The Great War Comes to Kansas: Letter 73 ~ October 28, 1918

Friday, February 20, 2009

Letter 73 ~ October 28, 1918

Post Card Addressed to Miss Minnie G. Frey, Manhattan, Kansas
Post Marked: Junction City, Kansas, October 28, 1918

Had our [mock] battle this P. M. & turned in our stuff tonight. Strike camp & go back to [Detention Camp] No. 2 tomorrow A. M.

We were complimented on our work here today & were reviewed by General [Leonard] Wood.

Hope to see you again soon. Sorry I couldn’t get back again Sunday [to see you]. -- [Ward C. Griffing]

2 comments:

DaveFebruary 20, 2009 at 10:36 AM
History is happening as Ward practices trench warfare. Yesterday the General Erich Ludendorff, one of the two men who ran the German war effort, resigned. He and Paul von Hindenberg had total control of the war and the German economy. The war caused the economy to collapse and citizens rioted in the streets over food. Germany simply could not sustain the conflict.

On October 3, President Wilson received a note from the German government requesting an armistice. If Ward and Minnie are aware of any of this they don't mention it in their letters.
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Ward Clarke GriffingFebruary 20, 2009 at 10:56 AM
Good observation. News seemed to be slow to trickle into rural Kansas. I believe President Wilson's response to the German government was mentioned in Minnie's letter on October 13, 1918. -- wg
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Welcome

Follow along as Ward C. Griffing is inducted into the infantry during WWI while his sweetheart, Minnie G. Frey, faces her first year of teaching school in a one-room rural schoolhouse in Riley County, Kansas.

Please note that the entries on each page are in reverse order, oldest at the bottom. Readers interested in following the letters in chronological order should therefore start with the oldest blog post and scroll upwards.

If interested only in reading the letters or postcards written by me, click on "Ward" from the labels list at the bottom of the page. If interested only in my sweetheart's letters, click on "Minnie."

Use the "search" feature in the upper left corner of this blog if you are looking for something or someone in particular.

Suggested Reading

Readers interested in life at Camp Funston, Fort Riley, Kansas would enjoy the "Reflections of Army Sergeant Charles L. Johnston" who was a member of Ambulance Company 239, 10th Sanitary Train. He nursed soldiers during the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919.

Ward Griffing's paternal grandparents came to "Bleeding Kansas" in 1854 shortly after passage of the Kansas Nebraska Act. Letters exchanged between this couple -- some 500 of them written between 1841 and 1882 -- can be found in the website; Private Letters, the Correspondence of James S. Griffing and J. Augusta Goodrich.

I have found the experiences of Sgt Sam Avery during WWI to be very interesting. You can find them at Soldier's Mail, Letters of a New England Soldier 1916-1919.

The Great War Comes to Kansas

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Friday, February 20, 2009

Letter 73 ~ October 28, 1918

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