Owen "Glen" Tudor letter to his mother - March 24, 1918
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March 24, 1918 Camp Merritt, [New Jersey] { Provisional Company B. Overseas Detachment 35th Division. Dearest Mother. I will have to make excuses for my poor writing rights off the reel for my hand is so stiff I know I will not be able to write in even my usual form. By now you surely have recieved my request for the $20 00. This may have seemed foolish to you, but I assure you it is not. I will send back money in installments each moth & will soon make it up. But the reason I was in such a hurry was because we are here in Camp Merritt for only a few days (perhaps two weeks) and I have an excellent
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[page 2] chance to see New York City. This will also supply me with coin to see Paris. I probably will not see a pay day for a month or more for it it always takes them a month or so to find the records & get things all straightened out when there is a change. Well, I certainly did have a fine trip. We left Camp Doniphan Wednesday morning at 6 00 o'clock. We were notified Sunday evening to pack our barracks bags & all our equipment & to be ready to move at a minutes notice. Monday we were again inspected. Tuesday morning our barracks bags were hauled away in trucks. Then we knew it was no false alarm. Tuesday night at about 9 o'clock we were all called out & said our many good byes, then we
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[page 3] were marched into Battery C's mess hall & sat down to await instructions. Here we waited until about mid - night. Then we received the order to go to the various mess halls by sections & sleep until waked up to start. We were pretty well tired out & of course the knockers in the bunch got busy, with their [ms illegible: 1 wd]. Well, we (about 15 of our section) went into battery B's mess hall. Some of the boys were from B Battery & of course knew the cooks. They got one of them out & he fixed us up some nice frankfurter sandwitches. I ate 4. (!!) Well, at about 5 00 o'clock a.m. the Lieutenant in charge came in & told us to go back to our own Battery mess Halls. I had slept from about 1 o'clock on the
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[page 4] table in B Battery's mess Hall. Well, you can imagine that we were feeling pretty tough. Here we were going back to our Battery mess Halls after saying good bye & if we didn't get away before 6 : 30 the bunch would make fools of us. The cooks were up of course (they get up at 4 00 am. always) & we told them our troubles. Well, you should have seen the feed they put up for our breakfast. Fine puffy pan cakes (4) 2 eggs & fried ham. It was sure great. All the sunnys you could eat, too. At about 10 minutes to six we began to get cold feet because we knew it would be our finish if that pack of hyenas from Battery F found us. Still there, so we went over & visited Battery E. & played their victrola. At 6 00 however we were called out & sure enough this time we marched down to the train. I got a nice place about the middle of the 1 st Pullman. We were routed via the Rock
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[page 5] Island to Kansas City & passed [Kansas City] that night. From [Kansas City] we went thru Davenport to Rock Island, [Illinois] which we made the following evening at about 7 oclock & then to Chicago which we made about 1 o'clock. We we sent around the Chicago Bell line & just saw the still light & some big buildings. Cleveland we reached the following evening and Buffalo in the middle of the night. From Buffalo we took the [ms illegible: 1 wd] Valley & made good time. The scenery along this line is simply great. We got an extra engine at Wilkes - Barre & we pulled up to the top of the ridge. Here you can see the towns along the rivers way down at the summit of the various ridges. When we got to the top our extra engine was taken off & we went flying down to the coast. We passed the Bethlehem steel works. We arrived at Jersey City at 6 00 p.m. saturday & you should have heard the shouts
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[page 6] when the fellows say the sky scrapers across the bay & the statue of liberty. It is an enormous railroad yard here & I believe every engine had its whistle going when we came in. Such a reception you never heard. It was simply deafening. We laid in the yards (the train was in two sections - 14 cars to the section) until about 9 oclock & then moved up to Camp Merritt by rail - about 12 miles up the Hudson. We are in nice wood barracks but do not know how long we will be here. I saw a camouflaged shipp The funniest looking thing I ever saw. There is a big new ship yard at Jersey Cy. & along the lake we saw about a dozen new lake steamers just being painted after being launched. I am still seeing things & after I have been around NY a little will write again. I feel a little grippe, but am OK otherwise. The water here is ice cold & I washed a towel this a.m. My hands haven't thawed out yet. your loving son Glen
Details
Title | Owen "Glen" Tudor letter to his mother - March 24, 1918 |
Creator | Tudor, Owen Glen |
Source | Tudor, Owen Glen. Letter to his mother. 24 March 1918. Westover, John G., Collection, 1910-1946. C3733. The State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, MO. |
Description | In this letter to his mother, Owen "Glen" Tudor described his journey from Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to Camp Merritt, New Jersey, by train in March 1918. Tudor, a Maplewood, Missouri, native, served in the 128th Field Artillery in the 35th Division during World War I. |
Subject LCSH | Locomotives; World War, 1914-1918--Transportation; Camp Merritt (N.J.); United States. Army. Division, 35th; Fort Sill (Okla.) |
Subject Local | WWI; World War I |
Site Accession Number | C3733 |
Contributing Institution | The State Historical Society of Missouri |
Copy Request | Transmission or reproduction of items on these pages beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the State Historical Society of Missouri: 1020 Lowry Street, Columbia, Missouri, 65201-7298. (573) 882-7083. |
Rights | The text and images contained in this collection are intended for research and educational use only. Duplication of any of these images for commercial use without express written consent is expressly prohibited. |
Date Original | March 24, 1918 |
Language | English |