Remembering a Veteran: Leonard H. Nason: The King of World War One Pulps

Leonard H. Nason 
Pulp Writer Par Excellence

Leonard H. Nason (1895–1970) was a highly popular American novelist and magazine writer best known for his vivid, realistic fiction about World War I. A veteran of both World Wars, he drew on his own military experiences to capture the humor, tragedy, and gritty reality of the American Expeditionary Forces.

In 1917, he enlisted in the American army in the army and fought in France with the 76th Field Artillery of the 3rd Division.  He was cited for gallantry and received the Silver Star and a Purple Heart  after becoming disabled  in the opening of the Second Battle of the Marne in July 1918 while "persistently carrying messages under heavy shell fire to maintain the liaison between his battalion and the 7th Infantry. . . and in repairing the telephone line which was repeatedly cut by enemy shells." He was transported to the 68th field hospital in Nevers and, eventually, rotated home for further care. 

Postwar, he took up a job as an insurance adjuster with the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company in Chicago. He began writing while still at this job. He was a self-taught writer, and naturally took up the "pulp" style of writing.  Pulp works are fast-paced, action-oriented with bold plots, and larger-than-life characters. The name "pulps" for this styler originating from the cheap wood-pulp magazines of the early to mid-20th century.  World War I pulp writing was very popular among the veterans of the war and there were a number of talented practitioners in the market place. Nason, however, stood out for his authenticity. Not only was he a combat veteran of the war and a born storyteller, he also had a tremendous eye for the details of soldiers' lives, both the hard scrabble misery and the utterly silly stuff. 

The 1920s were his most prolific period, with over a hundred stories published mostly in Adventure and the Saturday Evening Post. From 1926 to 1930, five books of his were published in hardcover, most of them collecting what he had written earlier for Adventure.  His most famous WWI titles from this period were Chevrons, published in 1926; his collected trio of novellas,  Three Lights from a Match, 1927; and The Man in the White Slicker, 1929 

Take it from me, these are delightful reads and can still be found online.

Chevrons (HERE)
Three Lights from a Match (HERE)
The Man in the White Slicker (HERE)

The old veteran returned to the Army after Pearl Harbor and served with an armor unit in North Africa and later returned stateside to train tankers at Fort Knox.  He wrote a few more magazine articles but wrapped up his writing career by the end of the 1940s. Leonard H. Nason died in 1970 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

In Memory of Our Old Friend Roger Jones, Who Introduced the Great War Society to WWI Pulps.

Sources:  NY Times Obituary, 1970; Pulpflakes Blog; Nasson Silver Star Citation