author
Alexander McClintock
1893–1918
A Kentucky-born soldier wrote this vivid World War I memoir after serving with the Canadian forces and earning the Distinguished Conduct Medal for bravery. His only book carries the urgency of someone who had seen combat up close and wanted to tell it plainly.
1 Audiobook
Best o' luck: How a fighting Kentuckian won the thanks of Britain's King
by Alexander McClintock
About the author
Born in Kentucky in 1893, Alexander McClintock is remembered for Best O’ Luck, a firsthand account of service in the First World War. Contemporary editions and library records present him as the memoir’s author and identify him as a decorated sergeant in the Canadian Overseas Forces, even though he was American-born.
His book centers on his wartime experience and the actions that brought him the Distinguished Conduct Medal. The writing is direct and personal, with little polish for its own sake, which gives it much of its appeal today: it reads like the voice of someone trying to record what happened before the moment passed.
Some biographical details outside the book are harder to confirm consistently, so it is safest to say that he lived from 1893 to 1918 and left behind a single notable wartime memoir. That short life, combined with the immediacy of his account, makes his work feel especially poignant.