TRANSCRIBED FROM THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT OCTOBER 9, 1918 P. 6
Dear Home Folks:
I have just finished dinner and will have a few minutes to write—if my full stomach will permit. Since we have been here we had everything we could eat. I think that rations in the United States are cut short that the soldiers in France can have plenty. I suppose that you at home are still eating cornbread. We have fine white bread every meal. I sure do have an appetite, too. I think I have gained several pounds since I have been on this side, but haven’t had a chance to weigh. We have roast beef, steak, bacon, jams, pork and beans, sausage, fruits, etc.
So don’t imagine that we go hungry. However, I don’t wish to make the impression that it is like eating at home. As to stewed priunes, I had always thought them a joke, but believe me, that is a reality in the army. This country is full of blackberries. All the roads are lined with them on both sides—they are everywhere. Every day a detail is sent out of the squadron to pick berries and the cooks make pies or fix them some other way. We have had them so much that I am getting tired of them. I guess you have canned lots of them at home, haven’t you? We are in a great grape growing country, but they are so high that we can’t eat them. I thought things were high in the United Staes, but they are higher here. We can get canteen stuff at the “Y” fairly cheap.
NOTES: This partial letter was written by Lowell Clinton Thompson to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Thompson of Amity, Arkansas. He was born on April 4, 1897 in Amity and died on February 18, 1985 in North Little Rock, Arkansas. He is buried in the Oakland Cemetery in Atkins, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as a Pvt US Army serving in World War I.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT
Dear Home Folks:
I have just finished dinner and will have a few minutes to write—if my full stomach will permit. Since we have been here we had everything we could eat. I think that rations in the United States are cut short that the soldiers in France can have plenty. I suppose that you at home are still eating cornbread. We have fine white bread every meal. I sure do have an appetite, too. I think I have gained several pounds since I have been on this side, but haven’t had a chance to weigh. We have roast beef, steak, bacon, jams, pork and beans, sausage, fruits, etc.
So don’t imagine that we go hungry. However, I don’t wish to make the impression that it is like eating at home. As to stewed priunes, I had always thought them a joke, but believe me, that is a reality in the army. This country is full of blackberries. All the roads are lined with them on both sides—they are everywhere. Every day a detail is sent out of the squadron to pick berries and the cooks make pies or fix them some other way. We have had them so much that I am getting tired of them. I guess you have canned lots of them at home, haven’t you? We are in a great grape growing country, but they are so high that we can’t eat them. I thought things were high in the United Staes, but they are higher here. We can get canteen stuff at the “Y” fairly cheap.
NOTES: This partial letter was written by Lowell Clinton Thompson to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Thompson of Amity, Arkansas. He was born on April 4, 1897 in Amity and died on February 18, 1985 in North Little Rock, Arkansas. He is buried in the Oakland Cemetery in Atkins, Arkansas. His military headstone identifies him as a Pvt US Army serving in World War I.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT