TRANSCRIBED FROM THE VAN BUREN DEMOCRAT APRIL 12, 1918 P. 2
Charleston, S.C. Apr. 4, ‘18
Dear Editor:
If you will allow me the space I will write to my many friends through the Democrat.
I succeeded in joining the navy after trying three times. I enlisted at Memphis, was transferred to Nashville for final examination and from Nashville to Charleston for vaccination and inoculation. I think I will go to Pensacola for final training.
I have not been in the service long enough to learn all about it but will tell you of some things I have observed. Every branch of work is conducted systematically. We get up, go to bed, to mess and to drill by the bugle.
The idea that a boy will be ruined by corrupt society in the navy is erroneous. Any young man who is able to withstand temptations of private life can withstand them here. The boy who has “good stuff” in him will come out of the navy much better fitted for life for he will be taught how to do things. We are taught things we have never done; for instance, cooking, washing dishes, cleaning and pressing our own clothing and washing and laundrying. In addition to all these things all the trades are taught. I have all reasons to convince me that it will make young men better citizens, boys who have been able to dodge discipline at home and school will soon learn that the authority here is capable of managing them. The result of this discipline will make them better citizens.
The Y.M.C.A. furnishes us social and religious recreation; the social consists of lectures, moving pictures, boxing and basket ball. Our religious service is very much like home.
Best wishes to the Democrat and all its readers.
Cordially,
A.E. Dauley,
Reg. 2, Co. 3, Sec. 2
NOTES: Arthur Edmond Dauley is writing to the newspaper editor C. B. Oldham. He was born on April 26, 1894 in Damascus, Arkansas and died on May 10, 1975. He is buried in the Perryville Cemetery in Perryville, Arkansas. When he registered for the draft he was working as a teacher at Harrisburg High School in Harrisburg, Arkansas.
TRANSCRIBED BY MIKE POLSTON
Charleston, S.C. Apr. 4, ‘18
Dear Editor:
If you will allow me the space I will write to my many friends through the Democrat.
I succeeded in joining the navy after trying three times. I enlisted at Memphis, was transferred to Nashville for final examination and from Nashville to Charleston for vaccination and inoculation. I think I will go to Pensacola for final training.
I have not been in the service long enough to learn all about it but will tell you of some things I have observed. Every branch of work is conducted systematically. We get up, go to bed, to mess and to drill by the bugle.
The idea that a boy will be ruined by corrupt society in the navy is erroneous. Any young man who is able to withstand temptations of private life can withstand them here. The boy who has “good stuff” in him will come out of the navy much better fitted for life for he will be taught how to do things. We are taught things we have never done; for instance, cooking, washing dishes, cleaning and pressing our own clothing and washing and laundrying. In addition to all these things all the trades are taught. I have all reasons to convince me that it will make young men better citizens, boys who have been able to dodge discipline at home and school will soon learn that the authority here is capable of managing them. The result of this discipline will make them better citizens.
The Y.M.C.A. furnishes us social and religious recreation; the social consists of lectures, moving pictures, boxing and basket ball. Our religious service is very much like home.
Best wishes to the Democrat and all its readers.
Cordially,
A.E. Dauley,
Reg. 2, Co. 3, Sec. 2
NOTES: Arthur Edmond Dauley is writing to the newspaper editor C. B. Oldham. He was born on April 26, 1894 in Damascus, Arkansas and died on May 10, 1975. He is buried in the Perryville Cemetery in Perryville, Arkansas. When he registered for the draft he was working as a teacher at Harrisburg High School in Harrisburg, Arkansas.
TRANSCRIBED BY MIKE POLSTON