Letter dated 25 Dec 1918 from Glenn to his mother

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On Active Service with the American Expeditionary Force

Dec. 25, 1918

Germany

Dear Mother,

As I would like to be in DeKalb long enough to find out where you got the pen you sent me. It came in a Parkers self filling box, but the pen is a Swan Safety pen, and the directions are for a Parkers pen, so that is what you wanted to buy, but you didn’t get it, or I didn’t, so there you are. I wanted a Parkers but I can get one when I get back there. There is no filler on this pen so it is no good just now, but I will fill it some way. I do not want you to feel bad over this at all. The pen I got was marked $3, so if that is what you paid for it, just let it go until I come home. It will be soon I hope, but let me know where you got it? I will save the

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box and pen so they can see for themselves. That is the way all of the soldiers get it. They do not know that we are here, or have been fighting for all of them. Well that is all about the pen.

Well Mother, outside of the pen the box hit the spot all right. The candy was just like I ate when I was home and the cake, Say Ma, that made me homesick and the gum sure does do good. They do not know what gum is over here, and the best thing about this box was that it came on Xmas day. All the boys have not gotten theirs, just about half of them, so you can see I am lucky. We are still about 20 miles from the Rhine. It don’t look like we were going to get home any too soon, but we can tell a thing about it. When order came to move, it came at night and before soon we are up and going, so that’s the Army for you, but it is not like it was two

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months ago when we was up at the Front. So, if we are here six months, we can’t kid. We know we will be there someday, and that is more then we knew then, but you know as well as I do I would sooner be home. The old saying is a Amex solder is kidding all the time; if he didn’t kid he would be no soldier. There was a German soldier that came back today. They thought he was killed but he was not. That was a good Xmas given for his family. I would have liked to come home on Xmas. That would have been fine for me and you all. Just so I got there in time for dinner. I sure do think a lot of times of home and the good things I had and then I didn’t think they were any good. I thought I had the poorest bed

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in the town but now I think there is no bed like that one and I sure will know how to like some things like that. I have laid in mud and slept all over. When I get home, don’t say anything if you see me sleeping on the floor because I can sleep anywhere if there is no shooting or any airplanes bombing. Those two things will keep me from sleeping and you know that the kids [used to] wake me up if they looked at the house.

Well Mother, this is all for this time, and hope you are feeling fine and thank you for the box and hope I am soon home. I got the paper but no letter for two or three weeks. Well keep on writing just as if I was not coming home at all.

Glen Kaiser

Hdq. Co. 127 Inf.

Amex E.F.

A.P.O. 734