TRANSCRIBED FROM THE DREW COUNTY ADVANCE FEBRUARY 18, 1919 P. 7
December 29, ,1918
Co. I, 39th U.S. Inf., A.E.F.
Mr. W.H. Gober,
My Dear Father:
I will write you a few lines to let you all hear from me. Hope this finds you all well.
Say, Papa, have you had much bad weather over there yet? We have had a good deal of snow over here and lots of rain. For the last month it rained nearly every day here. I don’t think we will have to stay over here very much longer. I hope we won’t. It is not because we are not treated well, for the Dutch treat us just fine and I try to talk to them, but I can’t make them understand very much. But if I want a place to sleep, or something like that, I can make them understand it. Say, father, I have been lucky on holidays. During Christmas, I was on guard Christmas day and we moved yesterday and they got me on guard again, but that is something I don’t mind at all in good weather, but it rained all night and day, but I was at the guard house. I think I will sleep good tonight for my bed partner is on guard tonight and I will have the whole bed by myself. There is just one boy and his mother where we stay. We are in a small town. We just live with Dutch now that are in the towns. We have got our kitchen with us and you bet we have some fun. Say, mother, I am having a fine time now with the Dutch people. I can’t talk to them much but my bed partner can talk very well and we get along all O.K. Mother, I don’t think I will be over here long now for the Dutch have got all of the fighting they want for a while. I know I am ready to start for home. I have almost found a home over here. There is just one boy and his mother where I stay and they can’t do enough for us. They sure are good.
We moved yesterday about 20 miles. I don’t know how long we will stay here. We have a got a good place to sleep but I had rather be at home now the fighting is over and we don’t have anything to do much but guard. Mother, I haven’t had a letter from you and papa in nearly a month but I got one from Linnie the other day. She said you were all well. Say, papa, you ought to be over here with us boys. We sure do have a time. We haven’t done anything but hike for the last month and you talk about the rough country, we have seen some of it and I guess we will see some more, but the place I want to see is the old U.S.A. and I don’t think it will be long till we can come home. I think we will have to do guard over here some where for a while before we come home, but I don’t mind that at all for that is easy. Papa, don’t you all think we are having a hard time now, we are not, we have houses to sleep in at night. We are out of all the bad weather now and the most of us boys have beds to sleep on. I managed to get one for myself. Say, papa, I had just about forgot to tell you where I am. I am in Germany at a little town by the name of Putzfeld. We have been in this part of the country ever since we stopped fighting. Since we left France we have hiked 311 miles but I hope we don’t have to hike that much further for my feet got sore on the first of the hike and I am getting flat-footed. It just takes a No. 9 shoe for me now, but it takes a big foot and strong back and a weak mind to go through with what us boys have been through. You don’t have no idea what us boys had to go through with to win this war, but we just stuck to it till the very last. There has been many a night I have laid on the cold wet ground and it raining and this was the time I would think of that lovely old home that was waiting for me to come back to. As it is all over now I guess I can tell you where I was fighting. On July the 18th, I was on the Marne main front and July 28th on the Vail River. Sept. the 26th Argonne Forest, and we was on our way back up to the front when they stopped fighting. I was sitting in my little pup tent when the guns stopped shooting. You don’t know how proud I was. I have been in four big battles since I have been over here. They got close to me the last time. They got the blood twice, once in the shoulder and once in the nose and a hunk in the arm and once in the leg but none of them was bad. I thought it was a hot time around there for a while. I never had to go to the hospital at all. I will send you a little French song. “The cooties played leap frog in France in my pants.”
Well, I will have to close for this time, so answer soon.
Your son,
Serg. James W. Gober.
P.S. We left France November the 20th on our hike and we got here December 17th.
NOTES: James Wesley Gober was born in Mississippi on April 19, 1896 and died on May 29, 1971. He is buried in the Union Ridge Cemetery in Monticello, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as an Arkansas private serving in the US Army during WWI. He departed Brest, France on September 1, 1919 arriving in Hoboken, NJ onboard the Leviathan. He was serving as a private in Co. I, 139th Infantry, Third Army Composite Regiment.
TRANSCRIBED BY DAVID COLLINS
December 29, ,1918
Co. I, 39th U.S. Inf., A.E.F.
Mr. W.H. Gober,
My Dear Father:
I will write you a few lines to let you all hear from me. Hope this finds you all well.
Say, Papa, have you had much bad weather over there yet? We have had a good deal of snow over here and lots of rain. For the last month it rained nearly every day here. I don’t think we will have to stay over here very much longer. I hope we won’t. It is not because we are not treated well, for the Dutch treat us just fine and I try to talk to them, but I can’t make them understand very much. But if I want a place to sleep, or something like that, I can make them understand it. Say, father, I have been lucky on holidays. During Christmas, I was on guard Christmas day and we moved yesterday and they got me on guard again, but that is something I don’t mind at all in good weather, but it rained all night and day, but I was at the guard house. I think I will sleep good tonight for my bed partner is on guard tonight and I will have the whole bed by myself. There is just one boy and his mother where we stay. We are in a small town. We just live with Dutch now that are in the towns. We have got our kitchen with us and you bet we have some fun. Say, mother, I am having a fine time now with the Dutch people. I can’t talk to them much but my bed partner can talk very well and we get along all O.K. Mother, I don’t think I will be over here long now for the Dutch have got all of the fighting they want for a while. I know I am ready to start for home. I have almost found a home over here. There is just one boy and his mother where I stay and they can’t do enough for us. They sure are good.
We moved yesterday about 20 miles. I don’t know how long we will stay here. We have a got a good place to sleep but I had rather be at home now the fighting is over and we don’t have anything to do much but guard. Mother, I haven’t had a letter from you and papa in nearly a month but I got one from Linnie the other day. She said you were all well. Say, papa, you ought to be over here with us boys. We sure do have a time. We haven’t done anything but hike for the last month and you talk about the rough country, we have seen some of it and I guess we will see some more, but the place I want to see is the old U.S.A. and I don’t think it will be long till we can come home. I think we will have to do guard over here some where for a while before we come home, but I don’t mind that at all for that is easy. Papa, don’t you all think we are having a hard time now, we are not, we have houses to sleep in at night. We are out of all the bad weather now and the most of us boys have beds to sleep on. I managed to get one for myself. Say, papa, I had just about forgot to tell you where I am. I am in Germany at a little town by the name of Putzfeld. We have been in this part of the country ever since we stopped fighting. Since we left France we have hiked 311 miles but I hope we don’t have to hike that much further for my feet got sore on the first of the hike and I am getting flat-footed. It just takes a No. 9 shoe for me now, but it takes a big foot and strong back and a weak mind to go through with what us boys have been through. You don’t have no idea what us boys had to go through with to win this war, but we just stuck to it till the very last. There has been many a night I have laid on the cold wet ground and it raining and this was the time I would think of that lovely old home that was waiting for me to come back to. As it is all over now I guess I can tell you where I was fighting. On July the 18th, I was on the Marne main front and July 28th on the Vail River. Sept. the 26th Argonne Forest, and we was on our way back up to the front when they stopped fighting. I was sitting in my little pup tent when the guns stopped shooting. You don’t know how proud I was. I have been in four big battles since I have been over here. They got close to me the last time. They got the blood twice, once in the shoulder and once in the nose and a hunk in the arm and once in the leg but none of them was bad. I thought it was a hot time around there for a while. I never had to go to the hospital at all. I will send you a little French song. “The cooties played leap frog in France in my pants.”
Well, I will have to close for this time, so answer soon.
Your son,
Serg. James W. Gober.
P.S. We left France November the 20th on our hike and we got here December 17th.
NOTES: James Wesley Gober was born in Mississippi on April 19, 1896 and died on May 29, 1971. He is buried in the Union Ridge Cemetery in Monticello, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as an Arkansas private serving in the US Army during WWI. He departed Brest, France on September 1, 1919 arriving in Hoboken, NJ onboard the Leviathan. He was serving as a private in Co. I, 139th Infantry, Third Army Composite Regiment.
TRANSCRIBED BY DAVID COLLINS