TRANSCRIBED FROM THE MENA WEEKLY STAR NOVEMBER 21, 1918 P 3
I haven’t been able to write you all individually as this has made 28 days in the hospital for me. I like St. Louis all right and my schooling better, but the “flu” and pneumonia deprived me of both, but really I am thankful since the death rate has been awful that I barely escaped being on that roll.
I would have been glad to have been in my home town to help you celebrate the peace holiday, but all I got to see was the grand parade I watched through the hospital window.
We all want to thank our kind friends who have helped us in their donations to Red Cross, the Y. M. C. A. and others. We love to work for you, and would have been perfectly willing to fight for you to return the favor.
We will show our gratitude, now that peace has been declared, by offering our willing service to relieve your sons, brothers and friends who have been thru the awful struggle for us and when we come home we will remember you all.
And I might add that we will also remember you who have not helped when you could and who have spread propaganda against us.
NOTES: Woodie Amzia Tomlinson was writing to the Mena Weekly Star from a post hospital at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri. He was born on January 24, 1898 in Oklahoma and died on February 4, 1964, in California. He is buried in the Sierra View Memorial Park at Olivehurst, Yuba County, California. His military headstone identifies him as an Oklahoma, PFC Air Services serving in World War I. He was the son of William Martin Tomlinson and one of the seven grandsons of John Tomlinson of Polk County that were in the service of their country during war.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT
I haven’t been able to write you all individually as this has made 28 days in the hospital for me. I like St. Louis all right and my schooling better, but the “flu” and pneumonia deprived me of both, but really I am thankful since the death rate has been awful that I barely escaped being on that roll.
I would have been glad to have been in my home town to help you celebrate the peace holiday, but all I got to see was the grand parade I watched through the hospital window.
We all want to thank our kind friends who have helped us in their donations to Red Cross, the Y. M. C. A. and others. We love to work for you, and would have been perfectly willing to fight for you to return the favor.
We will show our gratitude, now that peace has been declared, by offering our willing service to relieve your sons, brothers and friends who have been thru the awful struggle for us and when we come home we will remember you all.
And I might add that we will also remember you who have not helped when you could and who have spread propaganda against us.
NOTES: Woodie Amzia Tomlinson was writing to the Mena Weekly Star from a post hospital at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri. He was born on January 24, 1898 in Oklahoma and died on February 4, 1964, in California. He is buried in the Sierra View Memorial Park at Olivehurst, Yuba County, California. His military headstone identifies him as an Oklahoma, PFC Air Services serving in World War I. He was the son of William Martin Tomlinson and one of the seven grandsons of John Tomlinson of Polk County that were in the service of their country during war.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT