TRANSCRIBED FROM THE COURIER-INDEX AUGUST 20, 1918 P. 1
For the present I am in billeting work, which consists of going around among the French villages and hunting up places for our soldiers to live. They are coming over so fast now that you can imagine how busy it keeps this department. But the work is highly interesting. I go into these small towns where Americans have never been and proceed to make arrangements. The French people treat me royally. I am learning to speak French fairly well and can understand beautifully. You see it’s much easier to understand than to make yourself understood.
You can cease worrying about my safety, for as long as I am in this work I am in absolutely no danger, as I am working behind the lines all the time for the present.
I started out to tell you why I had not written for so long and then got sidetracked to something else. You see, I was thrown from a motorcycle and slid about forty feet when I landed, thereby taking a few inches of skin off the palms of both hands. It really was nothing, and the only reason I couldn’t write was that I had too much bandage around my fingers. My right hand is entirely well now, and my left, which was the worst because it happened to pick up the most gravel and dirt, is well on the way to recovery.
I got four letters day before yesterday—one from sister, one from Winifred, one from Miss Fannie Sue and one from Mr. McVeigh. They were my first in about four weeks and I was delighted. It seems like I will never get a chance to write personally to all the good people who are so thoughtful in writing to me, but if they only realized the pleasure they bring they would overlook the absence of replies.
NOTES: Lieut. Robert Lee Mixon of Marianna, Arkansas is writing to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Mixon in this partial letter. He was born on January 30, 1895 and died on March 7, 1954. He is buried in the Cedar Heights Cemetery in Marianna, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as a 2nd Lieut. in the 165th Infantry, 42nd Division. The 42nd was the famous Rainbow Division.
TRANSCRIBED BY JEFF PATRICK