Millard Lampell

Writing Career

Lampell as a young man, likely from his college days.

Millard Lampell began writing when he was in college at the University of West Virginia from 1936-1940. In those years and into the 1940s he published magazine essays and wrote scripts for radio. Lampell served as a sergeant in the US Army Air Force during World War II writing and directing AAF radio programs from 1943 to 1946 that aired on all of the major broadcast networks. He received many commendations from armed forces officers for his work. In the years after the war, Lampell became a prolific writer across media, including radio, television, film, novels, poetry, short fiction, and the stage.

Lampell’s best-known work, “The Lonesome Train,” was produced on Columbia Presents Corwin in 1944. This cantata about the journey of the funeral train of Abraham Lincoln has become a classic of its genre and has been performed countless times throughout the world. Lampell’s radio credits include episodes of Green Valley, USA; It’s the Navy; Men, Machines, and Victory; The Prudential Family Hour; On the Beam; Theatre Guild of the Air; United Nations Radio; United Jewish Appeal; and Mental Health Program that were broadcast throughout the 1940s and early 1950s. He published a compilation of his radio plays in 1946 titled The Long Way Home.

Digital Documents:

Letters of commendation for AAF radio productions