#1

 

 

Dear Mother:

 

            We are camped somewhere in France.  We arrived at camp yesterday after a hike of three miles.  It was uphill almost all of the way and the roads were pretty rough. 

 

            Everything in this country looks to be about a hundred years old.  I do not think they have built any new house here in the last fifty years.  All of the houses are built of brick.

 

            We took a hike this afternoon to a small town nearby.  All you see is old men, women and children.  There are very few young men to be seen.  The women are doing most of the farm work.

 

            The people look to be very healthy as pretty near every one has a nice rosy complexion.  I guess pretty [much] every one drinks wine here, as the water is not very good.

 

            The cost of chocolate bars and cookies are a good deal higher than at home.  A chocolate bar that costs about 10 cents in Chicago is worth 25 cents here.

 

We had fine weather coming across so I did not get sick.  I did not see very many who were sick on board.  The first day out we saw a number of sharks alongside the ship.

 

            We did not see any U-boats at all.  About all I did was read books.  The Y.M.C.A had about 3000 books on board the ship and I must have read about a dozen of them.

 

Where we are you would not think there was any war at all.  I cannot write as much as I would like because there are a lot of things I think we are not allowed to mention.  Do not send any packages because the post office will not take anything with out special permission.

 

            Give my love to all.

 

                                                                        Your loving son

                                                                                    Theo

 

P.S.     My address is

                        Sergt. T.F. Thourson #1,390,312

                        Co. A. 132^nd Inf. AEF

                        Via New York

 

 

Note:  This is the first letter from France and is not dated. The date of 5/27/18 is estimated based on narrative the in The Story of the Thirty-Third Division.  It was probably written from a camp near Brest where they debarked.

As of this date, May 21, 1918, the 132nd Infantry Regiment is aboard the Mount Vernon. (This was the German liner Kronprincezzin Cecelie seized by the US and converted to a troop transport.) Also on board is Major General George Bell, Jr., commander of th 33rd Division, and his headquarters.  They are traveling in a convoy escorted by warships of the British and American Navies. There are 5,000 soldiers on board.  “It was so crowded we had to sleep in two shifts. ... I was lucky enough to be in the night shift,”  Theo wrote later when censorship was lifted. On board they had two meals per day in five sittings for each meal.  There did not seem to be much activity aboard ship.  Theo says, “...all I did was read books.”  

TLT

Camp Upton L.I. 5-14-18

 

Dear Mother,

 

I received your letter today and was very glad to get it.  This will be the last letter I will be able to write as we leave to night and I do not know when I will get a chance to write another.  I do not know where we are going but we are on our way.  I am [glad] to get away from here as I do not like it much here.

 

We have everything packed and will leave about midnight.  I have to write this letter at the Y.M.C.A. as I have packed my stationery in my barrack bag.

 

            I did not get to see any of our cousins.

 

            The weather has been rather damp since we have been here.  It rains pretty near every day and it is quite cool as the [wind] blows right off of the ocean.

 

            I hope I do not get seasick when we are on our way across.  I think that if I am careful and do not eat to (sp.) much I will get along alright.  I ought to be used to the rocking of the boat after all the cars I have rode on.

 

            We have two or three fellows who are pretty sick.  One of them has been sick for over a month and I am afraid he will get consumption if he does not get better care.  He caught a cold and it settled on his chest and it seems as if he cannot get rid of it.  I am feeling fine.  I thought I would feel the cold more than I do after all the warm weather we had in Texas.  I am not as tanned now as when we were at Camp Logan. 

 

Do not worry if you do not hear from me because I will write as soon as I can.

 

                                                                        Love to all

                                                                                    Theo

Camp Upton, L.I. 5-13-18

 

Dear Mabel

 

            I received your letters of the 30^th and the 2^nd and Anna’s letters of the 4^th and 6^th.  I received a letter from cousin Emma that has been down to Camp Logan and back here again.  The people she works for are living in a hotel at Garden City, L.I. just about 20 miles from here.  It is right near Camp Mills.  I tried to get her on the phone but could [not] make connections so I sent a telegram.  I hope we stay here long enough for her to come out here to see me.  I have written quite a few letters since I arrived here.  I sent a letter to Enoch yesterday, to his old camp.  If he is at Camp Mills he is just 20 miles from here. We passed through their camp on our way here.  He must be on his way over if he is at Camp Mills.  There was no use of me keeping any more money as I have about $50 with me now which will be enough for the time being.  I do not know how much money we are allowed to take with but some fellows say we [are] only allowed to take $15.  On the other side we only get $7.50 per month and the rest is held for us or I think we can make an allotment home.  I am going to try and allot mine home.  I am sending my corporal certificate.  I ought to have sent it home long ago but never thought about it.

 

            We have steel helmets now.  They weigh 4 pounds and I suppose a felt will feel like a feather after wearing it for a couple of hours.  I saw a six reel movie at the YMCA Saturday night and a minstrel show last night at the Liberty Theater.

 

Well this will be all this time.

 

                                                                        Love to all,

                                                                                    Theo

Camp Upton L.I. 5-11-18

 

Dear Anna

 

            We arrived here yesterday and most of us were glad of it, as we were getting sick of riding.  We got on a ferryboat at Hoboken at 9 o’clock and it was one o’clock before we got on the train in Brooklyn.

 

We had to lay in the river and wait for a boat load of soldier to leave before we could land.  We rode sixty miles on the train and it took us five hours to make it.  It was the slowest train I ever rode on.

 

I do not like it as well here as did at Camp Logan. It is rather dreary looking as there are no tree[s] in the camp.  We have barracks to sleep in but I was colder this morning than I was anytime at Camp Logan.  I suppose our blood is thin yet but we will get used to it in a few days.  We crossed ten states on our way here.  We were treated fine.  At several places they met us at the train with sandwiches, cookies and ice cream.  We did not get anything extra in the way of eats on the train. 

 

I never had any idea that Long Island was as long as it is.

 

It was raining when we left Camp Logan and it rained the first two days we were on the train.  It also rained here last night.  We have been busy all morning get our stuff cleaned up.

 

There was quite a few men sick on the train.  We were paid on the train and we were eating everything we could buy.  I was one of the lucky ones and did not get sick.

 

            This place looks deserted.  I think the men who trained here have left for Europe.  I do not know how long we are going to stay here.

 

            I hope I will be able to get to New York and see our cousins tomorrow.

 

            Wherever we went the people were out waving and cheering even as late as ten or eleven oclock at night.

 

You had better tell Eva not to send any more packages because we may not stay here very long and it would not follow us across the ocean.  You cannot send anything across the ocean except upon written request by myself, OK’d by the commanding officer and that request has to accompany the package to the post office.

 

I understand there is no room for anything on the boats except government property.

 

We have a pool table and a piano in our barrack.  I have not had a chance to look around yet, but I suppose there are just as many YMCA’s here as there was at Camp Logan.  Some fellows told me it cost twice as much for meal here as it did in Houston and it cost $2.00 one way to New York and it take two hours.

 

There was 1000 of us on the ferryboat and it seemed as if there was room for about 2000 more.  Well I will close for now and hope I get some mail soon.

 

                                                            Love to all

                                                                        Theo

Camp Upton LI

May 10 1918

Dear Mother,

            Arrived here today.  We have barracks to live in.  We are 60 miles from New York.  I will write a letter tomorrow.  It is rather cold here compared to Texas.  Did not see much of New York.

                                                                        Theo

 

Buffalo NY

May 9, 1918

Dear Mother

            We got here early this morning but we did not see much of the town.  I think we will be in NY tonight.

                                                                           Theo

May 7 – 1918

Dear Mother

            I think we will be in Louisville KY tonight.  There is no hope of seeing Chicago

 

                                                Love to all

                                                            Theo

Pine Bluff, Ark

 

Dear Mother

           

            We were met at the depot by all of the ladies of the town with cake + ice cream. It is the best town we have struck so far.  If we get such fine treatment at all the places we stop it will be fine.

Soldiers of the Thirty-Third Division are in the process of getting ready to depart Camp Logan, Texas to travel to the east coast for embarkation to France.