in time for the offensive at Soissons and the Battle of Saint - Mihiel . March was twice promoted and had attained the rank of sergeant when he was assigned to French troops in the Blanc Mont area , on " statistical duties " . During the assault on Blanc Mont , which started on 3 October , March " left a shelter to rescue wounded " , and the next day , " during a counterattack , the enemy having advanced to within 300 meters of the first aid station , he immediately entered the engagement and though wounded refused to be evacuated until the Germans were thrown back " . As a result of his actions , March received the French Croix de Guerre with Palm and the Army Distinguished Service Cross for valor ( the Distinguished Service Cross is the second highest Army decoration , next only to the Medal of Honor ) . A curious detail emerges from the account of his war experiences that would find its way into his fiction : though it appears he was never gassed badly enough to be hospitalized for it , upon his return from the war he told people that he was and that he only had a short time to live ; a number of characters in " Company K " suffer and die after mustard gas attacks . Roy Simmonds , March ' s biographer , locates what he calls the " two worlds of William March " ( the title of his biography ) in this period : throughout his life , March appears to have mixed reality with imagined memory , telling supposedly historical anecdotes that may not have been true . An experience March told a number of times included his jumping into a bomb crater to take shelter and coming face to face with a young German soldier , whom he instantly bayoneted ; this anecdote found its way into " Company K " . Official citations . The official citation to the Croix de Guerre reads as follows : The citation for March ' s Distinguished Service Cross ( under his birthname William E . Campbell ) reads as follows : When the Navy Cross , the United States Navy ' s second highest award for valor after the Medal of Honor , was established in 1919 , March received that award as well ( 326 Marines who had previously received the Army Distinguished Service Cross in World War I would receive the Navy Cross for the same action ) . March ' s citation for the Navy Cross reads similar to that for the Army Distinguished Service Cross . Literary aftermath of World War I . In 1919 , March returned to civilian life , but experienced bouts of anxiety and depression , a common occurrence with returning veterans . The aforementioned experience , of having bayoneted a young , blond German soldier , is recounted in " Company K " , there attributed to Private Manuel Burt ; March suffered hysterical attacks at different moments in his life related to the throat and the eyes . He rarely spoke of his own war experiences or awards , though he was later noted to always take his medals with him and to tell war stories on occasion . March stayed for a few weeks with his family in Tuscaloosa , then found work at a law firm in Mobile . Soon , however , he became the personal secretary of John B . Waterman , of whose newly founded and quickly growing shipping company , the Waterman Steamship Corporation , he eventually became vice - president . In 1924 he was promoted to traffic manager . In 1926 , the company opened up an office in Memphis , Tennessee , which March supervised ; he spent two years in Memphis and became involved in the local theater scene . All the while he traveled the country on business trips , often accompanied by his friend and business associate J . P . Case . This associate recalls that March ' s rooms were usually littered with papers and books , many of them on psychology : March was reading Sigmund Freud , Carl Jung , and Alfred Adler intensively . In 1928 , March moved again , to New York , where he took creative writing classes at Columbia University and began writing short stories . March settled on his pseudonym after sending out a number of different stories under different pseudonyms ; the one that got published first decided his literary name . " The Holly Wreath " was his first publication ; it appeared under the name of William March in " The Forum " , a literary magazine from New York , in September 1929 . " The Forum " would publish more of his stories , as did " Prairie Schooner " , " " , and other literary magazines . His stories were included in two annual anthologies of short fiction , Edward O ' Brien ' s " The Best American Short Stories " and the O . Henry Prize Stories , in 1930 , 1931 , and 1932 . In all , he published some twenty stories ; four of them were vignettes that were to be included in his first novel . March finished his first novel , " Company K " while living in New York ; it was published in January 1933 by Harrison Smith & Robert Haas . Encompassing much of his war time experience , it was an instant success and went through three printings . By this time March was already living in Hamburg , Germany ; he was now Waterman ' s senior traffic manager and was sent to Germany to help open up the European market . In Hamburg he finished his second novel , " Come in at the Door " , his first novel of the " Pearl County " series of novels and short stories , set in the mythical towns of Hodgetown , Baycity , and Reedyville . In Hamburg he witnessed the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime and wrote a prophetic short story , " Personal Letter " , which expressed anxiety over the political future of Germany and the world . March was fearful to publish the story , as he was already well - established as an anti - militarist author and was afraid to place his German friends and associates in undue peril . It was later published in " " . Two years later , following a move to London , March finished his third novel , " The Tallons " , the second in his " Pearl County " series . Reviews in the UK were generally positive , more so than in the United States . Psychological problems that had already bothered him in Germany worsened in London , and he became a patient of Edward Glover , who was able to cure March ' s throat paralysis , diagnosing it as a hysterical condition . ( March dedicated " The Tallons " to him , " as a slight recompense for the gray hairs I have put in his head " . ) While in London he became acquainted with a number of literary characters , leaving more of his Waterman work to his subordinates . In 1937 , he returned to the US and within two years resigned his position to concentrate more on his writing , which by then was a full - time occupation ; he had been paid partly in stock and could live well off the dividends . 1937 , Simmonds notes , was an important year — it marked the high point of his productivity as a short - story writer , and the magazine " The American Mercury " took up " Company K " for a reprinting . In 1943 , he completed his most ambitious and critically acclaimed novel , " The Looking - Glass " , the final book in his " Pearl County " series ; Bert Hitchcock , literature professor at Auburn , called it March ' s " finest literary achievement . " Later years . Harcourt published a March collection , " Trial Balance : The Collected Short Stories of William March " , in 1945 , and according to Marjorie Farber , in " The Kenyon Review " , the stories pack " big ideas . . . elaborately in tiny anecdotal satires " . March , she says , is " the dramatist of ideas , titles , puns - - a comedian ' s Comedian , bearing perhaps the same relation to fiction as Stevens bears to poetry . But all the same it ' s astonishing what variety of quiet desperation and low misery and high comedy he manages to encompass in this book . Let ' s skip his defects , shall we ? I haven ' t nearly room enough for all his virtues . " This critical acclaim notwithstanding , in 1947 , after years of depression from his experiences in the war and a continuing bout of writer ' s block , March suffered a nervous breakdown . He briefly returned to Mobile to recuperate and made many return visits to New York to settle his affairs . On one such visit in 1949 , March happened upon the gallery of New York art dealer Klaus Perls , which proved to be a turning point in his life . Perls , accustomed to dealing with creative personalities , accepted March in a way he had not felt since his days of therapy in London . Through Perls , March was able to talk openly about his creative process , using Perls as a sounding board to his ideas . Perls also introduced March to a world of other artists . In the works of Pablo Picasso and notably Chaim Soutine , March found a kinship and connection , as March and Soutine both displayed paranoid and schizophrenic tendencies . March returned Perls ' friendship with a steady acquisition of works by Soutine , Picasso , Georges Rouault , and Joseph Glasco . March continued this friendship with routine visits to New York between 1949 and 1953 , until ailing health prevented him from further travels . In late 1950 , March permanently left Mobile and purchased a Creole cottage on Dumaine Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans . It was here that he composed his last two novels , " October Island " and " The Bad Seed " . March viewed the latter novel as a meager accomplishment , but it gained the most praise and success of any of his novels , selling more than a million copies in one year , launching a long - running Broadway hit penned by the Pulitzer Prize - winning playwright Maxwell Anderson and a 1956 movie directed by Mervyn LeRoy . Death . On March 25 , 1954 , March suffered a mild heart attack and was still recovering when " The Bad Seed " was published on April 8 , and he was able to read many of the book ' s positive reviews . He was discharged from the hospital on April 24 , but after only three weeks , on the night of May 15 , 1954 , he died in his sleep of a second and more severe heart attack , aged 60 . On the morning of March ' s death , the following paragraph was discovered in his typewriter . Entitled " Poor Pilgrim , Poor Stranger " , it was presumably written after his discharge from the hospital ( Simmonds surmises it might have been from a book March was working on ) , and reads : Literary works . March ' s novels are psychological character studies that intertwine his own personal torment — deriving presumably from childhood trauma as well as from his war experiences — with the conflicts spawned by class , family , sexual , and racial matters . March ' s characters , through no fault of their own , tend to be victims of chance . He writes that freedom can only be obtained by being true to one ' s nature and humanity . Commenting on March ' s complete body of work , British - American journalist and broadcaster Alistair Cooke wrote that March was " the most underrated of all contemporary American writers of fiction " , citing the author ' s unique style as " classic modern " and stating that March was " the unrecognized genius of our time . " Cooke himself championed the anthology " A William March Omnibus " , which was published two years after March died . , only " The Bad Seed " and " Company K " are still in print . Novels . " Company K " . " Company K " , published in 1933 , was hailed as a masterpiece by critics and writers alike and has often been compared to Erich Maria Remarque ' s classic anti - war novel " All Quiet on the Western Front " for its hopeless view of war . University of Alabama professor of American literature and author Philip Beidler wrote , in his introduction to a republication of the book in 1989 , that March ' s " act of writing " Company K " , in effect reliving his very painful memories , was itself an act of tremendous courage , equal to or greater than whatever it was that earned him the Distinguished Service Cross , Navy Cross and French Croix de Guerre . " Contemporary critics praised the powerful effect of March ' s novel technique of multiple points of view ; already in 1935 ( in an essay on new techniques in the novel ) , John Frederick wrote in " The English Journal " , " The cumulative effect . . . is one of the most powerful and memorable to be found in the whole range of writing about the war . " In 2004 , Alabama filmmaker Robert Clem made a feature adaptation of the novel ; the movie attracted local interest . The novel has garnered attention as a World War I classic in other languages also : in 1967 it was translated into Italian for editor Longanesi as " " Fuoco ! " " ( " " Fire ! " " ) and in 2008 , it was translated into Dutch and published in a series called " The Library of the First World War . " " The Bad Seed " . " The Bad Seed " , published in April 1954 , was a critical and commercial success , and introduced Rhoda Penmark , an eight - year - old sociopath and burgeoning serial killer . The novel became an instant bestseller and was widely praised by critics for its use of suspense and horror . James Kelley writes , for " The New York Times Book Review " , " " The Bad Seed " scores a direct hit , either as exposition of a problem or as a work of art . Venturing a prediction and a glance over the shoulder : no more satisfactory novel will be written in 1954 or has turned up in recent memory . " Although March lived long enough to see the critical praise bestowed upon the novel and hear of its commercial success , he died before the novel ' s full impact became apparent . It went on to sell more than a million copies , was nominated for the 1955 National Book Award , adapted into a successful and long - running Broadway play by Maxwell Anderson , and was adapted for film twice , in 1956 ( directed by Mervyn Leroy ) and in 1985 ( directed by Paul Wendkos ) . Short prose . March was an accomplished short story writer and published four collections of stories . The Filipino poet and critic José García Villa regarded March as " the greatest short story writer America has produced . " He won four O . Henry Award s for his short stories , tied for the most wins by any author up until that time . " " collects many of March ' s short stories from his entire career . The book was published in 1987 by the University of Alabama Press , with an introduction by Rosemary Canfield - Reisman . None of March ' s story collections are currently in print . A little book with a March story , " The First Sunset " , was printed in a limited edition of 150 copies by Cincinnati printer and writer Robert Lowry ' s Little Man Press . 99 Fables . Six years after March ' s death , his " 99 Fables " were published by the University of Alabama Press . March ' s fables follow those of Aesop : according to a review in " The New York Times Book Review " , " Mr . March . . . has picked up where Aesop and Don Marquis left off . " Allen King , however , reviewing the book for the " South Atlantic Bulletin " , said the fables are " platitudinous " and offer no new insights into the nature of man . The cover won an award at the 1960 Southern Books Competition ; the book is not currently in print . Biographical studies . " The Two Worlds of William March " . Of paramount importance to scholars is Roy S . Simmonds ' s 1984 " definitive biography of March " , " The Two Worlds of William March " . Simmonds continued the work of his friend Lawrence William Jones , who had been working on a March biography but died in a car accident . Simmonds had only a passing knowledge of March ' s writing , but became increasingly interested in finishing Jones ' work after having read through many of the papers that Jones had left behind , notably the 43 - page memoir " Bill March " by New Orleans journalist Clint Bolton . Although March had intimated that he wished for no biography to be written , the Campbell family , after having read the completed manuscript , gave their approval , though grudgingly , it seems . The biography received positive reviews , with one reviewer calling it " a critical study that is a judicious record of March ' s life and a fine tribute to his literary achievement " , and closes on a note of praise : Complementing the biography , Simmonds also published " William March : An Annotated Checklist " , an annotated bibliography of primary and secondary documents pertaining to March ' s life and work . " William March / Company K " . A documentary film on March entitled " William March / Company K " ( 2004 ) was made by Robert Clem ; it includes excerpts from Clem ' s feature adaptation of " Company K " and focuses on the effects of March ' s painful war experience on his later life . The documentary was shown at Birmingham , Alabama ' s Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival and aired on PBS in 2004 .