TRANSCRIBED FROM THE POINSETT MODERN NEWS FEBRUARY 7, 1919 P. 1
I am very well: thank God. I am back in God’s country again. Arrived yesterday at 8 p.m. Maybe you think I was not glad to get my feet on U. S. A. again. I left Saint Nazair, France, the 22nd of Dec. and landed Jan 3. I have been sick for eleven days that was seasick, but I am feeling good this morning. I landed at Newport News, Va. I do not know yet how soon I will get to come home. Do not know whether I will get discharged or not, if not I will be able to get a furlough soon. Well, it is a little cool here, the ground is frozen a little this morning. That is it seems pretty cool for me, for it has been very warm where I was in France, for the past two of three weeks. A fellow did not have to wear a coat to keep warm. Their flowers were in bloom when I left. I got to sleep on a good bed last night for the first time in sixteen months, and it was pretty hard for me to have to get up this morning. I have not had a real good old American feed yet. Some may like France all right, but I do not, It is no place for me. You can bet I saw some hard times in France, at the battle of the Argonne Forest. I never had my shoes off my feet for ten days. If you remember the letter I told you I wished I could tell you where I was, when I received your letter, I was lying behind a pile of powder boxes watching a bunch of American aeroplanes, and a bunch of German planes fighting. I had been opening and sending powder to our guns about 20 yards away. The German planes got so close to us with their machine guns that we had to take cover. The mail had just been brought up by a carrier, before the German planes come over, and while the aero battle was on two or three of the boys got the mail and one of my pals came crawling over with your letter. By the time I had read your letter the battle in the air was over. There were two German planes that got away. I was in the battle of the Argonne Forrest at the time. I was tired and worn out, did not have any sleep for three nights. Just as soon as all the aeroplanes were gone I went to handling powder again. We had a railway cannon, a thirteen-inch gun. We had thirteen-inch guns all through the war; we did some awful hard work; the shells weighted about 900 pounds, and the charge of powder weighed 82 pounds. When a fellow carried powder to the guns all day he felt like resting. I was powder man all the way through. In the battle of Saint Mehiel we sent over four car loads in one day, to the German’s for souvenirs. In the battle of Argonne Forest there was estimated to be seven thousand guns on a thirty mile front, from a three-inch field gun to a sixteen-inch naval gun, and there was some noise on the night the drive started. I can hear the guns roaring yet, and I think the Germans will hear them roar for several years to come. I am glad that battle did not last any longer. I was getting tired of the war you can bet, but we made a record for ourselves while it lasted. The battery I am in is known as the Ace of Railway Artilery. Well I will have to quit talking about the war for it is all over now. It is just about time for dinner, and I am too hungry to miss it. I was too sick to enjoy Xmas. There was a good dinner on the boat, but could not enjoy it. I was about 1,000 miles from France on Xmas day.
NOTES: Jake Keiffer, a Poinsett County native, is writing to his friend T. F. Ziegenberg of Weiner, Arkansas. He is writing from Camp Stuart, Virginia.
TRANSCRIBED BY CHLOE SMITH
I am very well: thank God. I am back in God’s country again. Arrived yesterday at 8 p.m. Maybe you think I was not glad to get my feet on U. S. A. again. I left Saint Nazair, France, the 22nd of Dec. and landed Jan 3. I have been sick for eleven days that was seasick, but I am feeling good this morning. I landed at Newport News, Va. I do not know yet how soon I will get to come home. Do not know whether I will get discharged or not, if not I will be able to get a furlough soon. Well, it is a little cool here, the ground is frozen a little this morning. That is it seems pretty cool for me, for it has been very warm where I was in France, for the past two of three weeks. A fellow did not have to wear a coat to keep warm. Their flowers were in bloom when I left. I got to sleep on a good bed last night for the first time in sixteen months, and it was pretty hard for me to have to get up this morning. I have not had a real good old American feed yet. Some may like France all right, but I do not, It is no place for me. You can bet I saw some hard times in France, at the battle of the Argonne Forest. I never had my shoes off my feet for ten days. If you remember the letter I told you I wished I could tell you where I was, when I received your letter, I was lying behind a pile of powder boxes watching a bunch of American aeroplanes, and a bunch of German planes fighting. I had been opening and sending powder to our guns about 20 yards away. The German planes got so close to us with their machine guns that we had to take cover. The mail had just been brought up by a carrier, before the German planes come over, and while the aero battle was on two or three of the boys got the mail and one of my pals came crawling over with your letter. By the time I had read your letter the battle in the air was over. There were two German planes that got away. I was in the battle of the Argonne Forrest at the time. I was tired and worn out, did not have any sleep for three nights. Just as soon as all the aeroplanes were gone I went to handling powder again. We had a railway cannon, a thirteen-inch gun. We had thirteen-inch guns all through the war; we did some awful hard work; the shells weighted about 900 pounds, and the charge of powder weighed 82 pounds. When a fellow carried powder to the guns all day he felt like resting. I was powder man all the way through. In the battle of Saint Mehiel we sent over four car loads in one day, to the German’s for souvenirs. In the battle of Argonne Forest there was estimated to be seven thousand guns on a thirty mile front, from a three-inch field gun to a sixteen-inch naval gun, and there was some noise on the night the drive started. I can hear the guns roaring yet, and I think the Germans will hear them roar for several years to come. I am glad that battle did not last any longer. I was getting tired of the war you can bet, but we made a record for ourselves while it lasted. The battery I am in is known as the Ace of Railway Artilery. Well I will have to quit talking about the war for it is all over now. It is just about time for dinner, and I am too hungry to miss it. I was too sick to enjoy Xmas. There was a good dinner on the boat, but could not enjoy it. I was about 1,000 miles from France on Xmas day.
NOTES: Jake Keiffer, a Poinsett County native, is writing to his friend T. F. Ziegenberg of Weiner, Arkansas. He is writing from Camp Stuart, Virginia.
TRANSCRIBED BY CHLOE SMITH