From this letter we can see how the enlisted men were entertained but also how Roy's experience, as a truck driver rather than pilot, was unique. He seems to be an observer a lot of the time, in this case of some other men's assignment to accompany a portable wireless set to Bolton College. Between hauling, Vaudeville, and the Blue Devils, Roy is kept busy.
Dear Miss Custer:
Is it warm up there? I'll say it is worse than warm down here. It's hot. We have had some of the hottest weather I ever saw in the last week or so. I will soon be tanned as dark as some of the n-----s down here. Not that bad I guess. I do not mind that part of it a bit but this heat almost melts me. One good thing about it is that the nights are not quite so warm, but I expect they will be warm enough too before long.
I brought in a wrecked ship today from about twelve miles out the country. No one was injured in the wreck. There have not been any fatal accidents for some time now and I hope there will not be any more. I used to have a steady detail of hauling here on the Post and seldom got away from camp except once in awhile when they were short of drivers or something of the kind, but for about ten days now I have been getting out more. They took me off the regular detail and now I am doing more outside work.
Monday a week ago I hauled the Park Field to and from Memphis where they played the Camp Pike team and were beaten 4 to 3. Another day last week I hauled a portable wireless set over to Bolton College and spent the day there. I took the set and three men over in the morning and brought them back in the evening. Bolton College is about fifteen miles from here. It is closed now but we four boys got dinner over there and it was great.
Last Sunday I spent in Memphis again and had a very nice time. Took dinner with some folks there and then we went for an automobile ride. They are working things at the Garage now so that each driver gets one Sunday off in three, or near about that. Did you ever hear of Granville of Ziegfields "Follies"? He was quite a vaudeville artist and dancer. He is a Lieutenant here now and organized a minstrel here several weeks ago. They gave a show here at the "y" two weeks ago and another in Memphis. They also played at Covington and at Millington last night. They had a very good show. Granville, himself, is half the show but there also some very good singers and players among the enlisted men here.
I weighed myself Sunday and weighed 191 pounds, more than I have weighed for several years but I think this hot weather is going to bring me down. Mother thought I looked good in the picture and I am getting stout it seems, but I hope I don't keep on gaining.
I have asked several boys here about Camp Green leaf but no one knows just where it is. I am still anxiously awaiting something or some orders about leaving here, for I am getting anxious to go over.
Did I send you a little pin in my last letter? I know I intended to do so, and it seems I cannot find it now. I do not quite get what you said about the picture. I mean what you said about your brother and the "poor subject", but anyway I am going to look forward to receiving the picture in return.
I suppose you have heard of the French "Blue Devils" have you not? They are Frenchmen and veterans of the war have been invalided home and are now touring this country. They are coming to Memphis next Sunday. I would like very much to see and hear them but as I was away last sunday I shall not be able to go see them. Perhaps all this stuff about our doings here does not interest you but as I am a poor letter writer I can hardly think of anything else to write. If you do not care for it please do not fear to say so. Ha, Ha!
The Government is building a new Hostess House here at the Field and it looks as if it were going to be a dandy. The Y.M.C.A. is going to run it and is to be a home as stopping place for friends of the boys. Friends or members of the family who wish to come to visit them.
It is getting near "tattoo" and "lights out" so I'll close. This letter is long enough anyway, I believe.
Very sincerely,
Roy
A collection of letters written by Roy J. Diehl to his future wife, Stella, transcribed and annotated by her great-granddaughter...me.
The Letters of Roy J. Diehl (Jay Roy Diehl)
From 1917-1919, Roy J. Diehl, a railroad worker from Pennsylvania, wrote a series of letters to Stella Custer, his future wife, while he was enlisted in the 281st Aero Squadron. Most published letter collections consist of letters penned by men of education, rank, or fame. Roy J. Diehl was neither highly educated, highly ranked, nor famous, but his letters provide an interesting and valuable look at the life of an ordinary enlisted man, untainted by the notion that he may be writing to a wide audience or that anything beyond his relationship with Stella, his future betrothed, rests on what he says. Still, his letters display the usual characteristics of war-time correspondence; Sergeant Diehl omits potentially sensitive information about activities in his Squadron, treats probably disgusting or horrific situations with a certain amount of nonchalance, speaks in cliches of patriotism, and continually thinks of movement and distance.
Roy
Roy J. Diehl was born Jay Roy Diehl in Henrietta, Pennsylvania in 1890. He had three brothers: Edward, Asher, and Jim. Though one might imagine a man just out of his teens writing these letters to a sweetheart back home, Roy was actually 27 when he enlisted and had a career as a railroad worker under his belt. According to his daughter, Jean Dodson, he lived in both Chicago and Philadelphia before settling in Altoona, the town in which he enlisted on December 14, 1917. Shortly thereafter he went to Claysburg, PA, where “the boys” stayed until they were transferred to military bases across the country.
Roy was eventually transferred to Park Field Tennessee, a military base a few miles outside of Memphis. There, he worked as a truck driver, since his education prohibited him from becoming a pilot (Roy completed basic school but did not go beyond the 8th grade—surprising, considering his excellent writing skills). Before shipping out, Roy’s unit, the 281st Aero Squadron, stayed in Garden City on Long Island, New York. After that, it is difficult to determine where, exactly he was, because he could not say anything more than “somewhere in France” in his letters until after the Armistice. Gorrell’s History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service, 1917-1919 provides some information, however; according to the section on the 281st, Roy’s unit stayed in Brest, St. Maixent, Colombey-les-Belles, and Behonne. When the military lifted its harsh censorship following the peace agreement, the 281st was in Bar-Le-Duc. When all was said and done, Roy had only been in France for a little over a year and had seen little to no action. America’s late entrance into the war kept him from serious harm, but Roy’s experience certainly instilled a strong sense of duty and patriotism in him.
After he returned from the Great War, Roy worked for a car manufacturer. He and Stella married in 1923 and settled in Philipsburg, PA. They had one daughter: Jean Dodson (born Jean Frances Diehl). Unfortunately, Roy lost his job when the Depression hit, though he did get a very small veteran’s pension. Through the depression he worked out of his garage as an automobile mechanic, fixing neighbors’ cars in return for money and once, according to Jean, a case of bubblegum. The family eventually moved to Johnstown, where Roy worked for a garage as a mechanic until WWII, when he decided to go into defense work after being turned away when he tried to enlist. He moved to York to work in a defense factory, followed by his family a few months later when Jean graduated from high school. He stayed at the factory until the end of the war, when he got a job for Ford Motor Company as a garage mechanic. He worked there until Jean graduated from college. When she married, Roy and Stella moved to Roaring Spring to be close to their daughter and her young family. When Stella died, Roy moved in with his daughter’s family. He lived to the age of 93.
Roy was eventually transferred to Park Field Tennessee, a military base a few miles outside of Memphis. There, he worked as a truck driver, since his education prohibited him from becoming a pilot (Roy completed basic school but did not go beyond the 8th grade—surprising, considering his excellent writing skills). Before shipping out, Roy’s unit, the 281st Aero Squadron, stayed in Garden City on Long Island, New York. After that, it is difficult to determine where, exactly he was, because he could not say anything more than “somewhere in France” in his letters until after the Armistice. Gorrell’s History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service, 1917-1919 provides some information, however; according to the section on the 281st, Roy’s unit stayed in Brest, St. Maixent, Colombey-les-Belles, and Behonne. When the military lifted its harsh censorship following the peace agreement, the 281st was in Bar-Le-Duc. When all was said and done, Roy had only been in France for a little over a year and had seen little to no action. America’s late entrance into the war kept him from serious harm, but Roy’s experience certainly instilled a strong sense of duty and patriotism in him.
After he returned from the Great War, Roy worked for a car manufacturer. He and Stella married in 1923 and settled in Philipsburg, PA. They had one daughter: Jean Dodson (born Jean Frances Diehl). Unfortunately, Roy lost his job when the Depression hit, though he did get a very small veteran’s pension. Through the depression he worked out of his garage as an automobile mechanic, fixing neighbors’ cars in return for money and once, according to Jean, a case of bubblegum. The family eventually moved to Johnstown, where Roy worked for a garage as a mechanic until WWII, when he decided to go into defense work after being turned away when he tried to enlist. He moved to York to work in a defense factory, followed by his family a few months later when Jean graduated from high school. He stayed at the factory until the end of the war, when he got a job for Ford Motor Company as a garage mechanic. He worked there until Jean graduated from college. When she married, Roy and Stella moved to Roaring Spring to be close to their daughter and her young family. When Stella died, Roy moved in with his daughter’s family. He lived to the age of 93.
Stella
Stella Custer, to whom Roy writes in this collection of letters, was born in Johnstown in 1899. She was unlike her husband in that she really took to school. She finished her high school education, took up a job teaching 8th grade English after that, and taught until she married Roy. She had one brother—Howard—who married Betty Shaffer, whose mother ran a boarding house in Claysburg. Stella’s daughter, Jean, theorizes that this boarding house is probably where her parents met. After all, Roy stayed for a while in Claysburg before leaving for Tennessee, and probably needed a room to stay in while there. His letters also refer to the Shaffers frequently, suggesting that they are the mutual acquaintances by whom he met Stella.
At the time she met Roy, Stella would have been very young—only 17 or 18—with Roy nine years her senior. Knowing this, it makes sense that they waited until 1923 to marry. Though Roy was certainly old enough to be married by then, Stella was still a young bride.Once they were married, Stella quit teaching English—according to Jean, Stella wasn’t allowed to teach once she had a husband. Stella stayed at home and took care of her daughter, who describes her as a very smart, generous, and strong woman.
Though her writing isn’t represented here, Stella was a great correspondent as well. Jean has preserved all of the letters written to her by her mother while she (Jean) was overseas with her husband. Sadly, Stella died in 1962, many years before her husband, while Jean and her family were living on the other side of the world.
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