France Dec. 11, 1918.

Roy anticipates his return to the U.S. in this letter. The boys have been talking about their states (each proud of his own) and wish to return home. Roy shows his own state pride and recalls a banquet he attended over a year ago, back in Roaring Spring PA. Also notice that Stella seems to have finally agreed to send the picture Roy asked for nearly a year earlier.

My Dear Friend:

Your most welcome letter of November 14th was received yesterday evening, also the clipping and enjoyed them very much. You see it is not much reading I am doing now. The Y.M.C.A. in Bar-Le-Duc has books and Magazines but I do not seem to get time to read or enjoy them though many of the boys here do so. One thing the Y is doing and which I enjoy, and that is their hot chocolate and bread and jam. And most every time I get down to town I go and get some!

We expect to have our Field cleaned up here soon and then I do not know what we will do. Thirty of our men went up into Alsace-Loraine a few days ago to take care of some planes for the Army of Occupation which is going into Germany. They may be gone for several months and I do not know if we shall stay here until they return or not.

You say we can be proud of our state and we are and every Pennsylvanian should be. She surely has done her share in this war. There are some great arguments here sometimes between boys from different states. We have boys in the Squadron from Pa., Ohio, Mich, Wis, N.Y., Cal., Texas, Tenn., Miss., Ala., Mass., Conn., Fla., N.J., Ind., Ark., Mo, and Washington, D.C. and each one thinks his own state is the best one of all, consequently there are some hot arguments. The other guys call the Pennsylvanian boys coal miners and coal shovelers, while the Californians are prune-pickers Missourins are Mountaineers, Texans are Longhorns and so it goes.

I, too, am sorry we cannot share your nice weather as we have nothing but rain, rain, and more rain. Have had no snow yet and very little cold weather. In fact no cold weather yet it is cool and with the rain it is very disagreeable. So you cannot blame us if we would like to be back in good old U.S.A.

'If I care to have one of those pictures!' I sure would, and hope you will not change your mind. I shall certainly be pleased to receive one of them and shall thank you now in advance and will hope to speak my thanks at closer hand before many months. I believe I asked you for a picture some time ago, while I was in Tennessee. Did I not? I think I sent you a little snapshot from here. Did you ever receive it?

How is Elizabeth? And Mrs Shaffer? What do you think of President Wilson's trip to France? The report is that he is to land at Brest. That is the port at which we landed August 26th but I do not suppose he will go to a rest camp as we did. Ha, Ha! We spent about ten days at Pontanegeu Barracks one of Napoleons old Headquarters and it is some place too, I'll tell you. Bar-Le-Duc is quite an old town, too, you know we are about a mile from there now. It dates back to the eleventh century. One old tower is still standing having been built in the tenth century. It is also the birthplace of President Poincare of France.

I just happened to think that tonight one year ago I had one grand and glorious supper. Mr. Kurtz of the Standard gave a banquet at the Eldon Inn at Roaring Spring to the five boys who were leaving for the Service. We are all in France now I think and instead of a banquet and big supper I had black coffee, beef-stew boiled potatoes, hard bread and molasses for supper. Quite a contrast but we seem to be enjoying it at that. We are all getting fat anyway. I think I must weigh about 176 pound now. One thing is worrying me, though I am afraid I will be too stout to wear my old civilian clothes and surely will not have enough money to buy new ones. Ha, Ha! It will be odd for us to have to buy our clothes and hard to pick what we want, I guess. You see in the Army we do not have watch the styles Ha, Ha!

Well I believe I have scribbled enough for this time. Please do not forget the picture nor change your mind. I really want one. I'll bring you a souvenir from France in exchange. Is it a bargain? Ha, Ha! It's almost time for 'lights out' and my bunk is not yet made up so Good night!

Most sincerely Yours,

Roy D.

France, November 30, 1918.

In this letter, his first to Stella after the armistice, Roy is exuberant, though still not optimistic about being sent home soon. As the letter goes on it becomes sober in tone; Roy begins with several positive effects of the armistice but also reveals one sad but common result of the inconstant mail service and distance from home. While he now knows where his brother is and can be more open with Stella about his experiences and his hopes to return home, he has also learned that his friend's father has been buried for a month, and though his friend's family tried to reach him it was evident from his lack of response that he had no idea his father had died.

My Dear Friend:

Well! how is Johnstown taking the peace situation by this time? I suppose the boys are beginning to return home by this time, are they not? According to the little bit of news we get here, they are mustering out the men over there very fast and are beginning to return some men from France and England. We are also hearing that the Air Service will be among the first to return, but some Squadrons will be sent on into Germany and we do not know which we will move.

We are expecting to leave this place soon and are hoping to move toward the coast. Personally I feel that I shall be lucky to get home by Easter. The censorship is not quite so rigid now, though not yet lifted, so I will tell you where we now are. We are at Bar-Le-Duc, in northwestern France. Not so many miles from Verdun, of which I suppose you have read quite a bit.

I haven't a doubt but that the folks at home are feeling very good over the end of the war, but they cannot feel any better over it than the French people who have had over four years of it and had it right at home, too.

We had quite a nice Thanksgiving dinner, even if we were in the A.E.F. I think the cooks overdid themselves that day. We had: Beefsteak and onions dressing, peas, mashed potatoes, cucumber pickles, bread, biscuits, tapioca pudding, jam tarts, syrup, butter, nuts, cigars, cigarettes, and champagne. Cocoa too. Some dinner, wasn't it? I'll say it was. And we surely did enjoy it. I am afraid it spoiled some of us as, after such a meal, it was hard for us to go back to old rations again.

I suppose you will soon be having snow over there. As usual we are having rain here. We did have a week or more of nice weather the first part of this month but are now wading mud again. And it is cold, too, very disagreeable weather.

How is the Flu Epidemic over there? I hope you have and will escape it. I know what it is like and it surely is no pleasant thing to have. I had it several weeks after we came over and though not bad, I had more of it than I cared for. Since I wrote you last I have heard from my brother over here. We have been looking for each other but neither of us could tell the other where we were but in his last letter he told me he was down near Bordeaux, so you see we are quite a distance apart.

My French is not progressing fast as I should like it to, but as long as I can use my hands I can do fairly well, Ha, Ha! You see we are too busy to learn much French. It used to be, we were working to end the war, but now we are working to get back home.

I do not know if I ever told you or not but I will tell you now about three of us boys from Claysburg enlisting together. We enlisted December 8 1917. Almost a year ago, and hoped to stick together, but were separated in Columbus, Ohio, shortly after arriving there. One of the boys I have not heard from since. The other went to Kelly Field Texas and while there wrote me several times. He is now over here, having arrived a week or two before I did. One old friend whom I met here at Behonne had seen him and gave me his address. I have written him three or four times since but have never received any reply. This evening I had a letter from his sister giving me his last address and saying they get his mail but he says he gets nothing from them. So you see the mails over here are somewhat mixed up, or something. I am going to write him again and hope to reach him this time. His sister says they buried their father October 29th and I suppose he knows nothing of it.

I think I told you in my last letter of the celebrations over the signing of the armistice. Of many other things I think I could tell you better at close range, and I hope the opportunity to do so will soon come. Anyway I'll close for this time.

Most Sincerely,
Roy D.