TRANSCRIBED FROM THE SPECTATOR SEPTEMBER 17, 1918 P. 4
U.S.S. Oklahoma
Editor Spectator;
If I was to write to all my friends, it would take all my time so take this opportunity to resch them through The Spectator.
Mr. Lee, at Greenwood, I hope is in a prosperous way, and all the people in that vicinity well.
I read Voet Rummage’s letter in The Spectator. I met him at the Great Lake Training Station. When I lived in Greenwood I knew him, in fact we were practically reared in the same community.
When I wrote you last a part of my letter was lost, and you said to write again. I am living the life of a christain. When I get a lot of good sea breezes, and sometime I think this is one of the most healthy lives that a fellow ever lived for there are only a few houses that are kept as clean as a ship or a training station.
There has no thing happened since last June that is worth mentioning, only I have certainly enjoyed some good meetings occasionally where they were I cannot tell. I have met some of the nicest fellows in the navy I ever met in my life. Here the rich and poor are just alike and have the same opportunities in advancing in rate or going to the officers' training camp, if he wants to be an officer, but I don't want an officer's place here or anywhere. I'd rather be just a common man for that is my capacity.
Say, people, don't forget the Liberty Loan, for that will help keep the U.S.A. a free country and one fit to live in. I have two--which I guess will soon be in the service, for Uncle Sam. They are both christians and I am pretty sure they will remain so, even though they enlist in the navy, marine corps, or any other branch of the service, for if they will back up their stand they will not bother them an extra lot.
It has been almost two years since I was in Ozark, some of my friends, who use to belong to Co. K. have failed to write very much of late. I don't know why.
Friends, when you have time some rainy day you might drop a line to me, as I get mighty hungry for the news from Ozark and the surrounding country. I am quite a different fellow to what I was the last time I was in that vicinity. Mother's, who have sons in the service, send them this letter. I hope that it will cheer them quite a bit for in some places they don't get the cheering and happy greeting that they might when they are at home and well. Say, you know a letter from home is just something grand to a fellow when he is a long ways from home. If your son is in the navy, send him a letter to New York or Fortress Monroe and the name of the ship he is on and he will get it OK. Don't wait for them to write for sometimes they are naughty and sometimes it is ill convenient for them to write, so write to them often and I am certain they will appreciate it, for it is sometimes almost two weeks before I hear from home and I get mighty anxious. I will reply to all the letters I get.
Mr. Editor, if this misses the waste basket I will write again when I'm in a better writing mood.
With best wishes and regards to all.
John H. Patillo,
U.S.S. Oklahoma, Box 12 New York City.
NOTES: John Henry Patillo was born in Muldrow, Oklahoma on February 14, 1891 and died in Jefferson, Texas on November 24, 1944. He is buried in the Alma City Cemetery in Alma, Arkansas.
TRANSCRIBED BY LAEL HARROD
U.S.S. Oklahoma
Editor Spectator;
If I was to write to all my friends, it would take all my time so take this opportunity to resch them through The Spectator.
Mr. Lee, at Greenwood, I hope is in a prosperous way, and all the people in that vicinity well.
I read Voet Rummage’s letter in The Spectator. I met him at the Great Lake Training Station. When I lived in Greenwood I knew him, in fact we were practically reared in the same community.
When I wrote you last a part of my letter was lost, and you said to write again. I am living the life of a christain. When I get a lot of good sea breezes, and sometime I think this is one of the most healthy lives that a fellow ever lived for there are only a few houses that are kept as clean as a ship or a training station.
There has no thing happened since last June that is worth mentioning, only I have certainly enjoyed some good meetings occasionally where they were I cannot tell. I have met some of the nicest fellows in the navy I ever met in my life. Here the rich and poor are just alike and have the same opportunities in advancing in rate or going to the officers' training camp, if he wants to be an officer, but I don't want an officer's place here or anywhere. I'd rather be just a common man for that is my capacity.
Say, people, don't forget the Liberty Loan, for that will help keep the U.S.A. a free country and one fit to live in. I have two--which I guess will soon be in the service, for Uncle Sam. They are both christians and I am pretty sure they will remain so, even though they enlist in the navy, marine corps, or any other branch of the service, for if they will back up their stand they will not bother them an extra lot.
It has been almost two years since I was in Ozark, some of my friends, who use to belong to Co. K. have failed to write very much of late. I don't know why.
Friends, when you have time some rainy day you might drop a line to me, as I get mighty hungry for the news from Ozark and the surrounding country. I am quite a different fellow to what I was the last time I was in that vicinity. Mother's, who have sons in the service, send them this letter. I hope that it will cheer them quite a bit for in some places they don't get the cheering and happy greeting that they might when they are at home and well. Say, you know a letter from home is just something grand to a fellow when he is a long ways from home. If your son is in the navy, send him a letter to New York or Fortress Monroe and the name of the ship he is on and he will get it OK. Don't wait for them to write for sometimes they are naughty and sometimes it is ill convenient for them to write, so write to them often and I am certain they will appreciate it, for it is sometimes almost two weeks before I hear from home and I get mighty anxious. I will reply to all the letters I get.
Mr. Editor, if this misses the waste basket I will write again when I'm in a better writing mood.
With best wishes and regards to all.
John H. Patillo,
U.S.S. Oklahoma, Box 12 New York City.
NOTES: John Henry Patillo was born in Muldrow, Oklahoma on February 14, 1891 and died in Jefferson, Texas on November 24, 1944. He is buried in the Alma City Cemetery in Alma, Arkansas.
TRANSCRIBED BY LAEL HARROD