by Steve Newman

Created on: February 22, 2010

Colonel Clarence C. Park, Inspector General of Patton's Third Army, was sitting at his desk in what had been a private dining room of a small hotel in Nancy, Northern France, near the German border. All the hotels in Nancy had been taken over by the US military, and the one Park and his staff found themselves in was an early 19th century stone building with imposing views to east and west, and a proprietor who looked after them as if they were family. Park lit a Lucky Strike and poured another cup of strong black coffee - knowing full well his blood pressure would rise as a result - and read again the order he was about to send to Ernest Hemingway:

“ You will proceed by military aircraft and/or Government motor transportation on or about 4th October from present station to Headquarters, Inspector General Third Army (Rear) to carry out the instructions of the A.C. of S.H-2, Supreme Hq. AEF.”

Park took the accusations made against Hemingway very seriously indeed, and had, over the weeks since receiving Patton's instructions, interviewed many of the correspondents and army personnel - who had witnessed the goings on at Rambouillet - all of whom testified that Hemingway, who had come to France as a civilian newspaperman (albeit under the jurisdiction of the US Army) - had “borne arms against the enemy.”

For this - and because he was under army jurisdiction - he could only be courts-martialled.

He did not come under French jurisdiction because there wasn't any, he could not be sent back to the States to be tried as he had not committed a crime there. An American Army military court was the only solution, and if found guilty Hemingway could be sentenced to a long stretch in a military prison, or, at the very least, be sent back to the US in disgrace, with his passport withdrawn.

As Clarence Park quickly smoked his cigarette and drank his cup of coffee, he thought about the time he'd spent gathering together the evidence that Ernest Hemingway was actually carrying arms in contradiction of the strict laws governing war correspondents, had in fact used grenades against the enemy as if he were a serving soldier.

Patton's instructions had been explicit. “ Nail him!”

But now the vibes coming from the General's HQ suggested Park should not take too much time over the case, that under no circumstances was Park to bring the good name of the American Army into disrepute. Park had no intention of doing that, but goddam it all the witnesses

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