"A Boy in France" is a short story by J. D. Salinger. It is the second part of a trio of stories following the character Babe Gladwaller. The first story is "Last Day of the Last Furlough", and the third is "The Stranger". "A Boy in France" is one of the few Salinger war stories which deals directly with combat conditions. The setting is at the front, as Babe, hunkered down in a foxhole, tries to comfort himself by rereading a letter from his sister. The bond between Babe and Matilda anticipates the relationship between Holden Caulfield (of The Catcher in the Rye)and his younger sister Phoebe.