TRANSCRIBED FROM THE SOUTHERN STANDARD MAY 15, 1919 P. 4
Will write you all a few lines today. I got both of your letters but this one will be the last one you will get from me in this country; if things I hear are true we are going back to Nancy and then start for home. Will set sail about the 11 of May and guess it will be the last of May before we get home, that is if nothing don’t happen. We can cross the Atlantic in about 7 days coming back for there won’t be any submarines to dodge like there were coming over. We were aiming to come home about Xmas; got knocked out of it. Maybe we will get off this time. Although I am having a good time now—am the company tailor and am not up at night at all and get all the sleep I want.
I received a letter from Mamie and she was telling me about Dr. Luke being dead. I sure did hate to hear about it. She said she told me about it in one letter but I did not get it.
Well, I don’t know what I will do when I get home for it is going to be too late to do any thing towards making a crop, so you can look for me inside the next 2 months, for I think I will be out and discharged by that time. If I knew I would be home for sure I would have you put me in a crop but you can’t never tell what you are going to do in the army, so just let it go and when I get home will do some way. It will be a great day when I land in New York again for I will feel like I am home any way will be with people I can talk to. I did get to where I could kinder talk French and they sent me up here in Germany where I couldn’t speak a word of this Dutch. I don’t know any Dutch and have forgot what little French I knew, but since I heard we were going home I am so anxious to get started. I can’t hardly wait for one thing. I am tired of this army grub such as horse and mule meat. Have got a big slaughter pen right here at our barracks and it is the real dope about the people eating them. It is old war horses that have been skinned up and knocked out that they kill and worst of it they have a big barn they put them in and never give them a bit to eat or any water. Maybe they will be in there 4 or 5 days before they kill them. I can’t say enough about these people but can tell just what I think of them.
Ans. soon for I may not get off, but will write you as soon as I land in New York.
Your son,
Louis E. Clingan
211 M.P. Co. A.P.O. 915 American E.F.
NOTES: Louis Eugene Clingan was writing from Germany to his parents John Edward and Mary Ella Clingan. He was born on March 25, 1893 in Arkadelphia, Arkansas and died on October 27, 1972. He is buried in the Rest Haven Memorial Gardens in Arkadelphia. His military headstone identifies him as an Arkansas Pvt. serving in the US Army during World War I. He enlisted on December 23, 1917 and was discharged on July 9, 1919. He departed Brest, France on June 16, 1919 onboard the Kansas. He arrived in Newport News, Virginia on June 27. He was serving as a Pvt. 211 Co. M. Police Corp.
TRANSCRIBED BY MIKE POLSTON
Will write you all a few lines today. I got both of your letters but this one will be the last one you will get from me in this country; if things I hear are true we are going back to Nancy and then start for home. Will set sail about the 11 of May and guess it will be the last of May before we get home, that is if nothing don’t happen. We can cross the Atlantic in about 7 days coming back for there won’t be any submarines to dodge like there were coming over. We were aiming to come home about Xmas; got knocked out of it. Maybe we will get off this time. Although I am having a good time now—am the company tailor and am not up at night at all and get all the sleep I want.
I received a letter from Mamie and she was telling me about Dr. Luke being dead. I sure did hate to hear about it. She said she told me about it in one letter but I did not get it.
Well, I don’t know what I will do when I get home for it is going to be too late to do any thing towards making a crop, so you can look for me inside the next 2 months, for I think I will be out and discharged by that time. If I knew I would be home for sure I would have you put me in a crop but you can’t never tell what you are going to do in the army, so just let it go and when I get home will do some way. It will be a great day when I land in New York again for I will feel like I am home any way will be with people I can talk to. I did get to where I could kinder talk French and they sent me up here in Germany where I couldn’t speak a word of this Dutch. I don’t know any Dutch and have forgot what little French I knew, but since I heard we were going home I am so anxious to get started. I can’t hardly wait for one thing. I am tired of this army grub such as horse and mule meat. Have got a big slaughter pen right here at our barracks and it is the real dope about the people eating them. It is old war horses that have been skinned up and knocked out that they kill and worst of it they have a big barn they put them in and never give them a bit to eat or any water. Maybe they will be in there 4 or 5 days before they kill them. I can’t say enough about these people but can tell just what I think of them.
Ans. soon for I may not get off, but will write you as soon as I land in New York.
Your son,
Louis E. Clingan
211 M.P. Co. A.P.O. 915 American E.F.
NOTES: Louis Eugene Clingan was writing from Germany to his parents John Edward and Mary Ella Clingan. He was born on March 25, 1893 in Arkadelphia, Arkansas and died on October 27, 1972. He is buried in the Rest Haven Memorial Gardens in Arkadelphia. His military headstone identifies him as an Arkansas Pvt. serving in the US Army during World War I. He enlisted on December 23, 1917 and was discharged on July 9, 1919. He departed Brest, France on June 16, 1919 onboard the Kansas. He arrived in Newport News, Virginia on June 27. He was serving as a Pvt. 211 Co. M. Police Corp.
TRANSCRIBED BY MIKE POLSTON