TRANSCRIBED FROM THE WYNNE PROGRESS, FEBRUARY 7, 1919 P. 1
St. Rignan, France, Jan. 16, 1919
It was seven months ago the 23rd of this month that I left Wynne, not knowing what the future was bringing and not thinking of it in thhe least, nor caring very much. But now the time has comee when I am wondering what the next six months will bring me. It has been six months since I left American soil, and I was glad to leave; now I would like much better to leave this side. I have had for the last year the desire to cross the waters, and I still have the same desire.
The second of August we left Camp Beauregard, arrived in Newport News on the evening of the 9th, and we had not been paid, and I hadn’t had any pay for two months, and the boys wanted to get paid so bad. The paymaster was on the train and in their own minds they were going to get paid at the port of embarkation. We landed there that afternoon and we got orders to draw our overseas equipment, and about 3 o’clock next morningn we got all that fixed up and at 6 a. m. on the 6th we went to the boat and loaded on and at 1 we sailed for France. On the 18th we landed at Brest, and then our part of the war had just begun, and it is not over yet.
I often think of praying a little once in a while to see if that would help me to get out of this plaace, but I don’t think my prayer could be heard if the folks on that side are forgetting.
Well, I can’t very well tell anything about these people over here, nor the country, only one thing, some parts of it are pretty and just about 190 years behind our country.
Willie C. Harrell
NOTES:
TRANSCRIBED BY DEBRA POLSTON
St. Rignan, France, Jan. 16, 1919
It was seven months ago the 23rd of this month that I left Wynne, not knowing what the future was bringing and not thinking of it in thhe least, nor caring very much. But now the time has comee when I am wondering what the next six months will bring me. It has been six months since I left American soil, and I was glad to leave; now I would like much better to leave this side. I have had for the last year the desire to cross the waters, and I still have the same desire.
The second of August we left Camp Beauregard, arrived in Newport News on the evening of the 9th, and we had not been paid, and I hadn’t had any pay for two months, and the boys wanted to get paid so bad. The paymaster was on the train and in their own minds they were going to get paid at the port of embarkation. We landed there that afternoon and we got orders to draw our overseas equipment, and about 3 o’clock next morningn we got all that fixed up and at 6 a. m. on the 6th we went to the boat and loaded on and at 1 we sailed for France. On the 18th we landed at Brest, and then our part of the war had just begun, and it is not over yet.
I often think of praying a little once in a while to see if that would help me to get out of this plaace, but I don’t think my prayer could be heard if the folks on that side are forgetting.
Well, I can’t very well tell anything about these people over here, nor the country, only one thing, some parts of it are pretty and just about 190 years behind our country.
Willie C. Harrell
NOTES:
TRANSCRIBED BY DEBRA POLSTON