Owen "Glen" Tudor letter to his mother - December 10, 1917
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Same Adress [December 10, 1917] 10 p.m. Dear Mother, I have been living such a higgly-piggelty - hurry-it-up existence for the past few weeks that I am not sure that I have been keeping up my correspondence as I should. I have been thinking that perhaps I do not tell you enough about what I am doing, but talk generally too much. It seems like I do as many little things and do not get ahead on any thing very much.
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Right now I am on guard again and am seated next to a good warm fire in the guard house next to a little conical stove. Honestly, mama, there is so much to tell you That I don't know where to begin. One thing is that I have been put at the head of the telegraphy school for our battery. There are only two boys in the school from our battery besides myself, but of course two & a corporal from each battery makes quite a bunch at the regimental school. This is fine stuff for me for I get out of a lot of disagreeable foot drill which I am up in and am getting some real stuff in telegraphy. This is encouraging too for I studied up on this stuff and was recommended out of a bunch of other men. Here is my program for the day. I am getting to know "the ropes" pretty well & being an old " man I have it pretty easy : - Reville - 5:45 a.m. Morning exersises 'till 6 00 off till mess at 6:30 off until drill call at 7 20 Call my roll for 10 men & report my
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[page 4] section. Am told to face out with my detail in the line of fire closes and the battery goes out for drill. I go to my tent & rest 'till 8 50 a.m. When we go to regimental telegraph school. We are advancing very rapidly now & I am getting so I can read the messages with out writing them down. I own a buzzer (or Telegrapher's outfit) with the other two men my share was $1 20. It has a regular telegrapher's key & sure is a dandy. The school is dismissed at 10 00 & we go back to our tents & work on
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[page 5] our own buzzer. The battery returns at 11 30 & we prepare for dinner at 12 00 noon. After bunk fatigue (rest) until 1 20. Again I call my roll on the line when the battery is in a "front" and again fall out when the battery goes out. This time we go to our tent & practice on our own instrument. we work in 15 minute shifts & rest five minutes - that is I "send" for 15 minutes & the other two "recieve", then we rest 5 minutes & then one of the others
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sends for 15 minutes. It is very interesting work, but wearing. I am going to try hard & become an expert on the buzzer. We use the Instructional code instead of the morse. My photography business is coming along fine & dandy. I am going to cut down on it, but want to get a good camera of my own first. Tell Beatrice that I am taking the best of care of the Kodak. I keep it in the box Esker’s sent it in & I don't believe it has a scratch on it. I have been taking about 4 six exposure rolls with it a week. Most of the boys take 6 pictures each. At 10 [cents] each that would be $3.60 a roll with 10 [cents] out for developing & my expenses for post cards & developer & fixing powders. I mix up wash pans of developer & hypo. The other evening I did work amounting to the following : My expenses couldn't have been over $5 00. Pretty good, eh? [In margin] Hydellang 2.40 Jordan 2.20 Eike 2.50 Post Cards 5.50 Groth 1.20 Smith .20 Jeffers .70 Gideon .40 Chennoweth .80 Fick .50 Dohlbey .35 $1.75
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I am saving for this camera. It is a 3A Special Kodak. The regular catalog prince is $60 00 but I can get it for $55 00 & will be able to get it in a couple of weeks. this may sound like a lot of money, but think of it - I will have a Kodak which will take a clear picture of a swiftly moving object having a 1/300 second shutter. It will take as clear a picture on a cloudy day as Bee's will on a clear day & Bee's is a very good camera. I have taken some dandy pictures
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with it (& some very bum ones) the latter mostly due to my own fault. I have found photography so interesting that I am going to make it a hobby when I get home. I have quite an outfit & when something happens to make it either too hard for me or unprofitable I am going to send my big box home, ma dear, & I want you to put it away for I sure do value my outfit. You know I have to laugh when I think of the nerve I had to tackle it with out a bit of experience when I am doing good work or making good money out of it.
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When I get back to St. Louis I am going to experiment until I can make as good a print as any of the best in town Esker's for instance. I have had to stop writing several times & now it is after noon of Tuesday. We were lucky to be on guard for our battery has gone out to the trenches. This is a walk of about three miles & it sure is cold. Mama, I am enclosing some pictures which I value above any of the others. When I get back I would like to put some of these littler ones in an album. Please take good care of them. I hear that our battery is to be divided up into permanent sections. I am wondering where I will land. I am getting so that nothing worries me or surprises me. I take it as it comes & let it go at that. I have a lot of friends here who will be good to remember when I get back to St. Louis. There is no need of feeling as lonely as I used to be. Another thing I have a rep. of being as good as the next on this artillery stuff - & am respected for it by
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the bunch. It is good to feel that you are a man among men. Captain Gibson left us & has gone to the school of fire to return about [February 15]. He has improved wonderfully & will make a good captain. Lieut Sato is now in charge. Saturday & Sunday it was bitter cold. They gave us our winter wollens just in time. I have all kinds of clothes & enough bed clothes. I have no cause for complaint but on the contrary feel well satisfied. We were issued a good cotton comfort a few days ago. All is well. Your loving son Glen. Write soon.
Details
Title | Owen "Glen" Tudor letter to his mother - December 10, 1917 |
Creator | Tudor, Owen Glen |
Source | Tudor, Owen Glen. Letter to his mother. 10 December 1917. Westover, John G., Collection, 1910-1946. The State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, MO. |
Description | This letter was sent by Owen "Glen" Tudor to his mother while he was training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on December 10, 1917. In this letter Tudor discussed telegraphy school, drilling, photography, and his daily routine at Fort Sill. Tudor, a Maplewood, Missouri, native, served in the 128th Field Artillery in the 35th Division during World War I. |
Subject LCSH | Fort Sill (Okla.); World War, 1914-1918; Telegraph; Photography; United States. Army. Division, 35th |
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 | December 10, 1917 |
Language | English |