Thanks Belinda! That is cute, and yes, J.H. Ward is one of my relatives! Jackie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Belinda Winston" <beja@tds.net> To: <ARCLEVEL-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2000 8:44 PM Subject: [ARCLEVEL] More "Letters from Over There" > LOCAL BOYS ENJOY LIFE OF A SOLDIER > Camp Merritt, N.J., Aug. 13, 1918 > > As we cannot communicate personally with all our friends we hope to reach > them in this way. We have been in the army about 10 weeks now and find it > one of the finest things for the physical man that anyone can find, and our > army life has been very pleasant. Of course we miss with relatives and > friends, but in times like these one has to make some sacrifice. We would > advise anyone who are thinking or expecting to join the army to join the > home guards and get some military training as it will be lots of help when > he gets here. Anyone with military experience is sure to make a > non-commissioned officer and that releases him from nearly all of the hard > work. > We just landed in this camp yesterday and find cooler and also damper > climate than Camp Pike. We came via East St. Louis, Indianapolis, > Springfield, Rochester and other places of less note. At all of the above > named places we stopped, and at some of them we hiked over the town. And at > all of them we were met by the Red Cross ladies and given cigarets, candy, > ice cream and other things to eat and we learned before we landed to look > for the Red Cross when the train pulled into a station, for we always found > them kind and very thoughtful of our welfare. So we cannot speak too highly > of them. > We have at last struck the camp where they are forcing the boys to have > their hair cut short. Some of the boys are sorry to give up their golden > locks, the most noted of these is our Sergeant, J.H. Ward (also of Cleveland > county) who says his "girl gave him orders not to have his hair cut short." > Now we claim he is in hard luck. > This camp is just thirteen miles from New York City, and some of the boys > are highly expectant of a trip up there. It is also just 5 miles from the > coast, so we are told. > We will close our letter lest it become tiresome. We will be glad to hear > from all of you. > Walter A. Jones, Ari A. Powers, Jno T. Saeler > > 15th Co. Camp Pike, July Atuomatic Replacement Draft, A.E. F. Via New York, > Camp Meritt, N.J. > > > > > > ============================== > Personalized Mailing Lists: never miss a connection again. > http://pml.rootsweb.com/ > Brought to you by RootsWeb.com. >