TRANSCRIBED FROM THE COLUMBIA BANNER JANUARY 23, 1918 P. 1
Co. C. 141 Machine Gun Battalan,
39 Division,
Camp Beauregard, La.
Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Waller,
Brister, Ark.
Dear Mother and Father:
As I have no place to go this beautiful Sunday evening, thought I would write you as I am sure you are proud to hear from your soldier boy.
I am enjoying the very best of health just now, and most of the home boys are well, only a few of the boys have had the mumps and measles, so we are still under quarantine.
We will not get to come home to help you eat turkey and other good eats that a soldier boy don’t get in the army.
I hope to be able to land a furlough to come and see you as well as every Columbia county person, for I could ____ ____ ____ in any of you I think.
The weather has been cold here for the last few days though at present it is warm and pleasant.
There are a few boys of this Command that are going to Washington D. C., to enter school for training, and I understand that they will be sent direct to France to work in the timber woods. None of the home boys are in the lucky number.
That cake you sent me the other day was sure fine. I wish every boy in the service could be at home Xmas, nevertheless it is impossible. It looks that way as there is not going to be an enlisted man or officer from the 39th Div. that is going to go home on a furlough unless father or mother dies, and I do not want to see any of the boys go that way.
It looks as if we will have very little water to use in this camp in a short time as the supply is getting low.
Miss Bettie McMorrella is sure a mother to us boys. I think she is one of the largest hearted women in the world for the way she fed us boys Thanksgiving was almost too good for a soldier boy to eat, though I guess a turkey dinner wont hurt us once and a while. Words cannot express how I appreciate those good things that Columbia county is sending us soldier boys, for no one ever had as hard a time out of the army as in it.
Think about one being out in the rain at midnight with frozen feet, so sleepy that you cannot hardly hold your eyes open, but no sleep, for that means death when you are on guard.
So if it was not for Miss Bettie and Columbia county I guess we would be eating light bread and soup Xmas. She says Co. K. is going to take dinner at the Benton hotel, so when you are eating good old biscuits and fresh meat, how I wish us boys were there to help you enjoy it.
We are going to lick the Kaiser with God’s help and there wont be any more wars I hope.
It is for you and the rising generation that we are fighting not that us boys will get very much benefit out of it.
I see in the paper today that the Kaiser is going to offer peace once more and if the allies do not accept these terms he will cause more blood shed in 1918 than has ever been shed in one year, though I hope not. Dont guess it will be so smooth sailing when the U. S. army gets after him, though I would like to help capture the Kaiser and use him for a stool to eat my Xmas dinner on, but maybe we will get him soon.
I will come home when Uncle Sam says so, and hope to hear him say so soon. So give my love to all, as ___ your soldier boy,
John D. Waller.
NOTES: John Dee Waller was born on December 10, 1887 in Columbia County, Arkansas and died on September 13, 1962 in Montgomery, Alabama. He served in the 2nd Reg. National Guard before the U. S. entered the war. After the U. S. entered the war he was assigned to the 141 Machine Gun Batt. He was later promoted to Sgt. In the 20th Engineers (Forestry).
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT
Co. C. 141 Machine Gun Battalan,
39 Division,
Camp Beauregard, La.
Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Waller,
Brister, Ark.
Dear Mother and Father:
As I have no place to go this beautiful Sunday evening, thought I would write you as I am sure you are proud to hear from your soldier boy.
I am enjoying the very best of health just now, and most of the home boys are well, only a few of the boys have had the mumps and measles, so we are still under quarantine.
We will not get to come home to help you eat turkey and other good eats that a soldier boy don’t get in the army.
I hope to be able to land a furlough to come and see you as well as every Columbia county person, for I could ____ ____ ____ in any of you I think.
The weather has been cold here for the last few days though at present it is warm and pleasant.
There are a few boys of this Command that are going to Washington D. C., to enter school for training, and I understand that they will be sent direct to France to work in the timber woods. None of the home boys are in the lucky number.
That cake you sent me the other day was sure fine. I wish every boy in the service could be at home Xmas, nevertheless it is impossible. It looks that way as there is not going to be an enlisted man or officer from the 39th Div. that is going to go home on a furlough unless father or mother dies, and I do not want to see any of the boys go that way.
It looks as if we will have very little water to use in this camp in a short time as the supply is getting low.
Miss Bettie McMorrella is sure a mother to us boys. I think she is one of the largest hearted women in the world for the way she fed us boys Thanksgiving was almost too good for a soldier boy to eat, though I guess a turkey dinner wont hurt us once and a while. Words cannot express how I appreciate those good things that Columbia county is sending us soldier boys, for no one ever had as hard a time out of the army as in it.
Think about one being out in the rain at midnight with frozen feet, so sleepy that you cannot hardly hold your eyes open, but no sleep, for that means death when you are on guard.
So if it was not for Miss Bettie and Columbia county I guess we would be eating light bread and soup Xmas. She says Co. K. is going to take dinner at the Benton hotel, so when you are eating good old biscuits and fresh meat, how I wish us boys were there to help you enjoy it.
We are going to lick the Kaiser with God’s help and there wont be any more wars I hope.
It is for you and the rising generation that we are fighting not that us boys will get very much benefit out of it.
I see in the paper today that the Kaiser is going to offer peace once more and if the allies do not accept these terms he will cause more blood shed in 1918 than has ever been shed in one year, though I hope not. Dont guess it will be so smooth sailing when the U. S. army gets after him, though I would like to help capture the Kaiser and use him for a stool to eat my Xmas dinner on, but maybe we will get him soon.
I will come home when Uncle Sam says so, and hope to hear him say so soon. So give my love to all, as ___ your soldier boy,
John D. Waller.
NOTES: John Dee Waller was born on December 10, 1887 in Columbia County, Arkansas and died on September 13, 1962 in Montgomery, Alabama. He served in the 2nd Reg. National Guard before the U. S. entered the war. After the U. S. entered the war he was assigned to the 141 Machine Gun Batt. He was later promoted to Sgt. In the 20th Engineers (Forestry).
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT