Philly, the Heroine Pup Who Loved Doughboys

This story of World War I and the legend of Philly is selective rather than comprehensive. The work has its strengths and weaknesses since it is painted on a broad canvass. To humanize the war, I present it as a diary—reminiscence from one soldier’s point of view. I tried to strike a balance between the specific and the general. I wanted to portray factual historical accounts, but one with emotion and imagination at work. The fact, fantasy, chronology, and locations are sometimes compressed—nonlinear or subordinated—to recreate the illusion of reality and intensify the appeal of Philly as a heroic mascot.