TRANSCRIBED FROM THE POCAHONTAS STAR HERALD FEBRUARY 8, 1918 P. 3
Ravenden Springs, Feb. 3.
Editor Star Herald,
Pocahontas, Ark.
Friend Frank:
If you will allow me a small space in your good paper I will write a few lines concerning the army and Randolph county boys.
I will say first, as some of you know, that I enlisted in the army last June and was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in Co. G, 3rd Ark. Inf., which company was made up of Randolph, Lawrence and Sharp county boys and I want to say that the 130 boys in old Co. G are a fine bunch of men and are as true and brave as God ever made.
Soon after we were mustered in the Federal service and were transferred from Walnut Ridge to Ft. Logan H. Roots and we remained in training there until the 17th of Dec. when I was honorably discharged and returned to my home here soon after.
I will now say something about the accident I received while in service of Uncle Sam. I was sanitary police officer for the 154th Inf., and one morning while inspecting the kitchens of our regiment, I was stooping over showing the mess sergeant some garbage under a table which had to be cleaned up, and one of the cooks in Co. A took a pan of boiling water off of the insinerator and dropped the pan, the water splashing into my face and left eye and put my eye out. I was sent to the base hospital at Camp Stafford, La., and I remained there under treatment of Capt. Lockheart, an eye specialist, until the 17th of Dec., which was the date of my discharge. I will say to my friends whom I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting since my return, that I am blind in my left eye and have almost suffered death and have grieved much about it but i will never regret having enlisted in the service of our country and I hope to be back in the service in the near future. We boys had great things planned for the future and we were anxiously awaiting to sail for France. On the morning I left camp my good captain told me goodbye and that he regretted that I could not go to France with him, and I told him I would go when my eye got well if I had to go as the Colonel’s shine boy. “If the 154th Inf. goes to France I must go.”
As several of the fathers and mothers in this county have asked me about their boys who are in the army, I will say that there are about 150 Randolph county boys in training at Camp Beauregard, and I had the pleasure of being one of the officers of about 50 of them and I was with all of them at different times. Randolph county ought to be proud of her soldier boys for they are a fine bunch of men and I think a little above the average.
Now fathers and mothers you should not worry about your loved ones for they are well treated for believe me, Uncle Sam sure takes care of his boys and you ought to write them that you are proud of them and glad you have a boy who can help win this world war. They eat three good meals a day and get a pay day once a month and I will say now that the happiest days of my life were spent in the army and I have heard several Randolph boys say the same. It feels like home to be at Camp Beauregard. You can go to regimental headquarters and their will be Sergeant Oscar Mock, pounding on a typewriter with that old smile on his face as though he was in old Dee’s office, You may go on to the regimental postoffice and you will find Waldo Johnston, who is assistant postmaster for the 154th Inf, and several other boys who have good positions and are advancing all the time. To show you how a good soldier can advance, will mention our tried and true friend, Oscar Mock, who soldiered and enlisted in the Headquarters Depo in the Inf. Ark. Regiment and was, as the boys call themselves, a buck private at $30.00 per month. In a short time he was advanced to a first class private at $33.00 per month and soon thereafter he was made a sergeant at $38.00 per month and now he is color sergeant and regimental clerk at $59.00 per month and you watch him, he will be a commissioned officer in the near future.
Well, Frank if this misses the waste basket I may come again. Perhaps I shall tell how the boys enjoy camp life, also each soldier’s duty from a private to a major general. Would like to tell how a camp is laid off, as to the location of the tents, mess halls, hospitals, bath houses and everything so far as I can put it on paper.
A soldier’s friend.
Joe S. Decker
NOTES: This letter was written by Joseph Shelby Decker. He was born on August 10, 1882 in Randolph County, Arkansas and died on December 10, 1962 in Popular Bluff, Missouri. He is buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Pocahontas, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as an 2nd Lieut. in the 154th Infantry. He served as the county judge (4 terms in the 1930s and 40s) and was instrumental in the construction of the current county courthouse. He purchased the springs at Ravenden Springs. Arkansas about 1918 and was a major reason for the revitalization of the area at the time.
TRANSCRIBED BY CHLOE SMITH
Ravenden Springs, Feb. 3.
Editor Star Herald,
Pocahontas, Ark.
Friend Frank:
If you will allow me a small space in your good paper I will write a few lines concerning the army and Randolph county boys.
I will say first, as some of you know, that I enlisted in the army last June and was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in Co. G, 3rd Ark. Inf., which company was made up of Randolph, Lawrence and Sharp county boys and I want to say that the 130 boys in old Co. G are a fine bunch of men and are as true and brave as God ever made.
Soon after we were mustered in the Federal service and were transferred from Walnut Ridge to Ft. Logan H. Roots and we remained in training there until the 17th of Dec. when I was honorably discharged and returned to my home here soon after.
I will now say something about the accident I received while in service of Uncle Sam. I was sanitary police officer for the 154th Inf., and one morning while inspecting the kitchens of our regiment, I was stooping over showing the mess sergeant some garbage under a table which had to be cleaned up, and one of the cooks in Co. A took a pan of boiling water off of the insinerator and dropped the pan, the water splashing into my face and left eye and put my eye out. I was sent to the base hospital at Camp Stafford, La., and I remained there under treatment of Capt. Lockheart, an eye specialist, until the 17th of Dec., which was the date of my discharge. I will say to my friends whom I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting since my return, that I am blind in my left eye and have almost suffered death and have grieved much about it but i will never regret having enlisted in the service of our country and I hope to be back in the service in the near future. We boys had great things planned for the future and we were anxiously awaiting to sail for France. On the morning I left camp my good captain told me goodbye and that he regretted that I could not go to France with him, and I told him I would go when my eye got well if I had to go as the Colonel’s shine boy. “If the 154th Inf. goes to France I must go.”
As several of the fathers and mothers in this county have asked me about their boys who are in the army, I will say that there are about 150 Randolph county boys in training at Camp Beauregard, and I had the pleasure of being one of the officers of about 50 of them and I was with all of them at different times. Randolph county ought to be proud of her soldier boys for they are a fine bunch of men and I think a little above the average.
Now fathers and mothers you should not worry about your loved ones for they are well treated for believe me, Uncle Sam sure takes care of his boys and you ought to write them that you are proud of them and glad you have a boy who can help win this world war. They eat three good meals a day and get a pay day once a month and I will say now that the happiest days of my life were spent in the army and I have heard several Randolph boys say the same. It feels like home to be at Camp Beauregard. You can go to regimental headquarters and their will be Sergeant Oscar Mock, pounding on a typewriter with that old smile on his face as though he was in old Dee’s office, You may go on to the regimental postoffice and you will find Waldo Johnston, who is assistant postmaster for the 154th Inf, and several other boys who have good positions and are advancing all the time. To show you how a good soldier can advance, will mention our tried and true friend, Oscar Mock, who soldiered and enlisted in the Headquarters Depo in the Inf. Ark. Regiment and was, as the boys call themselves, a buck private at $30.00 per month. In a short time he was advanced to a first class private at $33.00 per month and soon thereafter he was made a sergeant at $38.00 per month and now he is color sergeant and regimental clerk at $59.00 per month and you watch him, he will be a commissioned officer in the near future.
Well, Frank if this misses the waste basket I may come again. Perhaps I shall tell how the boys enjoy camp life, also each soldier’s duty from a private to a major general. Would like to tell how a camp is laid off, as to the location of the tents, mess halls, hospitals, bath houses and everything so far as I can put it on paper.
A soldier’s friend.
Joe S. Decker
NOTES: This letter was written by Joseph Shelby Decker. He was born on August 10, 1882 in Randolph County, Arkansas and died on December 10, 1962 in Popular Bluff, Missouri. He is buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Pocahontas, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as an 2nd Lieut. in the 154th Infantry. He served as the county judge (4 terms in the 1930s and 40s) and was instrumental in the construction of the current county courthouse. He purchased the springs at Ravenden Springs. Arkansas about 1918 and was a major reason for the revitalization of the area at the time.
TRANSCRIBED BY CHLOE SMITH