TRANSCRIBED FROM THE VAN BUREN COUNTY DEMOCRAT NOVEMBER 8, 1918 P. 1
Oct. 4th from
“Somewhere in France”
I am feeling just fine, in the best of health and getting plenty to eat. I am in the 7th Co, 4th Motor Mechanics, doing blacksmith work. We are stationed close to a little village and can go to town without passes when not on duty. But it is duty for us most of the time now. We have two crews, one working day time and the other at night for a week and then we change.
We have a Y.M.C.A. building here, also a Red Cross building. The Y.M.C.A. organization is good, but it is hard to find anything to compete with the dear, good, tireless Red Cross workers. Right here in this little village I have seen Red Cross men and women that had not slept in 48 hours load up their cars and start back to the front.
Enroute over on the boat I had many thoughts, some of which were about as follows:
The man who invented spiral leggings will have much to answer for in the hereafter. The ”sings” held in the mess hall aft every evening by Chaplin Dunn were enjoyable affairs and did much to relieve the monotony of the trip. Will somebody suggest an adequate punishment for the fellow who persists in saying “censured” for “censored?”
I don’t know where I’m going to,
I don’t know where I am,
Nor where the wind is blowing to
Nor I don’t give a d—.
It is somewhere this and somewhere that,
Somewhere, sometime, someway,
Sometime we’ll land but just where at
It is kind of hard to say.
And if I knew just where I am,
And just where I will be;
I couldn’t tell for Uncle Sam
Objects to that, you see.
The censor man is now a king,
And reigns both night and day,
He takes a slant at everything
That we might have to say.
It’s howdy do and how are you,
We’re well, haunt you, that’s what.
The censor guys will let go thru,
For which we thank them not.
1st C. Pvt. Jas. Vernon Patterson
7th Co. 4th M.M.Regt, A.M. T.
P.P. No. 3, A.P.O. No. 731,
A.E.F., France
NOTES: This partial letter was written by James Vernon Patterson to his parents Judge James Rice Patterson and Mary G. Patterson. He departed ST. Nazaire, France on June 20, 1918 onboard the Pocahontas. He arrived in Newport News, Virginia at Camp Hill. He was serving as a Private First Class MTC 328th Repair Unit.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLE MCCLAY CLEVELAND
Oct. 4th from
“Somewhere in France”
I am feeling just fine, in the best of health and getting plenty to eat. I am in the 7th Co, 4th Motor Mechanics, doing blacksmith work. We are stationed close to a little village and can go to town without passes when not on duty. But it is duty for us most of the time now. We have two crews, one working day time and the other at night for a week and then we change.
We have a Y.M.C.A. building here, also a Red Cross building. The Y.M.C.A. organization is good, but it is hard to find anything to compete with the dear, good, tireless Red Cross workers. Right here in this little village I have seen Red Cross men and women that had not slept in 48 hours load up their cars and start back to the front.
Enroute over on the boat I had many thoughts, some of which were about as follows:
The man who invented spiral leggings will have much to answer for in the hereafter. The ”sings” held in the mess hall aft every evening by Chaplin Dunn were enjoyable affairs and did much to relieve the monotony of the trip. Will somebody suggest an adequate punishment for the fellow who persists in saying “censured” for “censored?”
I don’t know where I’m going to,
I don’t know where I am,
Nor where the wind is blowing to
Nor I don’t give a d—.
It is somewhere this and somewhere that,
Somewhere, sometime, someway,
Sometime we’ll land but just where at
It is kind of hard to say.
And if I knew just where I am,
And just where I will be;
I couldn’t tell for Uncle Sam
Objects to that, you see.
The censor man is now a king,
And reigns both night and day,
He takes a slant at everything
That we might have to say.
It’s howdy do and how are you,
We’re well, haunt you, that’s what.
The censor guys will let go thru,
For which we thank them not.
1st C. Pvt. Jas. Vernon Patterson
7th Co. 4th M.M.Regt, A.M. T.
P.P. No. 3, A.P.O. No. 731,
A.E.F., France
NOTES: This partial letter was written by James Vernon Patterson to his parents Judge James Rice Patterson and Mary G. Patterson. He departed ST. Nazaire, France on June 20, 1918 onboard the Pocahontas. He arrived in Newport News, Virginia at Camp Hill. He was serving as a Private First Class MTC 328th Repair Unit.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLE MCCLAY CLEVELAND