Category: All letters

EDITOR’S PICK

To Bertha from C.C. Ballou – June 19, 1918

[Note: C.C. Ballou commanded the 92d Division – an African American unit – in France during World War I. A transport ship for the U.S. Navy in World War II was named after him (the USS General C. C. Ballou (AP-157))]

Headquarters Ninety Second Division

My dear Bertha,

I am at rest for a minute. Have found various old friends – Edie, Dave, Stanley, and others that you don’t know. Expect to move on in a day or two. You get more and more accurate war news in Washington than we do here. My two brigade commanders arrived today and are with me. Get very good food. It tastes deliciously cooked. Think I will _____ up a French chef as I don’t like soldier cooks very much, especially colored ones. You would be reminded here of paintings you have seen of peasants of Brittany – white caps, wooden doors, and coarse Celtic faces, of course I refer to the women. I heard a rather good _____ apropos of Anne of Brittany. I had said I merely knew of her existence but nothing of her history and was told that she was a very lively lady and had as many husbands as there are bathtubs in Brest, a city of 90,000. I took this to mean quite some husbands but not an excessive number of bathtubs. The number of women in mourning in France is appalling and brings a realization of what a horrid thing Germany has done in causing war.

My mind keeps getting pretty closely at home, in spite of the newness of things – newness to me of old things around me. I see you all in the little homes, all but Senn, ____ _____ at West Point where I trust he will make a better record in every way than his dad did. I ran against the Professor of Language today. He graduated a year ahead of me, had not seen me since ’85 and _____ me. Some stunt to keep one’s Cadet looks for thirty-three years and now I must close for there is little news one knows, and less that one can write.

Of course you must not speculate out loud as to where we are going to be located. Just think as little as possible of disagreeable things and don’t worry. If you hear startling stories, take them with a grain of salt.

Love to all,

Your loving old dad.

I wrote Mamma in route. Of course you will give _____ ______ that I am well and _____ when you get my letters.

EDITOR’S PICK

To Bertha from C.C. Ballou – November 5, 1918

My dear Bertha:

Senn’s cable reached me at 11:30 am today, and I know what sad hearts are in our home tonight. It is useless to write of it. I don’t know who is hardest hit. We all know how dear she was to us, yet never knew it as well as now. My hear goes out in sympathy to each of you in turn.

I think of Mamma and of all the love and happiness she felt in our first _____ one, and all ____ can she lavish on it. And I know that her heart is now _____ from this loss. (…) And poor Senn. He never dreamed that he could lose Reba, and I am sure he is now realizing the first real deep sorrow of his life.

And Sally – we all remember how she mourned when Reba first left home. Poor Sal! Her suffering is as poignant as her nature is intense.

Among us all Mamma alone will have none of those bitter regrets because of things done, or left undone. Always faithful, patient, loving, kind. What wouldn’t I give tonight to be able to feel that I had been the same! But I don’t think she remembered my harshness and my impatience. She realized that she shared my nature and forgave it all. My poor baby girl, and I can never see her again.

At one point today, an hour and a half after this cable came, I was at my post of observation and stood there during two hours of fierce fire from a hundred cannons. It was a Godsend in a way, yet I nearly forgot what was going on.

But I will continue to work and fight, and in many ways I am more fortunate than you who are at home. Do not worry about me. I only wish I could comfort you who are at home. There are months of heartache for us all, yet we are of the many. France is a land of heartaches. A house of mourning – and our own land is being deeply wounded. We must bear our part, and do it ____ _____as the others.

(…)

Her life was , in a sense, full and complete, in that she had known the best that life has of joy and happiness, and except for the final parting, none of life’s great sorrows – none of its bitterness. She was good and true. May her example and her memory remain with us as an inspiration, and may time assuage the pain.

It is hard to write. You know how I feel for each and every one of you. You and Mamma have the hardest part, for you will have least distraction.

Your loving dad.

[Note: Report of her death in Oakland Tribune, Oct. 23, 1918]

The 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic-Colonel Hunter’s Wife Grip Victim

BERKELEY, Oct. 23- Broken with grief over the death of his wife, which occurred yesterday afternoon from influenza, Lieutenant Colonel George B. Hunter, commandant of the School of Military Aeronautics at the University of California, will seem immediate transfer to active service in France to forget his sorrow on the field of battle.

Colonel Hunter left last night with the body of his wife for West Point, where services will be held at the army cemetery at the military academy. Should his request for transfer to France be granted, it is probably that he will not return to Berkeley.

Mrs. Hunter’s death occurred at the family home, 1536 Le Roy avenue, after a two weeks’ illness of influenza followed by pneumonia. She was 30 years old and was born at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. All of Mrs. Hunter’s life was spent in army environment, her father, Major General C. C. Ballou, being a prominent army officer and now in command of the 52d division of American troops in France. Mrs. Hunter was a graduate of Randolph Macon College, Virginia.