TRANSCRIBED FROM THE LOG CABIN DEMOCRATJANUARY 2, 1919 P. 2
I am still in the hospital, and guess I will stay here until they send me home. I will not be returned to my old company, and I don’t care much if they don’t. It will leave me out of the old “hiking” they are doing through Germany now, following the Germans on up.
I am glad the war is over, and feel lucky to come out of it alive. I was in every battle the First division was in since July. When we first went over the top on July 18, there were 260 men in our company, and when we quit fighting on the 11th of this month, there were only eight or ten of us old boys left that went over in July. They were all killed or wounded so that they couldn’t come back.
I was sure lucky myself. I was gassed once, and two pieces of shell hit me on the side of my face. It didn’t hurt much, thought. I had a machine gun bullet go through my coat and lodge in my pistol magazine. I was an automatic rifle gunner, and my gun would shoot 300 times per minute. Believe me, I sure did give the huns some steel.
I have had all the fighting I want now. It was fun sometimes to see the huns run. They would pull off their boots sometimes so that they could run faster.
Gee, I sure will be glad when I get home. The fastest ship will run too slow for me when I start for home. I may be home by spring, hope so, anyhow. I think I can stay at home when I do get there. I have seen already all of the world I want to see.
I have been to Paris twice. It sure is some city. During the last drive, we captured a town and got all kinds of things to eat and all of the beer and whiskey we could drink. We didn’t know there was a war going on for a while we were having such a good time.
You ought to see the battlefields. You can walk for miles stepping in shell holes and when you come to woods, the trees and bushes are all shot down to the ground. I sure hope there won’t be any more wars.
NOTES: John Weaver Harris was born on August 3, 1896 in Vilonia, Arkansas (His draft registration shows October 3, 1984) and died on September 23, 1979. He is buried in the Old Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery in Conway, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as serving in the US Army in WWI. During the war he was gassed and wounded in the face. He was writing to his father Abraham Zachariah Harris on November 26, from a hospital in Mesnes, France. He was serving in the First American Army Corps.
TRANSCRIBED BY LINDA MATTHEWS
I am still in the hospital, and guess I will stay here until they send me home. I will not be returned to my old company, and I don’t care much if they don’t. It will leave me out of the old “hiking” they are doing through Germany now, following the Germans on up.
I am glad the war is over, and feel lucky to come out of it alive. I was in every battle the First division was in since July. When we first went over the top on July 18, there were 260 men in our company, and when we quit fighting on the 11th of this month, there were only eight or ten of us old boys left that went over in July. They were all killed or wounded so that they couldn’t come back.
I was sure lucky myself. I was gassed once, and two pieces of shell hit me on the side of my face. It didn’t hurt much, thought. I had a machine gun bullet go through my coat and lodge in my pistol magazine. I was an automatic rifle gunner, and my gun would shoot 300 times per minute. Believe me, I sure did give the huns some steel.
I have had all the fighting I want now. It was fun sometimes to see the huns run. They would pull off their boots sometimes so that they could run faster.
Gee, I sure will be glad when I get home. The fastest ship will run too slow for me when I start for home. I may be home by spring, hope so, anyhow. I think I can stay at home when I do get there. I have seen already all of the world I want to see.
I have been to Paris twice. It sure is some city. During the last drive, we captured a town and got all kinds of things to eat and all of the beer and whiskey we could drink. We didn’t know there was a war going on for a while we were having such a good time.
You ought to see the battlefields. You can walk for miles stepping in shell holes and when you come to woods, the trees and bushes are all shot down to the ground. I sure hope there won’t be any more wars.
NOTES: John Weaver Harris was born on August 3, 1896 in Vilonia, Arkansas (His draft registration shows October 3, 1984) and died on September 23, 1979. He is buried in the Old Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery in Conway, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as serving in the US Army in WWI. During the war he was gassed and wounded in the face. He was writing to his father Abraham Zachariah Harris on November 26, from a hospital in Mesnes, France. He was serving in the First American Army Corps.
TRANSCRIBED BY LINDA MATTHEWS