A niece of Ernest Elmer Powell (1896-1968) was in possession of two letters he wrote home to his parents during World War I. After she passed, the letters were given to one of Ernest's granddaughters and she photographed them to share with the family. Ernest was my great-grandfather.
 |
| Ernest Elmer Powell WWI Draft Registration Card page 1 from Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data:United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm. |
 |
| Ernest Elmer Powell WWI Draft Regsitration Card page 2 from Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data:United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm. |
I don't have records showing the exact dates of Ernest's service, but estimate it to be about August 1918 to December 1918. Newspaper Articles in the Houston Herald (Houston, Missouri) in June, July and August of 1918 list him among other local boys who went through the draft registration and examinations. In one of the letters you'll see below, dated Nov 24, 1918, he says he will be home by Christmas. We know he did make it home about that time and he married Julia Davis in January 1919.
 |
| Ernest Powell (G.P. for Grandpa Powell is penciled above his head) with two other men. Exact date and location unknown, but undoubtedly taken in 1918 since he is in uniform. |
This first letter is dated October 19, 1918 and was written in Camp McArthur, Texas. The letter is written in pencil and has faded so severely over time that it's nearly impossible to read.
I was able to make out some of it.
"...have you heard from Nancy? she was pretty sick with the baby... I got a letter from Ora yesterday Barbra was there with Nancy taking care of her..."
"...site at Camp Funston Kans. ... sickness is there it has been a site here but all of it is cured know[sic] pretty fast..."
Then I just get bits and piece.
"...to leave...next week some time I'm going to send ...thing back. I will send my razor first.....fork. I can't take another across with me. I don't know where I am going across all...I will write another letter tomorrow will close but this time answer soon."
His signature is not legible.
The women he refers to - Nancy, Ora, and Barbara - are his sisters. Sadly, Nancy's baby died just two days after this letter was written. Claude Cleo Pitts was his name and he was almost 11 months old. A newspaper article shows that he died of Bronchitis, but this was all during the time that the Spanish Flu pandemic was sweeping through our country. I can't help but wonder if that was the "sickness" that took Nancy's baby and was running through Army training camps.
 |
Ernest's letter, postmarked Oct 20 1918, was mailed in a souvenir envelope with some prints of scenes from Camp MacArthur, near Waco, Texas. Camp MacArthur was an Army training camp with an officer's training school, infantry training camp, hospital and administrative offices. After the war, the camp was abandoned and the land taken over by the city of Waco.
The next letter was written and sent from Camp Merritt in Jersey City, NJ. Most of this one is legible, though Ernest's spelling is a bit off. I'll transcribe as written.
"Nov 24, 1918
Mr. J.H. Powell
Dear father and mother I will write you a letter today I am fat and sasy I am flesher than I every was before I wish you could see me You out to see me eat to I eat every meal just a like We havent dun anything for over three weeks and I am getting pretty lazy.
I think I will bee at home befor very long I think we was figure on going to Camp Funston, Kans yesterday we will be there to or three days. we are under quaranteed know I think we will get out in a day all to some of the boys has the -?- and the quaranteed us all for awail.
but I know we will get home for Chirstmas you want to have a big pot and a little one to
say I have seen a hole lots and I dont -?- it eitherI was on the ship for one day and night we was on for oversee and they got new orders not to go oversee.
I can tell you folks a hole lots when I get home Well it is ofal coal hear the ground freze every knight one day hear it froze all day but I have plenty close. I have a big overcat and a Raincat they are shore fine to.
Well I hant going to write much today. I think I will bee at home sunday week if nothing haping no more so will close for this time.
Ernest E Powell
this is my address
Co. 40.-1-1100-R
Camp Merritt Branch
Jersy City, NJ
fia New York"
 |
| Envelope addressed to Mr. J. H. Powell, Summersville, Texas, Mo. postmarked Nov. 25 1918 Merritt, NJ. |
Camp Merritt was a camp for transient troops under command of the New York Port of Embarkation. Ernest would have been sent here in preparation to travel overseas. In reading about Camp Merritt, I learned that there was a heavy outbreak there of the Spanish Flu in late 1918. Ernest mentions that they are under quarantine because some of the boys were sick. It was likely that the boys were sick with influenza.
 |
| Ernest is the man at top right (see arrow) on this postcard photograph saved by one of his daughters. |
As I mentioned, I don't have Ernest's military records to know an exact release date, but he was home in time to stand up be married less than two months later. It seems there may not have been anything else happening and this young man was one of the lucky ones who didn't have to serve overseas. Instead he would have been sent to Camp Funston, Kansas and released from there as he mentioned in his letter. He mentioned Camp Funston in the first letter, too, and the sickness there which we know now was the Spanish Flu. In March of 1918 some of the first cases in the United States were reported at Camp Funston, located on Fort Riley southwest of Manhattan, Kansas.
Not only did Ernest barely dodge serving overseas, it seems he also managed to avoid getting sick during a pandemic in Army training camps. He really was a lucky man, and his descendants are so thankful that he survived and went on to marry and have many children.
