Sincerely, Joel C. Swisher

Dear Aunt Mary, We left Bar-sur-Aube at 2AM of the 30th and got here last night about 4PM. Traveled in American box cars with plenty of straw on the floor. It was not cold. We…

Dear Folks, My second Xmas in France. Much more pleasant than the last. Today we had no reveille, breakfast at 8:30, no work, dinner at 2 PM and it was the biggest meal I have…

Am still in this place and don’t know how much longer we will be here. We are still working and it is still raining. Best of love, Joel J.C. Swisher Co. B 25 Eng.

Dear Folks, Still in this place but expect to leave any time for Brest. I will be glad when we get started. Of course, we may have to work a while at the port. We…

Dear Aunt Mary, Rec’d thy letter of Nov. 11 the other day. Glad to hear thee is all through moving. Thee sure gets thy share of moving recently. We are still in this place. Don’t…

[This letter is from Jerre Hambleton, a friend of Joel’s from home, whom he mentioned in his letter of Jan. 8, 1918.] From J.B.Hambleton Battery E. 345 F.A. A.E.F. Bettemburg, Luxemburg Dec. 6th 1918 Dear…

Dear Folks, We moved down here yesterday from Souilly about 12 miles west of Verdun. This place is about 25 miles west of Chaumont. We came down in trucks. It is about a 75 mile…

Dear Folks, Your letter of Oct 3O reached me a couple days ago. This being Thanksgiving there is no work today, so I will write a few letters. Today a year ago I was in…

Dear Folks,(1)Note the location in the dateline. With the end of the war, Joel was free to mention his location in letters. Well the war is practically over, at least the fighting is, so you…

[continued from Nov 10 letter] Nov 12 Today completes my first year in France and the war was finished yesterday. Here’s one that has no regrets the job is finished. Have no idea of when…