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Hem admires General Omar Bradley and General Joseph Lawton Collins and loves the Army of the United States, but cannot love a chicken division when it is chicken. Love has its limits, but when it is given it is given for keeps though awful things may happen to it.
In regard to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Hemingway, catching another question, only believes that all staff officers should have some combat experience to be familiar with their tools, which are, or were, members of the human race. In the last war, Hemingway, a word I'm getting sick of, was at sea on various projects for approximately two years under the orders of Colonel John Thomason, USMC, Colonel Hayne D. Boyden, USMC, Colonel John Hart, USMC. Then Hemingway left for the ETO and was accredited to the R.A.F. and specifically the tactical air force commanded by Air Marshal "Mary" Coningham. He flew with them for a short time and then was accredited to the Third U.S. Army, from which he escaped while they were waiting around to go. They went very well once the infantry made the hole for them to go through, and held it open on both elbows.
Hemingstein was by this time with an infantry division which he loved [the 4th] and which had three fine regiments, wonderful artillery and good battalion of armor and excellent spare parts. Hemingstein was only a guest of this division, but he tried to make himself useful. He was with them through the Normandy breakthrough, Schnee Eifel, Hürtgen and the defense of Luxembourg.
About the other queries: there are 165,000 words done on the long book [on which Hemingway has been working since 1942]. Thirty thousand words done on poems.
About what he will concede [on the subject of Across the River and into the Trees]: we concede nothing, and what we take we hold.
For technicalities, the decorations that Hemingstein the writer holds, and the only ones that he respects, are the Medaglia d'Argento al Valore Militare and three Croce al Merita di Guerra.
Anything Mary [Mrs. Hemingway] told you over the phone I deny. Every word of this is accurate and true and I vouch for it and you can publish it in full or not at all.