The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-04-12
AN INTERESTING LETTER -
FROM PAUL JONES

I
Mrs, ]. H. Jones is in receipt of the
following interesting letter from her
son, Paul, who left the first of the
month for the Great Lakes Naval
training station to enter service in the
Navy:
Wednesday, April 3rd.
| Dear Mother:--Well, it's 7:30 and
it seems like I've been up whole day.
Put up our hammocks at five, into a
hot and cold shower, a shave and then
chow, and you ought to see me Teatl
And what's more, you ought to see
me sleep! Six feet up in the air in a
regular hammock, the same as we
used to have hung in the yard, with
a little mattress, and yet we slept and
slept we'll.
They treated us fine on the way up
here. slept fine; had lower berth
all to myself. They fed us swell at
swell restaurant in Chicago and we
arrived here at IL a. m. Our suit
cases were searched and we had to
give up all cigarettes, chewing gum,
candy, booze, obscene literature, etc,
Then we had chow. After dinner we
were given pay number and were
issued hammock, mattress, towels,
hammock bag and blankets. Today or
tomorrow we get our complete uni-
form and believe me, we need 1t, for
the work is dirty and my suit looks
awful. The cotton from the mattress
got all over it.
/ will have to send back my blan-
kets as they won't let you use them.
The blankets they issue are heavy and
are warm enough for any weather.
You see, you sleep between them and
as our barrack is steam-heated, it's
warm. OF course we lower all win
dows at night, but it's plenty warm.
We have "a men in our company,
none of whom had ever seen before.
don't know where Tom Holiday
went. We were all split up when we
got here. Our barracks is steam
heated, electrically lighted and has
hot and cold shower baths, bowls and
all conveniences. 1t is the cleanest
place / was ever in, not even except
ing our own home. We have to mop
it six times day. don't have to do
this because l am on the "chow''
gang. That is, go over to the camp
kitchen and help bring back the food
and dish it out. Of course we only
have to do this while we are in de-
tention camp. After that we are fed
at general mess hall.
Today we get our first shot in the
arm and after that we can expect to
be sore and feel badly for a while. /
never felt better in my life than l do
now.
The food is just fine. Everything
is clean, well cooked and appetizing.
They insist on you eating all you can
hold, and the coffee is the best / ev-
er drank.
They tried to kid us yesterday,
called us rockies, ETC., but we knew
| they hadn't been here long, so we
kidded them back.
The best of relations exist between
everyone and everyone is friendly.
Last night was sent for my COM
paAy commander and he said he had
heard / played the piano. l don't
know how he found it out. Anyhow,
he took me to the detention camp Of
ficers' barracks and played for them
while they sang and banged away on
banjos and uks, etc. I had good
time.
Please send me my fountain pen,
as will need it. I will send back ev-
erything don't need as soon as ! am
issued my uniform. They gave US a
bag to keep all our things in. And
everything has TO be exactly in it's
place or you're clear out of luck.
One mar fell out of his hammock
last night, while one mans rope
slipped because he didn't tie it cor
rectiy. But no one was hurt. We
have to keep guard two hours every
other day. / WAS on last night, so !
won't have to go on for a while. /
guess they are afraid someone will
steal something, but can't see what
it would be, for everything is stripped
as clean as anyone could do it,
Well, the commander has just been
here for morning inspection and we
have to get ready for our first shot,
so win have to close for this time. |
will write just ms soon as l can, but
they keep us SO busy--and we won't
feel very well.
With lots Of love,
PAUL.
Camp Decatur, Barracks 851 West,
Dazs~-n.4 CuoaA olran I'll