He was best known for his historical novel The Sand Pebbles, which tells the story of an American sailor serving aboard a gunboat on the Chinese Yangtze River in 1925.

[1] Seeking more opportunities than could be found in such a rural part of the country at the height of the Great Depression, McKenna joined the U.S. Navy in 1931 at the age of 18.

"He had enormous talent", writes his colleague Ben Bova in the book Notes to a Science Fiction Writer.

The protagonist was an enlisted career sailor on a U.S. Navy river gunboat named the San Pablo in China during the 1920s.

[2] Shortly after the movie deal was announced, McKenna appeared on the television quiz program To Tell the Truth, receiving one vote from the celebrity panel.