Garden City, L.I. New York July 28, 1918

This is Roy's last letter to Stella from the United States (until he returns from France, of course). The insecurity he showed in his earlier letters to Stella seems to return when he asks, again, "May I expect to hear from you?"

Dear Friend:

I am writing you a few lines this evening to say, for one thing, that I am expecting to leave here at any time now and that after you receive this you had better not write me until after hearing from me again. Of course, we do not know just when we leave for sure but are expecting it soon, so that should we leave I should very likely not get any of my mail for a long time at least, if I got it at all.

You should see the nice little caps they issued us yesterday. They took all our hats and gave us little caps that look something like the caps the Scotch Highlanders and some Canadians and French men wear. They are small and sit on the top or side of one's head.

I at last got track of the two boys who enlisted with me. One of them, Kelly, is in England, where he had been for about three months, and the other, Pete Stufft, should be on the other side by this time. He was at Camp Mills, Long Island when I arrived here. Camp Mills joins Field no 2 and Pete left if July 13th and I arrived July 11th. Of course, I did not know it. If I had I could have seen him as we must have been close together.

Well I'll close and once I get located again I will write you and then, may I expect to hear from you? If you can send me Kenneth Meades address when I get over, perhaps, I might some time be able to hunt him up. I would be glad to do so.

Most Sincerely,
Roy J.D.

apologies (again)

Hi folks,

I apologize for not posting letters on the appropriate dates, recently. In my (poor) defense, I have been fairly busy. Anyway, I want to assure you that this will not happen as frequently in the future (the late posting, that is...not my being busy). I have added the dates to my calendar, which should remind me with some advance notice.

Best,
Kate

Garden City Long Island, N.Y. July 23, 18.

In this letter, Roy discusses life in Garden City, Long Island just before shipping overseas. He visits home for a few hours--not enough time to get to Johnstown to see Stella--and points out how many young men who were home last summer are now gone. there is fun in this letter, however; the boys test out their newly issued helmets by dropping rocks on each other's heads.

My Dear Friend:

Your very welcome letter was received a few days ago and also the one you had addressed to Park Field and I want to assure you that both were gladly received. I have been intending to answer for the past week but we have been kept so very busy until yesterday that I have had little time for writing letters but yesterday and today we have not been quite so busy.

We are now almost fitted out for overseas duty and hope to get started over very soon. I applied for a few days leave of absence upon arriving here but was unable to get more than a week-end pass, from Saturday afternoon at 2:30 until eleven oclock Sunday evening. So fearing that I might not be able to get any more than that I slipped home last Saturday evening. I left New York City Saturday evening at 5:30 and arrived at Altoona at 1:45 Sunday morning. I then borrowed my brothers car and reached home, near Martinsburg, about eight oclock and had to start back to Altoona at 10:30 and left there at 12:45. So you see I had a very short stay. I certainly was sorry I could not stay longer and see more of my friends but it was impossible on that trip. My application for a three days pass still holds good so if we should stay here a week or two longer I may get back again. If I can do so I shall hope to get to Johnstown, too. I would very much have liked to see Claysburg, too but could not do that either. Of course, I suppose it is still the same place, but I know quite a few of the boys are gone to war.

I must surely sympathise with Mrs. Shaeffer. Last summer this time she had quite a large and jolly 'family' but now I suppose the boys are about all gone but Herbert. Elmer has been married, I hear, and Edward has gone by this time, I guess.

I believe your plan of sharing loneliness is a very good one and I may try it some time, though if they always keep us as busy as they have so far, I may not need any plan as long as I am in the Army. And, I suppose we will be kept busy on the other side.

We were issued our "tin hats" or steel helmets today and I think we now have almost everything we will get on this side.I had a card from my brothers wife last week on which she said my brother had left camp June 30th and had arrived safely in France, so you see he beat me to it.

Many of the boys are having fun with their "tin hats" this evening. They are dropping stones on one another's heads to see how it feels. I was walking down the Squadron street this afternoon with my hat and another guy came down on top of my hat with a broom handle hard enough to break the broomstick, but I believe they would feel quite heavy on one's head after wearing one a whole day.

Another thing beside work and drill at this place is music of which we have a plenty. Many organizations here are organizing bands and we go to sleep in the evening and sometimes get up in the morning with music in the air. This morning I was awakened by a band of the 11th Construction Co. They were marching up and down their Company street and playing some ragtime pieces.

My mother and sister in law in Altoona fixed up a big box of lunch to bring with me and I certainly did enjoy it, too. I have a little of it left which I think I shall finish up before I go to sleep this evening.

They took our Squadron Commander away from us since we came here though our old officer is going to stay with the Squadron. The new officer seems to be a very good man though we have hardly seen enough of him to know just what he is like. I hear we are to have a 'showdown' inspection tomorrow and that means clean up everything we have. All government issue clothing and equipment must be displayed in the prescribed way upon our bunks.

Well you will surely will be tired reading this scribble so I will close. I want to thank you for your good wishes and may I wish you the same.

Very Sincerely,
Roy J Diehl
281st Aero Sqdn Field #2 Garden City L.I. N.Y.

Garden City. Long Island, N.Y. July 14, 1918.

This is the first letter written from Park Field, Long Island, the last place the 281st stayed before heading overseas. In it, Roy lists the equipment the soldiers were given before shipping out. His mind seems to be more on the war than before--he mentions the fierceness of the German fighting and speculates that, if forced onto their own ground, they're likely to fight even harder.

My Dear Friend:

I suppose you have by this time received my cards for I mailed you several a few days ago while on my way up here from Park Field. I understand this is to be our embarkation point and I am glad to be this far on my way to France. Our Squadron just arrived here Thursday morning at 2 oclock after being on the train from 9 oclock Monday evening. We had a very nice trip traveling in Pullman sleepers, by way of Louisville, Ky., Huntingdon, W.Va., Staunton, Va., Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. We had nice weather and saw lots of the country on the way.

This place is more like an army camp than any place I have yet been. It is a quite large camp, all tents. As yet we have very little to do but stand inspections and turn in and receive clothing and equipment. They have taken all our Khaki clothing and issued Woolen O.D. We are also to get spiral putties or Leggins, "Tin Hats," (helmets) and our Arms. Each man an automatic revolver and a rifle, so you see even if we are not so fierce and warrior-like in actions we will surely look to be. Ha. Ha!

Yesterday we had a Field Inspection: that is, we packed up our haversacks, marched to the parade ground about a mile away where each mean opened his pack and displayed for inspection all his equipment. Everything must be packed and laid out in a prescribed manner, and if anything is a bit dirty or not displayed in the right manner someone is sure going to be in bad.

Many of our boys are in New York City today on pass and I suppose are having a great time. Many of them, I know, have never been there and several were never outside of Tenn or Mississippi, so I imagine they are "seeing things" today. I did not ask for any pass because I want to try for a few days leave next week and if I had had one today it would be marked up against me. I am going to try to come home for a couple days next week, if we stay here long enough. As it is now I do not believe we shall be here very long, and I want to get home at least before going over. An older brother of mine enlisted june 15th and left for France June 28th and I, having enlisted seven months ago and still here, feel slighted, but I don't think it will be long before I shall go across. I hope so anyway.

With few exceptions, the Squadron is made up the same as it has been for some time and quite a few, nine or ten, I think, Altoona boys are still with us. I met an Altoona boy today and also one from Claysburg. They have been here for some time. So far, I have seen little flying, not more than ten or twelve machines in the air at one time, but the flying is of a more advanced stage, more so than at Park Field. there we saw but one type of plane while here we see many different types.

I suppose you, or, I hope you enjoyed a nice holiday on July 4th. I do not know what the Fourth was like at home or in Altoona, but for me at Park Field it was a working day for I was on duty. There was quite a time in Memphis but I missed it. Many of the boys there went to Memphis and had a great time.

Well, I think the Germans have done their worst, or best, which shall I say? It looks as if they have about played their best cards though I would not be surprised if it would last a year or more for we all know that it won't do to make a half-way peace, and if the Germans are forced to fight on their own ground it is my opinion they will fight like fiends.

Well, I know you must surely be tired of reading this scribbling so, I will close.

Sincerely,
Roy

Park Field Memphis 6/30/18

Though Roy doesn't mention the details or emotional effect of his job very often in his letters, in this one he does provide some detail of one of the many airplane wrecks he had to haul. "His ship was the worst looking ship I ever saw. Nothing but a mass of broken wood, cloth, and twisted wire and metal." Sights like these and the occasional deaths caused by airplane crashes can't have been easy to handle, especially when Roy's job was crash clean-up.

Dear Friend:

I am sorry that I have been so slow in answering your last letter but as busy as I have been I really found little time for writing letters. Today I have some time and am going to improve it by writing several letters. I owe one to the folks at home, one to each of three brothers, and one to a chum of mine, who is now at Kelly Field, Texas. So you see I have quite a job ahead of me.

An older brother of mine enlisted June 15th and is now at Camp Dix, New Jersey. He is a previous-service man and is enlisted in the Engineer Corps and as they are shipping Engineer Corps men to the other side in a hurry, he is likely to be going over in short order. He says I better hurry up or he will beat me to Germany yet. He may but according to the latest hope at this place I can expect to be on the move before next Sunday. We have been making preparations for going overseas for a week or more and it seems we are going for sure this time. We had made some preparations for leaving about two months ago but it all fell through that time, but I surely hope it does not fall through this time. Everybody in the Squadron is anxious to go.

A change in working hours at this field was made last Thursday, so now we have shorter days, but perhaps wee shall not long have advantage of them for long. We now have most of our overseas equipment and have been getting Gas Mask training so it looks like a sure go this time.

Last week was a busy week for me and my truck as I hauled about eight broken airplanes in. Several of them were badly broken up while some of them were only slightly damaged. Three men were killed in two ships. One Lieutenant and a mechanic whose home was in Memphis fell at Clarksdale Miss. Both were killed. The third man, a student aviator fell just at the edge of the Field here. His ship was the worst looking ship I ever saw. Nothing but a mass of broken wood, cloth, and twisted wire and metal. Part of it was not worth hauling in so was burned on the spot. Another ship was badly broken by hitting some telephone wires. A cadet was flying it and got too low. He was not hurt in the least but his ship was broken up.

I suppose Fourth of July will be quite a day in Johnstown. We expect to have a holiday here that is if we are still here. They are going to have an athletic meet here the afternoon of the 3rd and I suppose we will be given passes for the Fourth.

I was in Memphis last Sunday and had a nice time. Saw a good "movie" The movies are open Sundays down here. I can think of little else to write this time but as soon as I leave I will drop you a line. Of course if I should not leave I will write again, but am hoping I shall get away soon.

Sincerely,
Roy D.