TRANSCRIBED FROM THE ROGERS DEMOCRAT DECEMBER 20, 1917 P. 2
I came on board The Minnesota a little over a week ago, and I am not so well pleased with the navy now as I was before I got a taste of it for I sure do get seasick. I was almost dead for four days; I thot so at least. The waves were so high they came over the bow of the ship in great numbers. We also had a hard storm the fourth night out and the wind and rain was awful. No sailor's life for me when I get out, me for the land for keeps. I have an awful easy job: in fact, it is too easy and it makes the time pass so slow. I am going to try and get home Christmas if there is a chance but it is doubtful. It will cost about 465 and I dont' know yet just how I stand.
When we started on our last trip, the water was green: then later it changed to light blue, and way out in the ocean it is the color of bluing. But when you get some in a bottle it is clear. At night you can see flashes of light in the water. It is some kind of a water insect and when they are disturbed they throw out the light.
All of the boys were glad to leave the training station when the word was passed that we were leaving, but I'll bet there are not ten in the whole bunch that would not be glad to get back there if they had the chance. About 800 of us left Great Lakes in a 16 coach Pullman train and we had our own dining car. We got, or rather were supposed to get, three meals a day. Some of the fellows didn't get much to eat but I always got mine. Two men slept in the lower berth and one in the upper.
We were 43 hours on the train and three hours on a boat going across Chesapeake Bay to Norfolk, Va. The scenery was wonderful from Huntington, W. Va. on the rest of the way. We passed thru 14 tunnels and followed a beautiful river for about eight hours. All along the way the fellows dropped pieces of paper out of the windows with their names on them for the girls, and lots of the boys have already received long letters from them. Every time the boys would pass thru a town they would crowd to the windows and yell at the people. Everyone would wave at us. Girls, children, men, boys and women and old ladies would wave until we were out of sight. When the old ladies would wave the tears came to my eyes and I thot that probably they had a boy or two going with us "somewhere." Old men, too, would give us cheers when we passed. That part of the trip was sad but the rest of it was very enjoyable.
Now that we are on the boats, or rather battleships, we can't write all that we might want to but will have to make the best of it. I am going to put in all my spare time studying so that when my time is up it will not have been wasted. If this navy life will only settle me down to business it will do me a great deal of good."
NOTES: James Hurd was writing to his sister Mrs. George Williams of Garfield, Arkansas. He was serving on the USS Minnesota.
TRANSCRIBED BY LAEL HARROD
I came on board The Minnesota a little over a week ago, and I am not so well pleased with the navy now as I was before I got a taste of it for I sure do get seasick. I was almost dead for four days; I thot so at least. The waves were so high they came over the bow of the ship in great numbers. We also had a hard storm the fourth night out and the wind and rain was awful. No sailor's life for me when I get out, me for the land for keeps. I have an awful easy job: in fact, it is too easy and it makes the time pass so slow. I am going to try and get home Christmas if there is a chance but it is doubtful. It will cost about 465 and I dont' know yet just how I stand.
When we started on our last trip, the water was green: then later it changed to light blue, and way out in the ocean it is the color of bluing. But when you get some in a bottle it is clear. At night you can see flashes of light in the water. It is some kind of a water insect and when they are disturbed they throw out the light.
All of the boys were glad to leave the training station when the word was passed that we were leaving, but I'll bet there are not ten in the whole bunch that would not be glad to get back there if they had the chance. About 800 of us left Great Lakes in a 16 coach Pullman train and we had our own dining car. We got, or rather were supposed to get, three meals a day. Some of the fellows didn't get much to eat but I always got mine. Two men slept in the lower berth and one in the upper.
We were 43 hours on the train and three hours on a boat going across Chesapeake Bay to Norfolk, Va. The scenery was wonderful from Huntington, W. Va. on the rest of the way. We passed thru 14 tunnels and followed a beautiful river for about eight hours. All along the way the fellows dropped pieces of paper out of the windows with their names on them for the girls, and lots of the boys have already received long letters from them. Every time the boys would pass thru a town they would crowd to the windows and yell at the people. Everyone would wave at us. Girls, children, men, boys and women and old ladies would wave until we were out of sight. When the old ladies would wave the tears came to my eyes and I thot that probably they had a boy or two going with us "somewhere." Old men, too, would give us cheers when we passed. That part of the trip was sad but the rest of it was very enjoyable.
Now that we are on the boats, or rather battleships, we can't write all that we might want to but will have to make the best of it. I am going to put in all my spare time studying so that when my time is up it will not have been wasted. If this navy life will only settle me down to business it will do me a great deal of good."
NOTES: James Hurd was writing to his sister Mrs. George Williams of Garfield, Arkansas. He was serving on the USS Minnesota.
TRANSCRIBED BY LAEL HARROD