TRANSCRIBED FROM THE BOONEVILLE DEMOCRAT AUGUST 20, 1918 P 1
Somewhere in France,
July 4th, 1918,
Dear Omar McCaslin,
Barber, Arkansas.
Dear Friend:
I will try and write you a few lines this morning to let you know that I am alive and enjoying life fine, considering every little thing and the way the shells burst around me. Gosh, but they sure can make me think of old times when I was back in a civilized world. Ha! ha!
But you ought to be with me, sitting in a dugout waiting for daylight to come so I can go to sleep. I am just like an owl–I can’t sleep at night.
Well, this makes my second fourth of July to spend in France.
I guess you have a good crop this year, haven’t you or did you lose it all doing squads right?
It is fine sport dodging these big shells, believe me. Especially when you get knocked down once or twice, but I haven’t got but one skinned place on me and that was done by a – ah – by a louse, Ha! ha! Now laugh.
Well Omar, there are lots of pretty girls over here but I can’t talk to them for I haven’t learned to speak French yet. They make more noise than a bunch of Mexicans and you know how much fuss they make. I have a hard time talking to them to be sure and learn to speak French before you get over here. So good bye, hoping to hear soon from a long off friend.
Martin Smith,
Co. A. 16th Inf. A.E.F.
P. S. Well, Omar, I have been over the top and got me three Dutchmen. I got two with my bayonet and shot the other one. Seab got two or three. I don’t know which. He is in the hospital now. He got gassed but not dangerous.
NOTES: Martin E. Smith was born on August 17, 1896 in Arkansas. By 1900 his family was living in Barber, Logan County, Arkansas. He died on July 16, 1980 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and is buried at the Resthaven Gardens Cemetery in Oklahoma City. He enlisted on May 11, 1917 and was discharged on March 28, 1919.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT
Somewhere in France,
July 4th, 1918,
Dear Omar McCaslin,
Barber, Arkansas.
Dear Friend:
I will try and write you a few lines this morning to let you know that I am alive and enjoying life fine, considering every little thing and the way the shells burst around me. Gosh, but they sure can make me think of old times when I was back in a civilized world. Ha! ha!
But you ought to be with me, sitting in a dugout waiting for daylight to come so I can go to sleep. I am just like an owl–I can’t sleep at night.
Well, this makes my second fourth of July to spend in France.
I guess you have a good crop this year, haven’t you or did you lose it all doing squads right?
It is fine sport dodging these big shells, believe me. Especially when you get knocked down once or twice, but I haven’t got but one skinned place on me and that was done by a – ah – by a louse, Ha! ha! Now laugh.
Well Omar, there are lots of pretty girls over here but I can’t talk to them for I haven’t learned to speak French yet. They make more noise than a bunch of Mexicans and you know how much fuss they make. I have a hard time talking to them to be sure and learn to speak French before you get over here. So good bye, hoping to hear soon from a long off friend.
Martin Smith,
Co. A. 16th Inf. A.E.F.
P. S. Well, Omar, I have been over the top and got me three Dutchmen. I got two with my bayonet and shot the other one. Seab got two or three. I don’t know which. He is in the hospital now. He got gassed but not dangerous.
NOTES: Martin E. Smith was born on August 17, 1896 in Arkansas. By 1900 his family was living in Barber, Logan County, Arkansas. He died on July 16, 1980 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and is buried at the Resthaven Gardens Cemetery in Oklahoma City. He enlisted on May 11, 1917 and was discharged on March 28, 1919.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT