War: After Mark Twain

Much of the havoc wrought on the attacking Chinese last fortnight was caused by the U.S. 2nd Division's 23rd Regiment, commanded by Colonel John F. Chiles of Independence, Mo. This week, the Peking radio wishfully announced that John Chiles had been captured. Recalling the memorable denial of his fellow Missourian, Mark Twain, the colonel, snug in his command post on the east-central front, resisted the temptation to say that the Peking report was "greatly exaggerated." Said he, simply: " Tain't true."

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