The Running Sons

Abstract While the United States prepared for war, Purdy enlisted and served in the Army Air Corps but was not sent overseas. After basic training, he did desk jobs and was trained in the Spanish language. He was stationed near Biloxi, Mississippi, writing in his tent or barracks. A few weeks after the invasion of Pearl Harbor, Purdy was honorably discharged following throat surgery. He then acted as Norman MacLeish’s personal assistant and companion, traveling into Mexico. Next, he worked for the US Office of Education, part of the Federal Security Agency, in inter-American education relations, before training in Spanish in Puebla, Mexico. He returned to the University of Chicago for more Spanish study, moving in with Gertrude Abercrombie, her husband, and daughter, and mixed with artists and jazz musicians. Soon after the close of World War II, he taught in Havana, Cuba. He struggled to publish, but another story was published in 1946.