Marson, France
April 6, 1919
Dear Sweetheart Mine,
Sunday once more and still I am
separated from you, but that does not prohibit me from sending you my best
wishes and love, does it Dear? Today
being the 6th, I’ve thought of what most of the people back there
are doing. It makes me just a little bit
sad to think I could not be there and partake of that great amount of spiritual
food which I know will be sent from God.
He speaks unto his few chosen, which have met in General Conference to
be nearer God and understand His laws and commandments better than they did the
last six months.
It will be a
great honor to be there and hear the will of God from the mouth of a new
prophet. Well, if I can’t be there, I
can imagine myself listening to them, for I have heard most of them speak. But as I look across in space, and over the
ocean, I see a certain young lady sitting there with head erect, listening to
that which will be of benefit to all who wish to put it into practice. She is
where I am getting my inspiration of the divine love of God. From her I am receiving the love and comfort
which she sends to me daily over this boundless earth. From her I receive courage and faith to go
about and do my daily labors.
Well dearest
mine, I hope you receive the same amount of love that I send to you as I receive
back from you. Oh, how dark and gloomy
this life would be were it not for the love we hold for one another. It is one of the greatest means of holding
body and soul together. Take that love away
and what do you have? Nothing but one plunging into the darkness, with hands
outstretched trying to grasp the smallest ray of light.
Today is the
first real spring day we have had. The
sun is shining brightly and the whole world seems to be lifting its head upward
to that long welcomed sun. I’ve been
going about in my shirt sleeves most of the day. I came up here this morning, or was it nearly
noon, and wrote home to mother. It seems
almost impossible to remain quiet very long, for the weather is so tempting
outside.
I
haven’t seen Geo. this morning as last night he was not feeling very well. I hope I can find him before tonight for I
want to ask him if he will go over to Boville with me. Oh, you are wanting to go, are you? Do you suppose Bessie would like to go
too? Alright, I’ll take both of you. Oh
yes, we will take both of you and say no more.
By the way,
what is going on over there? Miss
Wilson, President Wilson’s daughter, is going to entertain us here. I do hope we all can go. Did you know I took a few minutes of
leave? Holman came in, and I just had to
stop and talk a few minutes with him. He
seems so near to me, and to tell you the truth, he needs someone to cheer him
up, for he has received bad news. To me it would be almost unbearable, but he
is taking it like a man, for the news strikes home to him. He has lost his angel mother. Oh, how the light must have be taken from him
as he read that fatal letter. Last
Thursday night was the first time I’ve seen him in over two months. And just as soon as I saw him, I could see
that anxious look on his face. Oh dear,
how my heart went out in sympathy for him.
I cheered him as much as possible and tried to get him to look on the
bright side of life, but I feel that it is something which can’t be put behind
and left to the darkness.
Just as Holman
was leaving, Geo. came in and sat down behind me. He is better.
I guess he was feeling a little bit blue last night. He is trying to write to his little
love. He does not call her that,
although I call her that for him. He
seems so discouraged at times because he thinks Bessie is trying to play with
him. I tell him he is only is mistaken. But he is in one of those downhearted moods
which comes quite often.
The way we
are being treated is enough for anyone to be discouraged with life. After we have completed the work we were sent
to do, we should be taken back to our homes.
What hurts me most of all, those who volunteered to come over, and
really wanted to be here, they are the ones going home. Those who were drafted into the Army have to
stay.
Is it
right? No. They have made those men of the Army hate a
great many of the government leaders, politics is playing the greater part of
the war. They who are suppose to be true
blue and who are in a position to get us back home are standing by, and looking
into the future and saying, how can I get
the most votes for the next election? I wanted to tell you this, and I don’t care if
anyone else knows. The politicians who
are in office today are able to do as they wish. But if they don’t do it soon, they’ll be
ruined when the American Expeditionary Forces returns home. For the soldiers are going to be the ones who
will tell the people how they were treated “over here.”
One thing it
has done for me, it has made me have no love for politics. Just to think that a nation supposed to be
the greatest of all treating their soldiers as we have been. It is no time to bring politics in. They should be put in their proper place and
let the will and mind of the people guide their actions.
I do not know
whether this is true or not, but I have heard that men who willfully evaded the
draft were sent to prison. They have been
released and given their freedom, and besides that, they were given a 50 or 60-dollar
bonus. This I have heard, but if that is
true, oh how I loathe that man who stands at the head of our government to
allow such things to exist. If that is
liberty and justice, I do not want any of that in my homeland. We as soldiers of the United States of
America support liberty and freedom for the world. We should be treated with more respect than
we are now receiving.
I did not try
to make this the whole letter, but I told you just what my feelings were. I see by the Camp Dodge News, which I will send,
that we are now in the Army of Occupation.
If that is true, let us do what they want of us, then return us back to
those loved ones we hold so dearly to our hearts.
Well, Dear, do
not think I am getting to be a regular complainer, but I want to tell you when
a man gets enough, he has had enough. He
can stand only so much, and when the politicians begin to crowd in upon his
future, he feels like kicking a little.
As things
stand now, I want to ask God to give me the courage and faith to stand it endure
to the end, no matter how hard and rough the road may be. But if I could only tell you dear, the real
feelings of my soul, I would be able to stand almost anything. As it is, I can tell it only in a brief way.
Oh, how that
love throbs from my heart daily, for the girl that stands firm as a statue
waiting for her lover’s return.
May that Great
Spirit of Eternal Love be with the one I love.
Eternally
Yours, X O X O X O, Henry
Corp. H.D. Call
Co. A 313th Engrs.
A.E.F. France
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