TRANSCRIBED FROM THE PINE BLUFF DAILY GRAPHIC JUNE 5, 1918 P. 6
Any man that fully understands the situation and stands back is far from what I would term a man. We owe our freedom today to France, and we are not only fighting for France, but for our very existence as a nation, and for our mothers, fathers, sisters, and all that we hold dear.
France is a beautiful country and the people are very polite, and really, I am in love with them as well as the country, but I want to tell you that I am not here because I want to be, but because duty demands it of me; otherwise I would be in the good old U.S.A. Give me America first, last and all the time, and believe me when this war ends and I am living I’m coming back home, where I can talk to people. Really, I can’t as much call a dog over here—they won’t even listen to me. It is indeed sad to see how these people have suffered on account of the great war. You don’t see very many men—they are all in the trenches or near them and the women are the ones who are suffering the most.
And I also want to tell you that I am in it to stay to the end come what may, only give me my part, and should I be one who must fall upon the battlefield I am ready to go, and you can tell the world that he fought, fell and believing that he was fighting for a righteous cause, and that I am sorry only for one thing, and that is I can’t count more than one. Well, anyway, I am asking that I may be able to always do my part and do it well.
I must hasten to a close and in so doing ask that you always remember us boys in your prayers. Don’t forget us and keep in mind that every dollar you donate to the Red Cross or Y.M.C.A. you are believing in us and putting a nail in the kaiser’s coffin.
NOTES: Daniel LaFayette DeWeese was born on October 22, 1885 in Garnett, Lincoln County, Arkansas and died on September 24, 1968 in Star City, Lincoln County, Arkansas. He is buried in the Butler-Pleasant Cemetery in Star City.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCYE KENT
Any man that fully understands the situation and stands back is far from what I would term a man. We owe our freedom today to France, and we are not only fighting for France, but for our very existence as a nation, and for our mothers, fathers, sisters, and all that we hold dear.
France is a beautiful country and the people are very polite, and really, I am in love with them as well as the country, but I want to tell you that I am not here because I want to be, but because duty demands it of me; otherwise I would be in the good old U.S.A. Give me America first, last and all the time, and believe me when this war ends and I am living I’m coming back home, where I can talk to people. Really, I can’t as much call a dog over here—they won’t even listen to me. It is indeed sad to see how these people have suffered on account of the great war. You don’t see very many men—they are all in the trenches or near them and the women are the ones who are suffering the most.
And I also want to tell you that I am in it to stay to the end come what may, only give me my part, and should I be one who must fall upon the battlefield I am ready to go, and you can tell the world that he fought, fell and believing that he was fighting for a righteous cause, and that I am sorry only for one thing, and that is I can’t count more than one. Well, anyway, I am asking that I may be able to always do my part and do it well.
I must hasten to a close and in so doing ask that you always remember us boys in your prayers. Don’t forget us and keep in mind that every dollar you donate to the Red Cross or Y.M.C.A. you are believing in us and putting a nail in the kaiser’s coffin.
NOTES: Daniel LaFayette DeWeese was born on October 22, 1885 in Garnett, Lincoln County, Arkansas and died on September 24, 1968 in Star City, Lincoln County, Arkansas. He is buried in the Butler-Pleasant Cemetery in Star City.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCYE KENT