TRANSCRIBED FROM THE NEWPORT DAILY INDEPENDENT OCTOBER 18, 1918 P. 1
France, 9-19-18.
My Dear Brother:
This is to thank you for the razor blades contained in a letter received from you a few days ago. I was very glad to get both, dear boy, but think you might have taken more time, writing a longer letter, and giving me more news from the land of all my dreams. You evidently have no conception of what a letter, “a real newsy letter” means to us fellows over here, or you would at least take more time and relate the most important happenings in Newport, and vicinity. You must remember that I still have very tender thoughts of the good people there, and any news regardless of the significance would be of extreme interest to me.
I note with discord your suggestion, or rather your request of my permission to have some of my letters presented for publication; this I vigorously protest however, you may inform any one that might inquire of me that I am very happy, and enjoying the sports of the big game that we are playing over here. Be assured, dear brother, that it is a big game too; not like the world’s baseball series that was finished a few days ago, but a game to make Christian principles supreme in the affairs of the nations, and the ideals of Jesus Christ a glorious reality among men, and until that end we are here to remain. If I am among the ones chosen to be laid beneath the cold green sod of either France or Belgium, it is an honor that I adore, for I have already seen enough of Germany’s cruelty to make the blood curdle in my veins, and I truly feel that a life is the least that any one could give. But if I am lucky, when the great battle is over, and the cry of war dies away in the distant hills, then I’m going to turn my face to the west again and dream of the continent beyond the deep waters, where the flag will still be waving over the land of the free, and the home of the brave. And when in reality I awake back among my loved ones I’m going to rest for a while, and then commence life over again.
Dear brother, I am anxious to write you a long letter, but I simply have not the time. The mail from America is reaching me regularly now, and you can bet I read each letter limber. Mother’s letters of course are of greater interest than any, she is so sweet and courageous, but poor Dad, he worries about us as usual.
I am in the best of health and spirits, Frank, and by the way, send me more razor blades in each of your letters, as I cannot purchase them over here. Send them only in a letter as they will not utilize any unnecessary space that may aid materially in helping us win this war, otherwise they might, and too, it would be contrary to regulations.
With lots of love, I am
Your devoted brother,
Private Curtis C. Allen,
O & T. C. — T. A. No. 3, American Expeditionary Forces—France, A. P. O. No. 723.
NOTES: Curtis Cecil Allen was born in Gurley, Louisiana on March 1, 1891 and died on April 5, 1931. He is buried in the Magnolia Cemetery in Beaumont, Texas.
TRANSCRIBED BY LINDA MATTHEWS
France, 9-19-18.
My Dear Brother:
This is to thank you for the razor blades contained in a letter received from you a few days ago. I was very glad to get both, dear boy, but think you might have taken more time, writing a longer letter, and giving me more news from the land of all my dreams. You evidently have no conception of what a letter, “a real newsy letter” means to us fellows over here, or you would at least take more time and relate the most important happenings in Newport, and vicinity. You must remember that I still have very tender thoughts of the good people there, and any news regardless of the significance would be of extreme interest to me.
I note with discord your suggestion, or rather your request of my permission to have some of my letters presented for publication; this I vigorously protest however, you may inform any one that might inquire of me that I am very happy, and enjoying the sports of the big game that we are playing over here. Be assured, dear brother, that it is a big game too; not like the world’s baseball series that was finished a few days ago, but a game to make Christian principles supreme in the affairs of the nations, and the ideals of Jesus Christ a glorious reality among men, and until that end we are here to remain. If I am among the ones chosen to be laid beneath the cold green sod of either France or Belgium, it is an honor that I adore, for I have already seen enough of Germany’s cruelty to make the blood curdle in my veins, and I truly feel that a life is the least that any one could give. But if I am lucky, when the great battle is over, and the cry of war dies away in the distant hills, then I’m going to turn my face to the west again and dream of the continent beyond the deep waters, where the flag will still be waving over the land of the free, and the home of the brave. And when in reality I awake back among my loved ones I’m going to rest for a while, and then commence life over again.
Dear brother, I am anxious to write you a long letter, but I simply have not the time. The mail from America is reaching me regularly now, and you can bet I read each letter limber. Mother’s letters of course are of greater interest than any, she is so sweet and courageous, but poor Dad, he worries about us as usual.
I am in the best of health and spirits, Frank, and by the way, send me more razor blades in each of your letters, as I cannot purchase them over here. Send them only in a letter as they will not utilize any unnecessary space that may aid materially in helping us win this war, otherwise they might, and too, it would be contrary to regulations.
With lots of love, I am
Your devoted brother,
Private Curtis C. Allen,
O & T. C. — T. A. No. 3, American Expeditionary Forces—France, A. P. O. No. 723.
NOTES: Curtis Cecil Allen was born in Gurley, Louisiana on March 1, 1891 and died on April 5, 1931. He is buried in the Magnolia Cemetery in Beaumont, Texas.
TRANSCRIBED BY LINDA MATTHEWS