TRANSCRIBED FROM THE LOG CABIN DEMOCRAT
Editor Log Cabin Democrat:
It has been something like six months since I wrote our paper, of which I am so proud, so I will risk my chances of it escaping the wastebasket.
I am now in radio school that the government has established at Howard University. I have been here for eight weeks and expect to complete my course in March, 1918. We have about 2,700 men at this school and more coming every day.
I graduated in the first class from the radio school in Philadelphia, thereby qualifying for this place. When I wrote you at Great Lakes I expected to be at sea long before now. But I was given a chance for something besides a deck man and readily accepted the opportunity.
We have men here from all parts of the United States. But they have one ambition and that is to send a message that a German U-boat has been destroyed.
You can imagine how glad one feels when he is put on the “good bye and good luck” list. There are several leaving here each day to cast their fortunes with those who have been at sea for some time.
I suppose the people of Faulkner county are more fortunate than the people of Boston. Sugar is very scarce, and it cannot be bought at any price at the retail grocery stores. In our mess hall we probably fare better than the civilians, as we have sugar, but we eat white bread only once each week.
But we must consider ourselves lucky when we view our allies’ poverty. I was talking to some of the men that have returned from “Somewhere in England.” They say that the British have not had sugar for three months and potatoes are almost a food of the past.
We men are not worrying over the outlook of the war, and all you can hear the men say, “Well, the more allies Germany has the more we will get to whip.”
I have seen several Arkansas men in the last few days who have had the pleasure of seeing foreign service. I am proud of our county when I think of how little some of our large cities have contributed in money and men to the cause of Democracy. Just at the present the people of Boston are taking more interest in holding John Johnson, the West Virginia negro outlaw, from the bar of justice than they are in this conflict.
If any of my boy friends are contemplating joining the navy, and think I am capable of advising them as to what branch of service they should enter, I will be glad to be of any service I may be able to render.
I hope the next time I write you I will be able to tell of a victory over a German war ship.
Hugh (“Pug”) Clark.
18th Co., U.S.N. Radio, Harvard U., Cambridge, Mass.
NOTES: Hugh D. Clark was born on July 22, 1885 and died on December 16, 1884. He is buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Faulkner County, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as serving in the US Navy in WWI. He was writing to his parents George W. and Olive S. Clark.
TRANSCRIBED BY JULIETTE BRASHEARS
Editor Log Cabin Democrat:
It has been something like six months since I wrote our paper, of which I am so proud, so I will risk my chances of it escaping the wastebasket.
I am now in radio school that the government has established at Howard University. I have been here for eight weeks and expect to complete my course in March, 1918. We have about 2,700 men at this school and more coming every day.
I graduated in the first class from the radio school in Philadelphia, thereby qualifying for this place. When I wrote you at Great Lakes I expected to be at sea long before now. But I was given a chance for something besides a deck man and readily accepted the opportunity.
We have men here from all parts of the United States. But they have one ambition and that is to send a message that a German U-boat has been destroyed.
You can imagine how glad one feels when he is put on the “good bye and good luck” list. There are several leaving here each day to cast their fortunes with those who have been at sea for some time.
I suppose the people of Faulkner county are more fortunate than the people of Boston. Sugar is very scarce, and it cannot be bought at any price at the retail grocery stores. In our mess hall we probably fare better than the civilians, as we have sugar, but we eat white bread only once each week.
But we must consider ourselves lucky when we view our allies’ poverty. I was talking to some of the men that have returned from “Somewhere in England.” They say that the British have not had sugar for three months and potatoes are almost a food of the past.
We men are not worrying over the outlook of the war, and all you can hear the men say, “Well, the more allies Germany has the more we will get to whip.”
I have seen several Arkansas men in the last few days who have had the pleasure of seeing foreign service. I am proud of our county when I think of how little some of our large cities have contributed in money and men to the cause of Democracy. Just at the present the people of Boston are taking more interest in holding John Johnson, the West Virginia negro outlaw, from the bar of justice than they are in this conflict.
If any of my boy friends are contemplating joining the navy, and think I am capable of advising them as to what branch of service they should enter, I will be glad to be of any service I may be able to render.
I hope the next time I write you I will be able to tell of a victory over a German war ship.
Hugh (“Pug”) Clark.
18th Co., U.S.N. Radio, Harvard U., Cambridge, Mass.
NOTES: Hugh D. Clark was born on July 22, 1885 and died on December 16, 1884. He is buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Faulkner County, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as serving in the US Navy in WWI. He was writing to his parents George W. and Olive S. Clark.
TRANSCRIBED BY JULIETTE BRASHEARS