TRANSCRIBED FROM THE DAILY ARKANSAS GAZETTE DECEMBER 28, 1918 P. 4
Base Hospital 114,
Bordeaux, France,
November 25, 1918.
Dear Mother:
I know I haven’t written you in some time, but I have a pretty good excuse this time. That is, I got a machine gun bullet through my left arm on the 10th (the last day of fighting) and have been laid up for a while. It hit me about three inches below my shoulder, and, as it didn’t break the bone and didn’t cut any leaders or arteries, it is considered only a slight wound and it is healing up nicely. I think it will be well in another week. I consider myself lucky to get off with a wound, and even more so that it was only a slight one. I also feel that I have now done my bit.
As you no doubt inferred from my last few letters, I was transferred to the 32nd Division in October and have been fighting with them on the line ever since; that is until I was wounded. I was company commander of “D” Company, 128th Infantry all that time. I hope I am fortunate enough to get back to the outfit when I am discharged from the hospital, as they are a widely known outfit for fighting, and it makes you feel good to belong to an organization that has distinguished itself time after time for its gallant work. I also want to go back to the States with the same bunch I fought with, as their fame is sure to proceed them; that is, if they publish the names of the fighting divisions. We are also honored by being selected as one of the divisions in the army of occupation and are now on German soil. So you see that’s another reason why I am anxious to get back to them.
We have been jumping around so much lately that it is seldom mail ever catches up with us. I haven’t had letter from the States in over six weeks, and sure am anxious to hear from most anyone. I know that it may not seem right to keep writing to me when I don’t write much, but I have had but few opportunities lately.
We fought all through the Argonne forest; in fact, I spent my birthday there, then we went into the Verdun section and later into the Meuse, where we were when the fighting ended. I was wounded in our last battle. It was near the town of Lissey, which is about 20 miles east of the Meuse and directly east of the town of Stenay and Dun, which towns are on the Meuse and about 30 miles north of Verdun. Believe me, I sure am glad I was really in the real thing, I won’t have to listen to the other fellows’ tales now.
John R. Vaughan,
First Lieutenant 128th Infantry,
American Ex. Forces.
NOTES: John Reckart Vaughan was writing to his mother, Mrs. M. H. Vaughan. He was serving as a sergeant in charge of the recruiting station in Little Rock, Arkansas for the Third Arkansas Regiment prior to going to France. He was born on November 2, 1895 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and died on January 6, 1944 in Mobile, Alabama. He is buried in the Pine Crest Cemetery in Mobile. He also has a memorial gravestone in the Bayou Meto Cemetery in Jacksonville, Arkansas. He was described as being of medium height and build with blue eyes and light hair.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT.
Base Hospital 114,
Bordeaux, France,
November 25, 1918.
Dear Mother:
I know I haven’t written you in some time, but I have a pretty good excuse this time. That is, I got a machine gun bullet through my left arm on the 10th (the last day of fighting) and have been laid up for a while. It hit me about three inches below my shoulder, and, as it didn’t break the bone and didn’t cut any leaders or arteries, it is considered only a slight wound and it is healing up nicely. I think it will be well in another week. I consider myself lucky to get off with a wound, and even more so that it was only a slight one. I also feel that I have now done my bit.
As you no doubt inferred from my last few letters, I was transferred to the 32nd Division in October and have been fighting with them on the line ever since; that is until I was wounded. I was company commander of “D” Company, 128th Infantry all that time. I hope I am fortunate enough to get back to the outfit when I am discharged from the hospital, as they are a widely known outfit for fighting, and it makes you feel good to belong to an organization that has distinguished itself time after time for its gallant work. I also want to go back to the States with the same bunch I fought with, as their fame is sure to proceed them; that is, if they publish the names of the fighting divisions. We are also honored by being selected as one of the divisions in the army of occupation and are now on German soil. So you see that’s another reason why I am anxious to get back to them.
We have been jumping around so much lately that it is seldom mail ever catches up with us. I haven’t had letter from the States in over six weeks, and sure am anxious to hear from most anyone. I know that it may not seem right to keep writing to me when I don’t write much, but I have had but few opportunities lately.
We fought all through the Argonne forest; in fact, I spent my birthday there, then we went into the Verdun section and later into the Meuse, where we were when the fighting ended. I was wounded in our last battle. It was near the town of Lissey, which is about 20 miles east of the Meuse and directly east of the town of Stenay and Dun, which towns are on the Meuse and about 30 miles north of Verdun. Believe me, I sure am glad I was really in the real thing, I won’t have to listen to the other fellows’ tales now.
John R. Vaughan,
First Lieutenant 128th Infantry,
American Ex. Forces.
NOTES: John Reckart Vaughan was writing to his mother, Mrs. M. H. Vaughan. He was serving as a sergeant in charge of the recruiting station in Little Rock, Arkansas for the Third Arkansas Regiment prior to going to France. He was born on November 2, 1895 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and died on January 6, 1944 in Mobile, Alabama. He is buried in the Pine Crest Cemetery in Mobile. He also has a memorial gravestone in the Bayou Meto Cemetery in Jacksonville, Arkansas. He was described as being of medium height and build with blue eyes and light hair.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT.