AN AMERICAN WW1 SOLDIER WRITES HOME

 [ NOTE: IF YOU ARE READING THIS SERIES FOR THR FIRST TIME, IT'S BEST TO START AT THE BEGINNING] More diary entries - Oct. 1, 1917, Mon., Fair - cool breeze - warm sun Our first Monday in camp. 3rd day. Worked all day grading Co. St., bldg. side walk, burning refuse, making rustic fences, etc. Nearly finished. Tired. Air full of smoke tonight. Wrote letters. Oct. 2, 1917, Tues., Fair - cool air. Worked all day, building the "Cuckoo Club." Put up big tent & fly, built fire place of logs, 6 ft. high. I was engineer of job. It's great. Worked on it all day. Smoked and read all evening. Cool tonight. No letter from Sis since Frid. Oct. 3, 1917, Wede., Fair. Fairly warm. Up 5:50. Drilled good and stiff from 7:30 - 11:30. Bum mess at noon. Slept until 4. Washed up & shaved. Oct. 4, 1917, Thur., Fair. Warm. Up early. Drilled from 7:30 - 11:30. Still drill from 1 - 5, too. Short arm inspection in a.m. Hiked to P.O. after supper. Rec'd 12.18 from press. Had run in ...

[NOTE: IF YOU ARE READING THIS SERIES FOR THR FIRST TIME, IT'S BEST TO START AT THE BEGINNING] Special posting of next three letters - May 4, 1917 / Oswego, NY Dear Aunt Nel, Your letter received this morning and am answering it herewith. The picture I'm enclosing is so damnably rotten (pardon enthusiasm) that I'm truly ashamed of it. But I promise you, I am going to have some cabinets taken when I get to Mohawk with full dress uniform and will send you one of those. As to my girls, Gee! it's a regular moving picture show to keep track of them. Long ago it was Rosella Shand, then Marcia Saxton, then Jacqueline Burton, then that blank blank creature Nellie, and now I'm trying to be serious with the poor ruins[?]. The minute a guy gets serious they think he wants to get married PDQ! Now I am through! From now on I am going to have a bunch on the string and just be on friendly terms with them all. I, at present have two in Mohawk, one in Milford, four in Peekskill and ...

[  NOTE: IF YOU ARE READING THIS SERIES FOR THR FIRST TIME, IT'S BEST TO START AT THE BEGINNING] Scan of Clyde's personal stationery April 9, 1917 / El Refugio Dear Aunt Nel - As I am home on a five day furlough, and have time to write you a few lines, thought I would do so, as, when I return to my company, I shall again find myself very busy. I left Peekskill Thursday, and return Tuesday. Don't you think me rather fortunate in getting so long a furlough? Nearly everyone in my company has been getting 48 hour furloughs and there is, naturally, considerable envy on the part of the other fellows. But, you see, I left so suddenly & unexpectedly that my affairs were in no condition to drop, so Lieut. Wightman gave me the 5 day L.O.A. to straighten things up, so, of course, there's no telling when I can get home again. Clyde's 5 day LOA paper I have seen Dad & Mother, Claude, Doris and Delia, Grandma Spoor, Uncle Les, Uncle Elmer & family, and dozens of frien...

A World War 1 Soldier Writes Home - Background Hi! My name is Bob, but what I want to share here is not about me. It's about a man named Clyde.  Clyde is my wife, Linda, and her sister, Pam's, paternal grandfather, a Great War American Expeditionary Force (A.E.F.) soldier who died as a result of being gassed during his time in Belgium and France. During his stateside training and overseas service, he wrote to provide some information to his folks and family. Several dozens of these communications addressed to his Aunt Nel who lived in New York City were left to us when his last surviving sibling, Doris, passed several years ago. We had developed quite a warm relationship with her in the 1990s and early 2000s, visiting her frequently while she resided at The Thanksgiving Home and The Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown, NY.  My intention is to transcribe those letters on this forum to allow Clyde's remaining descendants and interested parties an opportunity to read his corresponden...