TRANSCRIBED FROM THE DEQEEN BEE JUNE 21, 1918 P. 7
Somewhere in France,
May 26, 1918
Dear Mrs. Jones and Neighbors:
Yes, it was quite a surprise to me at receiving your letter. But I was very glad to get it for it makes me feel good to know that some of my neighbors haven’t forgotten me and are interested in me.
Our people at home cannot realize how it is to be so far from friends and home and under such different conditions with a strange people who cannot speak English. In fact it is almost like starting a new life--a life that is far different from any that I have ever experienced.
Since I left home last July my life has seemed almost as a long dream. I have hardly realized what was happened, although if it is the good lord’s will that I get back home safely, I shall be able to tell very many thrilling and interesting things that I am now passing through every way.
It is no fun to be engaged in such a war as we are now in, but we feel honored to know that we are fighting and giving our lives for such a cause as right and liberty--a cause that we have al-ways stood for and one that we must maintain even if it does cost the lives of many of us. So tell the boys who are yet to come that we are over here anxiously awaiting their arrival, for the more the merrier, and the shorter time we will have to be here.
All we need is the earnest prayers and cooperation of our folks at home and without that we can do nothing. You are depending upon us for a happy and peaceful future and we are depending upon you for our food and clothes. So everyone should do everything they can to raise the things we need. We are living like kings at present and never want for anything.
If we get sick, the Red Cross is always ready to take care of us. The nurses treat us as our own mothers would were we at home. Ha! our worst trouble, when we go to a hospital is getting out. They want to keep us.
The Y. M. C. A. furnished us with writing material and good books to read. I have just received a nice library of about 75 volumes through the Y for the boys in my squadron. We also have lots of good magazines.
We have plenty of good music during the day and the night seems only a few minutes long. The aeroplanes are like bees over us all day and a noise they do make. It is wonderful to be up in them. You can see for miles—and you have something to see too, if you are not too scared to look down. A very peculiar sensation to see two or three miles from the ground and look down.
Well it is getting late and I must close. Hoping that I have written something that will interest anyone who wishes to read this, and desiring the prayers of all, I am.
A neighbor friend.
Algie B. Cannon
P.S. I would be glad to hear from any of my friends and will try to answer all the letters I receive.
NOTES: Born in 1894 and died in 1961. He is buried in the McHorse Cemetery in Sevier County, Arkansas.
TRANSCRIBED BY LARAE SHURLEY
Somewhere in France,
May 26, 1918
Dear Mrs. Jones and Neighbors:
Yes, it was quite a surprise to me at receiving your letter. But I was very glad to get it for it makes me feel good to know that some of my neighbors haven’t forgotten me and are interested in me.
Our people at home cannot realize how it is to be so far from friends and home and under such different conditions with a strange people who cannot speak English. In fact it is almost like starting a new life--a life that is far different from any that I have ever experienced.
Since I left home last July my life has seemed almost as a long dream. I have hardly realized what was happened, although if it is the good lord’s will that I get back home safely, I shall be able to tell very many thrilling and interesting things that I am now passing through every way.
It is no fun to be engaged in such a war as we are now in, but we feel honored to know that we are fighting and giving our lives for such a cause as right and liberty--a cause that we have al-ways stood for and one that we must maintain even if it does cost the lives of many of us. So tell the boys who are yet to come that we are over here anxiously awaiting their arrival, for the more the merrier, and the shorter time we will have to be here.
All we need is the earnest prayers and cooperation of our folks at home and without that we can do nothing. You are depending upon us for a happy and peaceful future and we are depending upon you for our food and clothes. So everyone should do everything they can to raise the things we need. We are living like kings at present and never want for anything.
If we get sick, the Red Cross is always ready to take care of us. The nurses treat us as our own mothers would were we at home. Ha! our worst trouble, when we go to a hospital is getting out. They want to keep us.
The Y. M. C. A. furnished us with writing material and good books to read. I have just received a nice library of about 75 volumes through the Y for the boys in my squadron. We also have lots of good magazines.
We have plenty of good music during the day and the night seems only a few minutes long. The aeroplanes are like bees over us all day and a noise they do make. It is wonderful to be up in them. You can see for miles—and you have something to see too, if you are not too scared to look down. A very peculiar sensation to see two or three miles from the ground and look down.
Well it is getting late and I must close. Hoping that I have written something that will interest anyone who wishes to read this, and desiring the prayers of all, I am.
A neighbor friend.
Algie B. Cannon
P.S. I would be glad to hear from any of my friends and will try to answer all the letters I receive.
NOTES: Born in 1894 and died in 1961. He is buried in the McHorse Cemetery in Sevier County, Arkansas.
TRANSCRIBED BY LARAE SHURLEY