TRANSCRIBED FROM THE GREEN FOREST TRIBUNE DECEMBER 20, 1918 P. 2
Base Hospital 68,
A. Expd. Forces. France.
Nov. 28th, 1918.
Dear Lelia:
I have not written you for about three weeks. I was in the big drive the 1st of November, and came out pretty well considering everything. I got a shrapnel on the hip, but the wound is all healed over now, and guess I will come out all right.
Had the luck to wing a Hun my first shot. We also captured a lot of prisoners, and it was while two other boys I and were taking them to the rear, that I got mine. For we were under fire all the way back, but the Germans also got some of our prisoners with their shells, and so we have no kick coming. I was conveyed with others to the hospital.
Well I have a surprise for you. I overheard my night nurse speak of a Miss Speer, and after questioning her, decided it must be Ethel so she volunteered to bring her over, and sure enough I was not disappointed. Believe me, I was glad to see her, and guess she was to see me. She brought me a couple of letters you had written to her, and I see by them that you got my letters. She was over to see me a couple of times, and I expect to see her again.
Have been moving around so much that I haven’t received any mail yet, but expect to get some when I return to my company, if I am lucky enough to get with them again.
Ethel says she is going to write you again soon.
Had the luck to meet Captain Claude Martin, M. D. of Welsh, La., and he was glad to see me, too. He was company doctor for a while but is now on the “general staff” and has a good position.
I meet up with Camp Pike boys often, and am always glad to see them.
Well it seems that we have the Germans licked good and proper, and I am hoping to get back home before another winter.
Every one is celebrating to beat the band. I hope you are all well and everything all right. You must not forget to keep the poultry up, and also the live stock, as we had everything built up so much better than when we first started, and they were bringing in the “dough” too. I think it pays to keep the best of everything if possible.
I still have those Kodak pictures you sent me at Camp Pike; that one of the calves is a dandy.
Guess some of us will have to stay here for quite a while until everything is quiet.
Must close for this time but will write you again before long.
Love to all.
Your brother
Leslie Meeks.
NOTES: Enoch Leslie Meeks was born in Knoxville, Illinois on April 11, 1899 and died on January 30, 1919. His elaborate headstone states that he had served in Co. I, 23 Inf., 2 Division and been wounded in the Argonne and died in the US. Records show that he died from an accidental self-inflicted wound. He is buried in the Glenwood Cemetery in Green Forest, Arkansas. He departed for Europe on August 16, 1918 from New York onboard the Karoa. He was a Pvt. serving in the Camp Pike July Automatic Replacement Co. 9.
TRANSCRIBED BY LINDA MATTHEWS
Base Hospital 68,
A. Expd. Forces. France.
Nov. 28th, 1918.
Dear Lelia:
I have not written you for about three weeks. I was in the big drive the 1st of November, and came out pretty well considering everything. I got a shrapnel on the hip, but the wound is all healed over now, and guess I will come out all right.
Had the luck to wing a Hun my first shot. We also captured a lot of prisoners, and it was while two other boys I and were taking them to the rear, that I got mine. For we were under fire all the way back, but the Germans also got some of our prisoners with their shells, and so we have no kick coming. I was conveyed with others to the hospital.
Well I have a surprise for you. I overheard my night nurse speak of a Miss Speer, and after questioning her, decided it must be Ethel so she volunteered to bring her over, and sure enough I was not disappointed. Believe me, I was glad to see her, and guess she was to see me. She brought me a couple of letters you had written to her, and I see by them that you got my letters. She was over to see me a couple of times, and I expect to see her again.
Have been moving around so much that I haven’t received any mail yet, but expect to get some when I return to my company, if I am lucky enough to get with them again.
Ethel says she is going to write you again soon.
Had the luck to meet Captain Claude Martin, M. D. of Welsh, La., and he was glad to see me, too. He was company doctor for a while but is now on the “general staff” and has a good position.
I meet up with Camp Pike boys often, and am always glad to see them.
Well it seems that we have the Germans licked good and proper, and I am hoping to get back home before another winter.
Every one is celebrating to beat the band. I hope you are all well and everything all right. You must not forget to keep the poultry up, and also the live stock, as we had everything built up so much better than when we first started, and they were bringing in the “dough” too. I think it pays to keep the best of everything if possible.
I still have those Kodak pictures you sent me at Camp Pike; that one of the calves is a dandy.
Guess some of us will have to stay here for quite a while until everything is quiet.
Must close for this time but will write you again before long.
Love to all.
Your brother
Leslie Meeks.
NOTES: Enoch Leslie Meeks was born in Knoxville, Illinois on April 11, 1899 and died on January 30, 1919. His elaborate headstone states that he had served in Co. I, 23 Inf., 2 Division and been wounded in the Argonne and died in the US. Records show that he died from an accidental self-inflicted wound. He is buried in the Glenwood Cemetery in Green Forest, Arkansas. He departed for Europe on August 16, 1918 from New York onboard the Karoa. He was a Pvt. serving in the Camp Pike July Automatic Replacement Co. 9.
TRANSCRIBED BY LINDA MATTHEWS