TRANSCRIBED FROM THE GREEN FOREST TRIBUNE JANUARY 25, 1918 P. 2
Jan. 16, 1918.
Editor Tribune:
As I wish to reach my many friends and feel unable to do so by individual letters I will reach them thru the columns of The Tribune.
We boys are all getting along fine and Battery B is the best Battery in the 142 F. A. and of course by that you know the boys are all making good soldiers.
We have the best officers that can be found.
Our meals are not just the kind our dear mothers cooked for us but we are all in the best of health and all weigh more than we did when we left home.
I often wish I could be back in school but when I come to think of it I am still in school but a different school from the one I attended last year.
The climate here is very changeable. It is warm one day and cold the next but one becomes acclimated to such changes and each man has enough good heavy clothing to keep himself warm.
We are under a strict quarantine and are cut off from all civilization at present but will soon be out as sickness is decreasing. The medical corps is always busy improving the sanitary condition of the camp.
Arkansas is well represented in Camp Beauregard by two Regiments of Infantry and one of Field Artillery.
About the most welcome call is mail call. The boys are all anxious to get their letters and are as happy as larks if by chance they get a box of eats.
With best regard to my many friends, I am as ever.
Your friend,
1st Class Private Ola Gurley,
Battery B., 39th Division N. G.
142 Field Artillery,
Camp Beauregard, Alexandria, La.
NOTES: John Ola Gurley was born in Alpena, Arkansas on October 16, 1895 and died on August 12, 1975. He enlisted on April 4, 1917 and was discharged on June 25, 1919. He departed from Hoboken N. J. on August 31, 1918 onboard the Leviathan. He was a private serving in Battery B, 142nd FA. He returned to the US departing from St. Nazaire, France on June 3, 1919 onboard the Amphion.
TRANSCRIBED BY LINDA MATTHEWS
Jan. 16, 1918.
Editor Tribune:
As I wish to reach my many friends and feel unable to do so by individual letters I will reach them thru the columns of The Tribune.
We boys are all getting along fine and Battery B is the best Battery in the 142 F. A. and of course by that you know the boys are all making good soldiers.
We have the best officers that can be found.
Our meals are not just the kind our dear mothers cooked for us but we are all in the best of health and all weigh more than we did when we left home.
I often wish I could be back in school but when I come to think of it I am still in school but a different school from the one I attended last year.
The climate here is very changeable. It is warm one day and cold the next but one becomes acclimated to such changes and each man has enough good heavy clothing to keep himself warm.
We are under a strict quarantine and are cut off from all civilization at present but will soon be out as sickness is decreasing. The medical corps is always busy improving the sanitary condition of the camp.
Arkansas is well represented in Camp Beauregard by two Regiments of Infantry and one of Field Artillery.
About the most welcome call is mail call. The boys are all anxious to get their letters and are as happy as larks if by chance they get a box of eats.
With best regard to my many friends, I am as ever.
Your friend,
1st Class Private Ola Gurley,
Battery B., 39th Division N. G.
142 Field Artillery,
Camp Beauregard, Alexandria, La.
NOTES: John Ola Gurley was born in Alpena, Arkansas on October 16, 1895 and died on August 12, 1975. He enlisted on April 4, 1917 and was discharged on June 25, 1919. He departed from Hoboken N. J. on August 31, 1918 onboard the Leviathan. He was a private serving in Battery B, 142nd FA. He returned to the US departing from St. Nazaire, France on June 3, 1919 onboard the Amphion.
TRANSCRIBED BY LINDA MATTHEWS