This letter was written by a Charles Augustus McClure. He was born on July 24th 1892 in Bainbridge, Ohio. On August 4th 1918, at the age of 26, he would enlist into the United States Marine Corps. At the time of writing this letter, he was in training at Paris Island, SC. The letter reads:
“ Paris Island
Sept. 29th 1918
Dear Mother:-
I will now endeavor to answer your letter I received a couple of days ago. We are kept pretty busy here and don’t get a whole lot of time to write.
I just finished up my rifle range training, where I learned to shoot a rifle. I was on the rifle range for three weeks and qualified as a marksman, although I was trying to be a sharpshooter which is next to expert, which is the highest. I am in the best of health right now. My left hand which had the bad abscess on is well now.
I get all I want to eat here, even if it is all mixed up. We sure do get real bread here, there are no substitutes in it, it’s made out of real genuine wheat flour.
We have been under quarantine here for a week on account of the Spanish influenza, I heard today the quarantine had been lifted although you can’t tell much about what you hear here. We may leave here before long. I don’t know where we will go, maybe to Quantico, VA. Or maybe to France or maybe to somewhere in this country for guard duty. I will probably hear whether I’m going to get to work on automobiles or not, in a few more days.
You asked whether the weather was still as hot, it isn’t hot in the morning, it’s what I’d call chilly, it at least makes goose pimples on a person. Well I will close for this time.
Good bye,
Gus. “
Not long after writing this letter, Charles would graduate from boot camp and would be sent to Quantico, VA. He was then assigned to the 82nd company, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. This same unit previously participated in famous battles such as the battle of Belleau Wood among others.
Shortly after, he would be sent overseas and would arrive in France on November 3rd 1918. Lucky for him, the war would end 8 days later on November 11th 1918. He would serve in the occupational forces for awhile but would eventually return home in April of 1919 and would be discharged on May 22nd 1919.
Charles would live out the rest of his life in Ohio and would pass away on August 24th 1966 in Mansfield. He was 74.
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This letter was written by a Charles Augustus McClure. He was born on July 24th 1892 in Bainbridge, Ohio. On August 4th 1918, at the age of 26, he would enlist into the United States Marine Corps. At the time of writing this letter, he was in training at Paris Island, SC. The letter reads:
“ Paris Island
Sept. 29th 1918
Dear Mother:-
I will now endeavor to answer your letter I received a couple of days ago. We are kept pretty busy here and don’t get a whole lot of time to write.
I just finished up my rifle range training, where I learned to shoot a rifle. I was on the rifle range for three weeks and qualified as a marksman, although I was trying to be a sharpshooter which is next to expert, which is the highest. I am in the best of health right now. My left hand which had the bad abscess on is well now.
I get all I want to eat here, even if it is all mixed up. We sure do get real bread here, there are no substitutes in it, it’s made out of real genuine wheat flour.
We have been under quarantine here for a week on account of the Spanish influenza, I heard today the quarantine had been lifted although you can’t tell much about what you hear here. We may leave here before long. I don’t know where we will go, maybe to Quantico, VA. Or maybe to France or maybe to somewhere in this country for guard duty. I will probably hear whether I’m going to get to work on automobiles or not, in a few more days.
You asked whether the weather was still as hot, it isn’t hot in the morning, it’s what I’d call chilly, it at least makes goose pimples on a person. Well I will close for this time.
Good bye,
Gus. “
Not long after writing this letter, Charles would graduate from boot camp and would be sent to Quantico, VA. He was then assigned to the 82nd company, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. This same unit previously participated in famous battles such as the battle of Belleau Wood among others.
Shortly after, he would be sent overseas and would arrive in France on November 3rd 1918. Lucky for him, the war would end 8 days later on November 11th 1918. He would serve in the occupational forces for awhile but would eventually return home in April of 1919 and would be discharged on May 22nd 1919.
Charles would live out the rest of his life in Ohio and would pass away on August 24th 1966 in Mansfield. He was 74.
Very interesting. Thank you for sharing this.