For two and a half years (1937-1939), Captain John Seymour Letcher commanded a company of the U. S. Embassy Marine Guard in Peking. During that time, he wrote letters to his parents in Virginia describing his experiences as a Westerner in the exotic imperial city.

His letters report the everyday rhythms of the military familiar to soldiers everywhere, and the challenges of life in pre-Communist China: food, servants, coping with the biting cold of Peking winters or the torrid heat of summertime. He details off-hours pastimes, the opportunities for acquisitive Americans, and the intoxicating social schedule of the foreign officials who served in Peking.

But Captain Letcher also witnessed the trauma of the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War. He saw Chinese troops who had been slaughtered by Japanese invaders and the imperial city occupied. And he relates the stirring story of the Chinese guerrillas rebounding from devastating defeat to a position of control over much of the countryside in North China.