World War I Collection

(2)

we reach Salt Lake City so you can meet me at the station. We are to parade in Los Angeles. After the parade we'll be given 12 hours leave, then procede to Camp Kearney, to be dis-charged. I'll telegraph you as accurately as possible the time we'll arrive. I'm sure anxious to see you "girlie of mine" and I'm overflowing with love and kisses. Say, Mildred, It's sure hard to realize that I'll soon be able to be with you dear. We'll sure have some reunion won't we honey?

shining bright as usual, and we are roasting. To look at things now you would never know there had been a storm.

A bunch of us from headquarters are going to Salt Air tomorrow night again. It is ceratinly a good place to have a good time. Tomorow they have a big moonlight dance all night. It is a special night every week, and a big crowd is always in attendance from Salt Lake City. This will be a very select crowd with us.

We drilled today for the first time since we came. There was only one squad, that is eight men, and we couldn't execute many movements with such a small number of men, but we did pretty well, I just this minute received an invitation to a birthday party for tonight. We certainly have an awful "drag" in this village. This will be a pretty swell affair and will be held at the club house. Well honey bunch I have to go on a guard in a little while so will have to end this.

How is mama?

Love to all. "Duke"

Write soon.

the present time we are doing three hours on one relief, and then off for eighteen, then three hours on and thirty-six off. That is pretty hard to take. If we do stay here during the winter we will certainly have some fun in the snow.

Four of us went to Salt Lake Saturday night, and witnessed "Watch Your Step" at the Salt Lake theatre. It was a good musical comedy, and a two dollar show at that. The Salt Lake theatre is Salt Lake City's leading theatre, and is run on the same principle as the Cort in S.F. It was a good theatre in its day, but it's day was 1862, when it was erected. The highest balcony is up in the air so far, that by the time we got to the depot I think the end of the show reached the people up in "nigger heaven." As I said before Saturday night was one stormy night. Lightening struck the electric wires in the theatre during the show, and bang went the spot light. No I wasn't scared. It is thirty days before my insurance policy expires. There was a coon in the show that got off some good jokes. About the only one I remember is this one

or whatever you want to call it. Whoever is in the congregation, and feels lucky, gets up and takes a chance. At the funeral yesterday there were only fifteen speakers, including the secretary of state, and I never want my Father and Mother to go through the agony that that fellow's folks had to endure for two hours and ten minutes. He had a Father and two mothers. There were two boys in the family and one was the son of one of the women, and the other was the son of the other woman. You see they were Mormons, and that is the closest I can come to explaining what I mean. They had us sitting so we were facing the audience all the time. If it had been any thing but a funeral I would have had a million dates, more or less, as there were a bunch of pretty girls present, and they were thinking more about us than they were the funeral. Fourteen of us went over including the top sergeant who was in charge of the military part of it, and the bugler, six pall bearers and six in the firing squad. There should have been eight on the latter but we didn't have enough men. The tour we went to was fifteen miles the other side of Salt Lake City, and we had a very nice ride through some pretty country I didn't think Utah