we are leaveing from and etc. on acct. of the censure because the German
spy might get next to it and he could wire across to Germany and the
submarine U boats would be on the outlook for us. But between you and I
Red says we are libel not to go where the submarines can get a crack at
us but we may slip around the other way and light in Japan and make the
rest of the trip by R.R. and he says we may even not go to France but
stay and help the Russians out. So Shorty Lahey was there and he has
always got to say something so people will think he knows it all so he
said the Russians didn't need nobody to help them out because they were
pretty near out now. So Red said "You will notice they didn't loose
much ground yesterday" and Shorty says "No they only loose 2 miles and
they must of been a strong east wind blowing but I will bet you that if
we do make the trip that way we will bump into them along about Ogden
Utah." So Red says "No because if they ever get to Utah they will hide
in Salt Lake City where the Germans couldn't tell them by their beards."
So then Shorty seen he was getting kidded and shut up.
This A.M. we spent a half hour listening to a speech about the
German gas and of course you have read about the gas Al and it isn't
like regular gas but its some kind of poison that the Germans lets it
loose in the air and it floats across Nobodys land and comes to the
other trenchs and if you haven't got no mask its good night but we are
all going to have masks to wear so the gas can't hurt us. Red says thats
one thing where the Russians have got it on us and they don't have to be
scared of dying from gastritis because the Germans haven't no gas fast
enough to catch up with them.
Well Al the world serious is over just like I said it would be with the
White Sox winner and each one of the boys gets $3600.00 and that would
of been my share only I loved my country more than a few dollars and I
bet the boys feel kind of ashamed of themself to think I was the only
one that passed up all that jack to work for Uncle Sam at $30.00 per
mo. but between you and I Al I have got a scheme where I will make twice
that amt. and if some of the rest of the boys here thought about it they
could do the same thing but why should I tip them off because you can
bet they wouldn't tip me off to a good thing if they thought of it
first.
Here is the scheme when a man has got a family the govt. keeps out 1/2
of your pay every month or more if you want them to and then the govt.
sticks the same amt. in with it and sends it to your wife or who ever
gets it. Say you are a private and getting about $30.00 per mo. and you
tell the govt. to keep out $15.00 of it. So the govt. keeps $15.00 and
sticks another $15.00 with it and sends it to your family.
Well Al I am going to tell them to keep out my whole $30.00 per mo. and
they will have to put another $30.00 with it and send the $60.00 to
Florrie and she won't need it so she can either send it to me or salt it
away somewheres in my name and it means I will be getting $60.00 while
the rest of them are dragging down $30.00 and if it was just luck on my
part I wouldn't think it was hardly fair but when a man figures
something out in your head you got a right to take advantage of it and a
man that give up a big league salary and the world serious dough to do
their bit deserves something extra while the only way some of the rest
of these birds could earn $30.00 per mo. outside of the army would be to
ask for it with a peace of lead pipe.
Well old pal bon sore for this time and that means good night in French
and pretty soon I will be writeing you a whole letter in French only of
course I wouldn't do that because it would be like waisting that much
paper because they couldn't nobody in Bedford make heads or tales out of
it and I might just as well save my labor for my pains as they say.
Your pal, JACK.
[Illustration]
CAMP GRANT, Oct. 18.
_FRIEND AL:_ Well old pal I got a peace of news for you that I bet you
will be tickled to death for my sake when I tell it to you. I guess I
told you in my last letter about Gen. Barry inspecting us. Well Al I
kind of thought I seen him looking at me like he liked the way I carry
myself and etc. but I didn't want to say nothing about it till I was
sure but after breakfast this A.M. Capt. Nash sent for me and
when I went in his office and saluted he says "Good morning Corporal
Keefe." Well Al of course that means I have been appointed a corporal
and of course I expected it only I wasn't looking for it so soon and
while Capt. Nash didn't say nothing it don't take no Bobby Burns to
figure out that the orders come from higher up.
The corporals and sargents we had at first was men from the regular army
and they been sending them away lately and now some of the boys from the
ranks gets their chance. In order to get a corporal or a sergent a man
has got to have the drills down perfect besides being a perfect physical
specimen and good appearance and a man that the rest of the boys will
look up to him and respect him and a man that don't know the meaning of
the word fear. Well Al I must of filled the bill and I will show Gen.
Barry he didn't make no mistake.
My command is made up of 7 men that I am the boss of them and they
contain Sebastian and Red Sampson and Shorty Lahey and a wop named
Janinny or something and a big stropper named Hess and 2 boys named
Gardner and Bowen and some of them is pretty rough birds but I won't
have no trouble handleing them because they know about my record in
baseball and they can't help from respecting a man that give up a big
salary to help Uncle Sam out and the only I that might try and give me
trouble is Lahey and I guess he has got better sense then trying some of
his funny jokes with a corporal because when a private monkeys with a
officer he is libel to wake up the next A.M. with no place to
wear his hat.
[Illustration: The way he throwed bombs he couldn't of took a baseball
and hit the infield from second base (p. 77).]
Well Al a corporal isn't the highest officer in the army but its a step
up and everybody has got to start at the bottom and Napoleon started as
a corporal and the soldiers was all nuts about him and called him the
little Corporal and maybe they will give me a nick name like that only
of course it won't be the little corporal because that would be like
calling Jess Willard Tiny Jess or something and the salary is $36.00 per
mo. instead of $30.00 and with that scheme I got fixed up with the govt.
that will give me twice $36.00 per mo. or $66.00 and I'll say thats a
whole lot better then a private at $1.00 per day.
I have all ready wrote and told Florrie about it and I bet she will go
crazy when she reads my letter and after this when they call her Mrs.
Keefe she can shrink up her shoulders and say "Mrs. Corp. Keefe please"
and you will have to salute when you see me Al. Of course I mean that
for a joke because what ever honors I get I wouldn't leave them make no
difference in our friendship and betwen you and I it will always be just
plain Jack Keefe.
Well Al we started today learning to throw bombs and of course that
won't be no trick for me and you might say it was waisting time for me
to practice at it because when my arm feels O.K. I can throw in your
vest pocket but today it was raining and I wouldn't cut loose and take
chances with my arm because I figure this war won't last long and I
guess I won't have no trouble signing up in the big league at my own
turns after what I done. But you ought to seen the officer that was
trying to learn us how and if they all throw like he its a wonder they
hit Europe to say nothing about the Germans. He kept his arm stiff like
he didn't have no elbow joint and he was straight over hand all the
while like Reulbach and you know what kind of control he had.
We didn't have no regular bombs but only stones and tomato cans but the
way he throwed he couldn't of took a baseball and hit the infield from
second base and finely I told him and he said yes but if you crooked
your arm you would wear it out because the regular bombs weighs almost 2
lbs. and you had to use a easy motion. How is that Al for a fresh bum
trying to talk to me about easy motions and I had a notion to tell him
to go back to France with his motions but I kept my temper and throwed a
few the right way till my arm got to feeling sore.
Well its 10 o'clock and after and I am going to turn in and it isn't
that I feel sleepy but when a man is a officer you feel like you ought
to set an example to the men.
Your pal, CORP. JACK KEEFE.
CAMP GRANT, Oct. 22.
_FRIEND AL:_ Well Al we had some lessons in trench takeing today and I
feel like I had been in a football game or something. We would climb up
out of the trenchs that was supposed to be the U.S. trenchs and run
across Nobody's Land and take the trenchs that was supposed to be the
German trenchs and clean them out with rifles and bayonets and bombs and
of course we didn't have no real rifles and bombs but if we had of and
they had been any Germans in the trenchs it would of been good night to
them.
We done it over and over till I was pretty near wore out but of course I
pretended like I was fresh as a daisy because a good corporal wouldn't
never lay down till he was dead and its their business to set up an
example for the boys and inspire them so I kept hollering like Hughey
Jennings or somebody and every time we started out of our trenchs I
would holler "Come on boys give them hell this time" and I guess it made
a hit with the instructers because they kept smileing at me and talking
about me between themselfs and I could pretty near guess what they said.
But of course it made Shorty Lahey sore to see me getting all the
attentions and he says to me "Who do you think you are Jonah Vark?" So
I said "You tend to your business and show some life or I will Jonah
Vark you in the jaw."
So afterwards when we was in the barracks he come up and says "If you
are playing Jonah Vark you should ought to quit telling us to come on
boys and give them hell because Jonah Vark wouldn't never use a word
like that." So I said "I guess he would say a whole lot worse then that
if he had a dirty rat like you in his command." So that shut him up.
Tonight they showed us some pictures that was supposed to be the West
Pt. cadets drilling and Capt. Nash says if we ever got so as we could
drill like that he would quit working us so hard. Well Al its all O.K.
to hand that stuff to the boys that don't know no more then to fall for
it but I hope they didn't suppose I was a sucker enough to think those
was real pictures but of course I wouldn't say nothing because if
looking at a lot of fake pictures makes the boys work harder the sooner
we will get sent to France.
I was just talking to Red Sampson and he was telling me about a bird
named Chambers in Co. A and it shows some people don't know when they
have got a good thing and don't appreciate what people trys to do for
them. I remember this bird comeing out with us on the train and they
wouldn't nobody go near him on acct. of him being such a bum and Red
says he heard that for a while after we got here they had to chase this
bird under the shower bath with a bayonet and he done most of his
drilling in the guard house. So finely his captain told him he wouldn't
stand for no more of his monkey business and he would call him up in
front of the court marshall if he didn't behave himself.
So then Chambers says all right he would make a new start and sure
enough he cut it all out and begin to take a pride in himself and got
the drills down pat and kept clean and his captain wanted to show him it
payed to be a man and he made a corporal out of him.
Well Al you can't break the rules when you are a corporal no more than a
private but this bird went to Chi the day before yesterday on a leave
and he was supposed to be back at 11 P.M. last night but he
don't show till 2 A.M. and he was all lit up like the City of
Benton Harbor and of course the guard nailed him and he got called up
before his captain and he busted him and I don't mean he cracked him in
the jaw but when a man gets busted in the army it means you get reduced
to a private. So I said to Red what a sucker this bird was and Red says
maybe he wanted to get busted because a corporal has got such a load on
their shoulders that lots of men would rather be a private. So I said it
must be a fine kind of a man that would turn down a job in the army
because it was a tough job and Red says "Yes but everybody ain't like
you and some men don't want no responsibility but you are one of the
kind that the more they have the better they like it and everybody could
see you was a born leader the way you acted in that trench drill today."
So I suppose after all a man like Chambers has no business in a job like
corporal because it is a cinch nobody would ever call him a born leader
unless it was in the gin league but still a person would think he would
try and behave himself after the captain give him that chance but still
I should not worry and it is none of my business and all I got to do is
set up the right kind of an example for my own command and leave the
rest of them take care of themselfs.
Your pal, JACK.
CAMP GRANT, Oct. 23.
_FRIEND AL:_ Well I have quit takeing French class lessons and I quit
because I felt it wasn't fair to either myself or Capt. Nash because
when a man is a corporal its all head work you might say and a man ought
to keep their mind on their job evenings as well as day times and I felt
like I couldn't do that and be monking with French at the same time and
it would be like as if I was back pitching baseball and trying to learn
to play a saxophone or something at the same time and in the evenings
when I ought to be figureing out how to pitch to Pipp instead of that I
would have my mind on what keys to blow next though of course I just say
that for a comparison because I could learn how to play the whole band
and still make a sucker out of that bird because all you got to do is to
pitch outside. But besides that I figured that the man who was trying to
learn us French didn't know what he was talking about and what is the
use of learning it wrong and then you got to start all over again when
we got over there. For inst. he asked me what was the English word for
very in French so I knew it was tres so I said tres and he says no it
was tray because you say the letter e like it was the letter a and you
don't pay no attention to the letter s. So I asked him what it was there
for then and he said that was just the French of it so I had a notion to
tell him to go and take a jump in the lake but I decided to just say
nothing and quit. I guess the French people are not crazy and they
wouldn't nobody but a crazy man stick a letter in a word and then make
up their mind to ignore it you might say and it would be just like as if
I wanted a beer and I would go up to the bar and say "Give me a bee" and
I guess the man would think I thought I was in a bee hive or something
or else he would think I had a bee in my bonnet eh Al?
But laying all jokes to one side I have got to much on my mind to be
fooling with it and besides I put in a week on it and I figure I have
got it down good enough so as I can get by and besides I am one of those
kind that don't have much to say but when theys something to be done you
don't have to send no blood hounds to find where I am at.
Red Sampson got another letter today from his brother in France and Red
says his brother and Pershing was right up close to the front where they
could see the fighting and they was a big battle in Sept. that the
papers didn't get a hold of it and about 2500 Frenchmen was killed. So
Shorty Lahey asked if they was all privates and Red says No that in the
French army they have things different and you don't often see a private
killed but when theys 25000 men killed you can figure that at least
20000 of them was corporals and sargents because the corporals and
sargents has to go out in front of all the charges. Well Al I am glad
its different in the U.S. army but at that I am not the kind of a man
that would hang back for the fear of getting a bullet in me and if I was
I would resign from my command and tell them to get somebody else.
Your pal, JACK.
[Illustration]
CAMP GRANT, Oct. 24.
_FRIEND AL:_ Well Al this was Liberty Day and we had a parade in
Rockford and they was also some ball games out here and that is the boys
thought they was playing ball and everybody was crazy I should pitch for
one of the teams but in the first place I didn't feel like it would be
fair and besides I figure its bad dope for the officers to mix up with
the men and play games with them and etc. and thats not because I think
I am any better then anybody else but if you hold yourself off they
respect you that much more and I have noticed that Capt. Nash and the
lieuts, don't hang a round with nobody only themselfs and when it comes
to the majors and colonels I guess they don't even speak to their own
wife only when they are danceing maybe and step on each others ft.
Well Al I decided today to not try and work that little scheme I had
about alloting my whole salary to Florrie and then the govt. would put
the same amt. with it and I would be salting away $66.00 per mo. instead
of $36.00 and I was talking to Corp. Haney about it and he says it
couldn't be done and I don't know about that but any way I figured it
wouldn't be fair to the rest of the boys so I am going to allot $18.00
per mo. to Florrie to keep for me and that leaves me $18 per mo. to
spend that is it leaves me that amt. on paper but when you come to
figure it out Al I am paying $5.60 for soldiers insurance and $10.00 per
mo. for another liberty bond I bought and that leaves me $2.40 per mo.
to spend and how is that for a man that was drawing a salary in the big
league but at that I have got it on some of the privates that gives up
the same amt. for insurance and a liberty bond and they only gets $30.00
per mo. and 1/2 of that amt. gos to their wife so when it comes to the
end of the month they owe $.60 for being a soldier.
Speaking about the soldiers insurance with the kind I got if I was
disabled they would have to give me $50.00 to $60.00 per mo. on acct. of
me haveing Florrie and little Al and that would come in handy Al if I
got my right arm shot off and couldn't pitch but at that I know birds in
the big league now thats drawing $400.00 to $500.00 per mo. and as far
as their pitchings conserned they might just as well have both their
arms shot off and include their head.
[Illustration: Corporal don't carry no arms of any kind and all he is is
a kind of decoy to kep the Germans shooting (p. 91).]
Well anyway we won't have to practice fighting no more with broom sticks
and cans and etc. because Sargent James told us tonight that the rifles
was comeing so I said to my boys that I hoped they was good shots so we
could make a sucker out of the other squads and I told them if they was
all as good a shot as me I wouldn't have no kick because I figure that
anybody thats got as good control when they throw or pitch should
certainly ought to shoot straight. So Red Sampson says that if I was in
the French army it wouldn't do me no good to be a crack shot and I asked
him why not and he says the corporals in the French army are not allowed
to carry no guns but all they was supposed to do was run ahead of the
privates and draw the fire and maybe if the Germans happened to not hit
them they could pull out their scissors and cut the bob wire
untanglements so as the privates wouldn't have no trouble getting in to
the German trenchs where they could use their bayonets.
Red says "Instead of the pollutes trying to get to be a corporal they
try not to because when they appoint you a corporal in the French army
its a good night kiss and of course its a honor at that because it shows
they think you are a game bird and don't care for your own life as long
as you help the cause and that is why they picked you out. Because a
corporal don't carry no arms of any kind and all he is is a kind of a
decoy to kep the Germans shooting at him so as to protect the regular
soldiers and that is why over 80% of the casualtys in the French army is
corporals."
Well Al as I said before I am not in the French army and I should worry
about what they do to corporals in the French army.
I pretty near forgot to tell you that I am going home on leave Saturday
and you can bet I am going this time sick or no sick because from all
the rumors a round the camp we might be leaveing for across the pond any
day now specially with the rifles comeing and that makes it look like we
would soon be on our way and if I didn't see Florrie and little Al
before I left it would probably be the last time I would see them
because something tells me Al that if I go over there I won't never come
back.
Your pal, JACK.
CAMP GRANT, Oct. 26.
_FRIEND AL:_ Well don't be surprised if you read in the paper any
A.M. where our regt. has been ordered to France but of course I
don't suppose they would come out in the paper with it because General
Pershing don't want it to get out what regts. is over there and probably
you won't hear nothing about it when we do go because they won't be no
chance for me to write to you and if you don't hear from me for a long
while you will know we have gone and the next time you hear from me will
be from over there. I got the dope tonight from Red Sampson and he heard
it from one of the men that was on guard yesterday and this man heard
the Col. telling Capt. Gould of Co. B that General Pershing had sent for
the best looking regt. out here and Gen. Barry had recommended our regt.
and from what Red says we will probably go in a week or so and he don't
know if we are going by the way of the Atlantic or the Pacific but all
as I hope is that we get there before the war is over.
I am certainly glad now that I arranged for leave this wk. end because
it will give me a chance to fix my affairs up before I go and if
anything should happen to me they wouldn't be no trouble for Florrie
about property and etc. I certainly wish I had enough so as I could
leave you and Bertha something to help you along old pal and maybe if
they had give me more time I could of fixed things up but all as I can
leave you now is my friendship and remember that if anything happens I
was your old pal and you boys that stays home is the ones we are laying
down our life for and if it wasn't for men like we where would you be at
Al and your familys?
Well Al I am proud of my squad the way they took the news and we was the
only ones that knew about it and yet they wasn't a man in my command
that didn't act like he was tickled to death and thats the right kind of
a spirit and I spoke about it to Red Sampson. I said "I am proud of all
of you because instead of you whineing and putting on a long face you
all act like you was going to a picnic or something." So Red says he
guessed the rest of the boys and him didn't have no license to cry as
long as I kept up my spirits. He says "Maybe it would be different if we
was all corporals because then it would seem like we was leaveing home
forever. But you are the bird thats takeing the chance and if you can
keep smileing we would be a fine bunch if we broke down and begun to
whine and I don't suppose theys a man amongst us that has thought about
danger to themselfs but its all whats going to happen to you."
Well Al thats the kind of a bunch to have under you and it makes a man
think of Napoleon and how his men looked up at him.
Well maybe you won't get no more letters from me that is if the call
comes before I leave tomorrow for Chi but if I get there O.K. I will
write to you from there because probably by the time I get back here the
orders will be to pack up and move and then I won't have no time to
write.
Your pal, JACK.
[Illustration]
CHICAGO, Oct. 28.
_FRIEND AL:_ Well Florrie is still in the hay yet and little Al is
playing with himself on the floor and reading the pictures in the Sunday
A.M. paper and I thought I would sleep late this A.M. but when a man
gets in the habit of wakeing up early you get so as you can't sleep
after you wake up once and thats the way it was with me.
Well Al I suppose you will be surprised at me saying it but I pretty
near wish I wasn't no officer but just a private like at first and I got
a good notion to go back to the camp like Chambers did behind time and
1/2 stewed and the reason I feel like that is because I have got
attached to my boys and I would pretty near rather give up going to
France all together then quit them because it seems like it wouldn't be
hardly fair to leave them now that they have got so as they look up at
me and I figure that even if I wasn't a corporal no more but just I of
them I could do more good then if I quit them entirely.
I suppose you will wonder what I am getting at Al. Well on the train
comeing from Rockford yesterday I was setting with Shorty Lahey and he
was on leave to and I know its a mistake sometimes for a officer to pal
a round with their men but I set with him on the train because I can't
stand it to hurt a man's feelings and Shorty's hearts in the right place
with all his jokeing and etc. So we set down together on the train and
got to talking things over and he says "Well Keefe you have got to be a
corporal and that means you have made good and I wish I was in your
shoes."