Ordered Home or Not? That's Personal - 2/24/1917

El Paso, Tex.

Feb. 24, 1917

My Dear Mother: -
Yours of the 19th rec. Glad to hear that all are O.K. in Lima.

I couldn't explain just where our company is located on that picture of Camp Pershing. At the extreme left is the Ohio Cav. Camp, and nearer the center are the Amb. Companies. You can see the rows of ambulances. The one nearest the bottom of the picture is 2nd Ohio, and the one above it is us. The Flag pole, & the red cross, and Old "Glory" glass are at the head of our company street. You can easily see how close Cav. were to us.

Farther to the right is the 8th Ohio Reg. & above them the 4th, 5th, & 6th.

The city proper is at the extreme left & Fort Bliss at the extreme right.

Our company clerk says the cars for us were ordered today and I suppose it will take a month to get them.

The fellow in our outfit who was so serious with pneumonia is past the crisis, and I think they will send him to Hot Springs, Ark. They are going to send about 50 patients there to recuperate.

There are about a dozen fellows here in my tent tonight. They are reading, writing, arguing, and Harry Manson is printing pictures.

Got a nice letter from Leona yesterday.

Feeling fine.

Love to All

Howard

O.K. Here's where I'm really confused. In my last post, I went on and on about how Howard was so convinced he was going home soon. However, in one of Howard's previous letters, there a February 18 clipping enclosed with the above headline. In Howard's own hand is even written that there was a mistake in the article mentioning the 2nd and 3rd Ohio Ambulance companies. The 3rd Ambulance company didn't exist and they actually meant his company, the 1st, would be going home. The article states that "the last troop will be on its way north by March 7."

So why does he not even mention it in this letter, not even a week later? He even references the delivery of a car the following month, which would theoretically be after they were supposed to have gone home March 7. Now I really wish that I wouldn't have decided not read ahead on these letters!

On a family note, I am choosing not to publish a few letters marked "Personal" that Howard wrote to his mother. Here's a brief summary of why. Before he left for the Guard, Howard proposed to my great-grandmother Leona. She didn't refuse him, but she also declined to give him an answer for a year or so. As the year was coming up, Howard asked his mother in the the first letter for advice. The second letter was his reaction to his mother's advice.

Even though it's a hundred years later, it still somehow feels wrong to put such intimate feelings out there for everyone to read. Of course, if you're a family member and would like to know what it says, feel free to email me or message me. I'd be happy to transcribe. The good news is that we know that it was a happily-ever-after in the end.

With that said, there is on passage I think is pertinent those who are visiting this blog (all two of you) for historical reasons.

[Leona] keeps throwing up that she is going to join a Red Cross outfit if there is a war. Now that is absolutely no place for her. It is noble work and all that, but the conditions, dangers, and class of patients they handle, from what I have seen are just what she should have to come in contact with.

Still here - 2/7/1917

El Paso, Tex. 

Feb. 7, 1917.

My Dear Dad: - 

Well, we are still here, although there has been some talk of sending the 11th Div. to Calif. to watch he doings of the Japs.

Enclosed is a clipping of an El Paso newspaper. Several outfits from Pershing's Expedition arrived today, and are getting their camp straightened out.

I guess we will take our next hike Fri. if nothing happens.

The weather has been grand here lately. I hope it continues. 

Have you talked with Billy Jacobs yet. He was at Fire Ste. No. 7. with Capt. Sullivan. and left for Toledo the 31st of Jan. Wish you would have a walk with him. Uncle Bill can tell you where to find him. He can tell you how fine I look and how I am situated. He's a dandy fellow, he put a hitch in the 8th U.S. Cavalry, and knows what the army is like.

Well, we may get back yet, before the summer is over if the German question can be settled. It begins to look as though the orders to stay were only temporary. 

I like the looks of the new place very much. What is the idea of the garage? I have a girlfriend living a 2834 Glenwood.

Well, must close & write Leona.

Am feeling fine.

Love to All

Howard

The above is the the newspaper clipping from Howard's letter from the February 6 edition of the El Paso Times.

When the cynic in me first read the article, I thought about the line that the newspaper must have been feeding the public. It definitely seemed suspect that the guardsmen, who were on the train on their way home when they were told they had to return to camp, just got got off with no complaints whatsoever to fulfill their military duty.

But then, I thought about Howard's letters. He also seemed so positive, so sure that everything was just a temporary bump in the road before he got to come home. It makes me proud. Yet, it makes me leery for what I know must be to come. I'm anxious to get to his letters from Europe, but I hope that, when I get to those letters from 1919, I still see this glass-half-full boy in them.

Dad Sold at Last - 2/4/1917

Sunday A.M.

Feb. 4, 1917

Same place,

My Dear Mother: -

Just finished breakfast, consisting of rolled oats, bacon, bread, butter, coffee, and an orange.

Your letter of Jan. 30 rec. So Dad sold at last. Sorry I won't be there to help move. I think it would be a good plan to get a large box for my junk. I'm packing my electrical instruments I think Dad should be consulted as to how they should be packed to prevent breaking. Under the top drawer of my book case are some trinkets which I have saved from childhood. Many of the things I have stored away are really worthless, though are of value to me. I think my stuff when moved can just be left packed until I return.

I think I will be home in a couple months unless they hold us on account of Germany. None of the present orders for return of troops have been cancelled since the new trouble arose.

My cold is all over with. I guess I got it from kicking the covers off my bed one night, when it was pretty cold.

It was so cold yesterday that I wore two shirts & two pair of socks and didn't feel any too comfortable. Today is going to be a fine day.

Billy Jacobs from down to the Fire Sta. left for Toledo the evening of the 31st. I suppose he's in Toledo by this time. I told him to to call up you folks if he has time. If he don't you can get a hold of him through Uncle Bill. He can tell you how I am.

I was down at the Fire Sta last night, took a nice hot shower & washed my head. Then I made a cup of hot cocoa and read the newspaper. After which I came back to camp and went to bed.

Am enclosing some films of my four pet mules, a couple of myself and a couple of the tall wireless towers here at Ft. Bliss.

Well I'll close and write Leona a letter.

Am feeling fine.

Love to All

Howard

Oh, Howard...if only you were going to be home in a few months.

The above photo (again, from my best friend, the El Paso Library Archives, is labeled as "El Paso - City Hall and Fire Department"). It's not likely to be Billy Jacobs' fire house and the photo dates to 20 years before Howard was in El Paso, but it's as good as I could get. I'm sure Howard was extremely lucky to have a place to get a hot shower and a good meal - most of his friends in his unit likely wouldn't have been able to have done the same.

I tried to find the Goods' old family home on Google maps and was sadly disappointed. Instead of a nicely restored bungalow at 721 Walbridge Avenue, the house was completely gone. In its place were five dumpsters behind a shopping center which included a Family Dollar, auto parts store, Chinese take-out, and laundromat. Time marches on, I guess...

At first, I glanced over Howard's mention of the photos of "tall wireless towers" without thinking much about it. Then, I started to think about what communications in his day would have been like and what the towers would have been used for. I assume the towers in his pictures were for military use - wireless communications were being used heavily in Europe and continued to be used throughout World War I.  The first long-distance telephone call had happened in 1915, but telegrams were still much cheaper for years to come. At this time in 1917, the first commercial radio broadcast was yet to happen for another three years.

Cliffhanger - 2/2/1917

El Paso, Tex.Feb. 2, 1917.

My Dear Mother: -

Well, our experiences of today will never be forgotten. We went way up into the mountain, leaving camp early this morning. At noon we pitched camp, unhitched, and fed our mules, and cooked our hard-tack & bacon for ourselves. All the road was rocky and very dangerous. About 5 times worse than the wagon road from Maniteau, Colo., to "Cave of the Winds" - you remember coming down was where the troubles started.

An ambulance, ahead of me, turned over on it's side and was dragged twenty-five feet, before they could stop the mules. Nobody was hurt, not even the Amb. About 7 fellows set it on its wheels and we proceeded.

Something came loose on my wheel mule's harness and I nearly went over a 25ft. drop. Every one in my amb. jumped, but I stuck and managed to keep the outfit from going over. When we got back our mules, harness, clothes, etc. was all covered with a fine while alkali dust. You know how it is in this country. It was a fine trip, and I think I got some fine pictures.

Got a letter from Leona yesterday & one today.

Will close & turn in as I all tired out.

Love to All
Howard

Feeling great

The above photo is from the El Paso Library Archives entitled "Soldiers and overturned carriage". At first I was amazed to find a photo of something so similar to what I was was searching for, then I realized that it probably happened a lot more frequently than someone in 2017 would realize. Even in the best of conditions, the dirt roads and wooden wheels likely made overturned wagons a frequent occurrence. Throw in mules and 25-foot drops, and I can't even imagine how terrifying it would be to be the driver of one of these ambulances.

On a personal note, I continue to be amazed at how well-traveled the Goods were for their time. From the reference to "Maniteau" (Manitou, CO is near Pikes Peak) to Howard's mentions of his previous visits to El Paso with his mother. In previous genealogy research, I even found Effie had traveled to Cuba. I guess I shouldn't be surprised though. To this day, my Gram still lectures me about getting out and traveling while I still can. She and Gramps loved to travel - I couldn't even count the number of vacation photos I went through in her house. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the family tree!