Private Heller and the Bantam Boys

In time for the 100th anniversary of America’s entry into the First World War, Private Heller and the Bantam Boys—based on Heller’s long-hidden diary—tells the tale of a group of privileged yet naïve Princeton University students and their big, brawny Midwestern farm boy interloper, Ralph Heller. To them, war is a grand adventure not to be missed, and they enlist as medics and ambulance drivers (think Hemingway and dos Passos) to make sure they can get to France before the war ends. These college boys go about their training filled with idealism and bravado and, despite constant marching and drilling, absolutely no preparation for what they’re about to face.