Porky Baycann is the companion to Tank Gunner's immensely popular WWII historical fiction novel, Palomino. Many of the characters in Palomino Ð Twig Chestnutt with his German POWs, Teresa & Tina Chestnutt, Mayor Shipp, Major Monroe, Preacher Adams, Miss Ruby, Waldo, Pinky & Patsy, & Eliot Thurgood Ð appear in the young life of Porky during the summer of 1943.
Gene Autry invites Porky to eat a hamburger in Jeeps Cafe where the singing cowboy offers friendship & plants the seed for the boy to become a Boy Scout. A letter from the Army tells Porky's momma his daddy is missing in action & they become desperate to learn more. While picking cotton in Major Monroe's field, Preacher Adams introduces his young nephew, T J, to Porky & they become fast friends. Anxious for T J to join him as a Scout, Porky discovers it is not to be. Porky defends T J in a frightening encounter with Eliot in a cotton gin. Sally Edmonds loves Porky & hopes to become his girlfriend. Porky discovers dark goings-on in Palomino.