June 16, 1918
Ft. Riley, Kansas

My Dear Mother,

Received your letter yesterday and was indeed very glad to hear from you all. I am just as good as I possibly could be any where, enjoying myself and getting fat as a fish. I am in a good company now. One of the best in the whole camp. We seem to have a fine bunch of officers, also men. I have my quarters in a tent which is sure a hot place, but I can't be bothered about that. There are three rows of tents of our company and I am in the middle row. So you see it is bound to be hot. The tents face the north and are boarded up four feet. There are six men to the tent. There is one fellow in my tent that I was slightly acquainted with there. He was a butcher; a big fat fellow and as full of fun as a dog is fleas.

Our job will be first aid, the way I understand. We will have to take care of the wounded on the field. We got some of our tools yesterday. Composed of a large belt which has some 12 pockets in it which contains all kind of medicine and tools. I think I have the tools to cut a man's head off and fix him a new one. ha ha Other than the belt, we have a large haversack which straps over our shoulders and hangs on our back, an axe, a half-gallon of water, and a tent which doesn't take up very much room.

I think that perhaps we will be here for some time. Of course, I don't know. The fellows that were here say they aren't rushing them out of this company very fast. I would not mind going farther north if it would be any cooler, for this is one of the hottest places I ever found. 118 in the shade the other day. Lots of the boys can't stand it. The boy I have been with all the time from Cleveland is pretty sick and they took him to the hospital sometime today. He had an awful hurting in his side like appendicitis and sure was suffering some. Tommorow I shall look him up.

Well, Momma, I will ring off for tonight and write sooner and more next time. For everything is so new to me, I am a little pushed for time. Much love to you all,

Your son,

Charles L.

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