Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1918-06-07
Letter from Mr. McMiIlin
Camp Sewer, Greenville, S. c.
June 2, 1918.

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June 2, 1918,
Editor the Macon Beacon,
Macon, Miss.
Dear Sir: Send my Beacon to me al
Army Y. M. C. A. Headquarters,
Camp SEWER, Greenville, S. C. Iwant
to keep in touch with what you good
people are doing down in Gods country.
The best way for me to do this is to
read the Beacon. Don't forget to send
it and send it every week until give
you new address.
For few months at least shall be
stationed at Camp Sewer where shall
do educational work for the Y, M. C.
A. The new drafted men coming
in are all fine fellows-from the two
Carolinas, Tennessee, and sprinkling
from every state in the union-but a
very large per cent of them can neither
read nor write, and know little about
what this great World War is being
fought. To give you an instance,
Camp Sewer is only five miles from
Greenville, a city about the size Of
Meridian, but right at the camp there
is little stop on the Southern (about
like Brooksville. If you put this in the
paper, though, he certain to leave out
this parerthesls in the Brooksville
edition. This little town is Paris, S.
lC. Several of the new drafted men.
illiterates of course. were very much
surprised to learn that they had
already reached Paris. and thought it
wss Paris. France. and in their letters
back home, which they would get the
Y men to write for them, they would
tell of how they had already seen
Paris and about the wonderful picture
shows and 'joints" and "dives," etc.
Of course they soon learned better, but
there is wonderful task ahead of us
educational secretaries to put these
men in shape before they go over.
| am just as far away from home as
it was possible for me to be sent by
the Southeastern division of the War
Y. M. c. A. 1t takes letter about
the same time to go to New York from
Greenville as it does to go to Macon.
However. I am delighted that l am
located here and like it better each
s@sy. Th, t'imate is not az good as
that around Asheville, but we are sur
rounded by small mountains. and the
scenery is beautiful. l am enjoying it
immensely. This, by the way. is a
great cotton county. The valleys
make fine cotton and the people, l un-
derstand, have increased their acreage
this year. but they are also growing
more foodstuff. They say they have
prospects for good crops. though it is
very early to hazard guess on the
crop outcome, of course.
The spirit of the Y. M. C. A. men is
fine and nearly every kind of worker is
engaged in the work. For instance,
today at the headquarters mess l ate
with twenty or thirty secretaries. One
of them who sat next to me was a
celebrated Presbyterian minister from
Brooklyn, N. Y. Another was an ex-
pert motion picture operator from New
Orleans. A third was a New York
World reporter who had been stationed
at Palm Beach and wrote special
things for the World from there. He
is now editor of our Trench and Camp
and is one of the brightest little fell
lows / ever met. Another man was
specialist in some form of athletics
and so on until you had men from
many walks of life. They have all left
their work without any idea of self
advancement, but with desire to be
of service to our noble boys who are
destined to win the greatest war ever
dreamed of by man, and who deserve
every ounce of our best for their back
ing.
Mrs. McMillin is not with me, but
may join me later. She is doing en-
tertainment work in the Y. M. C, A.
units at Camp Shelby this week, and
the music director has some work for
her here.
We can never, never. thank the
good people of Macon and vicinity for
their many kindnesses to US. The fact
that they are so undeserved by me
just draws me. closer to my friends for
it gives me better vision of the kind
ness of their hearts, the goodness of
their souls.
With best wishes to you and the
Beacon and to all of our friends, l am
Your friend,
JOE L. MCMILLIN,
War Y. M. C. A.,
Camp Sewer, S. C.