The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1918-05-02
Letter from Earl Cox.

The following letter has been re-
Earl, who volunteered his service
and joined the aerial corps March
Sth, at the age of Is, and is now
in the training field at San Antonio,
Texas:
Dear Folks at Home: How are
you by this time? am feeling fine,
in fact, / never felt better in my
life. You may be surprised. when l
tell you that l am in the hospital,
how | came to be here. Whenever
one even has sore on their hand
they are supposed to report on the
sick call, or that is what they call
it, and l reported that | had sore
throat, and they said that had the
humps and sent me to the hospital
! have been here four days e and vii, viii
will release me. So here | am. II
never did 1 sure will get them
here. There are boys by the side
of me that are sick and not able to
go and get their meals, so they are
mine, and if | don't get enough the
first time | go back, have a
standin with the cooks | also car
ry grub out to the other boys by
the side of me to eat. So ii | get
sick and they won't let me out or
bed, don't worry because the cooks
will bring the grub to me and ; they they
would send it by the. other boys.
We sure have good grub and plenty
of it. | was out running around the
edge of the hospital. We are right
close to where the airships raise and
light. l counted % in the air at
fishy, but it is true just the same.
saw fellow by the name of Law,
jump from an airship the other dav
with a parachute and they said he
was 5000 feet high and he landed
safely. | saw another loop the
loop and when he was very high
he started down nose first and ,:i as
came down ali right. When fell
low first begins to fly he first learns
to raise and light But after he be-
comes an expert he will raise in the
morning and be gone all day. or
yes, you asked what | done with
my citizen clothes. ! gave them to
where ] received my uniform;
want to tell you that the Red Cross
and Y. NJ. c. A. is all right.
speak for one that knows. We
have Y. NJ. G. A. down here and
it furnishes us amusement every
night of some kind. Also balls and
bats and gloves, Bibles and all kinds
of literature to read. This station
airy | am using is furnished by the
Y. M. C. A. You asked about Frank
Parker ! have not seen him for
long time so | do not know where he
is / heard Secretary McAdoo make
speech down here the other day,
also President Wilson's daughter
sing song to the soldier boys the
same day. | have not been to town
since | have been down here but
when I do / will have my picture
taken and send it to you. 1t is
amusing to hear some Of the south
ern people talk and to hear the
southern brogue. They put me in
mind of the fellow that papa told
about at Little Rock, Arkansas, last
winter, when he asked an old set
tier how long he had lived there and
he said he had lived there off and
on for quite awhile. You can see
some guys" walk around like they
could almost step on their lower lip
but here is one chicken that don t
time of my life. have good
place to sleep and plenty to eat and
| wash my socks, one each month,
whether they need washing or not.
AS ever,
Carl Franklin Cox.
p. S. They have been blowing
corn down here for the last Two
weeks.