Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1919 — LETTERS FROM JOHN AND PAUL WORLAND [ARTICLE]

LETTERS FROM JOHN AND PAUL WORLAND

Dear Father and Ail: — . Your letter under date of 11-13-18, received yesterday, also one from mamma today -written the 9th. Your letters telling me of the premature signing of the armistice and.celebrations that followed did not surprise me. We ware expecting the end for over a monrhbeforeit came and several times it came but a fact it never-’’proved true until the 11th of November. Since peace is here the next thing that naturally takes to our minds is when we sail for the U. 5... A. Everybody agrees that we well leave real soon, but -the date set now is, Dec. 2<)th. That is we will leave for an embarkation port on that date. That is not official but only a rumor, but we have found rumors to come true. Orders have already come in to build crating for the company fixtures, and they are already built. At present we are still working in the shops but tomorrow we start drilling, which is the best indication to us that we leavesoon. Several companies of our regiment have already left for the Stat.es. 1 set Feb. Ist, 1919, as my latest arrival in Rensselaer.

We are leased to the French government and we expect to be released any day now, the sooner-the better for them, as we are doing very little since the armistice was signed, i he trench have already given us the tank insignia to wear, it is two cannons crossed with a helmet in the center of it. It is gold color and will be worn on our coat It is possible that they may give us a shoulder cord to wear. The tank insignia will be quite distinctive as we (our battalion) will be the only American soldiers to wear it. News is plentiful but 1 have lots of letters to answer so will close, anyway I want to save some news until 1 get home. Tell mamma I’m getting tihe paper right along which I appreciate very much. lam collecting pictures and a few souvenirs now and may send you some shells by mail soon. I will close now, hoping that this will be my last letter to you written from France. I am as ever your loving son, Sergt. John E. Worland, Co. 7, 2nd Air Service, Meeh. Reg. A. P. O. 702. P. S. A fellow just came in with an offer to bet that we would be home by Jan. 15th, 1919.

M. D. 16 F. A. A. E. F. Nov. 16, 1918. Dearest Mother: — It seems almost like years since the armistice was signed six days ago. It surely came as good news to me. It gave me a chance to get a rest that I badly needed hut the big thing that tickled me is the fact that the element of doubt has been removed about my return to the States. I am coming home. I don’t know when but I’ll get back now sure and perhaps soon. I have had some wonderful experiences and I will never regret, now that it is over, that I was with the fighting forces instead of some other branch of the service. We have been having freezing weather lately and that has made it very hard to write home. You must remember that I don’t have an office with electric lights in which to write. It is getting cold at home now. I wonder how many letters I would receive if the people in the states had to go set in their gardens and write in the cold. lam fixed about like that. Peace has occupied my mind, along with an anxiety to get home, that I can think of nothing else. I can’t write much feeling that way, so I will close. Lovingly your son, Paul H. Worland, Medical. Dept.