Marriages for Everyone Else -12/31/1917

Camp Sheridan

Alabama

148th Ambulance Co.

Dec. 31, 1917

My Dear Dad: - 

Yours of Dec. 26, 1917 received. I also rec. the P.P. package of toothpaste, etc. Thank you very much.

Did you send the tobacco, of which you spoke, by Express. I have not heard of it, and learned nothing upon inquiry at Ex. office. If you sent it, perhaps you had better have it traced.

Oh yes, I rec the magazines O.K. & thank you for them & the stamps. 

The Liberty-bond Xmas present is really altogether more than I expected. Leona was the best present you could have sent. 

Just how many L. Bonds have I? You know I have two $50.00 in the army campaign.

I don't believe I ever acknowledged Marion's letter of Dec 24th. It came the say after Mother & Leona left. 

This will be the last letter, I'll write home this year. They are planning a big time for tonight. 

A couple of our boys got married during the Xmas Holidays. Among them was Steve Cartwright, one of the Hillsdale boys, who stayed at the Beach. He was the short funny one. 

I have not rec. a letter from Leona, or Mother, since they left.

Everything O.K. & feeling fine & dandy.

Love to All
Howard

So, if Howard's buddies all got married over the holiday break, why didn't he? My guess was that Leona was too smart, and probably too proud, for all that.

I did some general searching about Camp Sheridan, primary because this letter just isn't that interesting. I'm tired of writing about the post office and liberty bonds.

I found this lovely little book,  When Johnny Doesn't Come Marching Home, which details the life of John Small and his wife Mary at Camp Sheridan at the same time. Unlike Howard and Leona, John and Mary couldn't wait to be married, and they tied the knot in September of 1917. Although their love was evident, it was a hard life, especially for Mary. She lived in a room without heat in a boarding house in Montgomery, and although she was able to spend some time with John, she was lonely. She had no real friends outside of the men at camp, and her family was back in Cleveland. The description of their life together made me relieved that Leona was safe and warm at home with her family in Ohio.