The WWI hero from Missouri you don't know — but 'No Hard Feelings'

It’s likely you’ve never heard of John Lewis Barkley.

The Missouri native fought in World War I, winning the Congressional Medal of Honor and later writing a book about his experience. Yet his book, “No Hard Feelings!” and his name remain in relative obscurity, even as the nation marks the 100th anniversary of World War I’s end.

That surprises Steven Trout, who helped get the book reprinted under the title “Scarlet Fields” in 2014.

“I’m astonished, in fact, and I don’t really know the reason,” he told St. Louis Public Radio.
Trout is an English professor at the University of South Alabama who specializes in war literature.

He first learned of Barkley during visits to the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City. The museum’s director asked Trout whether he’d read Barkley’s book.