James E. Henschel letter to Captain E.E. Major - July 14, 1917

Transcript

July 14, 1917 Captain E. E. Major, Columbia, [Missouri] Dear Captain: On June 21st, 1917 my wife forwarded to you the equipment which you had demanded returned from my son James Edward Henschel before granting him an honorable discharge and you doubtless have received the same by this time. You of course know that our son has arrived in France with the University of Missouri Unit and will do active service there and that his request for a discharge from the militia was not due to his wanting to shirk or get away from serving his county. I would appreciate it greatly if you would forward an honorable discharge for our son to me by return mail. If this has not been allowed by the Adjutant General's office, I wish you would kindly immediately take steps whereby this discharge will be granted without further delay. Thanking you in advance for your prompt attention to this, I remain, Yours truly, LHH.B L.H. Henschel 3236 Euclid Ave. Kansas City, [Missouri] 1st IND. Quarters Co. "F" 4th [Missouri] Infty. Columbia, [Missour] July 16, 1917. To: Mrs. L.H. Henschel, Kansas City, [Missouri] Returned with papers for discharge of son enclosed herewith. I did all that I could for the discharge of your son and have been unable to get the A.G. of [Missouri] to approve of it. I misplaced your address or I would have written you before. This places your son in a very inenviable position as when the company is called out he will have to be posted as a deserter. I sent him word and wrote him not to leave before he got a written discharge as such things are always uncertain but he left anyway. He only had me furnished with the necessary affidavit on June 13 and I wrote him that it usually took a month to get such things through and that he should better wait and if it was finally approved that he would probably have to leave at some later date after the rest of the unit had sailed. E.E. Major