TRANSCRIBED FROM THE SHARP COUNTY RECORD AUGUST 9. 1918 P. 1
Editor Record:
I would enjoy talking face to face with my relatives and neighbors and friends in Sharp county, but as I have not that opportunity I will take this opportunity of saying a few words, with the editor’s permission.
This leaves me well and in good condition in every respect, so far as I know. I have spent a year in military service, and so far as I can see I am better off, both physically and mentally, than when I joined the army. My honest opinion is that military service is one of the greatest upbuilders and man-producing machines that America has today. Of course it must be admitted that the life is hard at times, but we just have to make the best of that.
Uncle Sam does not require unnecessary punishment, as a great many people think. When you stop to think about it, you will know we have one of the greatest propositions before us the world has ever known, and why should we think a soldier would have many idle minutes? We are using most of the daylight now.
We have quite a number of new men to train and, believe me, we have no time to play. I am sorry to say we failed to get any Arkansas boys at all in the last lot, but we have a fine bunch of men and a very intelligent class from Ohio, Kentucky and elsewhere. We have preachers, lawyers, bank cashiers, bartenders, soda-jerkers, musicians, electricians, stenographers, gamblers, etc., but all of them have come to understand that they are in the army and that the only way to get out of it is to whip hell out of the kaiser. They seem to take great delight in making preparations to do that. My own idea is that Uncle Sam sent some of the best men overseas a few months ago that he has ever sent, and no doubt he will send some more over soon.
We are under much better conditions for training men for service than we were twelve months ago, owing to the fact that the officers and non-commissioned officers are better prepared for their duties than they were a year ago, when we were all recruits.
As for me, there is nothing I enjoy more than a snappy close-order drill. I can see no no need for parents grieving so much because their boys are in the army. Of course it is hard to give them up and a great many are needed at home very much, but if you will take notice they are rendering the greatest assistance possible, both to the nation and to the American race. Who is the man that would rather some other man would go “over there” and fight it out, or would rather his boy would stay at home because he may be needed there? Honestly, I wouldn’t feel like a true American citizen if I even wanted out of this army.
In case of illness we have the medical department to take care of us, and you needn’t think for once that we will not have the proper care, for that is a mistake. If any soldier gives you that impression he is nothing but a slacker and has tried to get a remedy for something that no medical man can cure, laziness. As for “eats,” I don’t believe that you can find a man who has been in the service any length of time who has not gained from three to twenty pounds in weight. So you may judge from this that we do not suffer from hunger.
Should we have any idle times we have plenty of wholesome amusements. We have the Beauregard theater, which seats about five thousand persons, and the Liberty theater, which seats about two thousand, a big skating rink and a shooting gallery, and base ball games. We have church services and Sunday school at every regimental organization Y.M.C.A. building.
We do not drill Saturday afternoon or Sunday, but Wednesday is no more a holiday for Uncle Sam’s boys, due to the short time in which we have to get ready for the battle. Our prophecy is now that we will be in France by September 1st, and I do not know of a single man in camp who is not looking forward to that day with eagerness. We have been receiving some encouraging reports from the American army in France lately, and we are anxious to try our hands over there. For one, I would like to open up a machine gun on the German line, and I know there are going to be some hot old times when we open up our rapid fire.
I wish I had time and space to describe some of our effective automatic weapons and how the aviators will drop a few showers of hot lead and steel on the kaiser’s gang, and how we will surprise them when they make a gas attack and find that we are fully protected.
But I fear this letter is becoming longer than it is interesting. I trust these lines may miss the waste basket and that they may interest at least some readers of the Record. I hope to return some day uninjured and again be the same plow boy I used to be. I believe I will. I believe a great majority of United States soldiers will return to their homes in a reasonably short time. Let us hope the victory is not far away.
Corp. Taylor Howard.
Camp Beauregard, La.
NOTES:
TRANSCRIBED BY DEBRA POLSTON
Editor Record:
I would enjoy talking face to face with my relatives and neighbors and friends in Sharp county, but as I have not that opportunity I will take this opportunity of saying a few words, with the editor’s permission.
This leaves me well and in good condition in every respect, so far as I know. I have spent a year in military service, and so far as I can see I am better off, both physically and mentally, than when I joined the army. My honest opinion is that military service is one of the greatest upbuilders and man-producing machines that America has today. Of course it must be admitted that the life is hard at times, but we just have to make the best of that.
Uncle Sam does not require unnecessary punishment, as a great many people think. When you stop to think about it, you will know we have one of the greatest propositions before us the world has ever known, and why should we think a soldier would have many idle minutes? We are using most of the daylight now.
We have quite a number of new men to train and, believe me, we have no time to play. I am sorry to say we failed to get any Arkansas boys at all in the last lot, but we have a fine bunch of men and a very intelligent class from Ohio, Kentucky and elsewhere. We have preachers, lawyers, bank cashiers, bartenders, soda-jerkers, musicians, electricians, stenographers, gamblers, etc., but all of them have come to understand that they are in the army and that the only way to get out of it is to whip hell out of the kaiser. They seem to take great delight in making preparations to do that. My own idea is that Uncle Sam sent some of the best men overseas a few months ago that he has ever sent, and no doubt he will send some more over soon.
We are under much better conditions for training men for service than we were twelve months ago, owing to the fact that the officers and non-commissioned officers are better prepared for their duties than they were a year ago, when we were all recruits.
As for me, there is nothing I enjoy more than a snappy close-order drill. I can see no no need for parents grieving so much because their boys are in the army. Of course it is hard to give them up and a great many are needed at home very much, but if you will take notice they are rendering the greatest assistance possible, both to the nation and to the American race. Who is the man that would rather some other man would go “over there” and fight it out, or would rather his boy would stay at home because he may be needed there? Honestly, I wouldn’t feel like a true American citizen if I even wanted out of this army.
In case of illness we have the medical department to take care of us, and you needn’t think for once that we will not have the proper care, for that is a mistake. If any soldier gives you that impression he is nothing but a slacker and has tried to get a remedy for something that no medical man can cure, laziness. As for “eats,” I don’t believe that you can find a man who has been in the service any length of time who has not gained from three to twenty pounds in weight. So you may judge from this that we do not suffer from hunger.
Should we have any idle times we have plenty of wholesome amusements. We have the Beauregard theater, which seats about five thousand persons, and the Liberty theater, which seats about two thousand, a big skating rink and a shooting gallery, and base ball games. We have church services and Sunday school at every regimental organization Y.M.C.A. building.
We do not drill Saturday afternoon or Sunday, but Wednesday is no more a holiday for Uncle Sam’s boys, due to the short time in which we have to get ready for the battle. Our prophecy is now that we will be in France by September 1st, and I do not know of a single man in camp who is not looking forward to that day with eagerness. We have been receiving some encouraging reports from the American army in France lately, and we are anxious to try our hands over there. For one, I would like to open up a machine gun on the German line, and I know there are going to be some hot old times when we open up our rapid fire.
I wish I had time and space to describe some of our effective automatic weapons and how the aviators will drop a few showers of hot lead and steel on the kaiser’s gang, and how we will surprise them when they make a gas attack and find that we are fully protected.
But I fear this letter is becoming longer than it is interesting. I trust these lines may miss the waste basket and that they may interest at least some readers of the Record. I hope to return some day uninjured and again be the same plow boy I used to be. I believe I will. I believe a great majority of United States soldiers will return to their homes in a reasonably short time. Let us hope the victory is not far away.
Corp. Taylor Howard.
Camp Beauregard, La.
NOTES:
TRANSCRIBED BY DEBRA POLSTON