Editing George Kirgo (section)

==Early life==
Kirgo was born George Blumenthal in [[Hartford, Connecticut]], the middle child of three born to Russian immigrants Isadore and Anna Blumenthal.<ref>[https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XMPX-L1F George Blumenthal in household of Isadore Blumenthal, "United States Census, 1930"]. [[FamilySearch]]. Retrieved 2014-02-08</ref> While attending [[Hartford Public High School]],<ref name=EV/> he worked as a movie usher and as a reporter for ''The Hartford Times'';<ref name=NSLF>[http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper4/Binghamton%20NY%20Press%20Grayscale/Binghamton%20NY%20Press%20Grayscale%201962.pdf/Binghamton%20NY%20Press%20Grayscale%201962%20-%202012.pdf "Nothing Succeeds Like Failure, Kirgo Claims"]. ''[[The Binghamton Press]]'', February 10, 1962; retrieved February 5, 2014.</ref> graduating in 1943, he was dubbed "the [[Orson Welles]] of HPHS" by his high school yearbook.<ref name=EV/>

In April 1944, while attending Wesleyan University, Blumenthal enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve,<ref>[https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KMX7-G38 George Blumenthal, "United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946"]. FamilySearch. Retrieved 2014-02-16.</ref> eventually serving in the [[USAAF]]<ref name=LATobit/> during the final few months of World War II, in the South Pacific and Japan.<ref name=NSLF/> It was sometime after his return, but before his brief emergence in the early 1950s as a small book seller and publisher, that Blumenthal became George Kirgo,<ref name=WC>[http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=kw%3A%22Kirgo+Books%22&fq=&dblist=638&start=11&qt=page_number_link Search results for "Kirgo Books"]. [[WorldCat]]. Retrieved 2014-02-10.</ref><ref name=UNM>[http://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=nmlcu1ms329.xml "Register of the Witter Bynner Letters to George Kirgo, 1949–1953"]</ref><ref>[[Charles Olson|Olson, Charles]] (1985). [https://books.google.com/books?id=l8NpB-Gv1WsC&dq=%22George+Kirgo+%22bookseller%22&pg=PA237 "Notes"]. ''Charles Olson & Robert Creeley: The Complete Correspondence, Volume 6''.  Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press. p. 337. {{ISBN|0-87685-585-0}}.</ref> officially adopting his erstwhile nickname.<ref name=EV/>