Scott Jones Writes Mother From Camp (1917)

Columbia City Post, Whitley County, Indiana ~ Saturday, May 12, 1917

"This is the Life For Me" He Writes, but He is Thinking of Home and the Friends He Left Behind.

Mrs. George F. Jones, who resides near Lorane, gave The Post permission to publish the following letter from her son who is in camp at Ft. Thomas, Kentucky:

Ft. Thomas, Ky. May 6, 1917
Dear Father, Mother, and All:

It is three-thirty o'clock. Our company which is B 13, squad 67, have just taken camp at Ft. Thomas. Say, mother, this is the life for a boy! I will never be sorry that I joined to help Uncle Sam out.

I passed the examination all right. We will be here for an unknown length of time. I do not know where we go next, just now. There were about 300 of us that left Fort Wayne Tuesday evening. We reached Ft. Thomas at 12:30 o'clock. A special train carried us. Tell the folks around there that I would like to hear from them. I like my place fine. I promised to write to many but have not the time to write to all at once.

Every evening we take a "nap" before supper. You should see us going, or rather marching, to supper, carrying our plate before us. As we march through our plates are filled. Oh, this is the life for me!

Say George, you take good care of "Tommy." Keep him to remember me.

I feel just a little sad because I am so far from home. But some one has to fight for "Our Country," and I am willing to do so. Dear Mother don't worry a bit about me, because I am happy and will write every week.

Say, tell "Austin Coyle" that this is the life, and that "Uncle Sam" needs him to defend the "Stars and Stripes." And tell Ernest Palmer this is the place for him, too. Tell all to write as I would like to hear from somebody every day.

Good-bye, Dear Mother and all.
Your loving Son,
Scott E. Jones,
Ft. Thomas, Ky.,
Squadron 67, Co. 13, Section B