TRANSCRIBED FROM ARKANSAS GAZETTE MAY 18, 1918 p 2
My Dear Folks:
I received several letters from you yesterday, and I am glad to be able to answer them today. Yes, I understand our armies are coming over here, but the thing that makes one impatient is the time it takes to get them over here. Of course, I understand, because I know conditions, but the English are very much worried about—when? They have some reason to be worried, too, for Fritz had given them quite a shock and it is not over yet. The ground he is capturing is not so valuable, only we had planted gardens, etc., all over it, and, of course, we will miss that. But never mind, we will all pull our best.
It takes a very long time to become accustomed to the killing, even the killing of the boche, but soon one becomes immune to feeling and looks upon it as a causal happening.
I have had quite a bit of experience in my three months in the line. Fear never enters a man’s mind after the first 20 minutes of war. You go into the line with the idea of “shuffling off this mortal coil,” but you really find that it is not quite so bad as that.
There is a great wear on a man’s physical appearance and endurance. There is no question but that two years of this life equals 10 of civilian in its effect on me. But all the same it is a great game, in that you have a tinge of the feeling we all had as children in playing ghost, when we would slip and creep around, some times listening, then crawling, then running just as fast as our bare legs could carry us. It’s great, but still a man gets tired of eating ice cream all the time.
You know where the Americans are, so I can tell you where many of your letters were written from East of St. Miheil—two months were spent here—and then some time from Arras south.
(Just here some ink blots and pen scratches blur the writing and are marked “shell bursts.”)
I have some souvenirs for you and will have my picture taken as soon as I find a town intact.
I recognize that I am doing wrong in not writing at length, but it is most impossible.
With much love,
Morris.
NOTES: He is writing to his parents, Rev. and Mrs. A. B. Few. Lieutenant Morris E. Few was born August 27, 1893 in Graysonia, Clark County, Arkansas. He was of medium height and build with blue eyes and brown hair. He attended the first and only officer’s training camp at Fort Roots, summer of 1917. He died December 12, 1979 and is buried in Riverside Cemetery, Fort Morgan, Colorado.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT
My Dear Folks:
I received several letters from you yesterday, and I am glad to be able to answer them today. Yes, I understand our armies are coming over here, but the thing that makes one impatient is the time it takes to get them over here. Of course, I understand, because I know conditions, but the English are very much worried about—when? They have some reason to be worried, too, for Fritz had given them quite a shock and it is not over yet. The ground he is capturing is not so valuable, only we had planted gardens, etc., all over it, and, of course, we will miss that. But never mind, we will all pull our best.
It takes a very long time to become accustomed to the killing, even the killing of the boche, but soon one becomes immune to feeling and looks upon it as a causal happening.
I have had quite a bit of experience in my three months in the line. Fear never enters a man’s mind after the first 20 minutes of war. You go into the line with the idea of “shuffling off this mortal coil,” but you really find that it is not quite so bad as that.
There is a great wear on a man’s physical appearance and endurance. There is no question but that two years of this life equals 10 of civilian in its effect on me. But all the same it is a great game, in that you have a tinge of the feeling we all had as children in playing ghost, when we would slip and creep around, some times listening, then crawling, then running just as fast as our bare legs could carry us. It’s great, but still a man gets tired of eating ice cream all the time.
You know where the Americans are, so I can tell you where many of your letters were written from East of St. Miheil—two months were spent here—and then some time from Arras south.
(Just here some ink blots and pen scratches blur the writing and are marked “shell bursts.”)
I have some souvenirs for you and will have my picture taken as soon as I find a town intact.
I recognize that I am doing wrong in not writing at length, but it is most impossible.
With much love,
Morris.
NOTES: He is writing to his parents, Rev. and Mrs. A. B. Few. Lieutenant Morris E. Few was born August 27, 1893 in Graysonia, Clark County, Arkansas. He was of medium height and build with blue eyes and brown hair. He attended the first and only officer’s training camp at Fort Roots, summer of 1917. He died December 12, 1979 and is buried in Riverside Cemetery, Fort Morgan, Colorado.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT