TRANSCRIBED FROM THE ARKANSAS GAZETTE OCTOBER 17, 1917 P. 7
Editor Arkansas Gazette and Friends:
A few lines tonight before going to sleep. I take this means so that all may get some word from France. I am in Company A. Twelfth Regiment, Engineers (railway). American Expeditionary Forces, France, and would be glad to hear from any of my old friends back at home. Am having a fine time over here and have seen some pretty country—and some that is torn up pretty bad.
No one realizes the real beauty of his home and country and flag until he is on foreign soil. I love the Stars and Stripes better every day, and am really glad that I am in the service of Uncle Sam, only I hope that I may do as much as my forefathers did for the same old flag. On Sunday, September 9, we played the Canadians a game of baseball. The score was 9 to 7 in our favor and it was a good game all the way through.
The climate is a little different all through this country than it is over there. We had a fine time coming over on the water, but we are all expecting to have a better time on the way back home. The only thing the boys miss over here is their tobacco. What they get here is different from what we have been used to. Outside of that, I think all of us are enjoying ourselves fine.
The “Tommies” surely have faith in their new ally, Uncle Sam. They will sit and talk to the “Sammies” (that is what they call the U. S. troops) for hours at a time and tell their experiences in this great war. A bunch of Canadians came over to see us one night last week and brought their bands and played some old favorite pieces. Afterward one of their officers made a little talk on how we should be friends and what this means to each of us over here.
Will close, hoping that this will get through and that the war is over in time for all of us to eat Christmas dinner together.
NOTES: This letter was written by Gordon Crenshaw Harvey. He sent it to the editor of the Gazette by his cousin, Miss Myrtle Martin of Little Rock, Arkansas. Harvey had lived in Little Rock but was in Alton, Illinois working for the rail road when he enlisted. He was born December 27, 1894 at Cotton Plant. Arkansas. He died August 26, 1965 and is buried in the El Reno Cemetery, Canadian County, Oklahoma. His military headstone identifies him as from Missouri and a Pvt. in Co. A. 12th Engineers. He departed Bordeaux, France on April 14, 1919 onboard the Cape May. he arrived in the US on April 27, 1919. He was serving as a Private in Co. A 12th Engineers.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT.
Editor Arkansas Gazette and Friends:
A few lines tonight before going to sleep. I take this means so that all may get some word from France. I am in Company A. Twelfth Regiment, Engineers (railway). American Expeditionary Forces, France, and would be glad to hear from any of my old friends back at home. Am having a fine time over here and have seen some pretty country—and some that is torn up pretty bad.
No one realizes the real beauty of his home and country and flag until he is on foreign soil. I love the Stars and Stripes better every day, and am really glad that I am in the service of Uncle Sam, only I hope that I may do as much as my forefathers did for the same old flag. On Sunday, September 9, we played the Canadians a game of baseball. The score was 9 to 7 in our favor and it was a good game all the way through.
The climate is a little different all through this country than it is over there. We had a fine time coming over on the water, but we are all expecting to have a better time on the way back home. The only thing the boys miss over here is their tobacco. What they get here is different from what we have been used to. Outside of that, I think all of us are enjoying ourselves fine.
The “Tommies” surely have faith in their new ally, Uncle Sam. They will sit and talk to the “Sammies” (that is what they call the U. S. troops) for hours at a time and tell their experiences in this great war. A bunch of Canadians came over to see us one night last week and brought their bands and played some old favorite pieces. Afterward one of their officers made a little talk on how we should be friends and what this means to each of us over here.
Will close, hoping that this will get through and that the war is over in time for all of us to eat Christmas dinner together.
NOTES: This letter was written by Gordon Crenshaw Harvey. He sent it to the editor of the Gazette by his cousin, Miss Myrtle Martin of Little Rock, Arkansas. Harvey had lived in Little Rock but was in Alton, Illinois working for the rail road when he enlisted. He was born December 27, 1894 at Cotton Plant. Arkansas. He died August 26, 1965 and is buried in the El Reno Cemetery, Canadian County, Oklahoma. His military headstone identifies him as from Missouri and a Pvt. in Co. A. 12th Engineers. He departed Bordeaux, France on April 14, 1919 onboard the Cape May. he arrived in the US on April 27, 1919. He was serving as a Private in Co. A 12th Engineers.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT.