TRANSCRIBED FROM THE SHARP COUNTY RECORD JANUARY 10, 1919 P. 2
France,
December 15, 1918:
The old war is won. It seems almost too good to be true. doesn't it? The big guns cease to roar and the machine guns with their "put, put, put" are heard no more. It is a great time everywhere and, believe me, everybody is glad. We used to have the old saying "When will the war end?" but now it is "When will we go home?" I am glad now that I took the chance and got over here as quick as I could for I can now say I was here when the greatest battles were being fought and have come through without a scratch.
I haven't the slightest idea when I will come home, as there is lots to be done over here yet. As I am in the railway transportation corps my organization may be among the last to leave. On account of my having to help get the troops all back to the seaports, I may be some time getting home, but I am not going to worry. I am well and getting along fine. I would like to see that boy of mine before he gets grown anyway.
My bed tonight will be my blanket spread over some boards and covered with two more blankets. That's as good a bed as I have had for four months. When I do get back to a real bed once more I am going to sleep for a week. I am now a sergeant and have been recommended for a commission as a lieutenant, but owing to the war coming to a close, I guess they will stop most all commissions.
How is everything in the Masonic lodge? Tell all the brothers that we have a Masonic Club where I am to which I belong. There are lots of the Masonic boys over here. Tell Jim Armstrong to tell all the Odd Fellows there are lots of the three-link fellows over here also. Both orders have been giving a good account of themselves on the battlefields of France.
We have not had any snow over here yet, but have had our share of rain. It has been raining almost every other day for a month. Instead of having snow over here in the winter they have rain. We have had lots of football games and boxing matches. Also we have picture shows, which help us a lot in passing away the time when we are not working.
Cars that are made in this country are a joke, but the locomotives go pretty good. Some of them are very fast but they have nothing on the engines in the U.S.A. There are several different kinds of cars that come into our shop to repair: French, Belgian, Swiss, German, Austrian, Italian, English and then come the real cars marked U.S.A. All the others may be called wagons. Our boys call them cracker boxes. Some of them come in torn all to pieces. Some have been in wrecks, and lots of them have been hit by shrapnel. I have seen cars that had been caught between the ----------------
NOTES: This letter was written by James G. Oyler to his parents Mr. and Mrs. John H. Oyler of Ash Flat, Arkansas. The letter ends abruptly in the newspaper.
TRANSCRIBED BY LAEL HARROD
France,
December 15, 1918:
The old war is won. It seems almost too good to be true. doesn't it? The big guns cease to roar and the machine guns with their "put, put, put" are heard no more. It is a great time everywhere and, believe me, everybody is glad. We used to have the old saying "When will the war end?" but now it is "When will we go home?" I am glad now that I took the chance and got over here as quick as I could for I can now say I was here when the greatest battles were being fought and have come through without a scratch.
I haven't the slightest idea when I will come home, as there is lots to be done over here yet. As I am in the railway transportation corps my organization may be among the last to leave. On account of my having to help get the troops all back to the seaports, I may be some time getting home, but I am not going to worry. I am well and getting along fine. I would like to see that boy of mine before he gets grown anyway.
My bed tonight will be my blanket spread over some boards and covered with two more blankets. That's as good a bed as I have had for four months. When I do get back to a real bed once more I am going to sleep for a week. I am now a sergeant and have been recommended for a commission as a lieutenant, but owing to the war coming to a close, I guess they will stop most all commissions.
How is everything in the Masonic lodge? Tell all the brothers that we have a Masonic Club where I am to which I belong. There are lots of the Masonic boys over here. Tell Jim Armstrong to tell all the Odd Fellows there are lots of the three-link fellows over here also. Both orders have been giving a good account of themselves on the battlefields of France.
We have not had any snow over here yet, but have had our share of rain. It has been raining almost every other day for a month. Instead of having snow over here in the winter they have rain. We have had lots of football games and boxing matches. Also we have picture shows, which help us a lot in passing away the time when we are not working.
Cars that are made in this country are a joke, but the locomotives go pretty good. Some of them are very fast but they have nothing on the engines in the U.S.A. There are several different kinds of cars that come into our shop to repair: French, Belgian, Swiss, German, Austrian, Italian, English and then come the real cars marked U.S.A. All the others may be called wagons. Our boys call them cracker boxes. Some of them come in torn all to pieces. Some have been in wrecks, and lots of them have been hit by shrapnel. I have seen cars that had been caught between the ----------------
NOTES: This letter was written by James G. Oyler to his parents Mr. and Mrs. John H. Oyler of Ash Flat, Arkansas. The letter ends abruptly in the newspaper.
TRANSCRIBED BY LAEL HARROD