TRANSCRIBED FROM THE COURIER DEMOCRAT FEBRUARY 13, 1919 P. 4
January 14, 1919
Editor Courier Democrat:
Let some of my friends in Pope County accuse me of not keeping my promise to write. I shall give a brief account of my service in the A.E.F. If anyone has written to me and not received an answer, it is because the letter went astray, and he or she may consider this a personal letter.
Now that the war is over, we are more anxious to get home, however we are willing to wait our turn and no one complains. Before this appears in print I shall be wearing my first “service stripe”, showing six months of foreign service. One stripe is given for each six months in France and every soldier is proud to wear his stripe, but all of us are hoping we will not win another.
It would take an entire page of your paper for me to even mention the interesting places and buildings that I have seen. It is worth a trip to France to go through the old chateau here a St. Aignan. Near the chateau is the building in which Joan of Arc spent a night while on her way to persuade the Dauphin to become king. On the River Cher (Shay), only a few miles from St. Aignan are the historic towns of Orleans and Mont Richard (Mong Rishard). The former is the birthplace of Joan of Arc and in the latter is the castle where Richard the Lion Hearted was imprisoned. At Lury I saw part of the old wall which was built in the sixth century, and at St. Florent I walked across the wonderful viaduct which was seven years in building.
None of the boys who came to France with me are in this company though Earl Harkey is in the same camp. He was here when I came to Nayers-St. Aignan, but I could not find him until last Sunday.
I hope it will not be long until I step off the “slicker” at Russellville. I shall slip quietly into Smith’s Café and say, “Ham and eggs for two.” I only hope there will be no canned goods in sight to remind me of “corned Willie.”
With best wishes to all my friends, I am
Yours truly,
PVT. JOHN E. MCCAIN.
3rd Prov. Co., A.P.O. 727
American Exp. Forces.
NOTES: McCain was born in Scottsville, Arkansas on January 15, 1889 and died on January 11, 1950. He is buried in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Ardmore, Oklahoma.
TRANSCRIBED BY LINDA MATTHEWS
January 14, 1919
Editor Courier Democrat:
Let some of my friends in Pope County accuse me of not keeping my promise to write. I shall give a brief account of my service in the A.E.F. If anyone has written to me and not received an answer, it is because the letter went astray, and he or she may consider this a personal letter.
Now that the war is over, we are more anxious to get home, however we are willing to wait our turn and no one complains. Before this appears in print I shall be wearing my first “service stripe”, showing six months of foreign service. One stripe is given for each six months in France and every soldier is proud to wear his stripe, but all of us are hoping we will not win another.
It would take an entire page of your paper for me to even mention the interesting places and buildings that I have seen. It is worth a trip to France to go through the old chateau here a St. Aignan. Near the chateau is the building in which Joan of Arc spent a night while on her way to persuade the Dauphin to become king. On the River Cher (Shay), only a few miles from St. Aignan are the historic towns of Orleans and Mont Richard (Mong Rishard). The former is the birthplace of Joan of Arc and in the latter is the castle where Richard the Lion Hearted was imprisoned. At Lury I saw part of the old wall which was built in the sixth century, and at St. Florent I walked across the wonderful viaduct which was seven years in building.
None of the boys who came to France with me are in this company though Earl Harkey is in the same camp. He was here when I came to Nayers-St. Aignan, but I could not find him until last Sunday.
I hope it will not be long until I step off the “slicker” at Russellville. I shall slip quietly into Smith’s Café and say, “Ham and eggs for two.” I only hope there will be no canned goods in sight to remind me of “corned Willie.”
With best wishes to all my friends, I am
Yours truly,
PVT. JOHN E. MCCAIN.
3rd Prov. Co., A.P.O. 727
American Exp. Forces.
NOTES: McCain was born in Scottsville, Arkansas on January 15, 1889 and died on January 11, 1950. He is buried in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Ardmore, Oklahoma.
TRANSCRIBED BY LINDA MATTHEWS