Through the Wheat
Encyclopedia
Through the Wheat was the first book published by Thomas Alexander Boyd
Thomas Alexander Boyd
Thomas Alexander Boyd was an American journalist and novelist, born in Defiance, Ohio. He was raised by his mother's family due to his father's death before he was born...
, about the experiences of a young American Marine during World War I.
Book Synopsis
Through the Wheat follows the experience of William Hicks, an automatic rifleman in the US Marine Corps, through his first experience of combat, at Belleau Wood. He enlists in the summer of 1917, but spends a year in France, where he serves military policeman, stevedore, and construction laborer, doesn't see frontline action and combat until the summer of 1918, when the novel begins. First, Hick's company is set to the frontline trenches, where they spend more than a month without fighting, and only once does Hicks and a squad of men leave the trenches to go on a small raid. However, during the raid, a communication mix-up causes their own lines to open fire on them, killing one of the squad and ending the raid. A few weeks later, the battalion is relieved from frontline duty.Not long after, the Germans begin their Spring Offensive
Spring Offensive
The 1918 Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht , also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during World War I, beginning on 21 March 1918, which marked the deepest advances by either side since 1914...
, and Hick's company is sent to northern France to help repel the invasion. They engage the Germans, and fight the Battle of Belleau Wood
Battle of Belleau Wood
The Battle of Belleau Wood occurred during the German 1918 Spring Offensive in World War I, near the Marne River in France. The battle was fought between the U.S...
, as one by one members of Hick's original platoon get picked off by gunfire, bombardment, gas, and even self-inflicted injury. By the end of the novel, everyone that Hicks knew a few months before is dead, and he's been so pushed by starvation, dehydration, and exhaustion that Hicks is skirting the edge of delirium
Delirium
Delirium or acute confusional state is a common and severe neuropsychiatric syndrome with core features of acute onset and fluctuating course, attentional deficits and generalized severe disorganization of behavior...
. The novel ends with Hicks losing all care in the world and going emotionally numb.