TRANSCRIBED FROM THE MENA WEEKLY STAR, SEPTEMBER 19, 1918 P. 8.
The way things are going lately lots of the boys are afraid this war will be over before they can get there.
Just a word the way the boys in the camps are treated. I will say here that the boys could not ask to be treated better than they are in the camp. We get plenty of good food, nice cots to sleep on, in most cases fine officers over us, and every kind of amusement one could wish for. I will say this anyone who does not want to deal square will have quite a hard time, as the army teaches the greatest lessons in discipline, efficiency and alertness than any other channel in life.
The money you people have been giving to the Y. M. C. A. has certainly been a great help to every American soldier while in camp here, tho not speaking of the great good done across in Europe. Remember this, we boys feel very grateful to you who have given to this cause.
To you people who have been wasteful of time in bothering about our boys under the Stars and Stripes here and in the battle fields of Europe, we boys just advise you to live just a little nearer Godly lives, keep in high spirits and let another year past by and see where the German ruler and his gang is. We are going to put them where the hawks can’t find them. After this is done we are going to come back home knowing that we have done our duty. Remember you people who are doing your duty at home are doing just as much to win this war as the boys who thoroughly the lines, and we boys remember this fact.
NOTES: This partial letter was written by Pete Ray Ogden. He was born at Stringtown, Oklahoma on February 19, 1895 and died on August 30, 1978. He is buried in the Sunnyside Cemetery at Lahoma, Oklahoma. He enlisted on May 1, 1918 and was discharged on November 30, 1918. He was described as being of medium height and slender build with blue eyes and dark hair.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT.
The way things are going lately lots of the boys are afraid this war will be over before they can get there.
Just a word the way the boys in the camps are treated. I will say here that the boys could not ask to be treated better than they are in the camp. We get plenty of good food, nice cots to sleep on, in most cases fine officers over us, and every kind of amusement one could wish for. I will say this anyone who does not want to deal square will have quite a hard time, as the army teaches the greatest lessons in discipline, efficiency and alertness than any other channel in life.
The money you people have been giving to the Y. M. C. A. has certainly been a great help to every American soldier while in camp here, tho not speaking of the great good done across in Europe. Remember this, we boys feel very grateful to you who have given to this cause.
To you people who have been wasteful of time in bothering about our boys under the Stars and Stripes here and in the battle fields of Europe, we boys just advise you to live just a little nearer Godly lives, keep in high spirits and let another year past by and see where the German ruler and his gang is. We are going to put them where the hawks can’t find them. After this is done we are going to come back home knowing that we have done our duty. Remember you people who are doing your duty at home are doing just as much to win this war as the boys who thoroughly the lines, and we boys remember this fact.
NOTES: This partial letter was written by Pete Ray Ogden. He was born at Stringtown, Oklahoma on February 19, 1895 and died on August 30, 1978. He is buried in the Sunnyside Cemetery at Lahoma, Oklahoma. He enlisted on May 1, 1918 and was discharged on November 30, 1918. He was described as being of medium height and slender build with blue eyes and dark hair.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT.