TRANSCRIBED FROM THE ARKANSAS GAZETTE JANUARY 20, 1919 P. 5
The first day at sea we almost burned up it was so warm. The next day wasn’t quite so bad, but the third day I was a seasick boy. I had been on what they called a lookout post and had just come off duty when the awfullest whistle I ever heard in my life began blowing. I thought of home, all my folks and everybody I ever knew, for I thought the ship was going down. Everybody was going in a high lope for a lifeboat. My paper called for boat 15, but I couldn’t find it, so I grabbed a raft and held on to it until I knew the ship was not going down. The sub hadn’t quite—“got” us.
Well, things went on well until the 11th, which was Saturday night and Sunday, when we had to go through some mean water. On the evening of the 18th we landed at Brest, where we left the good ship Huron. We finally got to Revilly, where we stayed two and a half months. They began then calling for men from our company. We sent 70 to the front, and in a little while they called for some more, and we sent 45. In about three week they got us down to 41 men.
We left Revilly and came to a little town they call Oisley, here they called for 11 corporals from company C and that left 29 of us. Next day they took one lone man. The rest of us, 28, are still together, but we don’t know for how long. We are now transferred to the 41st Division, Company I, 64th Regiment.
NOTES: This partial letter was written by Sergeant Lawrence Wyatt, Co. C, 153rd Infantry 39th Division, of Arkadelphia, Arkansas to his father. He was born February 23, 1896 and died March 6, 1939. He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Pueblo, Colorado. His military headstone indentifies him as being from Arkansas and a Sgt. In the 153rd Infantry, 39th division.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT
The first day at sea we almost burned up it was so warm. The next day wasn’t quite so bad, but the third day I was a seasick boy. I had been on what they called a lookout post and had just come off duty when the awfullest whistle I ever heard in my life began blowing. I thought of home, all my folks and everybody I ever knew, for I thought the ship was going down. Everybody was going in a high lope for a lifeboat. My paper called for boat 15, but I couldn’t find it, so I grabbed a raft and held on to it until I knew the ship was not going down. The sub hadn’t quite—“got” us.
Well, things went on well until the 11th, which was Saturday night and Sunday, when we had to go through some mean water. On the evening of the 18th we landed at Brest, where we left the good ship Huron. We finally got to Revilly, where we stayed two and a half months. They began then calling for men from our company. We sent 70 to the front, and in a little while they called for some more, and we sent 45. In about three week they got us down to 41 men.
We left Revilly and came to a little town they call Oisley, here they called for 11 corporals from company C and that left 29 of us. Next day they took one lone man. The rest of us, 28, are still together, but we don’t know for how long. We are now transferred to the 41st Division, Company I, 64th Regiment.
NOTES: This partial letter was written by Sergeant Lawrence Wyatt, Co. C, 153rd Infantry 39th Division, of Arkadelphia, Arkansas to his father. He was born February 23, 1896 and died March 6, 1939. He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Pueblo, Colorado. His military headstone indentifies him as being from Arkansas and a Sgt. In the 153rd Infantry, 39th division.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT