Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-08-30
GAYLE.
From James J. Stevens

From James J. Stevens
Ft. Sill, Okla, Aug. 16, 1918.
Dear Folk at Home:
Friday night, and will write a line
while I am at the "Y."
Well, this has been some hot day
all right, and also sand; oh, gee! the
sand Travelled 80 per all p. m. The
post master took my picture this af-
ternoon in spite of the sand.
Well, pa, I'm still in the P. O., as
usual. But-I'm no longer a buck
private; that is, I mean a common
private. was made frst-class pri-
vate yesterday, the 18th, SO you see
Pm authorized to wear a chevron (my
first chevron.) The chevron I'll wear
is two cannons crossed; this 1 sew on
my right sleeve, which goes to show
l am frst-class soldier Oh, gee!
but I'm proud of it; aren't you? You
know when l was assigned to the P
O., Ed. jokingly called me a "war
dodger." Now he says he wished he
would get to be a real soldier. Ha!
l was buck private only two weeks
in the army, or service little more
than two months, and 1st class; ha,
ha!
Well, 1 got the plums all right,
and they sure were fine. While l
ate them I could picture myself sun-
der the apricot plum tree in the gar
den. 1 sure enjoyed them immense
ly, too.
Well, pa, you ought to have been
here in my tent last night. l had
just rolled in about 1880 and, hully
gee!, all at once the sergeant blew
his whistle and cried out cline up,
everybody" and I rolled out from un-
der my skeeter net and asked one of
the boys, whats up?" About that
time the sergeant said, cline up and
count off; then squads left, column
right, then double time, march,"
was in the front rank and we trav-
eled some, too; some of the boys
without lids, some without shirts
some with only pants on, right up
over that hill, you know, pa, toward
the Interurban, way down the track
to F Battery, not knowing where we
were going either; for awhile,
thought the 18th was going to leave
for sure, or that at least a part Of
it, anyhow. From the track there
they loaded them up in army trucks
and took them out on the prairie
where a prairie fire was raging to
ward the camp. But they got it un
der control after several hours O.
fighting. Then, pa, you know thos'
observation balloons that were al
ways in the air while you were here
we'll, one of those broke loose yes
terday, with two men in the basket
Well, l watched the darn thing unit
it disappeared in the clouds, then
quit looking at it; haven't heard ye
! if it ever came down or not.
Z Then, again, you probably hear
J about pilot getting killed there
short time back. Well, saw tina
J guy fall from the air and hit tn
q ground. Now, then, HE HIT, too.
Am sending ma a little emble1
which represents field artillery-tw
: cannons crossed, as they are on thi
: card, is the insignia I'll wear on m
3 chevron. Darn it all! now I'll hav
to spend my money for a chevrol
: Ha! Oh, yes, you know I'll make So
: per month now instead of $50. Wei
2 my insurance is $3.50 per month Q
~ $4,000, which nets me $26.50 pc
! Well, my next step will be corpora
: wonder just when I'll get that. Sa
: there were only two or three out {
% the whole company were made frs
class. Say, pa, one year ago today
2 started work for the 500 Line R.
2 Where has this last year gone to?
3 never thought I'd be down here in
year. Well, we make dollar a da,
IS Continued on page 81