TRANSCRIBED FROM THE VAN BUREN COUNTY DEMOCRAT MAY 31, 1918 P. 1
Cambridge, Mass., May 11, '18.
EDITOR DEMOCRAT,
Clinton, Ark.
DEAR SIR:
As you know I could not write a personal letter to all my friends but with your help by giving publicity to the following I can reach most all. I am always glad when I receive a copy of the Democrat for it contains just the news you want to hear when you are away as I am now. Through it I also locate many friends who have also gone into the service.
As to my branch of the service, I enlisted as Radio Electrician (wireless telegraph
operator.) Immediately after enlisting I was sent to Great Lakes, Ill., where I was in the Radio school about three months, then transferred to Harvard University to finish. When through here I will be ready and willing to go wherever Uncle Sam wants to send me.
This is a beautiful country up here but we get very little time from our studies to enjoy it. We're all here for one great purpose--to help crush the kaiser, the beast of Berlin.
Just think of the lives he has taken. It is estimated that if all the people killed in the present war were lined up in one row the line would reach from New York to San Francisco and half-way back. This may sound rather large to some but I have noted the statement made by an authoritative source.
So you see what we are fighting. But Germany is going to see what she is fighting, too, before Uncle Sam gets through with her. Germany can never win and the kaiser realizes it, too. His only hope is to destroy the Brittish army in France before Uncle Sam gets over there. But that he will not do.
Here is one point that helps us all. If a small undrilled French army with only 300 cannons defeated the kaiser's best in 1914, which he had spent a score of years in training and in preparation, how can the kaiser expect to beat the best allied army the world has ever known? He is making his last great struggle, realizing he can never strike again.
All the boys here are anxious to get into real service and of course it means victory for us all. If any of you have the inclination to write me a few words it will be appreciated. I was certainly glad to learn through the Democrat that the 3d Liberty loan went over the top throughout dear old Van Buren county. It shows you are all behind us and if it please God we shall do the rest that this dear country may live on with its own dear freedom.
With best wishes to each and all of you, I am
Yours very respectfully,
O. L. JENNINGS.
Radio U.S.N. Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
NOTES: Opie Lee Jennings was born on December 14, 1895 in Choctaw, Arkansas and died on January 26, 1965 in Oklahoma. He is buried in the Haskell Cemetery in Haskell, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as Arkansas B3 serving in the US Navy during World War I. At the time of this letter he was studying wireless telegraphy at Harvard University.
TRANSCRIBED BY LAEL HARROD
Cambridge, Mass., May 11, '18.
EDITOR DEMOCRAT,
Clinton, Ark.
DEAR SIR:
As you know I could not write a personal letter to all my friends but with your help by giving publicity to the following I can reach most all. I am always glad when I receive a copy of the Democrat for it contains just the news you want to hear when you are away as I am now. Through it I also locate many friends who have also gone into the service.
As to my branch of the service, I enlisted as Radio Electrician (wireless telegraph
operator.) Immediately after enlisting I was sent to Great Lakes, Ill., where I was in the Radio school about three months, then transferred to Harvard University to finish. When through here I will be ready and willing to go wherever Uncle Sam wants to send me.
This is a beautiful country up here but we get very little time from our studies to enjoy it. We're all here for one great purpose--to help crush the kaiser, the beast of Berlin.
Just think of the lives he has taken. It is estimated that if all the people killed in the present war were lined up in one row the line would reach from New York to San Francisco and half-way back. This may sound rather large to some but I have noted the statement made by an authoritative source.
So you see what we are fighting. But Germany is going to see what she is fighting, too, before Uncle Sam gets through with her. Germany can never win and the kaiser realizes it, too. His only hope is to destroy the Brittish army in France before Uncle Sam gets over there. But that he will not do.
Here is one point that helps us all. If a small undrilled French army with only 300 cannons defeated the kaiser's best in 1914, which he had spent a score of years in training and in preparation, how can the kaiser expect to beat the best allied army the world has ever known? He is making his last great struggle, realizing he can never strike again.
All the boys here are anxious to get into real service and of course it means victory for us all. If any of you have the inclination to write me a few words it will be appreciated. I was certainly glad to learn through the Democrat that the 3d Liberty loan went over the top throughout dear old Van Buren county. It shows you are all behind us and if it please God we shall do the rest that this dear country may live on with its own dear freedom.
With best wishes to each and all of you, I am
Yours very respectfully,
O. L. JENNINGS.
Radio U.S.N. Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
NOTES: Opie Lee Jennings was born on December 14, 1895 in Choctaw, Arkansas and died on January 26, 1965 in Oklahoma. He is buried in the Haskell Cemetery in Haskell, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as Arkansas B3 serving in the US Navy during World War I. At the time of this letter he was studying wireless telegraphy at Harvard University.
TRANSCRIBED BY LAEL HARROD