TRANSCRIBED FROM THE LOG CABIN DEMOCRAT JUNE 6, 1919 P. 3
Aix les Bains, January 12, 1919.
Dear father:
I received your letter some time ago, and was glad to hear from you and to know that you are all wevy. This leaves me well and enjoying life fine. I am on pass at Aix les Bains. There is some beautiful scenery here. The building which Harry K. Thaw owned for 48 hours when gambling is now in use by the A.E.F. The Y.M.C.A. building is located in it, and the monument where Thaw did his shooting is just across the street from here. I am at the Y.M.C.A. this morning. This morning, I went up on Mt. Renard, and yesterday I saw Mt. Blanc, the highest peak in Europe.
I guess everybody is enjoying life much better since the war i sover. Everything over here is lots different. We don't have to go through the rain and snow now. In war time of course, we had to go when needed, as soldiers do. I will tell you a thing or two about a soldier's life, which I know to be facts, for I was one who went through it. I can tell the truth about it.
On November 9, we went into battle, went over the top and fought all day, and it raining. About 10:30 in the morning, I got three machine gun bullets through my mess kit which was strapped on my back, and one through my clothes, but it only burst the skin and didn't amount to much. So I crawled in a ditch of running water and stayed in that until we advanced, so I was as wet as could be. It was still raining and when dark came, we had to stay on the field and hold our position, and everything was as wet as could be. We took our shovels and dug a little hole and got in it, to keep the machine guns from getting us that night.
We stayed there all night almost frozen to death, as we had nothing for cover except our wet clothes. Next morning when daylight came, there was a big frost and we were as white as if it had snowed on us. The same thing happened the next three days, as we were on the warpath until the armistice came on, and when we moved back from the lines, we had been three days and four nights without food. We never found our kitchen until the next day, so we had done without anything to eat for four days and five nights. But now I get good treatment and three meals a day, and weigh 156 pounds and am off on a furlough having a good time. Isn't that nice besides war times?
I will close and write again tomorrow. I have some of my photographs coming tomorrow, and I want to send you one of them. Hello to mother and all the rest. As ever, your son,
Cpl. Tom L. Spears
NOTES: Thomas Lee Spears of Greenbrier, Arkansas was born on April 19, 1895 and died on September 9, 1959. He is buried in the Cooperas Springs Cemetery in Guy, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as an Arkansas Sgt. serving in Co. C, 324th Infantry, 81st Division. He was writing to his father Segal Alexander Spears.
TRANSCRIBED BY LAEL HARROD
Aix les Bains, January 12, 1919.
Dear father:
I received your letter some time ago, and was glad to hear from you and to know that you are all wevy. This leaves me well and enjoying life fine. I am on pass at Aix les Bains. There is some beautiful scenery here. The building which Harry K. Thaw owned for 48 hours when gambling is now in use by the A.E.F. The Y.M.C.A. building is located in it, and the monument where Thaw did his shooting is just across the street from here. I am at the Y.M.C.A. this morning. This morning, I went up on Mt. Renard, and yesterday I saw Mt. Blanc, the highest peak in Europe.
I guess everybody is enjoying life much better since the war i sover. Everything over here is lots different. We don't have to go through the rain and snow now. In war time of course, we had to go when needed, as soldiers do. I will tell you a thing or two about a soldier's life, which I know to be facts, for I was one who went through it. I can tell the truth about it.
On November 9, we went into battle, went over the top and fought all day, and it raining. About 10:30 in the morning, I got three machine gun bullets through my mess kit which was strapped on my back, and one through my clothes, but it only burst the skin and didn't amount to much. So I crawled in a ditch of running water and stayed in that until we advanced, so I was as wet as could be. It was still raining and when dark came, we had to stay on the field and hold our position, and everything was as wet as could be. We took our shovels and dug a little hole and got in it, to keep the machine guns from getting us that night.
We stayed there all night almost frozen to death, as we had nothing for cover except our wet clothes. Next morning when daylight came, there was a big frost and we were as white as if it had snowed on us. The same thing happened the next three days, as we were on the warpath until the armistice came on, and when we moved back from the lines, we had been three days and four nights without food. We never found our kitchen until the next day, so we had done without anything to eat for four days and five nights. But now I get good treatment and three meals a day, and weigh 156 pounds and am off on a furlough having a good time. Isn't that nice besides war times?
I will close and write again tomorrow. I have some of my photographs coming tomorrow, and I want to send you one of them. Hello to mother and all the rest. As ever, your son,
Cpl. Tom L. Spears
NOTES: Thomas Lee Spears of Greenbrier, Arkansas was born on April 19, 1895 and died on September 9, 1959. He is buried in the Cooperas Springs Cemetery in Guy, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as an Arkansas Sgt. serving in Co. C, 324th Infantry, 81st Division. He was writing to his father Segal Alexander Spears.
TRANSCRIBED BY LAEL HARROD