TRANSCRIBED FROM THE NEWPORT DAILY INDEPENDENT FEBRURY 13, 1918 P. 3
U.S.S. South Dakota,
Jan. 11, 1918
Dear Friends of Jackson County:
I have just received the Independent and believe me, it takes me back to dear old ackson county for a few hours.
I notice where several soldiers and sailors have written home, so I will explain my trip to South America. First, when we got to Bahia, I had to learn how to talk again, but very little could I understand. From Bahia we sailed for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Montevideo, Uruguay, Buenos, Ayres, Argentina, from which place we stayed two of weeks and then sailed for “Dear old U.S.A.” We coaled ship at St. Lucias, Island. The negroes carried fifteen hundred tons on their heads by baskets. We woke up the morning of December 24th at New York City after a voyage of twenty-eight days.
The sailor of the South Dakota have carried Old Glory into four foreign countries and long to carry her to Germany,---and we are sure we will get the Kaiser.
At this writing I am somewhere in Canada. We always try to win a home wherever we go and are always lucky. Several of our sailors married in Montevideo; how do you know that I did not? Best wishes to all.
J. B. McCool
NOTES: James Burrell McCool was born in Tuckerman, Arkansas and died on December 15, 1959. He is buried in Gracelawn Cemetery in Tuckerman. His military headstone identifies him as serving in the US Navy during World War I.
TRANSCRIBED BY ADIN TYGARD
U.S.S. South Dakota,
Jan. 11, 1918
Dear Friends of Jackson County:
I have just received the Independent and believe me, it takes me back to dear old ackson county for a few hours.
I notice where several soldiers and sailors have written home, so I will explain my trip to South America. First, when we got to Bahia, I had to learn how to talk again, but very little could I understand. From Bahia we sailed for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Montevideo, Uruguay, Buenos, Ayres, Argentina, from which place we stayed two of weeks and then sailed for “Dear old U.S.A.” We coaled ship at St. Lucias, Island. The negroes carried fifteen hundred tons on their heads by baskets. We woke up the morning of December 24th at New York City after a voyage of twenty-eight days.
The sailor of the South Dakota have carried Old Glory into four foreign countries and long to carry her to Germany,---and we are sure we will get the Kaiser.
At this writing I am somewhere in Canada. We always try to win a home wherever we go and are always lucky. Several of our sailors married in Montevideo; how do you know that I did not? Best wishes to all.
J. B. McCool
NOTES: James Burrell McCool was born in Tuckerman, Arkansas and died on December 15, 1959. He is buried in Gracelawn Cemetery in Tuckerman. His military headstone identifies him as serving in the US Navy during World War I.
TRANSCRIBED BY ADIN TYGARD