2 November 1918: Bordeaux, France

Unknown soldier during World War I

Bordeaux, France, Nov 2, 1918 

Dear Frank.

I received your paper tonight and was reading the letters the boys have written from the front and have noted under what difficulties they were written. I decided that if they could write under those conditions that 1 could afford to spend a little time to do the same as long as I have better conveniences and more of the same than the average office does at home. It makes a fellow rather restless when he reads of what the boys are doing at the front and what they are putting up with and then to think that I have been over here almost a year and every time I move they send me farther from the front and every day the front is getting farther from me. I guess the only way I will ever be able to see the front will be to put in a request for a pass to Berlin. It would be as easy as trying to get there as a combatant. Us fellows are doing our best to back the boys up and we do all we can for them when they are sent to the rear for treatment and a rest. They certainly appreciate what we do for them and we enjoy doing it. We had four men from the front at dinner today. I guess our meals are better prepared as a rule than is possible for them to obtain while in action. I have complained enough about our misfortunes in the service of supplies. I guess that a good many would be glad to change with us. It is characteristic of the men in the service that they want to see everything to be seen and we all get uneasy after being in one place for more than a month or so. Since arriving in France I have been in three different camps. Camp one, two months, camp two, eight months and I arrived here a week ago tonight and expect to be here till the last man has left for home, as it is rumored that we are to take charge of transportation of troops embarking for the U.S. That is not very encouraging, as I should like to be among the first and would naturally think so, as we are so near the port. 

Gathering for a meal

We are at a large (deleted by censor) camp and will soon have a personnel of about - (deleted by censor) hundred mechanics. At present I am trying to handle the work of overseeing all incoming supplies and transportation of same from depots by truck. They are working me into this job, but as the camp is growing so rapidly, I am afraid it will outgrow little me. Material is coming in, not by the carload, but by the train load and we have construction crews working night and day. At the other camp I was confined to the once which does not agree with a fellow that likes the outdoors as well as I do. I asked for a position that would keep me outside all the time and they got my number in a hurry, as this work keeps me on the road rain or shine, night and day, if necessary. As long as 1 asked for it, I haven't room to complain and I do enjoy it as long as I am able to keep my head above water, but with winter coming along I am afraid with nature's help I will be snowed under unless I can get a larger shovel than these French tablespoons that they use as shovels. One of those large, light-weight snow shovels and a good an on the other end would be a lifesaver. 

Supply Trucks

Well, if I can't handle it, you can always rely on being able to get a detail or an assistant. It is not considered a disgrace not to be capable of holding your job in the army as many a time a one man's job one week will require a hundred the next. I suppose that all of you have observed the rapid strides that so many different obsolete branches have made in the last year, which is encouraging to us all. Offices run by one man a year ago now are a separate branch of the service with an enlisted personnel in the thousands We have a fine camp and in this line I haven't any room to complain. Rather unusual for a habitual kicker like me. Old Uncle Sam Is doing everything possible to make life a pleasure for us and I can hardly realize that I am in the army. If It weren't for the uniforms and the French surroundings, it would be almost like being in a large factory at home, rooming and boarding at some clean, but medium-priced boarding house, minus the social life at home. Home I believe means more to us in the A. E. F. than any other word In the English vocabulary. We never appreciate the best things of life until they are taken away from us. Of course home includes mother, father, brothers and sisters and all our friends. Some people seem to think we are not interested in what you at home are doing for us. We all watched the Liberty Loan campaigns with as much interest and enthusiasm as could be manifested and not be where it is actually taking place and it is a mighty good brace to see it go over the top. If, the big word if, we should lose in this war, which is farthest from our minds, we could not blame it on to the people of the U.S. for lack of support. A discouraging letter from home is the only thing that would take the fighting pep out of a man quicker than a Liberty Loan failure. Destroy the American man's morale or any man's and you have lost the fight. Just this evening a fellow came in intending to work this evening, which is not compulsory, except in an emergency and he had received a couple of letters from home. He read them and got up and started to leave. I asked why he changed his mind so suddenly and then he told me that the letters were written in August, about the first, and pertained to business matters and that he had lost a good deal by not having received them in a month instead of three. He intended to go out and drown his sorrows, but on second thought decided it wouldn't help and has been busy since writing out telegrams in answer to his letters. Write encouraging letters if you have to stretch your imagination and the truth to do it, as circumstances alter cases and anything is fair in war.

Respectfully yours,

Victor Kuck.

Victor