TRANSCRIBED FROM THE PRESCOTT DAILY NEWS FEBRUARY 4, 1918 P 2
Camp Beauregard, La., Feb. 1.
For a long time I have planned to write a letter to my friends in good old Nevada county, though it seems that I could never find time. All the boys from Nevada county who are with me in F. Co. 153d Inf. Regiment are enjoying the very best of health and seem to be in best of spirits.
The daily routine of drill is somewhat excessive, though it is done with perfect willingness, as we are aware of the fact that we are sure to need all the latest “dope” of modern warfare before this great conflict is ended. We do not expect praise for what we have done or will have to do in this struggle, though we would like to speak a few words to the men behind the plow, as we realize that the men and women who grow the food and feed stuff are just as essential as we boys who face the German artillery.
The men behind the plow and the Red Cross nurse deserve more credit than the men behind the gun. You remember it was farmers from whom came the first shots at Lexington, that set aflame the revolution that made America free. If the farmers of today will grow we boys bread and raise meat, we will again put America free. This war is not a joke and before the end has come, we as American citizens will have to make sacrifice after sacrifice before we have accomplished our aims.
The mothers of American soldiers are to be highly praised for the courage and loyalty they have so freely given. When the great conflict is over, we can look each other squarely in the fact and say we are glad to be Americans, and have had the privilege to play such a part. America is the most noble nation of the world and her stars and stripes will some day wave over the palace of the kaiser.
Algia Dillard.
NOTES: Sidney Algia Dillard was born at Mt. Moriah, Arkansas on September 9, 1883 an died on May 12, 1961. He is buried in the Bluff Springs Cemetery in Rosston, Arkansas.
TRANSCRIBED BY LARAE SHURLEY
Camp Beauregard, La., Feb. 1.
For a long time I have planned to write a letter to my friends in good old Nevada county, though it seems that I could never find time. All the boys from Nevada county who are with me in F. Co. 153d Inf. Regiment are enjoying the very best of health and seem to be in best of spirits.
The daily routine of drill is somewhat excessive, though it is done with perfect willingness, as we are aware of the fact that we are sure to need all the latest “dope” of modern warfare before this great conflict is ended. We do not expect praise for what we have done or will have to do in this struggle, though we would like to speak a few words to the men behind the plow, as we realize that the men and women who grow the food and feed stuff are just as essential as we boys who face the German artillery.
The men behind the plow and the Red Cross nurse deserve more credit than the men behind the gun. You remember it was farmers from whom came the first shots at Lexington, that set aflame the revolution that made America free. If the farmers of today will grow we boys bread and raise meat, we will again put America free. This war is not a joke and before the end has come, we as American citizens will have to make sacrifice after sacrifice before we have accomplished our aims.
The mothers of American soldiers are to be highly praised for the courage and loyalty they have so freely given. When the great conflict is over, we can look each other squarely in the fact and say we are glad to be Americans, and have had the privilege to play such a part. America is the most noble nation of the world and her stars and stripes will some day wave over the palace of the kaiser.
Algia Dillard.
NOTES: Sidney Algia Dillard was born at Mt. Moriah, Arkansas on September 9, 1883 an died on May 12, 1961. He is buried in the Bluff Springs Cemetery in Rosston, Arkansas.
TRANSCRIBED BY LARAE SHURLEY