Growing Up Gonzo: Excerpts From the Oral History of Hunter S. Thompson

Gene McGarr (lived and worked with Hunter in New York after Hunter was discharged from the Air Force): "The last thing he did, in November 1957, was to write up a press release describing a riot that took place at Elgin when the enlisted men attacked the women's quarters and the officer's mess — stole all the booze, got drunk as shit, attacked the women, beat up two officers. It was a very funny and colorful story — completely fictional, of course — and he sent a copy of it to the AP and to UPI, left a copy on his captain's desk, then drove like a son of a bitch for the gate."