Somewhere in Luxemburg
Dear Mother Dad & Sis:-
It has been almost a month since I wrote a scratch and I am afraid you will be worried. But it has just been impossible to write since the first of the month when things began to happen fast. Most of the time there was no way to mail letters. A few days there was but I was out nearly all the time then. Of course you probably know as much & more than we know now. We went through one heck of a drive that spelled finish for the Germans and the armstice[1] and that you know about. Greer and I are both ok. Some of our men were killed & wounded and some died of disease. Spanish Influenza[2] got some but we missed that. I have been almost sick with a cold but am allright now. We are stopped in a little village for a few days. Have been on the road all the time & will be for some time. Don’t know how long it will be before things are settled up so we can go home but hope it may be before so very long. Some think by Xmas. Others are pessimistic and say not before spring. One guy said he would be satisfied if he were home by spring. I said I would be too, next spring, but that in the mean time I would sure be dissatisfied. But the time is coming when we will be home Mother dear. If we can just keep well under the exposure that we are having to be under.
It means an awful lot to get home and I guess we will get there allright. There is not much that a guy can write now but believe me there will be a lot that I can tell you when I get home. Don’t worry if you don’t hear from me often but I will write as often as I can. There is only one place in this town where there is a fire and a guy can write a letter and that is the salon[3] but I guess it is better than no letter. The ink we bought in a store is called “Kaiser tinte”[4]: It will do to write a letter with too. I have been all around Leonard Hudsons Regiment and once located his company but we were on the move and I did not have time to hunt him up. I don’t think they are coming up with us now. I saw Tom the other day. He is allright. Will close for this time.
Love to all,
Harry
[1] The most notable armistice, and the one which is still meant when people say simply "The Armistice", is the armistice at the end of World War I, on 11 November, 1918, signed near Compiègne, France, and effective at the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month." Armistice Day is still celebrated in many countries on the anniversary of that armistice; alternatively 11 November, or a Sunday near to it, may still be observed as a Remembrance Day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice
[2] The 1918 "Spanish" flu pandemic: An estimated 50 million people, about 3% of the world's population (approximately 1.6 billion at the time), died of the disease. An estimated 500 million, or 1/3 were infected.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Jeffery K. Taubenberger and David M. Morens. 1918 Influenza: the Mother of All Pandemics, January, 2006. Retrieved on May 9, 2009. Archived 2009-10-01.
It was called "Spanish" because the press in Spain, not being involved in the Great War, were the first to report on its impact. It is thought that the virus may have played a role in ending WW1 as soldiers were too sick to fight, and by that stage more men died of flu than were killed by weapons. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3455873.stm
“In all, 62,000 American service personnel died of the flu – more than were killed in battle.” H.P. Willmott. World War I. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2003.
[3] Salon – French word for lounge
[4] Tinte – German word for ink
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