The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1918-05-23
Letter from Soldier Boy.

The following interesting letter
has been received by Mr., and Mrs. J.
son Dennis E. owen, who is over in
France fighting for his county.
Dennis was born in Decatur county,
| and has many friends in this county
who will be pleased to hear from
him.
somewhere in Texas,
~, Thursday, May 2, 1915 g.:
start a letter, but cannot mail it
now. We are not allowed to mail
letters on this trip. We cannot tell
anyone along the road what COM
pany we belong to, where we are
from, or where we are going. And
as to ten where where we are going we
know ourselves. But we left Hous-
ton about four O'Clock and it is now
6 p. IN. and the compass shows we
are running straight south. This is
some country We are now in a cac-
! tie section and we see large herds of
the range are quite numerous The
herdsmen look to be mostly all Mex
cans
row in a bunch of lumber camps In
this country ] see the razor back
hogs dad used to talk so much
about 1t is getting dark SO will
discontinue until morning.
., Frisa!aay morning agt lust got up up
ting SO l can sleep any place on the
one blanket. We did this two nights
;. before we left, as they thought we
were going to get out sooner. and
took all our bedding and sent it all
this | believe | would ALMOST take a
chance at bed Alice called dress
ed. The boys said we We're through
some oil fields last night, SO suppose
we were in Oklahoma. Must have
taken northern route. We are
Wonder Ues an if this is IS Where Charley
Ward worked. We just stopped and
marched town DeQueen, Arkansas.
So we are now, as the song goes,
Away down in Arkansas This is
a rocky, bushy country. One, cannot
see more than one hundred yards
from the law I think ! will come
down to Arkansas. Tell Maggie l
believe this would beat the Black
Hills. We are sure seeing much
country and many sights in this
army and if we get back we will
| nave SOIlS SlOlN trailing dllSl uS.
One does not know what real soldier
life is until after you leave Camp
Dodge. But then you never. see
anything at Camp Dodge and as
long as you are in it you may as
we'll see it all. Tell Dennis Grogan,
Camp Dodge is picking compared to t.
worth the. difference and if l were
he. ! would see the whole show.
| Yes, Alice, you guessed it right. |
am d glad to get out OF Tex
as. Go where we will, l didn't like
it at all. So bot you would nearly
5 59ast in v the d Actin time then at the n Ell
The engineer of our train just pass
ed nv window and / am in the
seventh car from the engine, SO you
can imagine how crooked this road
is. The south is sure filled with
ssn er and p Kdd family s aas ess
wonder if they are Irish negroes on
that account. We just had break
fast which consisted of oat meal,
bacon. bread, coffee, pears, and jams.
So you see we are getting plenty to
Just marched the town Of Of, Havner;
ing back different route than we
went down. This part of the coun-
try is very rough. Just passed a
woman blowing with a single shovel
blow and one mule hitched single.
The houses through Arkansas and
this part of the country are queer
looking. small and low and no paint.
l had the SWEETEST box from the
boys at home, tobacco, candy, gum.
pines, and everything you could
think of and plenty of it. must
write and thank them for remem-
bering me.
Saturday morning, May 4th. Well,
this beautifuls morning finds us in
is the nearest, ! will be to my folks
and the old homestead for long
WHILE. Back on the train after
marching Kansas City. We are go
ing out of here on the Wabash.
This part of Missouri is a fine look
ing country. Did you know Carl
Clawson and Jess Mcdowell are in
the same division am in? But not
in the same company, but l see
them quite often. They are not
with us now, but are coming later.
don't know how many sections we
are running in. We just had or
ders to shave and doll up as we
were going to parade MOberly,- MO.
meeting there: suppose they are
they should. The farmers are. get
ting ready to plant corn here.
Quite different from Texas where
corn was tasseled out Just pulling
out of Moberly. Have been there
about three hours. We paraded the
town, then they turned US loose.