Pogiebait’s War

July 29: Stories of Marines in WWII-Pacific

By Mike Bazinet

On July 29, Jack H. (“Nick”) McCall Jr. will talk about his book, Pogiebait’s War, chronicling the story of his father’s journey from a small town in Tennessee to World War II combat service with the US Marines in the vast Pacific from Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands to Guam and the Marianas. Jack McCall Sr. earned the nickname “Pogiebait,” from the Marine slang term for his fondness for candy.

But Pogiebait’s War (University of Tennessee Press, 2022) goes beyond memoir to provide a highly detailed study of the US Marine Corps and the understudied Ninth Defense Battalion. Interestingly, the pre-World War II defense battalion structure serves as something of a historical predicate to the current and controversial ongoing reorganization of the Corps known as Force Design 2030. McCall will discuss the Marine Defense Battalion history and employment.

The program, sponsored by the Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas, is free and open to the public and will be held on July 29 at 2 p.m. at Brevard College’s McLarty-Goodson Hall, Room MG-125, Brevard.

Jack H. (“Nick”) McCall, Jr. is an attorney, writer and teacher in Knoxville, Tennessee. A former Regular Army officer, he retired in 2021 as a Senior Attorney and Deputy Designated Agency Ethics Official from the Tennessee Valley Authority. He received his B.A. cum laude from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. with honors from the University of Tennessee.

He is the author of various articles on legal, foreign policy and historical topics and several books, including (with John Romeiser) The East Tennessee Veterans Memorial (University of Tennessee Press, 2020).

McCall served on the Boards of Governors of the Tennessee and Knoxville Bar Associations and Legal Aid of East Tennessee, among other honors, activities and community service roles. Before joining TVA in 2006, he was of counsel with Hunton & Williams (1994-2003), and was General Counsel and Secretary of CTI Molecular Imaging, Inc. (2003-2005).

“We are pleased to welcome Nick McCall to Brevard to talk before one of the best informed and most appreciative audiences for military history and veterans’ experiences that any writer or historian is likely to find anywhere,” said David Morrow, Board President for the Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas. “We expect to see a good number of Marine veterans from our region at what will be a fascinating talk.”