|
|
Below is a transcript of a letter from Karl to his sister, and links to scanned in images of the original letter. The scans were provided by Kari (Carolyn Frost (B, Harold)) Al-Khoury. |
Scans of the original letter:
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4Below is a transcript of the letter:
American Expeditionary Forces.
Young Men's Christian Association.
ARMY OF OCCUPATIONCoblenz, Germany
Jan 13, 19Dear Sis;
I am writing this at the Y.M.C.A. just before starting back to the outfit after a days liberty here.
I certainly have been busy seeing the sights and doing my shopping. Here in Germany it is only in large places such a[s] this that we can get a good many toilet articles, such as shaving soap, tooth brushes and paste etc. And when one man goes on liberty the whole platoon wants to send with him for their stuff.
We can get ice cream here and while it is rather out of season there is a great demand for it. I ate about 8 dishes of it today. It is not very high class dope but when a man has gone from 6 mo. to a year without any it tastes pretty good. It is just about five months since I had any before to-day.
The city certainly is full of American troops. Besides the men stationed here it is a leave center for the whole third army or army of occupation as it is called now. There are more of our boys on the streets than there are of the heinies.
Every once in a while some guy will see our marine emblem and stop us and ask us if we know this person or that one. They seem to think if a man is in the Marines we ought to know him and to forget there are at present some twelve or fifteen thousand of us over here. One fellow even stopped us and showed us a picture of a fellow and said he had forgotten his name, but he was in the Marines and wanted to know if we knew him. With great regret we informed him we did not.
The Y.M.C.A. here has three places here where the feed the soldiers or have [?] and a movie that runs all day and a thiyiter[?] at night besides reading rooms etc. Well I will have to close now or miss my truck. With Love to all
Karl
Pvt. Arthur K. Frost
66 Co. 5th Marines
Am. E. F.P.S. Please excuse penmanship as I am in a rush.
Last revised December 28, 2003.