TRANSCRIBED FROM THE BAXTER BULLETIN MAY 3, 1918 P. 1
Dear Folks at home:
It is with great pleasure that I shall attempt to write you a short letter to let you know that I have landed safely am well and enjoying life and its great surroundings.
Everything here has a different character or as I might say a different appearance than in the States. I am surrounded by new environments. Everything here is most beautiful. The whole country is covered with green grass and the fruit trees are in blossom which adds to its beauty. Most of the cottages are built of stone some very beautiful while others look very rugged.
My trip across the great blue sea sure was an unusual experience for me, as you know it was my first experience. I saw the great white billows as they would roll up in the sea. Some of them would roll so high that they would roll across the deck of the boat and toss it about like an egg shell. I saw the sun set, as it sunk in the West. It looked as though it would go down in the sea and come up the next morning on the other side, to travel along in its old path again. I also saw the rainbow colors in the waves. You have heard the sailors talk about seasickness. I have had the experience. The second day that I was out I became very sick, could neither sleep nor eat nor find any place on the boat where I could rest. This sickness lasted me for three days, at the end of the third day I began to feel better, the next day I ate a little dish of rice which I relished with great satisfaction. Afterward I was able to enjoy my meals three times a day.
Although we are many miles apart I hope that our love will cover the distance between.
Dear father, and you my dear mother, rest assured that I shall take the best of care of myself. I’m trusting in the Heavenly Master to lead me where ever I go. If I go through the valley of the shadow of death I’m sure that He will go with me. Whatever befalls me I shall not turn aside from the pathway of the Heavenly Master. If we meet no more in this old sinful world, meet me Over Yonder in that place where is no more death, pain nor sorrow.
I will close, will write often.
From your dear son and brother.
James Ernest McGuire,
(Camp Jackson, Det.) Hdqrs. By Gen. Hdqrs. A. E. F.
NOTES: James Ernest McGuire was born on May 11, 1894 in Mountain Home and died on March 3, 1978. He is buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Conway, Arkansas. He departed for France from Hoboken, NJ on March 6, 1918. He was a Private in the Hq. Bn. General Hq. AEF.
TRANSCRIBED BY LINDA MATTHEWS
Dear Folks at home:
It is with great pleasure that I shall attempt to write you a short letter to let you know that I have landed safely am well and enjoying life and its great surroundings.
Everything here has a different character or as I might say a different appearance than in the States. I am surrounded by new environments. Everything here is most beautiful. The whole country is covered with green grass and the fruit trees are in blossom which adds to its beauty. Most of the cottages are built of stone some very beautiful while others look very rugged.
My trip across the great blue sea sure was an unusual experience for me, as you know it was my first experience. I saw the great white billows as they would roll up in the sea. Some of them would roll so high that they would roll across the deck of the boat and toss it about like an egg shell. I saw the sun set, as it sunk in the West. It looked as though it would go down in the sea and come up the next morning on the other side, to travel along in its old path again. I also saw the rainbow colors in the waves. You have heard the sailors talk about seasickness. I have had the experience. The second day that I was out I became very sick, could neither sleep nor eat nor find any place on the boat where I could rest. This sickness lasted me for three days, at the end of the third day I began to feel better, the next day I ate a little dish of rice which I relished with great satisfaction. Afterward I was able to enjoy my meals three times a day.
Although we are many miles apart I hope that our love will cover the distance between.
Dear father, and you my dear mother, rest assured that I shall take the best of care of myself. I’m trusting in the Heavenly Master to lead me where ever I go. If I go through the valley of the shadow of death I’m sure that He will go with me. Whatever befalls me I shall not turn aside from the pathway of the Heavenly Master. If we meet no more in this old sinful world, meet me Over Yonder in that place where is no more death, pain nor sorrow.
I will close, will write often.
From your dear son and brother.
James Ernest McGuire,
(Camp Jackson, Det.) Hdqrs. By Gen. Hdqrs. A. E. F.
NOTES: James Ernest McGuire was born on May 11, 1894 in Mountain Home and died on March 3, 1978. He is buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Conway, Arkansas. He departed for France from Hoboken, NJ on March 6, 1918. He was a Private in the Hq. Bn. General Hq. AEF.
TRANSCRIBED BY LINDA MATTHEWS